Flip Saunders Fired

[LyricalRico]

I still wouldn't want Joe D for my boss , unless I was getting paid so much that WHEN the dagger was lodged in my back I'd have been compensated so well I could leave graciously.

[DCZards]

Flip brings nothing to this team we don't already have. Every complaint the Piston's fans have about him are the same complaints we have against EJ.

That may say more about the complainers (fans) than Flip and EJ.

[nate33]

I've been out of town for a while and haven't had a chance to comment on the Detroit situation.

I'm surprised that Dumars canned Flip. I think it was a bad move. Detroit is at a crossroads. They must either blow it up and rebuild around the youth, or they should reload and give it one more shot. Dumars chose to blow it up. I think he made the wrong choice.

Instead of dumping Flip and trying to trade Billups and Wallace, I'd have kept Flip and tried to trade Stuckey, Maxiell and/or Amir Johnson. The idea here is to sacrifice youth and/or picks to get more win now players.

Detroit is still set at PG, SG, SF, and PF. What they need is a force at center. They need a guy who can still play at a very high level, but is old enough that his team would be willing to trade him. The obvious target is Marcus Camby.

Detroit should have traded Amir Johnson plus Rodney Stuckey plus Jarvis Hayes (S&T for one year for the minimum salary needed to make the trade work under the cap) for Camby. Keep McDyess and sign a good veteran free agent guard like Josh Childress, or at least a guy like Tony Allen. Also look for a backup SF like Matt Barnes

They could have ran next year with:

PG Billups/M.Chalmers
SG Hamilton/T.Allen
SF Prince/M.Barnes
PF R.Wallace/Maxiell
C Camby/McDyess

That's a good enough team to win a championship.

[Ruzious]

Ooh, I don't like that approach, Nate. I think that go for it all and damn the future approach is something Dallas went for, and they probably have big regrets right now. I'd be looking to trade Billups; not Stuckey. Be on top for 7 or 8 more years; not just 1 or 2. I would say - trade Sheed, but I don't think they could get much value for him. But if Larry Brown is coaching the CharBobs, then maybe there's an opportunity. They traded Big Ben at the right time and stayed near the top. Now's probably the right time to trade Billups.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Ooh, I don't like that approach, Nate. I think that go for it all and damn the future approach is something Dallas went for, and they probably have big regrets right now. I'd be looking to trade Billups; not Stuckey. Be on top for 7 or 8 more years; not just 1 or 2. I would say - trade Sheed, but I don't think they could get much value for him. But if Larry Brown is coaching the CharBobs, then maybe there's an opportunity. They traded Big Ben at the right time and stayed near the top. Now's probably the right time to trade Billups.

I don't know if I'd break up what's arguably been the best backcourt for the past 5+ years in order to get "better." Stuckey (who looks like a tall and skinny version of 50 Cent, BTW) is good, but he's not gonna lead a team to the 'ship yet. I agree with Nate that all they really need is a force at center, and with McDyess as the vet and Max as the energy and youth they'd be all right at PF without Sheed. Maybe they could trade Sheed and some other pieces to the Cats and coach Brown for Emeka?

[nate33]

Ooh, I don't like that approach, Nate. I think that go for it all and damn the future approach is something Dallas went for, and they probably have big regrets right now. I'd be looking to trade Billups; not Stuckey. Be on top for 7 or 8 more years; not just 1 or 2. I would say - trade Sheed, but I don't think they could get much value for him. But if Larry Brown is coaching the CharBobs, then maybe there's an opportunity. They traded Big Ben at the right time and stayed near the top. Now's probably the right time to trade Billups.

Stuckey, Maxiell and A.Johnson are nice players, but they're not stars. They're not good enough to lead Detroit "near the top" for the future. They're just good enough to keep Detroit out of the high end of the lottery and deprive Detroit of any chance for a legit superstar.

By blowing it up now, Detroit is probably going to end up with a 40-45 win team for the next 5 years. They'll be like the Wizards without Arenas: good, but no real hope for a championship. I think they're better off going for broke and having two more 55-60 win seasons before falling off a cliff and rebuilding through the lottery.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

-= original quote snipped =-

By blowing it up now, Detroit is probably going to end up with a 40-45 win team for the next 5 years. They'll be like the Wizards without Arenas: good, but no real hope for a championship.

[Ruzious]

-= original quote snipped =-


Stuckey, Maxiell and A.Johnson are nice players, but they're not stars. They're not good enough to lead Detroit "near the top" for the future. They're just good enough to keep Detroit out of the high end of the lottery and deprive Detroit of any chance for a legit superstar.

By blowing it up now, Detroit is probably going to end up with a 40-45 win team for the next 5 years. They'll be like the Wizards without Arenas: good, but no real hope for a championship. I think they're better off going for broke and having two more 55-60 win seasons before falling off a cliff and rebuilding through the lottery.

Well said, but when they fail to improve next year and then don't have Stuckey, Maxiell, and Johnson to build around... they're going to have the very same problem you want them to avoid - because guys like Prince and Rip are good enough to keep them from falling off the cliff.

The Pistons have proven they don't need a top 10 player to be contenders. And Sheed is not close to the player he used to be. Maxiell and Stuckey - I think can be much better players than you do, and they are winning type players - they don't have to score a lot to be effective. They just need more PT to be outstanding players. I'll even say - Maxiell will be a better player - next season - than Sheed is now - much less than what he will regress to at 34. And it's time to move Amir into the role Maxiell currently has.

[JWizmentality]

More EPIC JUJU!

[Wizards2Lottery]

Horrible bump. For a second I was like **** yeah!

[JWizmentality]

Horrible bump. For a second I was like **** yeah!

I knew it would catch more than a few people!

[DaRealHibachi]

Horrible bump. For a second I was like **** yeah!

I knew it would catch more than a few people!

I hate you...

[WizarDynasty]

We got Cassel former all star--an basketball perimeter player who can go on the court and work with our youngs who also has earned high recognition in the league as a leader. Where is the high basketball ex champion nba big with a high basketball IQ that can exclusively work with our bigs in the post.

Thats the biggest weakness with this staff. A high basketball IQ proven EX-NBA post player that still has something in the tank to work and help our young bigs mature in the post. We did it for our small with Cassell, the same thing should have been done with our young bigs. Come Leonsis we need a sam cassell for our bigs.

[dlts20]

and he's back coaching the Wolves with Billups as his new Cassell. I wonder if he would still want to trade love now that he wants to coach. That job isnt nearly as attractive to me if Im not coaching Love. Maybe he feels he can make it work but they still seem bent on trading Love so maybe not. I think he's just a coach no matter what and cant stay away for long. Being a GM doesnt sastify the itch

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Billups will be head coach within 2-3 years, or maybe sooner.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Illmatic12]

and he's back coaching the Wolves with Billups as his new Cassell. I wonder if he would still want to trade love now that he wants to coach. That job isnt nearly as attractive to me if Im not coaching Love. Maybe he feels he can make it work but they still seem bent on trading Love so maybe not. I think he's just a coach no matter what and cant stay away for long. Being a GM doesnt sastify the itch

Most likely no good coach wanted to take the job because they knew the franchise player's status was up in the air. Flip had to step in himself and be the stopgap.

They'll trade Love by the end of next season, and Flip will probably do a more comprehensive coaching search and hire someone else.

He won't do a damn thing this year but play golf, they're gonna be tanking

[verbal8]

Most likely no good coach wanted to take the job because they knew the franchise player's status was up in the air. Flip had to step in himself and be the stopgap.

Yeah I think Love's status was probably the big issue. I wonder if they were hoping that hiring Joeger and having some success would have been enough to convince Love to stay.

[hands11]

and he's back coaching the Wolves with Billups as his new Cassell. I wonder if he would still want to trade love now that he wants to coach. That job isnt nearly as attractive to me if Im not coaching Love. Maybe he feels he can make it work but they still seem bent on trading Love so maybe not. I think he's just a coach no matter what and cant stay away for long. Being a GM doesnt sastify the itch

Most likely no good coach wanted to take the job because they knew the franchise player's status was up in the air. Flip had to step in himself and be the stopgap.

They'll trade Love by the end of next season, and Flip will probably do a more comprehensive coaching search and hire someone else.

He won't do a damn thing this year but play golf, they're gonna be tanking

Sounds about right.

That or... I looked high and wide and I'm the best man for the job. Didn't someone else do that not to long ago.