The Piston's are OK with just a few minor adjustments...one of them being the departure of Chris Webber. Congrats to the Cavs on a well-earned trip to the finals.
The real season: NBA
- Thread starter Paul Wozniak
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Well they didn't age as quickly as your heat did, but Mr. Dumars will have to do some roster adjusting. To stand pat will doom this team to 3rd place behind Cleveland and Chicago. It's been a GREAT 5yr. run, but know it's time to retool. Look for Billups to see these things the same way and opt out of his contract and leave town via free agency. Webber and Davis probabily won't be resigned, Rasheed, Nazr Mohhamed, and Flip Murray are all trade bait. This will open cap space and playing time for Maxiel and Amir Johnson. Plus we have 2 first round draft picks this year. Now is a good time to get younger. I say lose everyone older than Rip Hamilton, take our lumps for 2 seasons, and retool for 2 seasons from now.
Great win for the Cavs. Thank you Boobie!! Without his great shooting, the outcome of this game may have been different. Bring on the Spurs! By the way--would be more than happy to take Billups off the Piston's hands.
Sorry Paul...the Heat got old in one season....the Pistons got old IN ONE SERIES!!
They need to get you ALOT faster than Miami because OTHER than Prince, Stick and Billups...most are past their prime and are depended on for heavy minutes.
Pistons front court is old. It may be time to find another home for Sheed. I seriously doubt that Webber will be back. We do have two young players ready to step in, (see previous post), Flip Murray can opt out of his contract, and probabily will. Lindsey Hunter is conteplating retirement. Dale Davis is looking to move on also. Word is Zach Randolph may be available from Portland. It will be an interesting off - season. I've also heard rumors of a shake up in Miami also. Both of these teams need to retool if they want to stay competetive with Cleveland and Chicago. I'm rooting for Cleveland in the finals, all though I think they will get smoked in 5 games by San Antonio.
Nazr was an aquisition that Mr. Dumars would like to undo. That guy is a slug. Prince on the other hand may be close to untouchable. By the way, Prince probabily played more minutes then any other player on the roster.
MOST of the dead OLD WEIGHT on the Heat does not start or contribute heavy minutes other than Alonzo Mourning...and I ASSURE you that 90% of the NBA teams would LOVE to have HIM coming off the bench....the retooling will be MORE indicative of bodies than talent. You can count on Payton, Eddie Jones, Antoine Walker and Michael Doleac....the rest of the team is BARELY over 28 other than Shaq. So the team is quite young....Next Year, they will be in the upper top 10 teams in the East...might even make the Finals, I mean, Cleveland is a good team but by NO MEANS an elite team....not even in the East...so ANYTHING is possible....but Cleveland is very young...so that holds in their favor.....
Cleveland won with LeBron and four guys from the playground. What happens when they get some talent to play with James? Salsa, you are seriously overrating your Heat. If these guys are so good, what happened when Wade went down? Why didn't these guys step up?
Paul, Paul, Paul....in round one...Cleveland played Washington...after their best PLAYERS went down late in the season...the Wizards were probably THE WORST team to EVER play a playoff round. Then they played a SLIGHTLY better Nets team. The Cavaliers have a nice nucleus of decent young players, a DECENT coach, AT BEST and one of the top 3 players in the league in LeBron.....please don't play them to be giant killers. Then beat a Pistons team that was NOT as good as we ALL thought. And in the end, a very bad match-up for Detroit because LeBron could not be covered by NO ONE on that team. Face it, IF the Pistons don't get young REAL fast and don't sign Billups, they are in DEEP trouble. If I read correctly, no other team had an older front line.
As for what happened when Wade went down, it was obvious that Shaq can no longer carry a team....BUT, he is STILL one of the top 5 centers in the game and STILL cannot be handled by any ONE player in the league. The Heat have to sign their best defensive player in James Posey and decent younger back-up for Jason Williams. Other than that, their team is pretty much set. And after hearing Reilly's comment's, I assure you that team will be in MUCH better shape and will not take the regular season so lightly. Shaq and the rest have already been put on notice.
Be nice to Salsa, Paul. He's suffering from Heat-stroke ....
Nope...there are times that teams need a good ole fashion ass-whippin' to wake their lazy asses up....and that sweep was a serious wake-up call.
If the Heat sit on their hands with that lineup, it will be just fine with me. One less team to worry about. I'm not calling Cleveland world beaters, I'm calling them the Eastern Conference Champs. In my book, that makes them the team to beat. The Pistons will not be sitting on their hands this off season. I wouldn't put so much faith in a team that looked that bad against Chicago. Face it, Shaq is not that motivated anymore, Payton was over the hill 3 yrs. ago, Jason Williams is a never-gonna-be, and Antoine Walker, well good luck with that head case. I do hope D. Wade comes back healthy, I love watching him play, and I love his commercials with Barkley. Riley will change this team Salsa. Count on it. As for the Pistons, I'm hoping for some major retooling. I'd rather see them take some lumps for the next 2 seasons and be competetive in the 3rd, then trying to squeeze another failed attempt at the championship with our definitely "aged" front court. The time has come to build the NEXT 5 yr. contender. Definitely better then the Heat's 1 yr. and out program.
Paul.....You know full well that the Heat did NOT build this team for a one and done. Look, last year...the team rested on it's laurels and Reilly addressed that with his final press conference. He has already stated that the players that are here for next year better come in...IN SHAPE.
As far as the Pistons retooling...EVERYONE that was in the playoffs in the EAST was old except for the Cleveland. And like I said, let's call a spade a spade here....Cleveland road to the Finals was pretty easy....Wizards, Nets and THEN they had a difficult series in Detroit....so we thought. ALL those teams depended heavily on older players in key spots. Look at the WEST and most, except for San Antonio, are young teams with young nucleuses(sp?). Now as far as looking bad against Chicago, the Heat have had problems with them for the last 2 seasons. The Bulls have won the regular season series against the Heat for the last 3 years....Chicago JUST has their number. Yet, the Pistons WON the 1st 2 games, and then got swept after that....don't know which one is worse. Now, the issue with Shaq has NOT been motivation as much as it has been injuries due to not being in shape. Payton.....was ONLY depended on because Jason Williams was injured half of the year....when he was healthy...he did EXACTLY what was asked of him. Antoine Walker...has not caused ONE SINGLE problem while on the Heat...has NOT been a head case AT ALL. I don't know where you might be getting your info from but other than initially bummin' about not starting, he has known his place on the roster. Those 2 with Eddie Jones, are more than likely good as gone. This team WILL compete for the Eastern conference title next year, I WILL bet money on that! Cleveland and Chicago will be the team to beat next year...more so than Cleveland. UNLESS Cleveland does something to help Lebron, they will not be so lucky in the seeding as they were this year. I assure you Washington, with a HEALTHY team, will also be VERY hard to beat....
Maybe they didn't build the team for a one and done; but that's exactly what's happened. I look for them to go into hibernation once again ...
Wishful think on your part....this negative thought/talk on your behalf HAS TO BE the side affects of 'someone' demanding a trade....
You ALREADY have no football and if Koby would leave.....OMG, the 2nd biggest market would LITTERALLY be a sports ghost town...
If I cared, I guess that would mean something. I have no allegiance to the L.A. market. Couldn't give a rat's ass about the Dodgers. Yawned when the Raiders left town. Hope Kobe gets traded (tired of his whining, plus I'm a firm believer in the concept that there's no "I" in team). It's not wishful thinking on my part; merely an observation. The team looked moribund in the playoffs, and that's when teams are supposed to rise to the occasion.
Wishful think on your part....this negative thought/talk on your behalf HAS TO BE the side affects of 'someone' demanding a trade....
