FanHouse

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. SLAM. On Michael Redd: "THIS MAN WAS TALKING TO HIMSELF DURING THE MEDAL CEREMONY. IF ANYONE READS LIPS, TELL ME WHAT HE WAS SAYING. I THINK HE MIGHT'VE BEEN SINGING THE SOMALI NATIONAL ANTHEM. NO WONDER HE DIDN'T PLAY."

2. WhatIfSports, via BrewHoop. The shocking statistical answer to the absurd question: Dream Team or Redeem Team?

3. A Stern Warning. Carnival of the NBA #59.

4. Ball Don't Lie. Salim Stoudamire's Team USA jersey is the hot fall fashion.

5. Detroit Bad Boys. The odd investigation of Lindsey Hunter.

6. NBA.com. Trraaaade! Suns send D.J. Strawberry to Houston for Sean Singletary. Jersey maker rues the needless extra work.

This offseason, NBA FanHouse will address important questions about the league. It will be a Summer of Answers. First up: the biggest draft busts of the decade.

Joe Dumars is widely recognized as one of the top executives in the NBA, and while the Pistons have been unable to get over the hump since 2004, he's done an enviable job setting up his team to remain in contention through the draft, snatching up guys like Tayshaun Prince (2003), Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson (2005) and Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo (2007) after lottery teams had passed them over.

Of course, Dumars didn't always have such a deft hand at the draft -- and I'm not just talking about a certain Serbian center who went second overall in 2004. In 2000, Dumars selected hometown hero Mateen Cleaves 14th overall out of Michigan State, passing on the likes of Hedo Turkoglu, Desmond Mason, Quentin Richardson, Morris Peterson, DeShawn Stevenson, Marko Jaric, Eduardo Najera, Eddie House and (this one hurts the most) Michael Redd.

It didn't take long for Dumars to realize his mistake (Cleaves was dealt to Sacramento after one season), and as a consolation prize he was rewarded with another lottery pick. Unfortunately, he committed an even bigger blunder by taking Rodney White ninth overall. Rodney who? Exactly.

Well, you can say one thing for Kwame Brown. No matter what he goes through, no matter how low he sinks, he's always got a plucky attitude.

The Detroit News today has a story on Kwame officially signing with the Pistons, and he had some interesting words about his move back to the Eastern Conference.

"I am happy to be back in the East where I can use my size and defensive prowess more to my advantage than I could out West. I am excited by the way the team has embraced me. This is a class organization."

Oh, really, Kwame? Really? You're glad to be back East again? I don't know if you've been paying attention, what with all the cakes around and everything, but the East now boasts Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert, Chris Bosh, Andrew Bogut, Emeka Okafor, Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood, and Al Horford. And those are just the above average big men that are universally considered better than Brown. We're not even going to touch the mediocre, sub-mediocre, and lowball players who haven't had this happen to them.

Look, I'm as much for redemption stories as anybody else, but coming in talking about how you're excited to play in the same conference as the defending champions who feature an absolutely devastating frontcourt? Not so good.

But hey, like the Hold Steady says, we gotta stay positive.

(HT: Yahoo! Sports)

That fair-faced German-Argentinian striker, Walter Herrmann, apparently will snub the Old World and return to the NBA -- the Pistons, more specifically -- based on a report on an Argentine news site translated by Detroit Bad Boys, and since confirmed by the Detroit Free Press.

Herrmann had an unimpactful 2007-08, getting buried by Sam Vincent in Charlotte before getting buried by good players in Detroit. So why would the guy return to the Pistons, with guys like Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton and even Amir Johnson and Arron Afflalo competing for minutes in the swing positions? Well, that shake-up Joe Dumars promised is still queued up, and Prince remains at the head of the exit list as one of the more desirable players for outsiders.

Herrmann will likely not start at any point in his NBA career. That's a bit too bad -- he could be a 20-point scorer on the right team (like a pre-Caron Butler Washington, or as the small forward in Sacramento). Herrmann has an absolutely outrageous jumpshot, he's smart with the ball, and (at the two) he's a good rebounder. As Watson notes at DBB, he also has enormous hands, which helps all of the above.

If nothing else, like Kwame Brown, he provides either capable minutes as a back-up, or an extra trade chip to make salaries work. He'd be more secure in Russia or Greece, but it's hard to fault a guy who is most certainly an NBA-caliber player for staying in the league.

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.

When Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that one of the blockbuster sign-and-trade offers on the table was from an "Eastern Conference big dog," a lot of Pistons fans began to wonder if Joe Dumars was finally ready to make his long-awaited move to break up the core.

At the moment, that does not appear to be the case, as both A. Sherrod Blakely of Booth Newspapers and Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press report today that the Pistons and Hawks have not spoken in several weeks. Blakely speculates that a deal could still happen if the Pistons were willing to part with Tayshaun Prince, but even if the Pistons agreed, a deal might not be so easy.

What exactly is the problem? For one, most armchair GMs are forgetting the fact that Atlanta won't be able to get dollar-for-dollar back in any sign-and-trade deal for Smith. Since it's all but certain that Smith's next contract will include at least a 20% raise, he'll be a Base Year Compensation player, meaning the Hawks will only be able to accept 50% of the first-year value of his contract back. In other words, if he signs a contract worth $12 million a year, it'll only count as $6 million in a trade. (Dave Dial of MLive's Full-Court Press explains the nitty gritty details.)

Want a wild rumor, even worse than some photos of Josh Childress in a Greek airport? Enjoy this bomb from the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick: the Detroit Pistons might be trying to trade for Ron Artest.

[F]rom what I was told from one source close to the Pistons, they [the Pistons] are [interested]. I've yet to get this info from more than one person, so stay tuned. But much like the Mavs' situation, this could be one of those where the player the Kings want (perhaps Tayshaun Prince) would be different than the one offered (Jason Maxiell, anyone?).

Sacramento would do backflips for Prince or Amir Johnson; Mad Max might be an opening-day starter at the power forward, but then again so might Wayman Tisdale. But alas, you skeezy non-Sacramentans: Artest at home in the Palace is the hook.

Last year, Ron-Ron was mercilessly booed in Detroit. Artest actually had a decent game, feeding off the negative energy, turning it into bombast and exhilaration. But the level of hatred coursing through the air that night seemed (at least on TV) borderline serious, borderline violent.

Could Detroit fans actually embrace The Ron? I'll defer to our resident Pistons fan on that query, though I do surely anticipate a Tourette's-like outburst and some throwing of items.

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

It's been three years since Amir Johnson was drafted ... and he's still only 21 years old. I caught up with him on Thursday and talked about what it's like being such a young old hand and how he's preparing for the 2008-09 season.

Matt Watson: It's your third year in Summer League. You're kind of a grizzled vet right now.

Amir Johnson: (Laughing) I'm a young, young vet. I feel like it a little bit, yeah.

MW: Do you feel like you're in a bit of a leadership role, taking some of the young guys and telling them what to expect?

AJ: Exactly. When I came in first as a rookie, [the veterans] told me what was right from wrong, and I'm kind of being that same guy to help these guys, telling them right or wrong, and they're kind of looking at me for advice from me. It sounds surprising because I'm the youngest one still on the team, but I've just got experience, and I'm really helping the guys.

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

Say you have courtside seats at a summer league game. The action on the court is happening mere feet in front of you. What would you want to do? Bury your nose in a laptop, of course. Join Matt Moore and I as we chat about the NBA Summer League while watching the Pistons and Bobcats square off at 6pm ET.

Just like last summer, the Bulls are going nowhere in their negotiations with Luol Deng and Ben Gordon. In theory, each player has a bit more leverage than they did a year ago considering they're only 12 months removed from unrestricted free agency, but they're both coming off sub-par seasons, and with the Grizzlies being the only team left with more than the mid-level exception left to spend, there aren't any would-be suitors capable of forcing Chicago's hand with an offer sheet.

That said, it's not yet set in stone they return to Chicago. If the Bulls become convinced there's no hope in signing them to an extension, they might consider a sign-and-trade. And should that happen, HOOPSWORLD's Bill Ingram thinks a division rival will come calling:

The Chicago Bulls would ideally love to keep Luol Deng, but with negotiations going the way they're going it's likely the Pistons get serious in talks with Chicago. Tayshaun Prince would come back in trade and he's a veteran who could make life easier for new head coach Vinny Del Negro. Prince isn't exactly a vocal leader, but he knows how to win and he's all business.

Such a move could work out for both teams. Prince may not be a vocal leader in terms of screaming on the court or providing interesting soundbytes to the media, but he's one of the most analytical players in the game who can frequently be seen during games telling players where they need to be on the court, whether he's in the game or not.