So the Pistons want a Mulligan for not drafting Anthony when they had the chance? That may have been the worst draft pick since Bowie over Jordan.

 

That's not fair. Yes, the pick stunk. However, make no mistake, they don't win the 2004 title without Tayshaun Prince developing into a defensive stopper, and that doesn't happen with Anthony around. Obviously, they'd be better off in the long haul with Anthony than with Milicic, but that 2004 team doesn't come together like it did if Anthony's there.

 

In terms of player value, Detroit would get the better end of that trade. However, the downside would be having to absorb Martin's crappy contract, and that balances it out somewhat. If they could talk the Knicks into a Martin-Zach Randolph swap, it would be tremendous value for Detroit (though it wouldn't help the salary situation at all). The Knicks might be interested, since Randolph is a terrible fit with Eddy Curry, and an even worse fit for a Mike D'Antoni offense, but Martin has thrived in an up-tempo offense before.

A Detroit rotation that looked like this would be interesting:
C - Camby, McDyess
PF - Randolph, Maxiell, Johnson
SF - Anthony, Hayes/bargain FA
SG - Hamilton, Afflalo
PG - Stuckey, Atkins

That's a STRONG lineup and fits well together.

 

Trading Billups now, rather than in two years when his game starts to fall off a cliff, is the right move. Fact is, for all the talk about "leadership", he hasn't exactly provided it the last couple years. It kills me to say that, but he hasn't.

Melo, I think, needs his own team to be a leader. Any team including Allen Iverson is going to be AI's team, for better or worse.

 

Hamilton does most of his work off the ball; he rotates off screens and works off set plays. He's seldom actively demanding the ball. Randolph I would worry a little about, I admit; he's a bit selfish. However, neither of the centers (Camby/McDyess) need the ball much, and Stuckey would be running the offense and looking for shots to get things jump started. I think there would be enough shots to go around.

 

I think Joe Dumars is taking the position that it's better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late. And with Billups, yeah, he's the team's leader, but the leadership needs a shakeup.

I don't know that the window is closed; they could bring back the same core and be contenders next year, but they'd have to basically rely on something like Kevin Garnett or LeBron James getting hurt or hitting a bad funk in the Eastern finals. As constructed, this team is probably not talented enough to get by the Celtics next year.

As for Stuckey, he looked very good in the playoffs, and the Pistons were better with him on the floor than Billups in the Celtics series. Now obviously, much of that (most of it) is due to Billups being injured, but I think he's ready, and so do they.

 

that would be cool.. all new faces

 

Carmelo to Detroit? Do it. Detroit will never get out of the first round again.

 

im a Nuggets fan and i would love that trade

 

Cmon man that was one of the worst draft picks of all time, theres no justifying it. The team would have been better taking Milicic off and putting Anthony on. Anthony could have been held back with a team of vets like Detroit was. Honestly Dumars is lucky they had such a good group of players already or he'd have been fired for that draft pick. I still can't imagine what people were thinking with Milicic, watching him its painfully obvious that he's not worthy of a lottery pick. Anthony however, was an obvious talent worthy of a top pick.

 

Who do you think built that team? Who picked up Chauncey Billups when five other teams cast him aside? Who salvaged the Grant Hill departure by getting Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins in return? Who drafted Tayshaun Prince? Who drafted Mehmet Okur? Who traded Jerry Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton? Who made the tough call to fire Rick Carlisle and replace him with Larry Brown? Who stepped in and made the deal to get Rasheed Wallace? Who took a chance on Antonio McDyess? Who skillfully managed Detroit's salary cap situation to allow them the flexibility to make moves, and avoided the lousy contracts that have submarined half the teams in the NBA? Who drafted Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson with picks outside the lottery? Who put together the team that won a championship, and went to six straight Eastern Conference finals, after taking over a team that was a basement dweller?

I don't want to get personal, and I usually respect your opinion, but that's not the brightest thing I've ever read on this board. Joe Dumars is one of the top 5 GMs in the NBA. One bad pick does NOT put him on the firing line. And if he does, all I can say is I hope you never run an NBA franchise.

 

yeah can't hate on Dumars.. it'd be like hating on Theo Epstein (almost)

 

Seriously there was no need for any of this, you mistook what I was saying in a big way. He was lucky the team was built with good players, whether by him or not because if he had missed this bad on that pick and the team had stunk, he would have been fired. Most front office people get fired for completely bombing the 2nd pick in the draft, he had a great team built so he could withstand throwing that draft pick in the trash can. Serious trash post though, there was no need to talk to me like that, I have no respect for this post, I'm not some 10 post troll.

 

If I misunderstood you, I apologize. And for the harsh language. That was probably a bit much.