Stan Van Gundy will test the Pistons Summer League team

[cool breeze]

How can a coach make this summer league thing fun? This is a meat grinder, hard breaker experience for many players. They fear it but step into the flames of the fire. Two practices a day and games close together with a lot at stake for the fringe guys who are begging for some luck to the Basketball God. Those secure with their placement in the draft have something to prove. After the 2nd day of the practice schedule, players will experience loss of mojo in a big way. What happened to my legs will be the common thought when they try to dribble penetrate and shoot. Survive this and learn from it players and good luck.

Remember the first summer league game of Andre Drummond? He was a lost puppy and many thought that the Pistons first round pick was in the toilet. We had another Darko perhaps. No Piston fans, the summer league is not a predictor of which team made the right draft pick. The coaches get to know the players and see how capable they are of listening to instruction. And the coaches will also be interested in how hard the players battle especially in practice. It is great that the Summer League is about to start. How dull it is when we have no basketball games? We are all addicted to this sport and especially the Pistons.

[WTF]

DAMN!!!

Sho' you right, Oracle.

Beautiful, talented, intelligent, dedicated, physically strong, focused, no tattoos, this young lady has it all, no doubt!

How wrong they were... meet Americas premier Ballerina Misty Copeland! Misty Copeland is first African American principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre... and she's awfully hot too 

 

 

Yeah I'm Nasty Like That

[Sebastian]

DAMN!!!

Sho' you right, Oracle.

Beautiful, talented, intelligent, dedicated, physically strong, focused, no tattoos, this young lady has it all, no doubt!

How wrong they were... meet Americas premier Ballerina Misty Copeland! Misty Copeland is first African American principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre... and she's awfully hot too 

 

 

[Sebastian]

Sho' you right, Oracle.

Beautiful, talented, intelligent, dedicated, physically strong, focused, no tattoos, this young lady has it all, no doubt!

How wrong they were... meet Americas premier Ballerina Misty Copeland! Misty Copeland is first African American principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre... and she's awfully hot too 

 

 

[WTF]

At what point do we start getting players that have either peaked or made strong impacts on previous team that can come in and be helpful right away. I know some think of Jackson that way I don't see it, we keep gathering rejects IMO. We aren't really luring players tough to get we're getting player just hoping to land somewhere and anywhere

I hear you, but we're in that position because of something that you are very expert at doing... not letting the people we have develop to the point that they are good!

It's difficult to do this if you keep throwing out talented players just because they don't develop as fast as you want, and then by default, you wind up supplying the competition with good players while at the same time you're depleting your own stock of good players!

I won't even name the number of players that left and are doing good in the league, we all know who they are, but already the same process is rearing its head again to drive away talented players WAY before their rookie contracts expire!

Rookie contracts have a certain length for a reason, it takes time to evaluate a player, and a player may prove out in 1 year or 4 years, it's hard to say. Monroe for example was a complete unknown and now he's probably 80% known, because he will add additional elements to his game in the years to come!

So we do find ourselves in a situation where we need quite a few veterans to compete, but we put ourselves there! In order to change, we have to change the way we evaluate youngsters and let them grow to help us in the future!

That means that it's just as important to understand what they do well as much as it means complaining about what they don't do well.

I won't argue your point because yes we have giving up perhaps on several players only to see them thriving elsewhere. What I'm arguing against is the number of player on the roster that literally fit the characteristic of "wait and see" But in the same breath we have also seen some players that never reach their potential for one reason or another. We simply can't have a roster that lacks the stability of a veteran starting player on the team while we wait on growth.

Okay they grab veteran n the downside of their career such as bring CB back, then having Butler and Prince and so on. This isn't a bad thing with the right mixture of youth but the team always seemed void of any real leadership that transition on to the court largely because while these guys were good for the locker room they brought very little onto the court.

Expecting things to happen quickly in player development isn't a bad thing because we seen things happen quickly with a lot of players on this team some by their second year. Look at Joe in his first and second year and who was drafted much later than KCP and Stuckey, look at Prince in second year and to a degree Stuckey. We can added Rodman and Salley Houston and Hunter as example of players quickly developing by their second year and making a substantial impact on the team. Watching players like Monroe labor to reach potential and some others for 5 season is too long.

To some of those player credit they had the benefit of playing with veterans around them, but there is no way on Earth that an entire team of young players will every reach it's potential in a proper amount of time if they are not being lead by a proven veteran winner on the court with them to help in the growth process. (Especially at PG)

[Oracle]

I've never seen anything like this, hell, I've never even heard anything like this, Karl's behavior is really odd!!!

“Sacramento ownership, dismayed over Karl’s fractured relationship with Cousins, has had lawyers studying Karl’s contract, trying to determine if there’s a way to terminate him for “cause,” and free themselves of the three years and nearly $10 million left guaranteed on his deal, league sources told Yahoo Sports.” - Kings reportedly looking into viability of firing George Karl with cause

[cool breeze]

Do we finally have a good two way player who can play against other starting point guards in the NBA? The money talk is pretty crazy for a guy who has not yet proven he really is a point guard who can lead a good NBA team on offense. And it appears he is not rated very high as a defensive player. Meanwhile, Jennings has stated that he plans to retire perhaps after this season. He is a young guy to be thinking about retirement but Jennings is a pretty frugal guy and might haver saved a lot of cash. In the back of my mind I have this thought that perhaps Spencer Dinwiddie will be our starting point guard sooner or later. He can bring defense. He actually insists on good spacing when he runs the offense. Dinwiddie is a smart basketball player. Hopefully, he will show that he actually is a pretty good shooter.

The small forwards who will be on the open market are not a sure thing for any team. They all have flaws. Have one decent season and your value soars. But what about next year. Stan Van Gundy doesn't have an easy job. He needs players but few are good enough to command the money they think that they are worth. get out your crystal ball Stan and polish it. We need luck and smart decisions right now. Carroll played really well in the playoffs. He plays tough defense. I have a hard time believing that Atlanta will not offer him a ton of money.

[Oracle]

At what point do we start getting players that have either peaked or made strong impacts on previous team that can come in and be helpful right away. I know some think of Jackson that way I don't see it, we keep gathering rejects IMO. We aren't really luring players tough to get we're getting player just hoping to land somewhere and anywhere

I hear you, but we're in that position because of something that you are very expert at doing... not letting the people we have develop to the point that they are good!

It's difficult to do this if you keep throwing out talented players just because they don't develop as fast as you want, and then by default, you wind up supplying the competition with good players while at the same time you're depleting your own stock of good players!

I won't even name the number of players that left and are doing good in the league, we all know who they are, but already the same process is rearing its head again to drive away talented players WAY before their rookie contracts expire!

Rookie contracts have a certain length for a reason, it takes time to evaluate a player, and a player may prove out in 1 year or 4 years, it's hard to say. Monroe for example was a complete unknown and now he's probably 80% known, because he will add additional elements to his game in the years to come!

So we do find ourselves in a situation where we need quite a few veterans to compete, but we put ourselves there! In order to change, we have to change the way we evaluate youngsters and let them grow to help us in the future!

That means that it's just as important to understand what they do well as much as it means complaining about what they don't do well.

[WTF]

GM Stan may want to consider the following moves, during Free Agency:

1: Allow the market to set Reggie Jackson's value. Somewhere near $48 million for 4 years ($12 per sounds about right). There only two teams that are starving for a starting PG (Knicks and Rockets).

2: Agree to move F@ckin' Jodie Meeks and Anthony Tollivier to Orlando for Tobias Harris in a S/T to offset a salary for Harris somewhere near $13 million for five years. Tobias will not want to play for Scott Skiles, again, and Meeks and Tollivier will help the Magic with their shooting.

3: Offer Bismack Biyombo a contract somewhere in the $3-$4 million for 4 years area.

Then WE roll with:

PG: Jackson/Jennings/Dinwiddie
SG: KCP/Hilliard
SF: Harris/Stanley Johnson
PF: Illyasova/Quincy Miller
C: Dre/Biz

Note: Jackson and Jennings can play together, as well as Tobias Harris and Stanley or Stanley and Illysova or even Illyasova and Q. Miller or Q. Miller and Stanley.

This sh!t is going to be interesting.

I really have to disagree with this approach because haven't we all had enough this trip down Hopeful Lane waiting to arrive at some potential that may never come. I don't care what position it comes from but we need a proven veteran on this team (a better fitting player like what we hoped out of Josh)

At what point do we start getting players that have either peaked or made strong impacts on previous team that can come in and be helpful right away. I know some think of Jackson that way I don't see it, we keep gathering rejects IMO. We aren't really luring players tough to get we're getting player just hoping to land somewhere and anywhere.

It one thing having a handful of hopefuls but not an entire team full and that's what we been doing since 2008 and it's time SVG and us fans to think bigger, it's not impossible to land solid proven vets not role players but starters from other teams. It's Time To WIN Now!

[Oracle]

How wrong they were... meet Americas premier Ballerina Misty Copeland! Misty Copeland is first African American principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre... and she's awfully hot too 

 

 

[Sebastian]

Oracle wrote:
If I'm to be honest, I never liked the SVG team that did go to the finals, I always thought they shot the 3 ball way too much for their skill level. If they were on, they could beat anybody, if they were off, they get blown out... I hated it!

I detest the "live by the 3" philosophy. Used as an exclusive or at minimum 80% of a team's identity is not a smart approach.

Truth be to, if Love and Kyrie would have not been injured, the Cavs would have beaten the Warriors. The Warriors played good enough defense to win, against guys who were playing out of their normal rotations and spots.

If you'll noticed in Game 6, the Warriors continued shooting 3's with 14 seconds remaining on the shot clock with under 5:00 minutes remaining in the game (not smart basketball) and a lot of those shots they were missing.

But back to Head Coach Stan, he has never properly coached the PF position well enough.

As of this time (Tuesday, June 30, 2015), I would grade Stan Van Gundy in the following way:

Trades: B - He's made some pretty smart trades. Butler and Williams for Illyasova should be a good trade. The Singler and D.J Augustin for Reggie Jackson was a smart trade. Even the Will B. for Joel Anthony was a good trade.

Free Agency: F - Signing dudes like F@ckin' Jodie Meeks and not signing other SGs that were on the market at that price or less; Caron Butler should be thankful to get $10 million during his last two seasons in the League; and allowing Moose to pimp his ass.

Cap Management: D - paying Josh $8 million for the next two seasons ('15-'16 and '16-'17) is just not smart at all. If Josh stays in the Western Conference, Stan will be paying Josh to play 2 games against OUR Pistons. If Josh, comes back to the Eastern Conference, it could be 3-4 games that Josh will be paid to play against US, in each of the next two season. Dumb!

Coaching: C - He only was able to win 3 more games (32) than the previous season.

Drafting: INC. - Dinwiddie looks like he may be a player, needs more minutes and games to prove himself. Stanley, so far, talks a good game. We shall see. Who knows Hilliard may become somebody.

@Lemon 1 - OMG, the only FA they see us getting is our own restricted Jackson, not a pretty picture! Although I'm surprised that Harris would go to the Celtics for 10M per, since I'm sure SVG would go to at least 12M for him. We'll see.

@Lemon 2 - You're right, I guess I didn't think of it that way! If Dinwiddie distributes properly, everybody should get fed! Great thinking Lemonpen!

@Murph - If I'm to be honest, I never liked the SVG team that did go to the finals, I always thought they shot the 3 ball way too much for their skill level. If they were on, they could beat anybody, if they were off, they get blown out... I hated it!

I'll say this, SVG was ahead of his time, but even today, I still favor balance! So can this work with Dre, a 4 out one in type offense? Yeah, but you better have consistent knockdown shooters that deliver under pressure, and those are VERY hard to find!

GM SVG: So far, I also like his drafting and trading, but his FA work has been very suspect with the likes of over paying Meeks, picking up Gray & Martin haven't worked out so far.

Wise brings up some valid concerns as do you, and SVG needs to hit at least a double, but most likely a triple as a GM for us to have a good shot this season!

[Oracle]

@Lemon 1 - OMG, the only FA they see us getting is our own restricted Jackson, not a pretty picture! Although I'm surprised that Harris would go to the Celtics for 10M per, since I'm sure SVG would go to at least 12M for him. We'll see.

@Lemon 2 - You're right, I guess I didn't think of it that way! If Dinwiddie distributes properly, everybody should get fed! Great thinking Lemonpen!

@Murph - If I'm to be honest, I never liked the SVG team that did go to the finals, I always thought they shot the 3 ball way too much for their skill level. If they were on, they could beat anybody, if they were off, they get blown out... I hated it!

I'll say this, SVG was ahead of his time, but even today, I still favor balance! So can this work with Dre, a 4 out one in type offense? Yeah, but you better have consistent knockdown shooters that deliver under pressure, and those are VERY hard to find!

GM SVG: So far, I also like his drafting and trading, but his FA work has been very suspect with the likes of over paying Meeks, picking up Gray & Martin haven't worked out so far.

Wise brings up some valid concerns as do you, and SVG needs to hit at least a double, but most likely a triple as a GM for us to have a good shot this season!

[Murph]

While I like Van Gundy's draft picks (Dinwiddie, Johnson and Hilliard), that's about all I like about him.

I think SVG has given away or driven out Moose and Smith, two hugely talented and physical PFs that he couldn't figure out how to use properly.

And I'm skeptical whether his plan of surrounding Drummond with shooters will work. I was never all that impressed with Van Gundy's handling of the Magic. I always thought the Magic should have achieved much more than one trip to the finals, with the best center in the league playing in his prime, and I always blamed SVG for the Magic not achieving more. Now we'll watch as SVG tries to build the same kind of team around Drummond.

Will it work? I have my doubts.

[lemonpen]

I'm a bit concerned about how many things we're trying to accomplish/discover in summer league.

Last year the focus was on KCP, and that was easy to evaluate, but this year, we have a sh!t load of questions we're trying to answer, and that means we can't focus as well. Here are the sub plots!

1. Stanley Johnson is likely #1, but IMO, shouldn't be because he likely won't start, and will get to play no matter what he does
   
2. Quincy Miller really needs evaluation because if he can fill a slot, it clears up some of the requirements we would have had to expend money for in free agency
   
3. Dinwiddie should be more of a known quantity, but you always want to get a feel for where players are, and this is important because of free agency again... he could save us the cost of picking up more guard insurance
   
4. Hilliard needs a look, but he's likely the lowest priority of all, but you still want a good look at him, just in case you want to do something with F**king Jodie Meeks.
   

It's hard to have more than one featured player in summer league, let alone 3-4, and come away with the information you're seeking.

I guess the real concern is that we will make a decision about a player based on this and it could be really off because nobody got the opportunity to show their stuff! Oh well, it is what it is!

BTW, here's an article on the subject: Summer League checklist topped by gauging Stanley Johnson’s NBA readiness

As long as Spencer does his job everyone else should have an opportunity to shine. I'm guessing that Miller will be the only one under great pressure to perform given his non-guaranteed contract.

[lemonpen]

If SB Nation is correct then GM Stan better blow the dust off of plan B.

Here are predictions on where the top 50 NBA free agents will sign

May have to dig a little deeper and up the ante.

[Oracle]

I'm a bit concerned about how many things we're trying to accomplish/discover in summer league.

Last year the focus was on KCP, and that was easy to evaluate, but this year, we have a sh!t load of questions we're trying to answer, and that means we can't focus as well. Here are the sub plots!

1. Stanley Johnson is likely #1, but IMO, shouldn't be because he likely won't start, and will get to play no matter what he does
   
2. Quincy Miller really needs evaluation because if he can fill a slot, it clears up some of the requirements we would have had to expend money for in free agency
   
3. Dinwiddie should be more of a known quantity, but you always want to get a feel for where players are, and this is important because of free agency again... he could save us the cost of picking up more guard insurance
   
4. Hilliard needs a look, but he's likely the lowest priority of all, but you still want a good look at him, just in case you want to do something with F**king Jodie Meeks.
   

It's hard to have more than one featured player in summer league, let alone 3-4, and come away with the information you're seeking.

I guess the real concern is that we will make a decision about a player based on this and it could be really off because nobody got the opportunity to show their stuff! Oh well, it is what it is!

BTW, here's an article on the subject: Summer League checklist topped by gauging Stanley Johnson’s NBA readiness

[Sebastian]

GM Stan may want to consider the following moves, during Free Agency:

1: Allow the market to set Reggie Jackson's value. Somewhere near $48 million for 4 years ($12 per sounds about right). There only two teams that are starving for a starting PG (Knicks and Rockets).

2: Agree to move F@ckin' Jodie Meeks and Anthony Tollivier to Orlando for Tobias Harris in a S/T to offset a salary for Harris somewhere near $13 million for five years. Tobias will not want to play for Scott Skiles, again, and Meeks and Tollivier will help the Magic with their shooting.

3: Offer Bismack Biyombo a contract somewhere in the $3-$4 million for 4 years area.

Then WE roll with:

PG: Jackson/Jennings/Dinwiddie
SG: KCP/Hilliard
SF: Harris/Stanley Johnson
PF: Illyasova/Quincy Miller
C: Dre/Biz

Note: Jackson and Jennings can play together, as well as Tobias Harris and Stanley or Stanley and Illysova or even Illyasova and Q. Miller or Q. Miller and Stanley.

This sh!t is going to be interesting.

[WTF]

@Don, No one should be throwing SVG a blanket of blind faith to cover up every decision he makes, I didn't do for Joe and it's not going to happen in the case of SVG either. SVG gets some benefit of doubt but not a free pass on having his decisions not questioned and right now he has 6 guys at 6"6 maybe 7 and to small PG and not one 7 footer.

As far as the Johnson ability to play SF or not play there is nothing about his game that say's he's the next Charles Barkley. I know you were all gun-ho for drafting Johnson my preference was drafting Kaminsky or someone of similar height. Again the problem again is we have 5 to 6 guys on this roster with almost the exact physical attributes that we could be forced into playing SF. I'm not saying Johnson can't play SF I'm saying I'm not confident he could play 82 games at SF effectively period and that I prefer a taller player at that position.

@lemonpen, Thanks for the list because it proves my point that no matter how we look at we are/or will be undersized more times than not. You did name a few that went on to have great careers so there is a chance, but I would rather have a KD, James, Melo size SF

[Sebastian]

Yo, Oracle, I would not be surprised if Stuckey finds his way to Cleveland. Lebron has always liked Stuckey's game and Stuckey is the type of guard who will give the ball to LeBron and Kyrie and get out of their way and can receive the ball from Lebron and/or Kyrie with 5 seconds left on the shot-clock and make something happen.

Houston would be another good landing spot for my boy, Stuckey, too.

If they sign Stuckey to backup Irving, they'll have two broke down PG's that might ensure that ONE of them is healthy when the playoffs roll around 

[Oracle]

If they sign Stuckey to backup Irving, they'll have two broke down PG's that might ensure that ONE of them is healthy when the playoffs roll around 

[Oracle]

Since Don brought it up, that legally allows me to dish the dirt!

Joe Dumars Rod & Staff!!!

We're done with Joe screwing us, so we reject his Rod!


And we're done with his, as you said, "Staff of Idiots"! First his team of assistants...


And his closest advisors who also double as Euro Scouts... may be relatives of Darko


No Joe, we aren't idiots

[cool breeze]

After reading the posts today, it appears that few of you have any faith in Stan Van Gundy and his staff. You worry a lot about that small forward position much like you did before last season when you dreaded Kyle Singler possibly winning a starting position again. Last summer few worried about how Josh Smith would shoot the ball. It was a given that Josh would possibly make the All Star team. Now both Kyle and Josh are gone. Smith did well on another team while Singler led the team in 3 point shooting at over 40% before he was used as a trade piece to get an upgraded point guard. None of you saw that stuff happening. Now most of you are 100% sure that there is no way Stan Johnson can be successful playing small forward. He is too damn short. What the hell was Van Gundy thinking? Even though Johnson has a wide body weighing 245 lbs with good quickness, you say he cannot match up with a 6 foot 9 inch player. Austin Daye was much taller and that is why Dumars drafted him. Somehow meeting the height requirement didn't work out so well for us. I watched D. Green play against much bigger players in the playoffs but none of you said much about that. I like taking things on an individual basis. Who is the player? What is in his heart? How hard does the player work on his game? How hard does the player work on preparing himself for individual match ups from night to night? There is no doubt that Van Gundy needs to sign a vet small forward who has shown success in the league. Nobody doubts that and there have been many interviews with Van Gundy making that statement. It is funny to me that you fans seem to think that you know more about which direction the brain trust should go than the brain trust. Stan knows what he can do and what he won't be able to do this season. He knows that he needs to sign one small forward and one center/power forward with size. Piston fans we are no longer under the spell of Joe Dumars staff of idiots. There are solid hard working front office people working their asses off to make this team better before training camp. Good things will happen.

My only worry right now is about the returning players we are all counting on next season. There are a lot of questions in my mind about the ceiling of Andre Drummond. Is he a lame free throw shooter for life? Will he be willing to give a max effort on defense consistently? Can he stay out of foul trouble? Can Dinwiddie develop into the players I think he can become? And the same goes for KCP and Meeks if both return. I correct myself here because many of you have indicated the same worry relating to our shooting guards. My opinion is that all of the new players should get a pass for at least one season including the power forward picked up from the Bucks who I believe will be much better player for the Pistons relating to winning games than Monroe could be if he returned. The pressure should be placed on the returning players Drummond, KCP, Meeks, Jackson-Jennings, and Tolliver if he is not traded. Piston returning vets need to show that they are not losers. If they fail to show a new edge, a bigger rebuild will be necessary. I believe that is the way Stan Van Gundy is looking at things too. If those players are slacking off this summer, I doubt Stan will be patient this time around. How many new players will be added? I predict one quality guy and a fringe rotation type vet.

[Sebastian]

WISEFAN wrote:
I'm still banging my head in confusion about the draft not that I think the players we drafted don't have talent it just that again it doesn't make sense  to me considering we already had Dinwiddie, Meeks, and KCP so when I look at Johnson and Hilliard being drafted I just don't see having 5 guys basically playing the same position or various position on the same team.

Yo, Wise, at this point I would even add Cartier Martin to the aforementioned list. Head Coach Stan likes to play Martin, sometimes, too. Don't ask me why.  

Wise, I think you're on to something here!

IMO, Johnson can play SF, and I won't gripe about you saying he looks like a NBA SG, because that was my first reaction to his actual height measurements, so it is debatable!

What I do find interesting is what you're saying about the number of 6'5/6'6/6'7 guys we have running around the place! Lemon di an excellent job of delivering the stats, which is why I believe SVG will sign a more normal sized SF to start!

I'm not really concerned about Johnson's position, I just know he's going to be a PLAYER! This signing is going to put pressure on multiple positions, and that's good, players perform better with competition!

I won't speculate on who could get the boot, IMO, that will settle itself, but one of them is likely gone by the Feb deadline, and I agree Dinwiddie is not in that group, he's a real keeper at PG! All I got to say is that Meeks better come out hitting a lot of shots, and KCP better be more consistent with his... just saying!!!

Moose Predictions: IMO, if teams really look at Moose, he should be in the same situation as last year... waiting until the end and hoping! I just don't see him fitting well in most places. If you have a young team and want to run, Moose is not your man! If you have an older team and don't care about running, Moose can score, but you'll need defense and he can't defend!

That's not to say that teams won't believe that they can either change him or come up with a defense that helps him, somebody always thinks they're smarter, so Moose will get an offer, he's skilled enough to help somebody.

So who does he go to? I think the old story is true, it's likely the Knicks, here's the list in the order I pick,

1. Knicks
   
2. Boston
   
3. Lakers
   

I'm still banging my head in confusion about the draft not that I think the players we drafted don't have talent it just that again it doesn't make sense  to me considering we already had Dinwiddie, Meeks, and KCP so when I look at Johnson and Hilliard being drafted I just don't see having 5 guys basically playing the same position or various position on the same team.  

Dinwiddie makes sense because he is a PG with sized and I like him, he often carried the same mannerism of CB and I like that.  I also can see paring him with any of the SG of equal size to give us a large back court but this leads to the question of wanting to keep either Jackson or Jennings.

Johnson who they want to call a SF. BTW he kind of favor KCP in his photo I don't think he's an NBA SF so while I can see Johnson, Dinwiddie, and Pope all on the floor together at times I'm just not sure if it works consistently.   It just seems that something has to give sooner rather than later for this to really make sense to me if SVG intention are to go after a veteran SF.  

Free agency is coming in 2 days so hopefully this will clear some things up because I'm not sure what direction SVG is going,  If I had to guess I think Jackson is not retained,  and that either KCP or Meeks are gone (Likely KCP) in SVG efforts to clean house of things all Joe Dumars. If Meeks is gone its in a cost saving thing or to acquire another big.  

I really would like to see this team getting out of the habit of forcing pieces where they don't fit.   Can someone please list all the NBA starting SF in the league currently that are 6"6 or struggling to be 6"7.  I just strongly feel that our SF should be 6"8 to 6"10 in height.  

My Moose Guess for certain he's gone but I get this feeling that it done in a multi-team S&T scenario that will involve 4 to 5 teams (LA, NY, Portland, NO and us.   Not sure what we're going to get out of it but I know that some Major Players will be involved.  I don't see a lot of drawn out haggling going on this summer teams are going to move quickly.  A ton of moves on the first day of free agency.      

[lemonpen]

I hope like heck that the rumors are true about Moose suitors being aplenty.   Everyone outside of Det is capped at the same salary.   Only Texas, Tennessee and Florida teams have a financial advantage due to the absence of a state income tax.   So now things boil down to glamour of the city and ability to win.    
I heard a statistic claiming that despite all of the non $$$$$ factors players talk about, roughly 80% of them sign with the organization offering the most $$$$$$$.

If it comes down to N.Y. and L.A., Detroit might win.  One (hopefully both) of them may be willing to pony up players, draft picks, something or anything to consummate a S&T paying the most.  They can afford it now and it will be a drop in the bucket in a year. We need more assets.        

[Oracle]

Wise, I think you're on to something here!

IMO, Johnson can play SF, and I won't gripe about you saying he looks like a NBA SG, because that was my first reaction to his actual height measurements, so it is debatable!

What I do find interesting is what you're saying about the number of 6'5/6'6/6'7 guys we have running around the place! Lemon di an excellent job of delivering the stats, which is why I believe SVG will sign a more normal sized SF to start!

I'm not really concerned about Johnson's position, I just know he's going to be a PLAYER! This signing is going to put pressure on multiple positions, and that's good, players perform better with competition!

I won't speculate on who could get the boot, IMO, that will settle itself, but one of them is likely gone by the Feb deadline, and I agree Dinwiddie is not in that group, he's a real keeper at PG! All I got to say is that Meeks better come out hitting a lot of shots, and KCP better be more consistent with his... just saying!!!

Moose Predictions: IMO, if teams really look at Moose, he should be in the same situation as last year... waiting until the end and hoping! I just don't see him fitting well in most places. If you have a young team and want to run, Moose is not your man! If you have an older team and don't care about running, Moose can score, but you'll need defense and he can't defend!

That's not to say that teams won't believe that they can either change him or come up with a defense that helps him, somebody always thinks they're smarter, so Moose will get an offer, he's skilled enough to help somebody.

So who does he go to? I think the old story is true, it's likely the Knicks, here's the list in the order I pick,

1. Knicks
   
2. Boston
   
3. Lakers
   

I'm still banging my head in confusion about the draft not that I think the players we drafted don't have talent it just that again it doesn't make sense  to me considering we already had Dinwiddie, Meeks, and KCP so when I look at Johnson and Hilliard being drafted I just don't see having 5 guys basically playing the same position or various position on the same team.  

Dinwiddie makes sense because he is a PG with sized and I like him, he often carried the same mannerism of CB and I like that.  I also can see paring him with any of the SG of equal size to give us a large back court but this leads to the question of wanting to keep either Jackson or Jennings.

Johnson who they want to call a SF. BTW he kind of favor KCP in his photo I don't think he's an NBA SF so while I can see Johnson, Dinwiddie, and Pope all on the floor together at times I'm just not sure if it works consistently.   It just seems that something has to give sooner rather than later for this to really make sense to me if SVG intention are to go after a veteran SF.  

Free agency is coming in 2 days so hopefully this will clear some things up because I'm not sure what direction SVG is going,  If I had to guess I think Jackson is not retained,  and that either KCP or Meeks are gone (Likely KCP) in SVG efforts to clean house of things all Joe Dumars. If Meeks is gone its in a cost saving thing or to acquire another big.  

I really would like to see this team getting out of the habit of forcing pieces where they don't fit.   Can someone please list all the NBA starting SF in the league currently that are 6"6 or struggling to be 6"7.  I just strongly feel that our SF should be 6"8 to 6"10 in height.  

My Moose Guess for certain he's gone but I get this feeling that it done in a multi-team S&T scenario that will involve 4 to 5 teams (LA, NY, Portland, NO and us.   Not sure what we're going to get out of it but I know that some Major Players will be involved.  I don't see a lot of drawn out haggling going on this summer teams are going to move quickly.  A ton of moves on the first day of free agency.      

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