ATF Finals: Entity/Moo2k4/Denny Crane/Chingy0007

[J_Ray]

DEBATE TOPIC:

Compared to past summers, this NBA Off-Season has been very active. My question to you is, who has had the best Off-Season in terms of improvement? Who has gone out and put forth an effort of trying to get over the "hump"?

Remember to abide by the rules, and debate about the topic avoiding any personal attacks. Let's get it on!

Debate Rules:

We will start with randomly selected groups. A topic to debate will be posted, and you will have 24 hours to make your first statement.

After everyone posts their opening statement or after 24 hours, it becomes an open debate topic between all of the group members.

After posting, you have to wait 2 posts or 3 hours, whichever comes first, in order to post again. This is to prevent this from becoming a 2 person discussion, only because they happen to be on at the same time while no one else is.

The debate will go on for 3 days, then, if you want, you'll have another 24 hours to make a closing statement.

 

[Denny Crane]

The Pistons fell from ECF several years in a row to 8th seed, 1st round and out. Dumars clearly backed his horses way too long and they grew old together. Sounds like a story with a bad ending.

Yet it is remarkable that the Pistons did make the playoffs while he is rapidly rebuilding the roster. He traded Billups for a huge expiring contract. They weren’t championship contenders with Billups, and he’s a year younger than the 34 year old AI.

Dumars let one of his best players over the last decade go as a free agent: Sheed. Sheed’s 34 years old, too.

Look at the roster without those two:
Stuckey, Hamilton, Prince, Maxiel, and Kwame Brown would be the best 5 players they could put on the court. Maxiel is really short at PF - 6′5″, and has never played starter’s minutes. Brown is an outright bust of a 1st/1st draft pick. Hamilton is the guy you’d expect to be leading scorer, and with only a little help from Prince, they’re quite offensively challenged.

Use the cap space cleared by AI and Sheed departing on 26 year old Ben Gordon and 27 year old CV and the team is set at two positions for the next 4-5 years. For a team that _was_ hurting for offense, Ben Gordon gives them a go-to scorer, and CV is no slouch either.

After those signings, the lineup looks like:
Gordon
Hamilton
Prince
CV
Kwame

Rather solid at 4 positions with a pair of young guards (Stuckey, Bynum) and Maxiel forming the core of a decent 2nd unit.

The C position looks like a disaster, and the roster has small-ball written all over it. Stuckey, Gordon, Hamilton, Prince (at PF), and CV (at C).

So Dumars goes out and signs a couple of veteran bigs: Chris Wilcox and Ben Wallace and the C position looks old but deep. Wallace might have enough gas in the tank to give the Pistons 24 minutes - most of Q1 and Q4, start of Q3. He still can play some D and board and block shots, but is even more injury prone these days than Luol Deng.

After these moves:
Gordon/Stuckey
Hamilton/Bynum
Prince/Hamilton
CV/Maxiel
Wallace/Wilcox/Kwame

I have Hamilton playing some SF since they’ll want to play some small ball to get their wings out there as a unit. They might get pushed around some, but 6′9″ Prince and 6′11″ CV bring decent height and agility.

I haven’t even factored in the three draft picks Detroit added over the summer. All listed as SFs, but they actually bring some height. The big question is whether any can contribute. A lesser question is how much does it take to contribute more than Kwame Brown?

SF Austin Daye is 6′11″. SF Jonas Jerebko is 6′9″. SF DuJuan Summers is 6′8″ and 236 lbs.
That’s 3 guys 6′11″ and another 6′10″ and 3 more at 6′9″. They’re not going to be a small small ball team at all.

Those three rookies may or may not contribute, right? How about bringing in one of the best big man coaches the league has seen in the past decade or more: Brian Hill. Smart move, and all the insurance one can expect for the rooks.

It’s not a championship team, it is a team rebuilding on the fly. That is one hell of a quick rebuild so far. I don’t see any reason they won’t make the playoffs again, and they could be a lot better than anyone expected at the time of the Gordon/CV signings.

Dumars may not even be done yet before the season starts.

 

[J_Ray]

So Chingy0007 has dropped out.....Moo2k4 or Entity care to join in on this?

 

[J_Ray]

Last call for the challengers against Denny, if not Denny wins by default. Pretty sad that a poor college student offers $25 gift card to the winner, and then no one competes

 

[J_Ray]

Congrats to winner by default, Denny Crane....the Priceline negotiator has found a price to buy out the competition

 

[Moo2K4]

Sorry that I wasn't able to compete. Life has been busy so I haven't had much time for SportsTwo in general.