JoeD

I didn't get to see the second half very well because I watched that from the gym imbetween sets so maybe I'm missing something, but it seemed like Dupree was excellent with every opprotunity he had. From time to time I check out how he is doing and it usually seems he gets a DNP, or he is in a combined 2 minutes in 20 second gaps where his expectations include inbounding the ball and playing defense.
How does a team like the timberwolves play him less than we did under Brown last year? IMO he could be starting instead of Hassell, or atleast a often used backup to him or Wally. Averaging 6.1 mpg and playing in only 21 games seems very unfair. Is there some injury I don't know about?

I thought getting traded to Minnesota was unfair to Dupree although I understand why we did it. I thought it might actually be better for his career, but if he isn't even getting a shot in Minnesota no one will ever give him a shot again.

Last year under Brown when Delfino came out, he went in. After his role was adjusted he started getting better and better. He supposedly stayed later after practices than anyone else last year, every night. Then Delfino returns and he goes to the IR.
Then Dumars decides to put him on the playoff roster and keep Delfino out, and he is activated against the Bucks. He scores 20 points in 18 minutes to lead the Pistons, being efficient in the extreme. I think he had a block and a good share of rebounds too, but the pistons site isn't loading the 2004-05 schedules and scores for me atm so I can't check.
So Dumars makes the decisions on Dupree, he proves himself worthy ATLEAST a chance to see if it was a fluke but Brown never played him again. Dupree keeps a incredibly good attitude through out, and is the teams biggest supporter from the bench.
So the next we see him is in the preseason. Before we get to see him there is speculation that he is the odd man out. He surprises many with his play and to quote Laimbeer "That's the last we should see of him in the paper regarding trades or cuts" (or something similar, but that was the gist). Still he doesn't get to play every game even though it's the preseason. He was being efficient on offense. He wasn't even bad at getting his own shot although that isn't really what he was needed for. He was excellent as a second option on offense and getting the same type of hustle plays that we get from Mo Evans. His defense was even better. He was starting to rack up blocks in the preseason and led us from his respective position in that category.
The last game he plays with us he plays 14 minutes, goes 3-3, gets 5 rebounds (2 offensive) and had a blocked shot on Josh Howard after frustrating him with his defense while he was in. Dupree performed in my mind better than Delfino and Evans in the preseason, and although Evans had better numbers, IMO what Dupree did was not preseason fluff but something that he'd be just as capable of in real games, where as Evans was inflated stat-wise in the preseason.

He seems like a perfect role player to me. But since he ran into bad luck under Brown, and then we were inflated in his position and traded him to a team that apparently doesn't want to give him a shot he may struggle to stay in the league.

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Amir Johnson will be better than Al Horford