Now What?

[Pharaoh]

It's all well and good to discuss Josh Smith for 50 pages but we still have holes to fill.

I don't think anyone wants to trade Monroe - and we shouldn't considering his age and talent level!

Going by the roster we have now:

Drummond 30, Monroe 18, Slava = Depth purposes
Monroe 16, Smith 18, CV or Mitchell or Jerebko 14
Smith 16, Singler 18, Middleton 14
K.C.P 28, Stuckey 20
Knight 30, Stuckey 8, ???? 10

I'd imagine Bynum would return as a back-up PG... but we've still got some money to play with and still have the expiring deals of Stuckey and CV to use as bait in a trade.

The usual suspects are being discussed elsewhere so I thought I'd use this thread to discuss options that might be a little left of center or flying under the radar:

Chicago Bulls: Trade for Kirk Hinrich - under contract for approx $4 mil... they have tax issues. Nate Robinson is a free agent they might want to retain.

Denver Nuggets: Trade for Andre Miller - under contract for $5 mil.... read reports of him being "difficult".... might want to clear him off the books. 2014-15 not fully guaranteed

LA Lakers: Trade for Steve Blake - under contract for $4 mil... they have issues lol... he's one of the few contracts they have that goes beyond next season

Memphis Grizzlies: Trade for Jerryd Bayless - under contract for approx $3 mil... he opted in for next season... 2014-15 not fully guaranteed...do they even want him?

Minnesota Timberwolves: Trade for J.J Barea - under contract for approx $4.5 mil the next 2 seasons. Is he someone they want to keep?

Minnesota Timberwolves: Trade for Luke Ridnour - under contract for approx $4.3 mil.... expiring deal... with Rubio and Shved on the roster do they need him?

Phoenix Suns: Goran Dragic - does McDonough want him? Will Bledsoe play PG? Dragic is under contract through 2014-15 (with a player option for the following season) and costs approx $7.5 mil

Phoenix Suns: Kendall Marshall - is he up to NBA standards? Costs approx $2 mil for the Suns to find out

There are plenty of free agents we could target to play back-up PG too.... guys we're not discussing at present but thought I'd throw some weird trade options out there first

[AnnArborpiston]

I believe we have to let the first half of the season play out with Smith starting at the 3. He will only play 12-16 mins there, and then we have Singer and Middleton to get solid minutes backing up the 3. One of those two have the opportunity to be glue guys like Tayshaun.

PG is our most pressing need, and Knight under Cheeks needs to also be given a chance. We should therefor sign a backup PG who can shoot lights out from the 3 ie. Gary Neal. We should also play CV and Stuckey, who are in their contract years, and then trade their expirings at the deadline.

Knight(36)/Neal(12)
KCP(24)/Stuckey(24)
Smith (14)/Singler(18)/Middleton(16)
Monroe(18)/Smith(22)/CV(8)
Drummond (32)/Monroe(16)

Signing Neal allows Stuckey and he to make a nice 2nd unit back court (shooter and slasher to go with Singler), which then provides great balance with Smith and Monroe in the front court. Our Second unit is where we will make runs on teams. First unit will be lockdown defense, and 2nd unit will run and gun.

[retrolenny]

I'd totally be ok with Gary Neal. He has game, comes from a great system, and still has plenty of years in head of him.

[Drumtavious]

I'd be trying to trade Jerebko for a similar guard. I really want Smith playing 25+ minutes a night at power forward and only 8-10 at small forward.

I'd like to bring Billups back behind Knight, as well as sign Foye to a 1 year deal.

After our signings the 3 guys that don't fit in here are Stuckey, CV and Jerebko.

Stuckey and Jerebko can actually play and could be useful to some teams. Jerebko is a player the Clippers could use, not sure they have much we would want in return though.

[retrolenny]

The beautiful thing about Billups is he is a combo guard and can play both guard positions. Pairing Billups with Bynum could be very fun!!

[princeofpalace]

Stuckey needs to go. With the acquisition of Smith we need all of our perimeter players to be able to shoot- Stuckey cannot do that- we need to trade him.

I think we need a PG and a startingSG/backupSF that can shoot. I also think that CV's shooting abilities will keep him in the lineup. CV will be our primary stretch 4 and see 15-18 minutes a game.

I think we should look to sign Jeff Teague and then trade Stuckey for a swing like Trevor Ariza

Teague(32)/Knight(16)
Knight(16)/KCP(16)/Ariza(16)
Smith(17)/Singler or KM(20)/Ariza(11)
Monroe(15)/Smith(18)/CV(15)
Drummond(30)/Monroe(18)

[Joe Berry]

With this frontcourt every guard on the roster and playing rotation has to be an above average 3pt shooter, Knight and KPC are a good start. But Suckey has to go, seriously... i still would try to bring in a legitimate starting PG in Teague and sign a some 3pt gunners like Foye and Delfino...

Yes i agree with Drumroe Jerebko as a SF/PF tweener is redundant right now, he also should be traded for a better fit.

Trade proposal: Stuckey for Marcus Thornton, he has 2 years left, pure SG, bad defensivley but he can score and hes better from downtown than Stuckey,

[Dirtgrain]

Dragic would be sweet to have. He would cost what, I wonder.

[Liqourish]

Just say no to Bynum. Wouldn't mind moving or even cutting Stuckey. I'd love to add teague and another shooting gaurd.

J. Teague/B. Knight
K. Caldwell-Pope/Free agent
J. Smith/K. Singler
G. Monroe/J. Smith/J. Jerebko
A. Drummond/G. Monroe

[Pharaoh]

IF we amnesty CV we have plenty of cap space to sign Teague outright...

then we'd be looking to sign a shooting SF

Drummond 30/Monroe 18
Monroe 16/Smith 20/Mitchell or Jerebko 12
Smith 14/Free Agent 20/Singler 14
K.C.P 28/Middleton 10/Knight 10
Teague 30/Knight 18

[Drwho17]

Now what?

Pharoah maybe admit you totally blew it and were totally wrong on your 27 other posts about how Dumars blew it (before the signing period even started), and how no "big name" free agent would come to Detroit. Josh Smith is pretty much the 2nd biggest name out there, behind Howard.

Hint: The offseason isn't over yet, maybe you should stop being wrong for a bit until your recent postings fade at least out of the top 10.

[Lionlifer]

Now what?

Pharoah maybe admit you totally blew it and were totally wrong on your 27 other posts about how Dumars blew it (before the signing period even started), and how no "big name" free agent would come to Detroit. Josh Smith is pretty much the 2nd biggest name out there, behind Howard.

Hint: The offseason isn't over yet, maybe you should stop being wrong for a bit until your recent postings fade at least out of the top 10.

Granted we did get a big name, but considing all the POSSIBLE issues with how J Smoove may fit, it's too early tell tell if Joe D blew it or not.

No one has to eat crow just yet, but we should have a good idea on which camp needs to start heating the oven up after the allstar break.....

[Joe Berry]

lol yeah totally, because all you need in the NBA is collect some big names. We just hired a PF for a lot of money to play SF basically, this isnt guaranteed to work actually its more designated to fail. All Dumars fanboys are now excited, but while Dumars deserves some praise to lure Smith to Detroit, it wasnt like Detroit competed with LA, NY and MIami for his services.

This is not a playoff team yet, Dumars still has A LOT of work to do if this should work. A big name alone like Smith who seems to be a questionable fit wont do it.

[Snakebites]

I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't at least CONSIDER the notion of moving Monroe.

Most likely nothing will come of it since we most likely won't be able to get equal value, but they should think about it.

[HotelVitale]

..how no "big name" free agent would come to Detroit. Josh Smith is pretty much the 2nd biggest name out there, behind Howard.

I get that it's annoying to see a lot of negative posts, but let's be real. Iggy was a more desirable FA and a better fit fit. Smith went to the only team that offered him a truckload of money. He plays the only position we have an established very good player at. He had negative three offensive win shares last year. He's played sf plenty in the past, and the experiment was more or less deemed a failure (Google it-- basically he turns into an average player if you play him at sf, not bad but substantially worse on offense and D if he's not at pf). And we gave up a first round pick for the right to sign him instead of signing someone who might fit better next year.

I don't think it's fair to call this offseason a 'failure'--Smith's a good player and he's fun to watch, and we'll have to see how he fits--but i can't see how Dumars deserves any praise. Traded a valuable pick to give a massive contact to a bad-fit semi-famous guy who just had a crappy year.

[ImHeisenberg]

I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't at least CONSIDER the notion of moving Monroe.

Most likely nothing will come of it since we most likely won't be able to get equal value, but they should think about it.

It would be foolish to disregard the idea. If a superstar suddenly becomes available, Monroe would be a powerful bargaining chip.

I don't think he should be shopped around. Let this team play! But, he shouldn't be deemed untouchable.

[Brapman]

I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't at least CONSIDER the notion of moving Monroe.

Most likely nothing will come of it since we most likely won't be able to get equal value, but they should think about it.

It would be foolish to disregard the idea. If a superstar suddenly becomes available, Monroe would be a powerful bargaining chip.

I don't think he should be shopped around. Let this team play! But, he shouldn't be deemed untouchable.

Very true. But right now, Monroe/Drummond for the next decade together is an enticing thought. We're going to have to get an extremely special player in return for a guy like him.

[mercury]

We need three quality bigs for depth/injuries.
We shouldn't assume that Dre is starting... I think it will be GM and Smith starting... If Smith slides over to the 3 we may see some Mitchell at SF/PF.
Middleton deserves every chance to prove that he's a solid shooting SF... in other words let's not jump out and spend on someone when we already have the answer in house.
I fully expect Monroe to come in with a better than average midrange game.
Would like to add Ridnour... he will find people in their sweet spot and shoot with range.

[Brapman]

If (and when - and it will be "when") Stuckey is not a Piston anymore - which will happen at some point this summer or by the trade deadline - a guy like Ridnour would make a lot of sense. Good call.

[zeebneeb]

Screw it. I say we move for a super tall SG, and PG. Have a lineup that everyone is over or at 6'8. We could miss all day, but man the rebounding. THE REBOUNDING. Put backs galore.