my cousin works in the Detroit office, and he told me today that, before the Pistons pulled the trigger on the Billups-for-AI deal, they were pondering a Rip+Sheed-for-TMac+Chuck deal. those were the principal players in the deal, with possible allowances for picks either way. at the time, they hadn't extended an offer to Rip yet, and they're still unsure of whether or not Rasheed re-signs with them. as has been widely reported, even though they traded McDyess away, there were talks of him getting waived by Denver, sitting out 30 days, and then going back to the Pistons b/c he's already settled-in there in the rotation. the front office is apprehensive about losing Rasheed for nothing, and with Maxiell, Amir Johnson, the ("agreed-upon") return of McDyess, and the encouraging play of Walter Hermann off the bench (not to mention Kwame in case of emergency), they were willing to part with Wallace. after the trade went through, they extended Rip, and so i'm guessing the offer is off the table. i dunno how i feel about the (now moot) offer. on one hand, i'd be excited about having Rip and Rasheed, mainly b/c Rip runs around screens the way TMac should and Wallace gives us a legit 4/5 option (and an upgrade over Landry/Scola). Rip seems tailor-made for Adelman's offense, and he's still somewhat healthy, at least compared to TMac. and when it comes to Rasheed, i think we all know the positives he brings to the table. on the other hand, neither player commands double-teams, and acquiring Rasheed would almost necessarily make this year a make-or-break one. as consistent as Rip might be, he doesn't have the game-takeover-ability that TMac displays 25-40x a year, and at the very least, doesn't command the respect of the defense the way Tracy does. i'd sorely miss Chuck's defense, but Rasheed is generally regarded as the premier post/PF defender in the league, especially against stars like Duncan, Amare, and Boozer. but while he'd be a great addition alongside Yao, there's the danger that he (& Artest) would bolt if we didn't get that far in the playoffs this year, making this a 1-year rental. most alarming for me was that this trade wouldn't solve our PG issues at all. sure, Rip can bring the ball up occasionally, but PG-by-committee with Skip, AB, Barry, Rip, and Luther doesn't exactly strike fear in the hearts of our opponents. anyway, i thought this news was pretty interesting, and thought i'd share it with y'all. it's always nice to hear that other teams still value TMac, moreso than many Clutchfans do. i'm not his biggest advocate, but after losses, it seems like every member around here thinks our Houston's Big 3 is worthless, and then proposes to ditch everyone.
hmm interesting, I dont think Pistons ever had Rip in trade discussions. Everything we heard over the summer, it was TMac for Sheed and Billups.
For Houston maybe... I don't know that Detroit would have actually gone through with it. I keep saying if Daryl trades Chuck it better be to a team closer to Kentucky.. so that works
yeah, i asked my cousin about that, and he said that the Detroit radio station started some rumor about Billups-and-Prince for TMac (as the principals). this latest talk within the front office came out after watching how Amir Johnson, Maxiell, and Hermann were playing during training camp and preseason.
Artest and Sheed in the fans? That would be a massacre, jk. That would be a really good trade thought, imagine a lineup of this PG Rafer SG RIP SF Artest PF Rasheed C Yao Bench: Battier Scola Landry Brooks Barry Deep!
He's still a large upgrade from Scola, particularly when it comes to defending other PFs. Sheed would have been as good of a REALISTIC PF to play alongside Yao.
Yeah, we missed a good trade. No matter what Detroit can offer we are favored. BTW, Rip+Sheed > Billups + Prince > Billups+Sheed > A first round pick > keep t-mac
Our team would be sick, way better than the Lakers if that happened. Sheed would contain Gasol, then drop threes in his face on offense. Rip would run off of 500 screens, driving Kobe nuts trying 2 guard him. Don't see how Morey could have turned that down, so I'm guessing this is false.
No team is going to be way better than the Lakers. That deal would have made us better though. I wish it happened.