Goubot

Basically, what impact do you think these guys will have on the team this year (or for future years for some of the younger guys). I guess we can extend this to recent draft picks as well (Maxiell, Amir). And I guess we can talk about the offseason subtractions, but I guess I want this thread to be relatively positive, so I'll skip over that for now [LOSING DELK SUCKS].

Here's hoping that Detroit stops riding their starters so much.

Acquisitions
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Nazr Mohammed
Ronald Dupree
Flip Murray
Will Blalock
Cheik Samb

Recent Draft picks
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Jason Maxiell
Amir Johnson
Alex Acker (signed with Greece?)

As for me:
Nazr Mohammed- Nice pickup and recovery for the Pistons. He's been pretty underrated for his entire career, to be honest. His per game numbers are suppressed because he hasn't had significant playing time, but when he's on the court, he's an efficient scorer and an excellent rebounder (if his rates keep up over extended playing time, we don't actually lose that much rebounding than with Wallace. That's a big assumption, though). Still say it's a good recovery because we got him at a fairly reasonable price considering how much dough people are willing to throw at big men nowadays.

Ronald Dupree- He barely played last year, and he wasn't especially good when he played (shot a fairly good percentage, though. If that keeps up he could be a useful backup). I'm not expecting much from him. If he can get Prince some rest, I'll be happy.

Flip Murray- I would've been more happy about this move two years ago. His ability to create shots is undeniable but he's a streaky shooter. I haven't seen him that much really (other than him completely falling apart in the playoffs), so I don't know whether his problem is shot selection or if he's just a really streaky shooter. I caught him with the Sonics in a few games earlier this year, and he could be really dangerous at times. If he develops a more consistent shot and becomes an offensive sparkplug off the bench (the one game I saw him in, I think he scored 18 in one quarter), I'd call this a win. He's so streaky that I don't have much confidence in him. Saunders' system and Billups's playmaking ability might be able to help him get some better shots, though. Who knows.

Will Blalock- I know next to nothing about our 60th pick except that almost everyone was surprised that he was taken so late. He's supposed to be a slick passer but a weak shooter. He's signed to a multi-year deal, so he's obviously impressed.

Cherik Samb- Uh.

Jason Maxiell- He was used so sparingly last season that you can't really make that many judgments based on that, but he did fairly well when he got major minutes (which was all of one game). He's still a beast and a tough SOB. I really like him for some reason even though it's hard to tell how productive he'll be or what impact he'll have. He's been fairly good in last year's summer league, though he has a pretty big free throw problem.

Amir Johnson- Couldn't miss in that one game against Milwaukee and got that awesome windmill dunk in Minnesota, but otherwise a fairly hard read. He was excellent in the NBADL (67% FG, 17.2 PPG, 27.7 minutes) and the summer leagues, but he's probably not ready to contribute.

Alex Acker- Shot poorly in this year's summer league, but he could get to the line with regularity. Another work in progress. Hopefully his playing time in Greece will allow him to mature.

All three have done well in summer leagues (at least in 2005, this year's showing wasn't that impressive for anyone except Amir), for what that's worth. I hope all three flourish (as well as Blalock), but of course I would say that.

Austin Kent

Good thread.

The signing I am most excited about, believe it or not, is Flip. I like to think I've always been a subscriber to the theory that a player doesn't just lose their game over night. I remember when Murray just broke on to the scene in Seattle after the GP-RA trade, now you can argue that any player can score when given the opportunity till your blue in the face, but at the end of the day, I think he will be the offense off the bench that we have been lacking for a few years now.

He wasn't that great last year in Cleveland, but when Hughes went out he was kind of thrust into the starting role, right in the middle of the series. I wouldn't write him off just because he couldn't get the ball rolling. If anything, that series was a blessing in disguise because I'm sure it took his value down. Great signing.

I like Mohammed and the more I think about it the more I like it. I was sketchy at first because it was so quick, it almost looked like Joe D just did it to show Ben we won't miss him. What I am excited about is that now we can play five on five, this past half decade was the longest penalty kill in sports history.

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Goubot

Hm...

Eric Snow.

Flip has the potential to be a real steal as far as salary goes if he can be a spark off the bench. One thing I liked about his game is that he's aggressive and he has a fairly good rate of free throw attempts. He's also willing to take it inside once in a while, moreso than some other shooting guards at any rate. He's fairly speedy, which is a plus with the NBA's new premium on speed. One thing that bothered me was that when baskets weren't falling for us in the playoffs, we couldn't make very many moves with conviction towards the basket for easy field goals or at least free throw attempts.

One reassuring thing about Flip is that with Cleveland, he seemed to regain some of his accuracy (though his turnovers were kinda high in spite of LeBron controlling the majority of the possessions). Check out some of his boxscores towards the end of the year. Only a couple games were really miserable (and a few of them were against Detroit).

Austin Kent

Bah, it's not like Eric Snow ever really wowed any one with his talent anyway. Instead he was just one of those players with an awesome attitude and he reaped the rewards of being on a team that needed it.

I like what you're saying about Flip's speed. We need those players. I was happy when we signed Tony Delk because I thought he would be one of them. I was disappointed when it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Remember Mike James during our championship run? That's what I want to recreate, and maybe Flip can do that.

As far as Mohammed is concerned, nobody could have replaced Ben Wallace two and three years ago, but it's not insane to think his last year's performace could be replaced. Nobody was happy with Wallace last year, so I am confident that with Mohammed in the line up we won't even miss a beat on the court, off the court our identity might change. Maybe I'm wrongly optimistic, but Ben Wallace was a late bloomer...maybe, just maybe, Mohammed will be too.

Wallace started with the Pistons when he was 26, Mohammed is already 29, but a player of the banger variety can succeed into their thirties. Besides, when Ben was 29 years old we won the championship.

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Goubot

Well, that was mostly referring to Snow's transformation from scrappy and effective starter in Philly (not that he was ever really feared, but he was someone worth noting at least, especially on defense) to complete joke in Cleveland. It may be how he's used there, but it's about as striking a dropoff that I can think of off the top of my head. Seriously, he's barely playing like bench fodder.

I knew that Delk was mostly a jumpshooter, but I still liked the signing at the time because he was good at it. Delk did fairly well with what little playing time he got in the playoffs. It's just a shame he was used so sparingly. Delk could also be considered a late bloomer, since his last couple years have been some of his most effective. Since he wandered off to Greece, I'm not sure if he'll be back in the NBA anytime soon.

And the best thing about Mike James (IMO) wasn't his offense per se (though that was fairly good). That year, Brown could let loose Hunter and James at the same time as a second unit and they'd smother everyone with pressure defense. Damn it, I miss having a bench.

Anyway, Murray has a much softer defensive reputation, so he'd need to improve on that to match James.

Last year's drop off with Wallace has been a little overstated. He still anchored the defense, his rebounding slipped just a bit, his blocking rate was nearly the same, and his steals actually went up. Where he really faltered was the playoffs. In the Pistons' last two Finals runs, he's always amped up his game, producing incredible rebound numbers and was a terror with his blocks. Not so much this year, and in a few games Wallace was a non-factor. I saw something of the sort coming when he griped earlier in the season, which is something he never did before.

I've always felt Mohammed has been underrated. No one expects him to replace Wallace defensively, but he's always been above average to good offensively, and he rebounds much better than you'd think (even last year, 5.2 RPG in 17.4 minutes).

And I'd say that in general, I think guards who rely on speed are far more likely to have large dropoffs than big men. A lot of big men have been effective in their mid-thirties, but you don't see nearly that many guards who can retain their value for that long (Cassell is a notable exception, but he's kind of a freak anyway).

Austin Kent

This is exactly why I chose the streak of keeping teams under 70 points as my favourite Pistons memory. I remember watching the two pitbulls absolutely pester anybody who tried to bring the ball up the court.

It is also why, as much as I've grown to hate Mike James (being part Raptor fan), I can never quite write him off as a primadonna, tweener, ballhog.

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Goubot

I don't know how much I can fault him for being a ballhog, especially in Toronto. Other than Bosh (who missed the tail end of the season) and occasionally Charlie V, there isn't really anyone else to turn to. I can't say for sure, though, since I don't watch Toronto very often. I think Mo Peterson was getting better as the year went on, but I dunno.

Maybe he can be aggressive enough in Minnesota to lift some of KG's burden.

Getting offtopic here, but these days are going slow.

Ruff Draft

I don't think Flip's defense has to be worried about. When he got his time in Cleveland he wasn't bad at all. His offense is what we needed the most. He can expldoe for 20+ for us which is something we desperately needed.

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STUCKEY!

NAzr has a fun name, thats my insiteful( i cannot spell woot!) post

Goubot

Flip's defense wouldn't have mattered as much if Ben still anchored the defense, since he could cover up defensive lapses. His poor defense matters more now that Ben's gone, but I think he can make up for it if he provides the bench offense we need.

slyder

I think Nazr will go down this season as one of the most underrated signings of the offseason. He's going to get starters minutes, and provide some sort of offensive presence down low. It's nice to have a banger, that will also work hard on the offensive glass. I understand that losing Ben Wallace is a big blow to this team's intimidation factor, however Nazr might be every bit as efficient considering the pay he is getting.