PISTONS: Pistons Mailbag

Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois answers your questions about the Pistons and NBA. Click here to submit your questions - please include your name, email address and city/state on the form.

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THURSDAY, July 17
Shamir (Tel Aviv, Israel): The Nuggets just gave Marcus Camby up for basically nothing. I know he’s 34 and has a monster contract to absorb, but don’t you think if the Pistons would have brought him on board they would have instantly become major contenders? Plus, Amir, Jason and Cheikh would have someone to learn from.

Langlois: But the Pistons could not have done the deal that the Clippers made. Because Elton Brand left the Clippers, they were operating well below the salary cap and could absorb Camby’s big contract without having to give up a similar amount in return. The Pistons would have had to have been about $10 million or so under the cap to have been in position to do that deal. A number of other Mailbag questioners wondered if Denver did the Camby deal as a precursor to another trade, perhaps the long-rumored one involving Carmelo Anthony and the Pistons. I think the Camby deal was strictly about getting a big contract off the books. The Nuggets were deep into luxury tax territory last year, meaning that removing a $10 million contract is actually a $20 million savings for Denver – in addition to not having to pay Camby, the Nuggets won’t have to send a matching amount to the league for being above the luxury tax limit.

Kenneth (Washington, D.C.): Amir Johnson has played pretty poorly throughout the Summer League against competition you would expect him to dominate. So how do you see his play translating to the regular season? And the way the Pistons collapsed about the Bucks in the fourth quarter, is that a reflection of Michael Curry’s coaching?

Langlois: He’s not played poorly, Kenneth. He hasn’t put up big numbers, but I’m not sure the Pistons threw the ball to him in the low post and told him to go to work more than once or twice in their first three Summer League games. He was extraordinarily active defensively. New assistant coach Darrell Walker told me that after he saw Johnson for a few days, he told Joe Dumars that Johnson was the type of player who did things defensively that aren’t reflected in the box score, beyond the blocked shots and steals, things like trapping guards and recovering in time to take away passing lanes to his man, harassing the point guard in the backcourt to chew up some of the 24-second clock, getting his hands on loose balls, etc.

James (Canberra, Australia): I’m wondering if Rip Hamilton is almost guaranteed of staying considering Michael Curry said that Arron Afflalo would be the backup shooting guard next year.

Langlois: I wouldn’t read too much into that, James. Curry was just talking from the standpoint of the roster he has at his disposal right now. Curry is perfectly willing to coach whatever roster Joe Dumars gives him when the season rolls around. But his mind-set right now, until told differently, is that he has all hands on deck – Hamilton, Billups, Wallace, McDyess and Prince included. But I’ve said all along that I believe Hamilton is the least likely of the core group to be dealt.

Alex (Grand Rapids, Mich.): What do you think of the idea of the Pistons developing Walter Sharpe as Prince’s backup instead of signing a swing man out of free agency? Are there any legitimate free agents left the Pistons would be interested in? Also, do you think the Tracy McGrady rumor has any legs on it after Stephen A. Smith stated that McGrady told him he had some interest in Detroit?

Langlois: Sharpe has given the Pistons some signs that he might be ready for a limited role as Prince’s backup, but I don’t know if they’d feel confident enough going forward with him as their first option at small forward off the bench. The question will be do they think they can cobble together a backup small forward between Sharpe, Arron Afflalo and somebody else, say, Walter Herrmann, should they re-sign him as a free agent.

Borat (Auburn Hills, Mich.): Do you have any more info on the supposed trade offer of Chauncey Billups for Andris Biedrins? I actually think it would be a good move for Detroit.

Langlois: I think it makes more sense on the surface for Golden State, which is badly in need of a point guard. I don’t buy the line of thinking that Billups wouldn’t be a good fit for Don Nelson’s system. He’s one of the top handful of point guards in the league. If Nelson would reject Billups based on fit for his system, then he really ought to consider tinkering with his system. The Pistons, unless they would have had another move ready to go, wouldn’t seem to have a glaring need for Biedrins, though, I’ll admit, a 22-year-old big man with his ability to affect games with his defense and rebounding would be tempting.

Jessie (Houston): Trent Plaisted has been impressive on the defensive end thus far in the Summer League and seems to have a very high basketball IQ although he has been very quiet on the offensive end. He had a few post moves at BYU. How would you evaluate Trent’s game at the next level?

Langlois: I’m working on a story on Plaisted now, Jessie. I talked to him the other day in Las Vegas and he said he knows he needs to work on his mid-range game. Michael Curry has been effusive in his praise of Plaisted, especially his ability to defend the pick and roll, which has become the single most important play in the NBA – and the single most important play to defend.

Lyndsey (Lake Orion, Mich.): If Joe Dumars is unable to move one of the core players because he can’t get a top player in return, do you think it could create the “chip on their shoulders” mentality in the veterans, who once again might see it as not being “wanted” and go back to trying to prove people wrong?

Langlois: Interesting theory, Lyndsey, but my hunch is they’d see it as Dumars still valuing them highly enough to not want to deal them for what he’s being offered. I suppose if one player knows that a particular team turned down a certain deal, he might want to prove something to that particular team. I don’t put much stock in artificial motivation and that’s what that seems like more than anything.

Jeff (Farmington Hills, Mich.): I know everyone will think I’m an idiot, but I would consider trading for Ron Artest. There has never been a question about his talent and intensity, just his sanity. The night of the brawl – I was there – he was easily the best player on either team. The only question is if he can avoid going psycho. I’m pretty sure you could trade Tayshaun for him even up if the salaries work. He has more upside than the other deals being bandied about.

Langlois: And way more downside, too. For all of Artest’s ability, bad things seem to happen to teams he joins. Even if the brawl had happened anywhere else, I’d have a hard time seeing Joe Dumars rolling the dice on Artest when he’s dealing from the position of having won 59 games last season.

Matt (Windsor, Ontario): I was looking at Jarvis Hayes’ profile and it said last season he signed a four-year contract with the Pistons. So how was he a free agent? Did he have a player option or something?

Langlois: Not sure where you were looking, Matt, but that was bad information. Hayes signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with the Pistons last August. He just signed with New Jersey.

Shawn (Garden Grove, Calif.): Do you think the Pistons will try to sign Matt Barnes?

Langlois: I’ve not heard his name linked to the Pistons, Shawn. He’s an interesting player who would be attractive to any team at the right price. For whatever reason, Barnes hasn’t been getting much play, at least not on the surface.

Jose (Detroit): Who are the Pistons targeting now that Maggette, Brand and Davis are off the board?

Langlois: Your question implies that they ever targeted any of those three guys, which is wrong. Brand and Davis were priced way out of their range – only teams that had more than $10 million in cap room, and there were three or four of them in the entire league, could seriously enter bidding for them – and so was Maggette as soon as Golden State stepped forward with a $10 million-a-year deal. The Pistons are waiting for the market to cool. There was no free agent out there willing to sign for the MLE or below who could start for them, and they weren’t going to pay starter’s money to players whose talents indicated they would be playing relatively insignificant roles for them. That might make fans impatient, but how would they feel next summer if, for instance, Rip Hamilton opts out of his contract and the Pistons can’t enter the bidding for him because they’d committed $6 million in 2009-10 salary to a backup small forward?

Josh (Walled Lake, Mich.): If you look around the Eastern Conference, it seems like it’s getting stronger with Elton Brand coming to Philadelphia, Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto and Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee. Do you think the Pistons’ main focus is to bring in a premier scorer and, if so, who would you like to see come to Detroit?

Langlois: No question, Josh, Philadelphia and Toronto have put themselves in great position to be major players in the East. Those two, plus the Pistons, Boston, Cleveland and Orlando give the East a top six that is going to match up much better next season with the top six in the West than the last few years. As for what the focus of the Pistons will be, Joe Dumars has said his preference is to bring in someone who is an impact player at either end of the floor. Offensive impact players are more numerous than defensive impact players, so I guess a 20-point per game scorer is more likely to be added than a Ben Wallace, circa 2005-level defender. But Dumars really is looking more for the right fit at the right price.

Kevin (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.): If the Pistons don’t make a trade, that still leaves them with a need at backup small forward. I’d be happy seeing Walter Herrmann back. Do you know if they’ve considered Ricky Davis at all? He’s a huge character risk, but that guy can flat-out score. Also, I’m not sure of the rules on trades. Would the Pistons have to trade a player to get one back or could they trade for a guy who makes around the same as they could spend on a free agent? I know Portland is looking to ship out either Travis Outlaw or Martell Webster and Milwaukee is probably looking to dump Desmond Mason since they got Jefferson and Alexander. Could the Pistons trade some of their extra draft picks for one of those guys?

Langlois: Haven’t heard much on Walter Herrmann for a while, but I didn’t expect to – unless he signs with a European team, he’s one of those guys whose status won’t be determined until teams make their more significant moves. Remember, the Pistons didn’t sign Jarvis Hayes last year until the middle of August. Davis? On the surface, he doesn’t seem like the type of player the Pistons would seek, but they might know him differently than his reputation. The way he played in Miami this year would seem a red flag. As for the second part of your question, no, the only time you can take a player in trade without sending a like amount back in salary is when you are under the salary cap. Case in point: Last year on draft day, Golden State shipped Jason Richardson to Charlotte for the No. 8 pick in the draft, Brandan Wright, because the Bobcats were about $20 million under the cap and could absorb all of Richardson’s huge contract. Teams over the cap have to trade salaries within 125 percent of each other. So – and this is rough math here – if the Pistons were to trade for a player who makes about $5 million, they’d have to ship back a player making somewhere between $4 million and $6 million, give or take a few hundred thousand.

Ammar (Farmington, Mich.): What happened to Will Blalock? Didn’t we draft him like two years ago? Does he still have a chance to be part of the Pistons in the future?

Langlois: The Pistons didn’t pick up their option on Blalock after the 2006-07 season. He played in Europe for part of the season last year, then finished up in the NBA D-League. The Pistons do not have any claim to his rights, but they’re free to negotiate a contract with him, as are all 29 other NBA teams.

Mike (Hazel Park, Mich.): What is Jason Maxiell’s salary, what about the biannual exception and how much can we use this year to a sign a free agent?

Langlois: Maxiell is scheduled to earn a little less than $2 million this season. The biannual exception allows teams that are over the salary cap to sign a free agent every other year for about $2 million a season. The Pistons, as all teams who are over the cap, can use their mid-level exception to sign a player. The MLE was just set last week at $5.58 million for the first year of a multiyear deal. So the Pistons have all of that to use and also have the right to use the biannual exception, plus veteran’s minimum contracts if Lindsey Hunter and Theo Ratliff express the desire to play another season.

Jason (Tallahassee, Fla.): I know Joe Dumars is trying to get somebody else’s best player, but wouldn’t it make more sense to just go after a team’s best bench players? If Houston is trying to make a run for it, I would think they would want a guy like Chauncey. But instead of Tracy McGrady, how about Shane Battier and Bobby Jackson?

Langlois: Battier came within in a minute per game of playing more than both McGrady and Yao Ming a year ago, so he’s not a bench player. He gives Houston many of the same things Tayshaun Prince gives the Pistons, but to have those two sharing the position would be a pretty big luxury. If the Pistons are going to dangle Chauncey Billups, you’d have to think they’d want more than someone who could job share. As for Jackson, nice player, but getting up there in age and he’s been brittle.

Walt (Oak Park, Mich.): I read recently that Mr. Davidson sold his NHL franchise, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Is he planning on selling the Pistons and Shock, too?

Langlois: Not a chance. When I interviewed him a year ago and we began talking about how the value of NBA franchises has escalated since he paid about $6 million or so for the Pistons in 1974, he said it didn’t matter how much the franchise was worth today because he was never going to sell it, anyway. He’s also said a plan for succession of ownership is in place, as well, to keep it within the family. The decision to sell the Lightning came from a variety of factors. An interested ownership group approached them, for one. The fact Mr. Davidson wasn’t getting down to Florida very frequently any more made it easier. And I think there was also some concern that the NHL’s finances didn’t get fixed to a sufficient degree even after the lockout of a few years ago.

MONDAY, July 14
Kevin (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.): I am officially panicking. I heard that a Toronto newspaper reports that the Pistons are trying to trade for Tracy McGrady. Why? Yes, he’s a terrific player, but he’s always hurt 30 times a year. Why give up two core guys to get him? Joe D said he wanted to bring in a player to take the team to the next level. How is McGrady going to do that? He’s never even taken a team to the second round of the playoffs?

Langlois: Kevin, I’ll let your question represent the 8 million others I got on the subject of the McGrady rumor. Let me start by saying this: I can’t confirm one way or the other the reports that the Pistons and Houston were talking about a McGrady trade that would involve Chauncey Billups or Tayshaun Prince or both, but it’s been pretty roundly rejected by media outlets in both cities. But it wouldn’t surprise me if those teams had talked about McGrady since the season ended. When Joe D said he had talked to 10 or 12 teams and wasn’t talking about anybody’s second- or third-best players, McGrady would have been a logical contender for that list. Why? Because Houston has floundered with the McGrady-Yao pairing and probably feels some urgency to shake up their chemistry in the same way Dumars said he wished to. Would there be an inherent risk in the deal? Absolutely. There usually is. But McGrady is, flat-out, one of the five best pure scorers in the game. If the Pistons were to seriously consider dealing for him, you can bet your bottom dollar that Dumars would have thoroughly vetted McGrady’s health history and ran it past training guru Arnie Kander for his take. As for McGrady’s playoff record, until a month ago Kevin Garnett had gotten his teams out of the first round exactly once in his career. I think it’s silly to put that history on McGrady. For most of his years, he’s been on teams that didn’t have the roster to make much postseason noise. People tend to forget that when McGrady’s Orlando team lost a 3-1 lead to the 2003 Pistons, Detroit was the No. 1 seed and Orlando the No. 8 seed.

Bingo (Detroit): Are the Pistons planning on shipping Rasheed out? He was clearly the weak link in the playoffs. Something needs to happen. A few other teams in the East are getting better and if they keep the same roster I don’t even think the will make it to the Eastern Conference finals.

Langlois: Bingo, fans need to calm down a little and let the summer play itself out. Kevin Garnett didn’t get traded to Boston until July 31 last summer. Major trades, unless they happen on draft night, usually don’t occur until after the dust settles on free agency, and that hasn’t happened yet. But if the worst-case scenario for the Pistons is status quo, is that so bad? They’ll have a new coach who by every indication is held in high regard by his players and they have several young players who are ready to not just play but make an impact. Yes, the East will be deeper next year, but the Pistons won’t head into next season feeling they’ve been passed by.

Matt (Windsor, Ontario): What free agents do the Pistons have that they can re-sign without using the mid-level exception? I think Lindsey Hunter is one of them.

Langlois: You’re right, Matt. If Hunter and Theo Ratliff come back for one more season, the Pistons would most likely sign both to veteran’s minimum contracts, which for their years of service would put them somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million. The good thing about veteran’s minimum deals is that the league picks up a good chunk of the contract and only about half of it counts against the salary cap. It was a provision put in to prevent teams from shunning worthy veterans to sign cheaper young players. Besides the MLE, which was set last week for the coming season at $5.585 million, the Pistons also have the biannual exception to use, which is roughly $2 million. I don’t think they’ll have to use the biannual, though, because if both Hunter and Ratliff return, that puts the roster at 13. And the Pistons probably will sign two veterans with the MLE.

Steve (Rochester, Mich.): A strong defensive force down low is imperative to stopping someone like Kevin Garnett. Are there any big men left that would sign maybe a low-money, one-year deal like maybe Kwame Brown? The Pistons seem to have a knack for turning good players into All-Stars.

Langlois: Not with the way the roster is presently constituted. If the Pistons bring back Theo Ratliff, they’d be pretty stacked up front with Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson and Cheikh Samb – and Maxiell and Johnson, for sure, and Samb, perhaps, are all in line for expanded roles. Besides, Kwame Brown should get more than a low-money, one-year deal. He’s fallen far short of the expectations for a No. 1 pick overall, but considering DeSagana Diop got a full mid-level exception deal, Brown should get something close.

Scott (Orion Twp., Mich.): Could you explain how salary matching works with trades and what exceptions there are? Also, does Cheikh Samb still weigh195?

Langlois: Scott, there’s not room enough and I don’t have a firm enough grasp of it myself, but whenever I have questions about the minutiae of the salary cap, I go to this http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm Web site. As for Samb, no, he weights considerably more than that now. He’s spent a lot of time in the weight room in the past two years. I’d say he’s probably at about 240 right now. That’s still not a lot of weight on a 7-foot-1 frame, but his upper body, especially, is now pretty solid.

Marcus (Kalamazoo, Mich.): What are your thoughts on trading for Eddy Curry? What would it take to get him?

Langlois: The Knicks would dump him in a heartbeat. Curry has three years left on his contract – though the final two are at his option. But he isn’t very likely to opt out of those two years, which would pay him more than $21 million, unless he has a monster year next season. And I don’t see Curry as a very good fit for the way Mike D’Antoni likes to play. But the Pistons don’t have $10 million worth of dead weight hanging around to ship to New York to make the deal work.

Erges (Tirana, Albania): Why does NBA.com use feet and inches instead of meters and centimeters to measure players’ height? Don’t you think it’s an old technique and very uncomfortable for people like me and others living in Europe? Stuckey at Afflalo are both listed at 1.96 meters but it’s clear that Afflalo is 2 or 3 centimeters taller than Stuckey. Rasheed definitely seems to be taller than the 2.1 meters he’s listed at.

Langlois: The NBA is expanding globally, Erges, but it’s still a league with 29 of its 30 franchises in the United States, which doesn’t use the metric system. As for Stuckey and Afflalo, they’re actually pretty close. I’m not sure if it’s exact, but it’s pretty close.

Natan (Tel Aviv, Israel): It would be insane to trade Chauncey Billups. Stuckey needs the mentoring. It’s too early to put the whole team on his shoulders.

Langlois: If the Pistons trade Chauncey Billups, they’ll get a good player back. And there will be plenty of good players still on the team. They won’t be putting the whole team on Rodney Stuckey’s shoulders. But I disagree that Stuckey needs “mentoring.” He’s ready to shoulder whatever load the Pistons give him.

Stephen (Clarkston, Mich.): You said in a recent Mailbag that Samb could compete for the spot as fifth big man in the rotation though that role would probably go to Theo Ratliff. Since Theo is up there in age, why not start the season with Samb and then insert Ratliff in February?

Langlois: It’s possible the Pistons would handle Ratliff similarly to the way they used Lindsey Hunter last year, I suppose – keep him with the team but spot his appearances on the active list in order to keep him fresh. But the reason that worked so well with Hunter is he gave the Pistons something truly unique with his harassing on-the-ball defense. Samb gives them a lot of what Ratliff provides – a shot-blocking force and a long, active body defensively. The other part of the equation that can’t be measured right now is how that scenario would appeal to Ratliff.

Giles (Riverside, Calif.): It makes a lot of sense to sign Josh Childress to the full mid-level exception. If Tayshaun gets involved in a deal – he always seems to be “the sweetener” – it would be like the Pistons are only losing one player in a two-for-one deal and Childress would be tied up at a lower cost than Prince.

Langlois: Sounds good, but it’s hard to imagine a team allowing Childress to get away – he’s a restricted free agent, not unrestricted – for the MLE. Then again, Atlanta might be the team that would do it with an uncertain ownership situation complicated by Josh Smith’s restricted status, as well. Here’s the thing: No one really wants to fork over that type of money to someone it doesn’t know will be a starter. And if Atlanta brings back Josh Smith, Childress would still be coming off its bench. The Pistons wouldn’t want to spend that kind of money on Childress, either, unless it had a prominent role available to him and felt he was up to the responsibility.

Chris (Detroit): Would a trade with Portland where we send them Chauncey Billups for LaMarcus Aldridge and Steve Blake have potential? That would give us a big man and inside offense and Portland needs a point guard.

Langlois: If I’m Portland, it would be hard to justify trading Aldridge. The Blazers acquired Jerryd Bayless on draft night and are taking a long look at last year’s No. 1 pick, Petteri Koponen, in the Summer League. If the right deal for a point guard came along, I’m sure the Blazers would be interested. But I think they regard Aldridge, Greg Oden and Brandon Roy as fairly untouchable.

Jose (Lansing, Mich.): I read that Charlotte might entertain the thought of a sign-and-trade for Emeka Okafor. He’s an athletic young center who plays with his back to the basket. I would not mind trading Rasheed for him. He would give the Bobcats an experienced, talented vet to play alongside the young guys on their roster. The only downfall I see is that I don’t know if Larry Brown would want to deal with Rasheed again.

Langlois: Larry Brown famously fell in and out of love with a million players. I’m not sure where he is on Rasheed Wallace at the moment, but he sure gushed love for him during his time in Detroit. I think NBA GMs are sort of lukewarm on Okafor. At the right price, he’s an asset, but he turned down a deal that would have paid him an annual average of more than $12 million before last season began. That’s a lot of money for what Okafor has supplied so far – never mind he’s also had a pretty scary injury history.

Alex (Grand Rapids, Mich.): How much potential do you see in Cheikh Samb after the scrimmage on Thursday?

Langlois: He can already do a few things – make shots and block shots – well enough to command minutes, Alex. Can he hold his position defensively against NBA low-post players? Can he get out and defend the pick and roll? Can he establish low-post position himself offensively and hit that half-hook he’s developed – which has looked pretty good here in Las Vegas – with a fair amount of consistency? I can definitely see him being good enough within the next season or two to work his way into the rotation. Where he goes from there is still anyone’s guess.

LeTherron (Port Huron, Mich.): With New Jersey adding three 7-footers in Lopez, Yi and Krstic and also having four 6-foot-10 players, do you feel this makes them the No. 1 favorite in the East?

Langlois: New Jersey? Not by a long shot. That team is barely trying to conceal its strategy of clearing cap room for a run at LeBron in two summers. Trading Richard Jefferson for Yi leaves the Nets with a gaping hole at small forward. And it’s looking more and more like Krstic won’t be back next season.

Jason (Grand Rapids, Mich.): I am a huge Rodney Stuckey fan, but if we trade Chauncey Billups who would back up Stuckey? Isn’t it a little risky to hand the keys to the team over to someone who has only had one good season? What if Stuckey got injured again?

Langlois: Before Stuckey was a Piston, what did they do when Chauncey Billups got hurt? They patched it together with Flip Murray and Lindsey Hunter for a while. If All-Stars go down, you’re going to have a dropoff. If the Pistons were to decide the best way to alter the mix was to trade Billups, they would have to find a competent backup point guard somewhere. The free agent market doesn’t have a whole lot to offer. I like Keyon Dooling, but he’s probably going to get more money for a more prominent role elsewhere.

Josh (Chicago): Two of the free agents the Pistons were reportedly interested in, James Jones and Mickael Pietrus, are now off the market. To acquire James Posey they’d need to offer a substantial multiyear contract and fend off a number of other teams. Is it possible for the Pistons to get any good backup to Rip or Tayshaun any more?

Langlois: If the Pistons come back with the roster as it is, I think they feel OK about their perimeter positions because of the expanded role they foresee for Arron Afflalo and because of the way Rip Hamilton proved he could defend small forwards last season. If Afflalo can handle 20 minutes or so a game, that would free Hamilton to play some at small forward in relief of Prince. You know Rodney Stuckey is going to get 30 minutes a night. That means the load on Billups, Prince and Hamilton can be kept in the low 30s. And it’s also possible that Walter Sharpe will show the Pistons enough in Summer League to work his way into the mix at small forward.

Richard (Howell, Mich.): Do you ever see Ben Wallace wearing a Pistons jersey again? Do you think Joe D would consider making a move to get him back?

Langlois: Never say never, Richard, but it’s hard to envision the Pistons bringing him back under the present circumstances. He’d be their highest-paid player but a long way from their best player any more, and they already are trying to carve out more minutes for Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson.

Michael (Modiin, Israel): I really hope Will Bynum does not end up with Detroit. I watched him in Israel and while at times he can be unstoppable – he has an amazing first step and is really athletic – he is not a team player and does not have an ounce of Pistons DNA inside of him. NBA guards will post him up and he will be in foul trouble most of the time. He can also easily be trapped and turns the ball over a lot.

Langlois: I’ll grant you the benefit of having seen him more often than I have, Michael. But I do know Michael Curry speaks highly of him, so that tells me he has something going for him, because Curry has little regard for soft players. Bynum has had his share of highs and lows in Las Vegas. He did have a few turnovers, but also some very nice passes to set up baskets and he busted his backside defensively and showed the ability to be a pest a la Lindsey Hunter. I think the odds are less than 50-50 that he sticks with the Pistons this season, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did – or stuck with another NBA team.

J.J. (Columbus, Ohio): I’ve seen Earl Calloway play for the Mad Ants about six times and each time he was excellent. I know he’s a streaky shooter and is a bit small, about 5-11, but he makes smart decisions that lead to quality assists, is a hustle defender and is a great option to be the third point guard behind Billups and Stuckey. What’s your opinion and are his rights owned by anyone?

Langlois: I haven’t seen Calloway since he was at Indiana University. The problem with players like Calloway is they have to be able to do one thing really well to stick in the NBA. If he was a great defender, or a deadly 3-point shooter, or an unflappable ballhandler – and I mean he does one of those things better than 90 percent of all the other 5-11 point guards populating the D-League – then he’d have a good chance of catching somebody’s eye. But guys like him who do everything pretty well and don’t have any glaring weaknesses have a tough time making it to the NBA.

Bobby (Seal Beach, Calif.): Will the Pistons sign Deron Washington or will he be traded before the regular season begins?

Langlois: The plan is to stash Washington in Europe for a year or two to see how his game rounds out. Right now he doesn’t have enough offense to stick in the NBA. He’s athletic enough that he might be able to stick, regardless, because he has the potential to develop into a top-flight perimeter defender.

Dan (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Did Joe Dumars make any attempt to sign Elton Brand before he became a 76er?

Langlois: He had no chance. Brand was going to sign a deal with a starting salary of $12 million or more. In order for the Pistons to get in the running, they would have had to shed almost $20 million worth of contracts – theoretically, they could have entered the bidding for Brand by, say, giving Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince away to teams like Golden State and Memphis who had the cap room to absorb those salaries. That wouldn’t make any sense.

THURSDAY, July 10
Tony (Ecorse, Mich.): What players could Joe sign with part of the mid-level exception? It doesn’t seem like $5.6 million is a whole lot of money for one NBA player today, let alone two.

Langlois: There aren’t many free agents who’ll draw full MLE offers. Corey Maggette got more than that from Golden State, but then he opted out of a deal that was already over the MLE. If James Posey gets the maximum amount of money, I doubt he’ll get a full five years. He might be able to leverage his way into a fourth year because interest in him seems pretty high. Mickael Pietrus got a little less than the full MLE. James Jones got five years and $4 million a year from Miami, but only the first two years are guaranteed. Once this first wave passes, there’ll be a lot of player still out of work and a lot of teams who’ve already spent their money.

Brett (Mililani, Hawaii): With the 76ers getting Brand and Orlando signing Pietrus (and Courtney Lee also looks like a good pick), the East looks a lot tougher. There must be a heightened sense of urgency in the Pistons’ camp to tweak their own roster.

Langlois: And Toronto picking up Jermaine O’Neal makes the Raptors all that much stronger if he can stay on the floor. But I think it’s safe to assume Joe Dumars knew other teams in the East would be making use of the cap space and assets at their disposal to close the gap. I don’t think anything other teams have done are going to form Joe D’s plan of action.

Travis (Chicago): With Brand going to Philadelphia and Pietrus to Orlando, don’t you think Detroit needs to not mess around with Delfino and use the whole mid-level exception on James Posey? We certainly aren’t getting any younger and Posey has more to offer than Jarvis Hayes, Mo Evans or Delfino.

Langlois: The Pistons had their eyes on Posey a year ago but didn’t have the same role to offer as Boston. They’d be interested in him again – on their terms. I think Posey wants four or five years and I don’t know if the Pistons want to go there for a 31-year-old role player. He was superb in the playoffs, no question, but you have to be awfully careful evaluating players based on that sample size. Posey would help pretty much any contender, but a full mid-level deal – five years starting at the new MLE, just released by the NBA on Tuesday night, at $5.585 million, is a lot of money. Make a mistake and it could tie your hands two, three and four years down the road when you won’t have the chance to bid on better players – or, worse, won’t be able to retain your own free agents.

Aaron (New York City): Shouldn’t the Pistons hurry up and make a move to make us even better? I’ve already heard comments saying the 76ers are better than the Pistons now that they’ve signed Elton Brand.

Langlois: Philly is now a real factor in the Eastern Conference, Aaron, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say the 76ers are better than the Pistons. And that’s as of today. Philly has now played its cards. The Pistons still have moves to make. And even if they make no moves, the Pistons have reason to believe they have plenty of room for internal growth from players like Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Arron Afflalo. Patience over the summer is advised. There will be plenty of solid players still on the market into August.

Jackson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.): I know Joe D will be looking to add a veteran big man to fill the spot as No. 5 in the rotation, but why not go get a proven guy like Alonzo Mourning or Robert Horry to fill that spot?

Langlois: If the Pistons add a veteran big man, it almost certainly will be Theo Ratliff. And I think it’s possible that Cheikh Samb challenges him for that No. 5 spot. Based on what I saw in Wednesday’s practice in Las Vegas – granted, that’s not a lot to go on – Samb looks a lot more sure of himself and closer to cracking an NBA rotation this summer than last. He’s been in Auburn Hills since the season ended working with the coaches and it looks like things are starting to come naturally for him. Mourning is coming off a major knee injury and is committed to staying in Miami if he continues to play. Horry didn’t look like he had much, if anything, left for the Spurs last season.

Al (Ishpeming, Mich.): What are your thoughts about possibly playing Amir Johnson at small forward? He seems to be young, fast and agile enough to play that position.

Langlois: Amir is much more comfortable guarding closer to the basket, Al. I’m not sure at this point he has the footwork to be chasing quicker small forwards. Amir has amazing straight-line speed for a big man and very good lateral mobility, but defending guys like Paul Pierce and Richard Jefferson is a little much. Besides, one of his great assets is his shot-blocking ability – I don’t think you want to move him very far from the rim.

Fran (Southfield, Mich.): I read the Pistons might be interested in signing Carlos Delfino. Why would they want someone back who wasn’t happy here the first time around?

Langlois: I think it’s a real consideration for the Pistons at this point – with Pietrus and Jones off the market at pretty high price tags – partly because of the year Delfino spent outside the organization. He now knows the grass isn’t necessarily greener, if you know what I mean. The Pistons always thought he had tantalizing potential. He can put the ball on the floor, defend, run and jump. His outside shot was a little erratic and he leaned on it a little too much, but he gained valuable experience as Toronto’s sixth man for most of last season and would come back – if he comes back – a wiser and more experienced player. Delfino was a little high maintenance with the Pistons, thinking he deserved a bigger role than he was ever given, but he got some of the same treatment in Toronto and should have a better understanding of the NBA’s meritocracy system now – playing time goes to those who earn it.

Sam (St. Louis): With a likely starting lineup of Stuckey, Afflalo, Sharpe, Johnson and Samb, will the emphasis in Summer League be on giving the starting five plenty of playing time or giving minutes to the likes of Acker, Bynum, Plaisted and Washington to see what they can offer. Is it possible to achieve both?

Langlois: Well, Acker’s out, Sam, as I wrote about in my blog on Wednesday. He apparently reinjured the knee that caused him some problems last summer and almost nullified the contract he signed with Barcelona. That’s a real setback for his shot at making the team. But Michael Curry told me that the starters will get the majority of minutes here in Summer League, though they’re also going to try to get good looks at the other players that are their property – draft choices Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington. They also think Will Bynum has a shot to stick, so they’ll want to see how he responds to game situations. Beyond those guys, minutes will be precious for the rest of the roster as they try to catch someone’s eye for a chance to get invited to an NBA camp or sign a contract overseas.

Rob (Mount Pleasant, Mich.): What are your thoughts on Shaun Livingston, especially if Lindsey Hunter retires. He could be an asset with his length and size to complement Stuckey.

Langlois: I can’t imagine either the Pistons or Livingston seeing the attraction in making a marriage as long as both Chauncey Billups and Rodney Stuckey are on the roster. Livingston, even coming off the devastating knee injury he suffered about 18 months ago, is going to want a little clearer path to playing time than that. And the Pistons couldn’t compete financially with teams who have more than that limited role to offer him. Now, would it be a great luxury to have a guy with the potential of Livingston as the No. 3 point guard? You bet. If he can stay healthy, he has a chance to be a very good player. But unless he drags out his free agency while the Pistons do something dramatic in trade, I don’t see a match here.

Alec (Detroit): How about trading Chauncey for Stephen Jackson? Golden State would have to throw someone else in to make the money work, but would get the point guard it needs. Golden State has Maggette now, so Jackson could be expendable to them.

Langlois: I wrote on Monday in my blog, Alec, that it would not be at all surprising to hear that Golden State had inquired about Chauncey Billups and suggested the logical exchange would involve either Jackson or, more likely, Al Harrington. But that was before Maggette signed. I still think the Warriors would like to hang on to Jackson, playing him at shooting guard, with Maggette at small forward. They might now be inclined to put Monta Ellis at point guard. We’ll have to see how it shakes out. But as to your point about throwing in someone else – yeah, I agree the Warriors would have to sweeten the pot and I suggested a No. 1 pick would be the likeliest sweetener. But money doesn’t have anything to do with it because when Baron Davis left, the Warriors got way under the salary cap – they could take on a big contract without having to ship out an equally big deal.

Sean (Melbourne, Australia): I wonder if the Pistons are targeting J.R. Smith since they did try to get him last season. He could back up Tayshaun Prince at small forward and would probably settle for the mid-level exception.

Langlois: The Pistons didn’t try to trade for Smith last season. It was reported, but it simply was not true. I think Smith’s spotty behavioral track record makes it unlikely he’s going to get MLE money, though on pure talent he sure would be a candidate. He seems distinctly un-Piston like to me, but you never know.

Adam (Chicago): With some recent trade rumors apparently having fizzled, is it an option for Joe Dumars to move one guy this off-season to save up money for 2009 or ’10 when the free agent classes are stronger? Would he consider taking a small step back in order to open up options for the future while gaining experience for our youth?

Langlois: I think he’d object to the notion of purposely taking a step back to horde resources for a run at free agents down the road because the truth is high-caliber free agents rarely change teams, though Elton Brand and Baron Davis are putting the lie to that notion. It’s pretty clear that both New York and New Jersey are positioning themselves to be players in 2010 when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Ray Allen, Amare Stoudemire and Manu Ginobili, among others, are due to hit free agency. But chances are pretty good most of those players wind up back with their old teams. I think it’s possible the Pistons find a trade that might appear to be a step back but turns out not to be – something along the lines of their 2002 deal that sent Jerry Stackhouse away for Rip Hamilton.

Boris (Troy, Mich.): Is it possible to project which teams will be the top contenders in the East and West based on the draft, trades and free agency thus far?

Langlois: Still pretty early for that, Boris. I think the teams that have helped themselves the most so far this off-season are Philadelphia, Toronto and Milwaukee. And since Philly and Toronto were already playoff teams, I think they now have a reasonable chance at contending at the top of the East if a few other things go right for them this summer. The Bucks stole Richard Jefferson from New Jersey and got a good one in the draft in Joe Alexander – nice start by former Pistons VP John Hammond – and now look like a playoff team.

John (Farmington Hills, Mich.): Did the Pistons try to move up in the draft? If Miami needed a point guard and wanted to trade its pick, could it have been Billups for Beasley?

Langlois: I got no indication the Pistons tried very hard to move up. The general consensus was they didn’t feel there was any sure thing unless they were able to move up dramatically and there wasn’t anything that tempted them to do so. The Pistons couldn’t have traded Billups for Beasley because Miami couldn’t take on an $11 million contract without sending a similar sum back to the Pistons.

Joel (Calgary, Alberta): All of the Eastern Conference playoff teams have good small forwards – LeBron, Pierce, Turkoglu, Igoudala. We need a good defender behind Tayshaun to be successful in the playoffs. Never mind the money, signing James Posey would be great. What do you think?

Langlois: Posey was terrific for Boston throughout the postseason. He might have hit as many big shots as Pierce or Allen did. But you can’t say “never mind the money” because the salary cap makes it necessary to mind the money very carefully. And I’d be leery about giving Posey a full mid-level exception deal – at least for the full five years. Three years, sure. Four? Maybe.

Jim (Warren, Mich.): Is it legal to construct a player’s contract with bonus incentives to win a championship? Does the bonus count toward the salary cap? Could this be a simple way to improve the “hunger” we are looking for from our current roster?

Langlois: According to the league’s collective bargaining agreement, it is legal to attach bonuses to a player’s contract. For purposes of calculating salaries related to the salary cap, the league classifies bonuses as either “likely to be achieved” or “unlikely to be achieved” based on the previous season’s numbers. I could find nothing specific about an incentive for winning the title. I suppose, based on a strict interpretation, that only the Boston Celtics would have to classify an incentive to win the NBA title as “likely to be achieved.” But in the first year of a contract, even unlikely to be achieved bonuses count toward the cap.

Ryan (Grand Rapids, Mich.): If Al Harrington is the best player Detroit can get via trade, then Dumars wasn’t kidding when he said he wasn’t talking about team’s second- or third-best players. Harrington is Golden State’s fourth or fifth best. Don’t trade with Golden State. They have nothing of value except Monta Ellis.

Langlois: I wasn’t advocating for the trade, only suggesting that given the Warriors’ needs it would be surprising if they didn’t at least check in to Chauncey Billups’ availability and try building a package around Harrington in return. But don’t underestimate Harrington. I think he’d be a lot closer to the guy who averaged 18 points and seven boards a game for Atlanta two years ago if he got back in the Eastern Conference playing a style more compatible with his skills.

Richard (Salt Lake City): Reading your True Blue Pistons blog, you mentioned Josh Childress. Makes sense. Boston couldn’t deal with him, home or away.

Langlois: Atlanta will have to pony up if it wants to keep both Josh Smith and Childress as restricted free agents. The Hawks might decide that paying a full mid-level exception to Childress would be too much of a commitment when he’s playing behind Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams. Much like Corey Maggette, Childress would be a real luxury as a sixth man for a contender. But if somebody throws a ton of money at Smith and the Hawks let him go, then they’ll surely do everything within reason to keep Childress.

Jerry (Walled Lake, Mich.): I’m a little confused. I thought when we traded Nazr Mohammed that we would have his salary slot to combine with our other expiring contracts to use to go after an above-average player in free agency. I thought we would have cap space freed up in addition to being able to use the mid-level exception.

Langlois: Not the case, Jerry. The Pistons are over the salary cap just with commitments to their five starters plus Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell, Cheikh Samb and rookie Walter Sharpe. Trading Mohammed merely meant that they wouldn’t have his $6 million on the books, as well. That doesn’t mean they can turn around and spent that $6 million on someone else and still use the MLE on another player. Teams over the salary cap can only use the MLE and their bi-annual exception – as the name suggests, you can use it every other year to sign a player for no more than $1.91 million for the coming season – and the veteran’s minimum. The Pistons have all of those in play this year. They could have used the MLE even if they hadn’t traded Mohammed, but they could not have done so without exceeding the luxury-tax threshold – which means they probably would not have used it.

Spencer (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.): How do you think Walter Sharpe will fit in the rotation?

Langlois: We’ll get our first hints at that over the next week or so, Spencer, during the NBA Summer League. Michael Curry told me Wednesday, after putting Sharpe through two days or practice, that he has a great feel for the game and is a hard worker. Those are two pretty good indicators that he’ll be a keeper. I watched him practice and he certainly moves fluidly. He is struggling now with learning assignments and his shot wasn’t going in, but there’s nothing wrong with the stroke.

Chris (Fremont, Ohio): What NBA player most closely resembles Cheikh Samb in playing style? I have only seen highlights of him and from what I could see he reminded me of Jermaine O’Neal. What are the chances of him cracking the rotation next year?

Langlois: Samb has a long way to go to become the player O’Neal is – or was, at least. O’Neal had very good footwork in the post that made him one of the league’s best on the blocks. Where Samb could approach O’Neal’s impact is as a shot-blocking defender. O’Neal was right there with the very best in the game as an on-the-ball post defender. Samb needs experience more than anything. He has the physical tools to stay in the NBA for a long time.

Russell (Grosse Pointe, Mich.): I find it completely unfair that Los Angeles has two teams. So don’t you feel David Stern, regardless of how profitable they are, should move the Clippers to another city – possibly Seattle?

Langlois: Stern isn’t in the business of initiating franchise relocations. It’s his job to approve or reject them by steering the vote of the owners. No one is going to tell Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who moved the team to Los Angeles from San Diego, that he has to uproot and move anywhere. As for Seattle, I think it’s pretty likely it will again get an NBA team. It’s a growing, vibrant market that just won seed money to refurbish Key Arena or build a new one as part of its settlement with Clay Bennett for moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City. Once that ball gets rolling, you’ll probably hear Memphis and New Orleans mentioned as possible transfers.

Elle (Phoenix, Ariz.): I would absolutely love to won the Pistons’ 2004 and 2005 seasons on DVD. Are these available for purchase?

Langlois: No, Elle, the NBA doesn’t allow teams to make their telecasts available via DVD. I suspect the production costs of something like that would be prohibitive vs. the revenue potential. But you can find an NBA highlight video of the Pistons’ 2004 championship season on DVD. A simple Google search should point you in the right direction.

Norman (Indianapolis): The biggest deficiency with the Pistons is the absence of a suitable backup small forward. I believe a strong push should be made for Josh Smith. Furthermore, Cheikh Samb and Amir Johnson appear to be ready to play. We all know Kendrick Perkins had a good showing for the Celtics with improved playing time.

Langlois: Josh Smith isn’t going anywhere to be a backup, Norman, and certainly not for the money he’s seeking as a restricted free agent – and he’ll definitely be getting more than $10 million a year should he go back to Atlanta for one more season and hit unrestricted free agency a year from now. Johnson will more than likely find his way into Michael Curry’s rotation next season. Samb has one more year of seasoning to endure before he makes his big push for time, but it’s possible he cracks the back end of the rotation at times this season.

MONDAY, July 7
Dale (Mission, Texas): Some say that Corey Maggette could end up with the Pistons. I was wondering why he would sign with the Pistons if he can sign for the same amount of money with last year’s champions, Boston. I doubt they will start him before Prince, so how can the Pistons lure someone like him?

Langlois: I’m not sure what Boston’s pitch is with Maggette, but he’s a swingman who’d have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen ahead of him at his two positions in Boston. I think it’s possible that this Maggette thing takes a few more weeks to play out. Only a few teams can pay him more than the mid-level exception and right now it doesn’t appear any of them are going hard after Maggette. Maybe he’ll wait to see how Philadelphia’s anticipated pursuit of Josh Smith goes. If Smith winds up returning to Atlanta, would the 76ers make a play for Maggette for something above the MLE? Maybe, but he essentially plays the same position as their own restricted free agent, Andre Igoudala. It could be that Maggette is left to choose from among MLE offers from contenders like San Antonio, Boston, Houston, New Orleans and Detroit.

Jesse (Livonia, Mich.): The Pistons have a lot of undersized frontcourt players and that is a weakness that got exposed in the Boston series. With Maxiell and Amir expected to play more, that means more time we are exposed to losing rebounds. Is there any chance Joe D will use them at small forward and acquire a legitimate big man? I think Brad Miller would be a great fit.

Langlois: Amir’s rebounding numbers per minute were well above average last season, Jesse. Not sure how that will translate once he starts playing more regularly, but I don’t think you can make the case that more minutes for Amir will result in a weaker rebounding team. Those two guys probably can’t guard small forwards on a consistent basis. And while rebounding was a problem against Boston, overall the Pistons were a very good rebounding team last year as measured by percentage of rebounds secured – in other words, they grabbed more rebounds than their opponents.

Doug (Oden, Mich.): Is Dee Brown on our Summer League roster? And do you know if DeMarcus Nelson landed with an NBA team?

Langlois: Brown wound up signing with the Sonics instead. That’s understandable given that team’s lack of quality depth at point guard. Nelson will play in the Summer League with Golden State.

Justin (Darien, Conn.): I’ve heard the Pistons are leaning toward splitting the mid-level exception, but I don’t think they need more depth. Wouldn’t it be more useful to get a James Posey or Corey Maggette?

Langlois: The thinking could change depending on what’s out there. I don’t suppose that when Joe Dumars said the likely course was to split the MLE that he figured a talent like Maggette could be had at that price. But when Maggette opted out of his contract in a year when not many teams could go above the MLE, a lot of teams decided to take a run at him. If Maggette goes elsewhere, I’m not sure there’s anyone else to whom the Pistons would commit their full MLE. Posey might get similar dollars but not the full five years.

Dalton (Manistee, Mich.): I hear the Pistons are targeting guys like Pietrus and James Jones. If they pick up either of those guys, do you think they would be ahead of Walter Sharpe in the rotation?

Langlois: Yeah, Dalton, if the Pistons grab a player of that stature, and pay him what it’ll take to get him here, then they’re only doing it because they believe he’s good enough to be in the playing rotation ahead of a second-round draft choice. The Pistons like Sharpe very much, but it would be a pretty big gamble – based on 18 college games played over the last three seasons – to believe he’s going to be ready to join an NBA title contender’s rotation right out of the chute. Then again, Sharpe has a chance to convince them otherwise starting this week in Las Vegas.

Eric (Goldsboro, N.C.): With some of the big men still available, do you think the Pistons should try to sign Jamaal Magloire, Ryan Hollins, Earl Barron or Kwame Brown?

Langlois: It’s not an area of priority as things stand now. If Theo Ratliff returns, as seems more likely than not, he’ll go into the season as their No. 5 big man with Cheikh Samb at No. 6. Only Kwame Brown from your list would be someone who’d push Ratliff out of No. 5 – and for the money Brown will command on the open market, that’s a luxury teams can’t afford in the salary cap era.

Philip (Dresden, Ontario): What will the Pistons do with Cheikh Samb this year? Do the Pistons expect him to get minutes in the rotation or will he play in the D-League again?

Langlois: The plan as of now is that he’ll split time between Detroit and Fort Wayne again. All along, the Pistons thought it would be at least two years before Samb was ready to compete for a spot in the rotation. If anything, he surprised them a little last year when he was thrown into the mix early in the season and played pretty well.

Dave (Chicago): I was wondering if you could explain Joe Dumars’ decision to send Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington to Europe as opposed to sending them to the D-League. Wasn’t the D-League designed for situations exactly like this – players they would like to develop for a few years before bringing them to the NBA?

Langlois: Good question, Dave. The reason the Pistons’ preference at this time is to stash them in Europe is because that way the Pistons would retain their NBA rights but those players would not take up roster spots. A D-League player who is property of an NBA team occupies a roster spot. So if the Pistons were to keep Plaisted and Washington here this season, they would be part of the 15-man roster whether they spent the season in Detroit or Fort Wayne. With 11 roster spots essentially committed already – the five starters plus Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Cheikh Samb and rookie Walter Sharpe – that leaves four to go. If both Theo Ratliff and Lindsey Hunter return, that’s 13. And Joe D has said he’d likely use his mid-level exception this summer and, further, likely would split it up over two free agents. That’s 15. Signing Plaisted and Washington would really limit his roster flexibility. And he needs that flexibility, too, in case attractive trades present themselves that would require the Pistons to take three players for two, perhaps, where the extra player is really just a contract the trading partner wanted to unload.

Tre (Worton, Md.): Joe Dumars should trade two of our stars for a superstar. For instance, Rip and Prince for Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady. The backcourt would be Chauncey and Vince. Then get a starting small forward and keep Rasheed and Dice down low.

Langlois: I think a trade of two starters for one acknowledged superstar is a possibility, Tre, but when you say “get a starting small forward,” how do you propose doing that? The Pistons are already thin at small forward. If they trade Tayshaun Prince, I think it has to be to bring back a player who’ll take his place at that position. The Pistons have greater flexibility in their backcourt with three starting-caliber players.

Bruce (Kentwood, Mich.): I think Joe D is being rightfully patient in not making a deal just to make one. I believe it is not too far-fetched to see a mid-level exception role player signed. In addition, I believe unless something crazy happens, the core will remain intact leading up to the trade deadline in February.

Langlois: Something could happen at any minute, Bruce. My best guess is the likeliest window is sometime after the first wave of free agency – right about now – when the destinations of guys like Baron Davis and Elton Brand and Gilbert Arenas gets cleared up and the end of July or early August.

Marcus (Kalamazoo, Mich.): Chauncey, Rip and Stuckey getting 30 minutes a game would be amazing. Then we could put Rip at small forward sometimes as well as whoever we pick up, hopefully Mickael Pietrus.

Langlois: If the Pistons come back with all four of their primary perimeter players – Prince, Hamilton, Billups and Stuckey – then I would expect close to an even split of minutes among them. Hamilton kept proving he could guard everyone from Chris Paul to LeBron James last year – seriously, Hamilton’s defensive ability and versatility continues to be a widely overlooked story – and that gives the Pistons a little flexibility in their decision-making on signing a perimeter free agent. The other player in the mix is Arron Afflalo. I think you’ll see him getting a more defined role in his second season.

Tyler (Pocatello, Idaho): Do you think Trent Plaisted has a chance to make the roster or is he headed to Europe?

Langlois: Plaisted has to make a really big impression starting this week at the Las Vegas Summer League in order for the Pistons to change their thinking. They’re not going to keep him here unless they believe he has a chance to help them win games this season, and that’s pretty tough to imagine when he has so many bigs – Wallace, McDyess, Maxiell, Johnson, probably Samb and potentially Ratliff – all ahead of him.

Matt (Windsor, Ontario): If we did trade Rasheed for Vince Carter, who would we start at forward? Would they start Maxiell or move Tayshaun to power forward?

Langlois: A little silly to speculate on who would start after a speculative trade, but Prince isn’t going to be playing power forward on anything more than a situational basis, so under your scenario – Maxiell. But a starting frontcourt of Maxiell and McDyess would be pretty seriously undersized. So I wouldn’t expect that to hold, in any case.

Jeremy (Ann Arbor, Mich.): The Pistons have been looking for a backup small forward for quite a while. That’s all well and good, but how about a starting center. The way I see it, we have four quality power forwards – Wallace, McDyess, Johnson and Maxiell. Isn’t it time we get a real center? If the Clippers sign both Baron Davis and Elton Brand, would they be willing to do a trade centered around Chris Kaman and Rasheed?

Langlois: Boston just won an NBA title with nothing but power forwards – Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, P.J. Brown, Leon Powe and Glen Davis. They beat the Lakers, who started power forwards Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. DeSagana Diop, who I’m guessing would fit your description of a center, just got a full mid-level exception deal to return to Dallas – a pretty stiff price for a career 2 points per game scorer. Rasheed is, for all intents and purposes, a legit 7-footer. He’s as much a center as anyone else these days. Or would you rather trade for Wallace for Diop?

Mike (Birmingham, Ala.): I’ve seen the Pistons are looking at James Posey, Mickael Pietrus and James Jones. Which player do you think is the best fit for the Pistons?

Langlois: Best or most realistic? Jones is probably the most available. Posey would cost the full mid-level exception and, unless Boston balks at coming close to that figure or shortchanges him by a year or two, is the odds-on favorite to keep him. Pietrus is going to star a lot of interest, too, and might also get the full MLE or something close. Jones wouldn’t cost quite that much. He’s a really good perimeter shooter whose game isn’t quite as well-rounded as the other two, but a lot of folks have long thought he could blossom into something more.

Alex (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Here’s a three-way trade that looks pretty interesting. The Pistons give up Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess; the Suns give up Amare Stoudemire; and the Nuggets give up Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby. The Pistons get Anthony, Stoudemire and Camby; the Suns get Wallace; and the Nuggets get Prince, Billups and McDyess.

Langlois: You’re right – that’s interesting. It’s also slightly less likely than listing your home and having it sell in 48 hours. Phoenix would definitely want some sweetener and Denver is on the record as saying it won’t trade Anthony, though I think its resolve could be tested.

Michael (Los Angeles): It appears the Pistons are looking for another point guard and Shaun Livingston represents an intriguing possibility. Before getting injured, Livingston was a Chris Paul-type player who probably would have become an All-Star. He recently resumed basketball-related activity and the Clippers didn’t extend him a qualifying offer and have now signed Baron Davis. Maybe Joe D tries to sign him to a non-guaranteed contract and start by sending him to Fort Wayne.

Langlois: Somebody surely will take a chance on Livingston, Michael. But unless the Pistons trade Chauncey Billups, I don’t think he’d likely see enough opportunity here to make it a match – and the Pistons, intent on getting immediate help for another title run, probably can’t afford the luxury of committing the good chunk of the MLE I think it would take to get Livingston. The D-League wouldn’t be an option for Livingston, who’s been in the NBA more than two years, as long as he’s on an NBA contract. It is an intriguing idea, but I think Livingston is more likely to wind up with a team that can afford to carry him next year – meaning a team with lots of cap space or without high expectations, or both, most likely.

Jake (Westlake, Ohio): I thought Joe D said he was not going to let this trade issue brew for a long time? And what do you think of Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups for Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon?

Langlois: There are only two things keeping the Pistons from that trade – the salary cap (Billups and Wallace will make nearly $25 million combined next year; Gordon is a free agent and Thomas will make less than $4 million) and sanity. That’s a really bad deal for the Pistons unless Thomas becomes a star, and he hasn’t given anyone reason to think that in his first two years. Dumars did not say he thought a trade would happen soon. In fact, he said it was very unlikely for it to happen before the draft, and also unlikely to happen until the first wave of free agency blows over.

Cliff (Detroit): I am sitting back and listening to all these trade rumors and people are trying to hold Joe to his statement about the core of the team. But like he said, this won’t be a fire sale. With Michael Curry as coach, I feel there is a new mind-set with our players and a respect for the coach. Joe will probably add one or two free agents and we will be fine.

Langlois: Possible, Cliff. I asked both Dumars and Curry about that possibility. Joe D said he would be OK with that scenario but it wasn’t his first preference. I think he feels that would probably be putting an unfair burden on his new coach – that he somehow would be able to draw out of the same cast of players what Flip Saunders could not. Joe was pretty emphatic about saying all the blame for the lack of fire over the past few postseasons could not be put on Saunders. Curry said he’d be perfectly fine with coaching whatever team Dumars handed him, including the same old cast, because Curry thinks there is still great room for growth within the young core.

David (Madera, Calif.): I see the Pistons are targeting James Jones or Mickael Pietrus. If they land one of them, would that end the idea of dealing one of the core four?

Langlois: Almost completely unrelated items, David. In a perfect world, Joe D would like to make the significant trade first and then delve into free agency to fill in the holes. But free agency isn’t going to wait on the Pistons, so it might be that he has to grab the best fit for a roster that could still be in flux – meaning a versatile, all-around player as opposed to a niche specialist like a 3-point shooter or a defensive stopper – within the early stages of free agency and then make his big deal after the dust settles and teams look at what they have. Or don’t have. Jones and Pietrus fit that description – versatile players, shooters and solid defenders.

Hubert (Wallace, N.C.): Why do fans feel the need to trade Tayshaun Prince? He’s never missed a game in a Detroit jersey, he’s been overlooked for years and he’s obviously in love with the Detroit Pistons. Why trade Tay, people?

Langlois: Since the season ended and Joe Dumars declared everyone was on the table, fan reaction has been all over the map. There’s a trade Rasheed faction and a don’t trade Rasheed camp. Ditto for Chauncey Billups. And Tayshaun Prince. Not so much for Rip Hamilton. They’re all highly skilled, very useful, very desirable players. But if Joe D is determined to shake up the mix, then he knows he has to give something of value to get something of value.

Jerry (Romulus, Mich.): For the right price, do you think Joe Dumars should push to get Emeka Okafor?

Langlois: There will be no right price on Okafor, Jerry. He’s a restricted free agent. The Pistons only have a mid-level exception to offer, which should be somewhere around $5.5 million. Okafor turned down $13 million a year before the season started. The only way he goes to another team is to sign an offer sheet and execute a sign-and-trade, but there are only three or four teams in the league with the kind of money needed to throw at him. He’ll almost certainly be back in Charlotte next season, either playing out the string and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer or signing a new, long-term extension.

Joe (Saginaw, Mich.): Do you believe, all things being equal and Stuckey being the right age and actually in the draft, that the Pistons would have taken him No. 2 in 2003?

Langlois: Do I think they would have taken him ahead of Carmelo Anthony? No. Dwyane Wade? No. Chris Bosh? No. All of those players had performed at high levels against better competition. But do the Pistons believe Stuckey has a chance to be a player on par with those players someday? Yeah, I think they do.

Stephen (Clarkston, Mich.): Does your recent blog entry about free agent small forwards mean that the Pistons don’t feel Walter Sharpe will be able to assume minutes behind Tayshaun Prince next season?

Langlois: It means that unless Sharpe is dominant or close to it in Las Vegas – the way Rodney Stuckey was a year ago – that I don’t think the Pistons would want to go into a season in which they again feel they can compete for an NBA championship with a critical role entrusted to a second-round draft choice, no matter how bright they think his future might be.

Anders (Stockholm, Sweden): I think Joe D is being emotional rather than rational. It can easily be argued the Pistons are the second-best team on the planet. The main reason for this success is not the players being hungry, it is their enormous experience and outstanding team play. Giving up one or more of the starters would be the same as giving up the very thing that makes the Pistons great. Keep the starters, develop the bench and the Pistons will rule next year.

Langlois: You make a valid point, Anders – a Swede who follows Deee-troit basketball, not hockey? – but Joe D isn’t trying to build the second-best team on the planet. He’s trying to win an NBA title and his creation has come up short four years running. The last three of them, he’s detected burning desire as a shortfall against all three teams that prevailed. That’s enough of a litmus test for him. He wants the chemistry to change. I think he’s willing to risk being the third-best team on the planet next year for the chance to be the best.

Juan Jose (Las Palmas, Spain): Can we compare Walter Sharpe with Kevin Durant? I think they are very similar. What do you think?

Langlois: One was a No. 2 pick and is the reigning Rookie of the Year. The other was the No. 2 pick – of the second round – and has played 12 college games in the last three years. Let me get a look at Sharpe in Las Vegas before leaping to that type of conclusion. If the kid’s good enough to crack the fringe of the rotation next year, they’ll be pleased.

THURSDAY, July 3
Preston (Muskegon): If we targeted someone or got Gilbert Arenas, for example, do you think sitting Prince and using him off the bench as a solid backup or situational defender would be something to consider? And do you think Joe Dumars would consider showing interest in Al Jefferson or Chris Kaman?

Langlois: The Pistons aren’t getting Arenas. They’re talking about at least $100 million over six years for him. Prince isn’t a backup. He’s an Olympian. If you’re going to bring in someone who’s clearly better than him at his position – not too many on that list – then it’s almost certain Prince would be involved in the trade to bring that person in. You can’t have someone making almost $10 million – more than 15 percent of the way toward exceeding the salary cap – playing as a “situational defender.” That’s what you use your veteran minimum salary slot for. Jefferson and Kaman? Not unless the Pistons are willing to send major pieces back.

Chris (Livonia, Mich.): I’m glad Walter Sharpe will be around Stuckey and Afflalo this summer. It should help in developing a solid work ethic and preparation habits.

Langlois: Don’t forget Amir Johnson and Cheikh Samb, too. Both of those young big guys are extremely hard workers. It’s going to be a very interesting Summer League this year with that many players involved who will be playing significant roles for their NBA team the following season. That’s unusual.

Justin (Milan, Mich.): Do you think trading D.J. White away was a good idea? The man was a beast at Indiana. I could only imagine what he could’ve done in Detroit.

Langlois: There’s no question Walter Sharpe has more of a boom-or-bust dynamic to him than White, who I think is going to be a solid NBA player for a long time. But the Pistons saw in Sharpe someone who has a chance to be a player who, in five years or so, we’ll look back on and say he should have gone in the top 10 or 15 picks in this draft. Plus, Joe Dumars said that as much as they liked White, they thought he came a little too close to duplicating when they already had in Jason Maxiell.

Matt (Windsor, Ontario): How much cap space do the Pistons have? What free agents could they try to sign?

Langlois: Forget cap space. The money the Pistons have to go shopping with this summer is the mid-level exception. That’s the amount of the average annual NBA salary, expected to be about $5.6 million or so. Joe Dumars has said he doubts he’ll spend all of that on one player, instead breaking it up over two free agents. It’s just guesswork at this point because agents have just begun to shop their clients around and usually the top-tier free agents will set the market by signing first. One name that I find intriguing is Golden State’s Mickael Pietrus. The Warriors have lots of irons in the fire – Baron Davis just bolted for the Clippers and Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins are restricted free agents – and they might have to wait for other dominos to fall before getting around to Pietrus, which could allow someone else to sneak in and steal him away.

Evan (Howell, Mich.): Elton Brand and Corey Maggette both opted out. We need to complete a sign-and-trade and come away with at least one of them. I would say just sign them, but apparently we don’t have enough money – though I’m not buying that.

Langlois: Whether you buy it or not, Evan, it’s undeniable. Brand opted out of a contract that was due to pay him $16.4 million next year. For the sake of argument, let’s say he would agree to a multiyear contract that starts at $15 million a year. The Pistons were roughly $10 million over the cap last season – just a hair below the luxury-tax line. They have about $60 million committed to 10 players next season. To sign Brand, they’d have to be $15 million below the salary cap – which means they’d have to find someone willing to take one of their four core veterans off their hands without taking any salary back in return. That’s virtually impossible to do, never mind nutty. To clarify: In order to sign Elton Brand, the Pistons would have to get their payroll down to about $40 million. Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince combined will make about $45 million next season. Not happening.

T.J. (Rochester Hills, Mich.): Any chance of the Pistons making an offer for Nenad Krstic? He is a restricted free agent, but with his injury and a frontcourt logjam in New Jersey, the Nets could opt not to match. He’s still only 24, 7 feet tall, skilled and a proven producer before his injury.

Langlois: At some price, Krstic is a good risk, T.J. I’m just not sure the Pistons would make the most sense for Krstic. If you think New Jersey’s frontcourt is crowded, take a look at Detroit’s. Even though McDyess and Wallace are getting up there, I’m not sure how the Pistons could absorb the type of salary Krstic will command unless they do it as part of a sign-and-trade. Could the Nets be tempted to take on Wallace or McDyess as part of a sign-and-trade for Krstic? Sure, because both have contracts that will be off the books in time for the Summer of LeBron in 2010. But the Pistons would have to be awfully convinced that Krstic was sound physically. He wasn’t nearly the same player this year as before hurting his knee midway through the 2006-07 season.

Ryan (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Can the Clippers use the money they owed Brand to sign another free agent like Davis or Arenas and then sign Brand using their Bird rights?

Langlois: Sure. The Clippers can go over the salary cap to sign Brand, but not to sign another team’s free agents. From what I can figure out, it looks like the Clippers have about $30 million committed to next season’s payroll without Brand and Corey Maggette and Shaun Livingston on the books. They’re getting Davis at a reasonable price – five years and $65 million, meaning he’ll start at about $10 million. They’d have to start Brand higher than that, but it looks as if they’re prepared to do that.

Jason (Jamestown, N.D.): I’m pleased Joe Dumars got Walter Sharpe. I think the whole league will be surprised. I think he’ll be able to crack the rotation and hopefully save some cap room by not having to go out and get a good forward.

Langlois: Sharpe would have to show something pretty special in Las Vegas for the Pistons to not pursue a veteran capable of handling backup minutes at small forward, in my opinion. But maybe the Pistons think they could get by for a good chunk of the season with some combination of Sharpe and Arron Afflalo behind Prince. There’s also Alex Acker in the mix at guard, which could free Afflalo up for more minutes at Prince’s position, and Walter Herrmann remains a possibility if he doesn’t sign in Europe.

John (Chicago): I recently read that Allen Iverson was offered during Denver-Detroit talks but Dumars turned that idea down. I know people have mixed feelings about him, but I don’t think anybody can question his toughness or ability. Don’t you think in the right situation he could bring the same intensity and hunger for a championship that Garnett brought to the Celtics?

Langlois: If you were talking about getting the Allen Iverson of five years ago, maybe. I would be leery of taking him on at this stage of his career at the kind of money he commands – $22 million next year. To get him in trade, you’d have to give up two of your core pieces, and that’s not an equitable deal for the Pistons. If the Pistons could get him for what Garnett cost Boston – essentially, one nice young prospect (and, no, I would not include Rodney Stuckey in any deal for Iverson at this point), a future first-rounder and some spare parts – then, sure. But not for two virtual All-Stars.

Ronny (Royal Oak, Mich.): Why not sign Andris Biedrins from Golden State? He averaged almost 11 points and 10 rebounds a game.

Langlois: He’s a restricted free agent and even though the Warriors have a lot of business on their hands, I can’t imagine them not doing what it takes to keep an athletic young big man.

James (Plano, Texas): Ever since he was drafted, I’ve been intrigued by Charlie Villanueva. We can probably get him pretty cheap. I think a second-round pick could lure him in.

Langlois: A lot of people are skeptical of Villanueva’s long-term future and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if John Hammond was shopping him, although last week’s trade of Yi Jianlian to New Jersey for Richard Jefferson makes Villanueva the presumptive starter at power forward for the Bucks. But if Joe Dumars got him for a second-rounder, the NBA would surely think he and his former VP, Hammond, were in cahoots.

Kyle (St. Joseph, Mich.): Do you know if Antonio McDyess is coming back next year?

Langlois: No reason to think he isn’t.

Abdul (Kingman, Ariz.): When do you think the Pistons will update Amir’s height if he is really taller than 6-9?

Langlois: I’ll refer you to Mailbag FAQ, Abdul.

Gil (Charlotte, N.C.): Now that the sting is off from losing to the Celtics, I look at the Pistons and see a really, really good team. Michael Curry is adamant about changing the team’s approach and there is so much talent up and down the roster, I was wondering if just some tinkering is needed. What’s your gut instinct? Who are some players on the Pistons’ radar?

Langlois: Whoever Joe Dumars has on his radar, he’s keeping that to himself. There’s no benefit, but potential harm, for Dumars in making known his pecking order of off-season trade targets. As for standing pat and putting faith in Michael Curry’s ability to get something out of players that Flip Saunders didn’t, it’s an option but it’s not the preference, as Joe Dumars told me in a Q&A I did with him in June.

Chad (Clinton Twp., Mich.): It sounds to me like the Nets are trying to start their whole franchise over, so why not trade Rasheed Wallace for Vince Carter. Rasheed’s expiring contract will put the Nets in the running for LeBron James. Then the Pistons could trade Tayshaun Prince for Udonis Haslem and Marcus Banks. Then our starting five would be Chauncey, Rip, Vince, Udonis and McDyess. What do you think?

Langlois: That’s a really undersized team that, in my view, takes the Pistons about three big steps backward.

Sam (St. Louis, Mo.): You mentioned Alex Acker has a chance to fight for a spot on the Pistons. Did you see anything beyond his subpar season at Barcelona? Also, he was asked to compare the European and NBA games and said Europe is more physical. Do you agree?

Langlois: I haven’t seen Acker since he left the NBA, but the Pistons wouldn’t be inviting him to Las Vegas unless they thought he had a chance to stick. They drafted him and liked what they saw in him during his rookie season and encouraged him to try Europe for seasoning. Now they’re going to get a firsthand look at how many strides he’s taken since then. Yes, people who have seen both leagues say the Euroleague is more physical since the NBA cracked down within the last three years.

Chris (Dallas): Thanks for keeping migrant Michiganders so well-informed of Pistons goings on. Looking forward to hearing from you about the Summer League games. Do you know if they will be televised on viewable on-line?

Langlois: Two of the Pistons’ five games in Las Vegas will be telecast by NBA-TV, Chris – the July 11 opener (8 p.m. EDT) vs. the Lakers and the July 17 (4 p.m. EDT) game with Dallas. Every other game from Las Vegas should be available via webcam on NBA.com.

Ryan (Owatonna, Minn.): Do you think that Baron for Rasheed and Chauncey would really be an upgrade?

Langlois: Not a chance, Ryan. Look, Baron Davis is an incredible talent, but you don’t get him at his best anywhere close to all the time. Most GMs, I’m guessing, would prefer the constancy and stability Chauncey Billups provides. Even if you thought Davis was good value for Billups, would you really want to throw Wallace in to boot? Last week’s reports that the Pistons had discussed Billups and Wallace for Davis and Al Harrington have been widely debunked. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Golden State made a play for Billups now that Davis has left them in the lurch. The question is, what do the Warriors have left the Pistons really want? Al Harrington would be a nice piece, but you’ve got to get more than Harrington for Billups.

Kevin (Royal Oak, Mich.): Here’s one for Michael Curry’s suggestion box. Start Chauncey and Stuckey in the backcourt, move Rip to the three and make Tayshaun the sixth man. Depending on matchups, Prince could play the one, two or three spots and perhaps he would be more aggressive offensively coming off the bench.

Langlois: Stuckey’s postseason play has him in line to get similar minutes to the big three perimeter players next season. Bringing Prince off the bench as opposed to one of the other three doesn’t strike me as a great plan. There are a lot of small forwards in the league that Hamilton can guard, but I wouldn’t want to give him a steady diet of players bigger and stronger than him for fear of exposing him to injury or fatigue. The more prudent option would be to find a really good option to Prince at small forward, someone who gives the Pistons defensive versatility. Who knows? That could wind up being Arron Afflalo.

Peter (Lafayette, La.): As a die-hard Pistons fan, should I not be concerned that I don’t hear Detroit involved in the free-agent market?

Langlois: What, you think Joe Dumars went on vacation? Trust me, he’s working the phones as aggressively as any of his peers and more than most. Just because it’s not finding its way into the papers and on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Some teams are better at controlling leaks than others.

Paul (Belleville, Mich.): Say Philadelphia signs Josh Smith as a restricted free agent, leaving Atlanta 10 days to match. The contract might be too steep for Atlanta, but they don’t want to lose Smith and get nothing in return. Can they match the offer and then turn around and trade him to another team, getting value in return?

Langlois: No. If you match an offer to keep a restricted free agent, you can’t trade that player for a year unless the player consents to a trade – but he can’t be traded to the team that signed him to the offer sheet. So if Smith signs with Philly and Atlanta matches, he can’t be traded to Philly under any circumstances.

Kris (Kalamazoo, Mich.): Would the Pistons be in a financial position to address needs for a suitable backup behind Prince and an interior shot-blocking, rebounding presence? Somebody like Mickael Pietrus, Devean George or James Jones for the wing and DeSagana Diop for the middle?

Langlois: Diop sounds like he’s going to get the full mid-level exception or close to it from somebody, which tells you about the quality of the market for big men. So, no, the MLE isn’t going to satisfy both of your perceived needs.

Jen (Atlanta): Has Lindsey Hunter decided if he is going to retire? I would love to see him play one more season. Also, what are the chances of Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince returning? They are my favorite players.

Langlois: No word yet on Hunter. My hunch is he’s leaning toward one more year. I would expect to see McDyess back. If Joe D can follow through on his intention to shake up the roster a little, then Prince figures to be one of the more likely to be in the trade mix because he’s a guy a lot of teams would like to have.