Very Interesting..

[retrolenny]

Pistons do sign-and-trade for Bucks' Jennings
Pistons acquired PG Brandon Jennings via a sign-and-trade with the Bucks.
The full deal is Jennings for Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and Slava Kravtsov. Jennings has agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with Detroit. The Pistons move on from a talented tweener in Knight and get an upgrade in Jennings, a scoring point guard with star potential. He won't turn 24 years old until September, averaging 17.0 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds through four NBA seasons. Jennings has plenty of room to improve on his career 39.4 shooting percentage, and will be playing with significant talent in Detroit. The Pistons now have a potential starting five of Jennings, Rodney Stuckey, Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. We suspect that Jennings has already been told that he'll be playing more of a facilitating role in Detroit and it's safe to project a bump in his assists.
Source: Yahoo Sports Jul 30 - 5:35 PM
Player Outlook
Game Log
Career Stats
In-season Projections

[DetroitDon15]

If Jennings came in while being a more efficient scorer by getting 16 points per game and 8 assists per game with solid defense. I'd be super happy with the sign and trade. I'm looking for that and not all-star type numbers.

[retrolenny]

If Jennings came in while being a more efficient scorer by getting 16 points per game and 8 assists per game with solid defense. I'd be super happy with the sign and trade. I'm looking for that and not all-star type numbers.

He can't shoot but definitely has good court vision. If they can prevent him from taking shots and reward him for being a facilitator, he can be a 10pt 9ast type player. The problem has always been he prefers to pad his stats.

[DetroitDon15]

If Jennings came in while being a more efficient scorer by getting 16 points per game and 8 assists per game with solid defense. I'd be super happy with the sign and trade. I'm looking for that and not all-star type numbers.

He can't shoot but definitely has good court vision. If they can prevent him from taking shots and reward him for being a facilitator, he can be a 10pt 9ast type player. The problem has always been he prefers to pad his stats.

I agree with you there. I expect that he will look to score but I hope for less shots and more efficiency like I said. It's why I'd take 8 apg. I don't see 9 to 10 a reality for him. It would make him a top ten passer in this league which he never will be IMHO.

[retrolenny]

You've got 3 guys where you can just throw the ball up in the air and someone will throw it down. Dre alone made Bynum look like a borderline allstar in limited minutes.

[Piston Pete]

Offer HUGE incentives to average 9 or more assists?

[Brapman]

Simmons on Grantland today:

Fact: If you made a "Best Forwards in Basketball" list right now, LeBron and Durant would go first and second, obviously, followed by Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Dirk Nowitzki. If Kevin Love is healthy, I'd have him sixth, followed by Blake Griffin seventh.8 You know who's eighth if you threw out salaries and just based this list on "What am I getting every night on both ends RIGHT NOW if I need a quality forward to play 36 minutes a night for me as my best or second-best player on a playoff team"? That's right, Josh Smith. You'd take him over Serge Ibaka, Anthony Davis and everyone else except mayyyyyyyybe David West.

So Detroit paid less than max money for, right now, the eighth-best forward in basketball. That's a bad idea??? Now they can build around Andre Drummond, Smith, Greg Monroe, Brandon Jennings (more on him in a second) and $17 million in expirings (Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey) that could absolutely be flipped for one more asset. What's wrong with that? Especially if Drummond (a potential stud who blossomed this summer into a 290-pound, 6-percent-body-fat Dwight Howard look-alike) continues to improve? Hold on, one more Pistons quote.

To Brandon Jennings, who went from "Oh God, someone's gonna give him the max this summer and it's gonna be a calamity" to "Good Lord, getting that guy for three years and $25 million is a borderline hijacking!" I loved that trade for Detroit, if only because they're going to be 2014's most entertaining crunch-time team on League Pass: I can't even imagine how many different ways Twitter is going to ridicule Josh Smith and Jennings fighting to outdo each other on off-balance "no-no-no-YES!" shots with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. Regardless, that's an entertaining team. Even if this ruined any chance of my dream New Year's Eve mega-tank deal for the Celtics: Rondo, Courtney Lee and Wallace's $30.3 million basketball cadaver for Monroe, Knight, the Villanueva–Stuckey expirings and a 2016 unprotected no. 1 pick. Sayonara, my Trade Machine fantasy.

3 paragraph max and provide link please
- ajaX

[retrolenny]

Offer HUGE incentives to average 9 or more assists?

My point exactly.. He wants a max contract, earn it in assists!!!

[DetroitDon15]

Simmons on Grantland today:

To Al Jefferson and Josh Smith, this summer's most maligned "splashy" free-agent signings. I'm going the other way — I kinda sorta maybe liked both signings. First of all, have you watched Charlotte? Just a bunch of dudes jacking up bad jumpers. Now they have Big Al, an admittedly awful defender and a black hole, but one of the league's best low-post players and a guaranteed double-team in the last four minutes of every game. Had they given him $30 million for three years, you would have liked the deal. They had to pay $11 million extra because they're Charlotte and who the hell wants to play in Charlotte? We have 30 NBA teams … would YOU want to play in Charlotte?

Here's what we know: The Bobcats can build around three polished/competitive/used-to-winning college stars (Kemba Walker, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Cody Zeller, their latest no. 1 pick, which I actually liked), Bismack Biyombo's "Poor Man's Serge Ibaka" potential, Jefferson's low-post scoring and Whomever The Hell MJ Hired To Coach Who's Getting Fired In One Or Two Years. I mean … that's something! Who else is feeling 30-52 for the Bobcats? As for Josh, let's give him his own quote …

"This calls for a celebration! I'll get some doughnuts."

Remember my 90/10 column about Russell Westbrook, and how certain All-Stars get picked apart just because their deficiencies happen to be more glaring than normal? That's Josh Smith in a nutshell.

Fact: For the past five years, he's been the best or second-best player for a team that went 228-166 and made the playoffs every year.

Fact: Since 2008, Josh Smith has won more playoff series (three) than Chris Paul (two).

Fact: In the last four seasons, Josh Smith averaged 17.0 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 3.9 assists and 3.2 stocks (steals + blocks) while shooting 47.5 percent and missing just 12 games total.

Fact: In nine years, Josh Smith never missed more than 13 games in one season, and he's missed only 46 games total for his career. He's durable as hell.

Fact: If you made a "Best Forwards in Basketball" list right now, LeBron and Durant would go first and second, obviously, followed by Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Dirk Nowitzki. If Kevin Love is healthy, I'd have him sixth, followed by Blake Griffin seventh.8 You know who's eighth if you threw out salaries and just based this list on "What am I getting every night on both ends RIGHT NOW if I need a quality forward to play 36 minutes a night for me as my best or second-best player on a playoff team"? That's right, Josh Smith. You'd take him over Serge Ibaka, Anthony Davis and everyone else except mayyyyyyyybe David West.

So Detroit paid less than max money for, right now, the eighth-best forward in basketball. That's a bad idea??? Now they can build around Andre Drummond, Smith, Greg Monroe, Brandon Jennings (more on him in a second) and $17 million in expirings (Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey) that could absolutely be flipped for one more asset. What's wrong with that? Especially if Drummond (a potential stud who blossomed this summer into a 290-pound, 6-percent-body-fat Dwight Howard look-alike) continues to improve? Hold on, one more Pistons quote.

"Are you gonna stand up there with your thumb up your ass or are you gonna get me the f--- outta here?"

To Brandon Jennings, who went from "Oh God, someone's gonna give him the max this summer and it's gonna be a calamity" to "Good Lord, getting that guy for three years and $25 million is a borderline hijacking!" I loved that trade for Detroit, if only because they're going to be 2014's most entertaining crunch-time team on League Pass: I can't even imagine how many different ways Twitter is going to ridicule Josh Smith and Jennings fighting to outdo each other on off-balance "no-no-no-YES!" shots with 17 seconds left on the shot clock. Regardless, that's an entertaining team. Even if this ruined any chance of my dream New Year's Eve mega-tank deal for the Celtics: Rondo, Courtney Lee and Wallace's $30.3 million basketball cadaver for Monroe, Knight, the Villanueva–Stuckey expirings and a 2016 unprotected no. 1 pick. Sayonara, my Trade Machine fantasy.

No way in the world would I be so needy to add Rondo that I would have given up Knight, Monroe, expirings, and unprotected first for Rondo and those two terrible deals. Just awful Simmons.

[Dre Drummond]

Big thing is with Brandon he is still young and will be entering his prime for his next contract... so he knows he needs to work his ass off because that is his last chance to get paid. He's literally working for 10s of millions of dollars these next 3 seasons.

I would not be shocked at a 14.5 and 8.5 with 2+ SPG and good assist to turnover numbers from Jennings. That could be exactly what we need... him setting up Monroe, Dre, and Smith and making all of them look better.

[ImHeisenberg]

If Jennings came in while being a more efficient scorer by getting 16 points per game and 8 assists per game with solid defense. I'd be super happy with the sign and trade. I'm looking for that and not all-star type numbers.

Don has it. My expectations aren't "all-star or bust". I want to see him play a more refined and efficient game, and focus on making our front court beasts better, not himself.

[MrBigShot]

"Even if this ruined any chance of my dream New Year's Eve mega-tank deal for the Celtics: Rondo, Courtney Lee and Wallace's $30.3 million basketball cadaver for Monroe, Knight, the Villanueva–Stuckey expirings and a 2016 unprotected no. 1 pick. Sayonara, my Trade Machine fantasy."

....That might just be the worst trade proposal I've ever seen.

[DetroitDon15]

If Jennings came in while being a more efficient scorer by getting 16 points per game and 8 assists per game with solid defense. I'd be super happy with the sign and trade. I'm looking for that and not all-star type numbers.

Don has it. My expectations aren't "all-star or bust". I want to see him play a more refined and efficient game, and focus on making our front court beasts better, not himself.

That's why I liked the trade because I feel Jennings could get to that 16/8 better than Knight could. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[vic]

Look up Jennings box scores for:

March 2, 2013
March 4, 2013
March 6, 2013

He went on an assist binge. (nba.com has video too)

Obviously playing smart is something he can can do, especially if motivated.

We definitely have enough mouths for him to feed... so if he chucks up more than a few bad shots per game, Coach Cheeks/Coach Billups/Coach Sheed should be able to light him up.

[Han Solo]

I'm excited. We may be the most intriguing team in the league right now.

That's not a homer statement either.

Pretend your a fan from another team for a minute.

[Brapman]

Houston's pretty intriguing.

I do like where we're headed however.

[ImHeisenberg]

I'm excited. We may be the most intriguing team in the league right now.

That's not a homer statement either.

Pretend your a fan from another team for a minute.

Being unbiased, that's a tough statement to dispute. Monroe will be the only returning starter that was a starter for all of last season, Drummond barely counts, as starting 8 games barely qualifies.

The entire roster has had a huge overhaul. They have the talent to beat any team in the league now. Now, it's about putting it all together. Nobody is going to give the Pistons any credit until they put the talent to work and become a team, and start winning. It took the Pacers two solid seasons of winning and an amazing eastern conference finals against the Heat before they finally garnered some respect. That's just the way it works.

[ImHeisenberg]

Houston's pretty intriguing.

I do like where we're headed however.

True. But, no teams has had the level of talent infusion that Detroit has had. Signing Dwight was a huge win for them, even if he never returns to 2009 form.