Posts tagged RasheedWallace at FanHouse

You really can't blame Joe Dumars. I mean, if you're a highly successful NBA general manager who's built an annual championship contender through shrewd cap management and a core of team-first players and supplemented with quality development projects like Amir Johnson and cheap veterans, you're going to have little pet projects.

Apparently Joe's newest obsession is signing the greatest draft busts of our time. First Darko Milicic, now Kwame Brown has been added to the "bargain"of $8 million for two years. That's right. Kwame Brown makes $4 million next season. The guy that got booed by the fans of his own team will make $4 million. And people wonder why I'm big on the D-League.

The immediate comparison everyone is jumping to is that of Rasheed Wallace, a former Washington draft pick that initially struggled who goes to Detroit and succeeds. That's the best part about current Pistons fans. Drinkin' the Kool-Aid is almost a religion to them. And this time, it's Kwame flavored!

Oh, and if you're wondering why a picture of Wilson Chandler is attached to the post, just look below to the gentleman auditioning for one of those tasteless Nike ads.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

In the last year, a dark cloud has been cast over the NBA. Or maybe it's more of an oddly colored umbrella. There is a clear conspiracy outlined by bizarre coincidences that are obviously part of a greater conspiracy.

No, not that thing. Or that thing. The other thing.

Bloggers are constantly wondering as to the validity of what is alluded to in hushed tones as "The Cheesecake Factory thing." It began simply, with whispers and vague references. Then, the first comprehensive report was published by ESPN's TrueHoop, outlining the longstanding relationship between NBA players and the Calabasas Hills, CA headquartered restaurant chain.

Then there were more reports. And still more. It has become clear that this is more than just a selective set of responses. This is a phenomenon.

And so, here at the NBA's Las Vegas Summer League, at the intersection of the major and minor leagues, with USA basketball practice mere hours away and a bevy of young NBA players and select veterans in attendance in a popular NBA vacation spot, we elected to test the hypothesis.

Hypothesis: Given the concentration of NBA players, staff, and personnel in Las Vegas, and the ratio of said individuals to the number of Cheesecake Factories, a trip to Cheesecake Factory will result in at least one NBA player "run-in."

After watching the Jerryd Bayless nova-explosion, we headed off to test our theory. Our investigators? Myself, our own Matt Watson, and Frank from BrewHoop. Join us after the jump for our discoveries.

As Watson noted earlier, Baron Davis has been mentioned in some pretty hefty mega-super-uber deal between the Warriors and the Pistons. The rumor is that an Al Harrington and Boom Dizzle for Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups swap would go down. The problem?

Baron can still opt out of his contract, meaning the deal simply could not happen. But Dizzle, through his agent, appears content to get paid $17.8 million next year and stick with the Warriors.

"It doesn't seem likely," [Todd] Ramasar said. "The market could change anytime, but it's unlikely."

[...]"Baron's adamant about remaining a Warrior, but we've yet to come up with an extension," Ramasar said. "As of right now, there's no guarantee that those talks continue, and from a player's standpoint, it becomes emotional."

Here's the second catch -- Baron can't officially not opt out until next Tuesday. And because such a deal between the Pistons and the Warriors would almost certainly have to include a draft pick (as MW, the 14th pick seems reasonable).

Of course, those timelines don't exactly match up. But it's not like the Warriors can't simply pick who Detroit wants and then make the trade for Big Shot and 'Sheed immediately following Baron's decision.

Now, there's puh-lenty of risk involved with that, namely that Baron doesn't opt out. But you would have to figure that Joe Dumars and Chris Mullin would have the particulars worked out ahead of time. Either that or Dumars just told him to hit up on the swell piece Tuesday if he didn't do anything crazy tomorrow. (Read: this smells like a dead end).

When Joe Dumars put his entire roster on the block, he opened the door for a summer of crazy rumors. First came the Carmelo Anthony rumors, which became so rampant that 'Melo demanded an explanation from Denver's front office. Today's speculation du jour? Baron Davis to Detroit.

Geoff Lepper of the Contra Costa Times got the ball rollling by citing an unnamed source within the Warriors who indicates that the Pistons "are now looking at Davis" and would be willing to offer Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace in return. In order to get the money right, Lepper speculates that Al Harrington, who's already thinking about requesting a trade, would be thrown into the mix.

As Tim Kawakami correctly notes, the Pistons would be getting the short end of the talent stick in a Davis/Harrington for Chauncey/Rasheed swap. Could the Warriors sweeten the pot by throwing in the 14th overall pick? Well, possibly, but this deal can't happen on draft day (read: tomorrow!) since Davis has until July 9 to decide if he's going to opt out of the final year of his contract. So unless the Warriors happen to pick someone the Pistons really like, that's a dead end, too.

In other words, there are simply too many moving parts in this deal to think everything could line up perfectly. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News called this rumor "a total fabrication." I won't go quite that far -- Lepper's source isn't just making things up for fun, right? -- but it's possible Detroit's interest has been exagerrated or distorted, much like their alleged "pursuit" of Anthony.

Soon after the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third year in a row, Joe Dumars fired Flip Saunders and announced that he intended to make major changes to his team's core.

At the time, it certainly seemed like Rasheed Wallace was about to receive a ticket out of town. He was painfully inconsistent when the Pistons needed him most and showed a marked lack of focus during the ill-fated playoff run.

But while Dumars is willing to make drastic changes, parting with Wallace may prove to be difficult, especially if he's determined to get equal value in return. As infuriating as Wallace's reluctance to stay in the paint on offense may be, the fact remains that he's one of the best post defenders in the league, and on a team without another legitimate center to take his place there are only a small handful of trades that'd make sense for Detroit.

From the pages of this year's edition of "Trade Rumors That Seem To Spring From The Ether And Return As Quickly" comes a lovely bit of speculation regarding Carmelo Anthony. There have been whispers and insinuations for a few days about Melo potentially being traded to Detroit for some set of pieces.

Combine that with Woody Paige and his WACKY ANTICS(!) and you've got yourself a legitimate piece of buzz. Except Paige's proposal, involving, among others, Anthony, Marcus Camby, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince (yes, all of them) doesn't work according to the cap rules. Nor according to logical thought (a far fetched concept in NBA GMs, I know, but we're talking Dumars, here). Not according to Melo's agent. It does not work on a train, it does not work on a plane. It does not work with the freight, it does not work with BAC of .148. It will not work, Woody You Are, it does not work, not by far.

It seems that more and more the trades that involve two teams talking to each other repeatedly almost never fall through. Conversely, big trades that just "spring up" like the Shaquille O'Neal trade or even the Pau Gasol heist are much more effective. But if you're a fan of the "where there's smoke, there's Carmelo Anthony" approach, throw this one on the pile, see if it lights.

If the Pistons break up their vaunted core, Rasheed Wallace may be the first out of town: in addition to exemplifying the team's problems with consistency and frequent complaining to the referees, he's also heading into the final year of his contract, which makes him valuable to teams looking to unload salary.

While I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion that he's a locker room cancer, there's no doubt that his presence is often a distraction. Consider the events just from the last week:

-- After receiving his sixth technical foul of the postseason (one away from a mandatory league suspension) in Game 5, his profanity-laced post-game tirade about the officials earned him a $25,000 fine.

-- Lindsey Hunter revealed that his teammates complained to Wallace about being so friendly with Kevin Garnett during the Boston series. The complaints were most likely said in jest but sparked a controversy on the talk radio circuit and were the first thing Flip Saunders was asked about in his comments to the press before Game 6.

-- On the eve of the most important game of the season, Wallace was 15 minutes late to Friday's morning shootaround. Players are required to be at the arena at least 90 minutes before tipoff, but, as noted near the end of this article, Wallace cut that too close, as well.

... but there's plenty of time to discuss that, with Game 1 waiting 'til Thursday. Let's discuss Boston's clincher, a road win in Detroit.

Notes from a trip to the NBA Playoffs.

As you can see, Stephen A. Smith talked with Lindsey Hunter yesterday. The whole interview is pretty interesting, but what lit up the local sports talk radio phone boards today was his story (last 30 seconds of the video) about how he and Rip Hamilton complained to Rasheed Wallace about Wallace being too nice to Kevin Garnett.

Several Detroit talk radio hosts (whom, I should add, are rarely actually in the locker room) tried to insinuate from Hunter's story there was some serious discord in the locker room. From the sounds of some of the callers, it set off a mini-panic among fans, or at least those fans who didn't see the clip for themselves and understand the lighthearted context in which Hunter's comments were made.

The Pistons are against the cliff, now. They're at home, but they no longer have the luxury of any more "off games." The switch has to be "on' from here on out. And with the Celtics smelling the Finals, pushing this back to Boston will be difficult. But if anybody has the experience to kick this brutal series back to seven, it's the Pistons. In another of our continuing series, here's our look at 5 things to keep an eye out for tonight in Pistons-Celtics, Game 6.

1. Pierced Lung: Paul Pierce provides the oxygen for this Celtics squad. When his stroke is in rhythm, it's all over but the shouting. In order for Boston to end this thing, Pierce has to get more into a scoring role and concentrate less on other areas. The Celtics can live with Tayshaun Prince going a little nova if they can counter with Pierce, a la Game 7 from the Cavaliers series. What can't happen for the Celts, and what the Pistons need is ...

2. You Don't Know Rip: Rip Hamilton and his offensive versatility is on display late in May. Again. And the Pistons' season hinges on his ability to carry them. Again. And he still won't get enough of the credit. Unfortunately, Rip's got an elbow issue and won't be close to 100%. With the elbow injury, Hamilton's post game is going to be limited with how much he uses his elbows to create space. The Pistons' season hangs on Hamilton and his elbow tonight.