Now that the draft is over, unlike a lot of you guys, I'm not too upset with the Knight pick. I believe in Knight; if you have a 4.3 GPA in high school, that says something about your character and your work ethic. If Knight cares about basketball, he will work his butt off to be successful (as he did with his classes). Scouts did say he has a high ceiling as a player, so I expect him to improve rather quickly. He wasn't all that good in the beginning of the year, but he progressively improve game by game and he makes the big plays when his team needs it. Even a guy like Chauncey Billups needed a few year and get it together, I'd like to give him a chance.

Now then, a lot of us including myself know that we have a major logjam with the guards. Taking a look at a few teams, Utah and Cleveland have a major logjam with their big men. Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Mehmet Okur, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter all want and need significant minutes next season just like Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, Brandon Knight, Rip Hamilton, and Will Bynum. Anderson Verajao, Tristan Thompson, Antawn Jamison, and JJ Hickson all want and need significant minutes next season just like our guards. Those two teams could be our trading partners in the perceivable future. I believe in Joe Dumar's ability in trades. I'm not very good coming up with trade ideas, maybe Ben Gordon + Daye + a pick for Verajao + Ramon Sessions (since Irving and Davis are the on the team) + throw-ins? This give Irving and a few good shooters while we get some inside help in Verajao and an insurance in Sessions. For Utah, maybe something like Ben Gordon + Stuckey (after tendered) and/or Daye for Paul Millsap + Raja Bell? Again, they need shooting guards and wings while we need inside presence in Millsap and a solid vet in Bell. Rip Hamilton + Charlie V + Daye for Elton Brand + Andre Nocioni?

I don't know how you guys think, so comment on this and let's talk about whether this plan could work or I'm just being stupid

Darko Milicic coming back to the Pistons? His number this year has been more than solid. Playing only 24 minutes per contest, he averaged 9 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 blocks. I can understand why he got such a low rebounding production, because he played with some dude named Kevin Love. The two blocks per game really intrigues me because that's exactly what we need; if he plays 30 minutes (about right because he also averages 3.3 fouls in 24 minutes), he could one of the best shot blockers in the NBA. One more thing, I do like Monroe and Jerebko playing with him because Monroe doesn't have to do all the dirty work and Jerebko can play the 3 (I think that's his natural position).

In the Celtics-Knicks game today, I heard Jeff Van Gundy said that Chauncey Billups' contract could be bought out at the end of the season by New York. New York's current goal is target another superstar, so there is a good chance Billups can be a free agent this upcoming summer. If that does happen, the Pistons have the best chance to get him. Although Billups once said Denver is his preferable destination, but Denver has two solid PG including a stud in Lawson; therefore the Nuggets most likely won't display interest of signing him.

I'm pretty sure I'll get a lot of criticism on this, but discussions are always good. So this is what I came up with:

NO Hornets get:

Rip Hamilton (11.3M) and Chris Wilcox (3M)

Detroit Pistons get:

Emeka Okafor (10.7M) and James Posey (6M).

For the Hornets:

1. NO saves another 2 million dollars.

2. Chris Paul gets a great back court partner in Hamilton.

3. Get rid of Posey's contract. He doesn't fit in the Hornets.

For the Pistons

1. This can allow Monroe to play the 4, his natural position.

2. Emeka Okafor is a tough nose player who can defend and rebound.

3. James Posey is an important player in this trade. Not only he's a good spot up shooter, but he's also pretty good defender.

After this:

I would hand the start SF spot to Jerebko, and let Posey be the backup. Yes, I'm saying Tayshaun should be dealt afterwards. For whom? I'd like to see something like Tayshaun Prince for Jose Calderon from the Raptors. He's an underated PG in this league. He runs plays pretty darn efficient. Him, Stuckey, Gordon and White will share minutes in the 1 and 2 spot.

This means:

Will Bynum or Stuckey will be dealt. However, I'd much rather prefer Bynum to be dealt. I would think a sign and trade. Along with Jason Maxiell, I'd trade them to the Magic for Marcin Gortat. That will give us plenty of size down low. That can also free up Magic's Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, they should get better playing time than last season. They get Maxiell whose a bruiser in the paint, and Will Bynum can share good minutes with Nelson at the point guard spot.

So after everything, I'd set up my rotation like this:

PG: Calderon,White

SG: Stuckey, Gordon

SF: Jerebko, Posey

PF: Monroe, Charlie V

C: Okafor, Gortat

We have good passers in Calderon, Stuckey (not a good passing point guard, but certainly pretty good for a shooting guard) and Monroe to shooters like Gordon, Charlie, Posey and even Calderon, and hustle players like Jerebko, Posey, Okafor, Gortat. This works in NBA live, but I'm not sure it would in real life. So comment, praises, criticisms, etc............feel free :)

I think I'm looking at this correctly:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AglhIAYB0WOe7xF02sQUNcq8vLYF?slug=ys-mockdraft061510

So it says:

7. Detroit Pistons – DeMarcus Cousins, PF/C, Kentucky: Questions about conditioning and maturity are bound to follow Cousins for a while. NBA teams probably aren’t as concerned with the forearm shiver he threw at a Louisville player last January as they are the in-game oral confrontations with coach John Calipari. He often bullied opponents in college, which might not be feasible in the NBA.

Is that guy some dumbass or is he actually an expert? We can get Cousins straight up without any trades?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlTgSv4_JrLBoRiAhABv5Pm8vLYF?slug=ap-hawks-woodsonfired

Woodson, in my opinion, can turn Detroit situation around. He's the only coach to make his team better every year. Some of you might say,"Well, he sucks during playoff time." So what? We need to get back in the playoffs at the first place. As far as I know, he can make his Hawks team to run hard. Woodson has been an assistant coach for the Pistons before, he should know how to bring that defense that we're missing back.

5 years ago, he appears to be one of the best young players in the league. Unfortunately, a knee injury has devastated his career. He has bounced around the NBA the past 2 or 3 years, and finally found a stable team in Washington. He has showed enough to me to prove that he is healthy enough to run a team. Now then, Livingston's contract ends this season. Should the Pistons take a look at him?

Several things I heard from people:

1. He should of draft Melo/Wade/Bosh instead of Darko Milicic

2. He should of kept Chauncey Billups

3. He should of trade Rasheed a while ago

4. He shouldn't extend Rip's contract

Well, from my point of view

1. Look at these following mock drafts, imagine you're the GM with the No. 2 pick without knowing the future, who would you pick?

http://quicktime.cnnsi.com/basketball/nba/2003/draft/news/2003/05/22/mock_draft/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2003/draft/news/2003/06/23/hollinger_mock/

http://www.jazzhoops.net/archive/nbadraft2003.htm

2. Chauncey was ready to a PG since he played in MIN with KG. Joe D noticed it, and signed him as a FA. If Chauncey was traded later on the 2002-2003 season for Allen Iverson (say the Sixers magically agrees to the trade and Detroit can string enough players to match the salary), would you be happy or unhappy? Allen back in the time was known as the ANSWER, the soldier on the court, pound for pound the best scorer in the history, etc. Chauncey was doing the same thing he did 6 seasons ago, he just kept doing the same thing until people realized that he's a great PG. If they were traded for each other back in 2002-2003 season, would you feel good about it?  Don't tell me AI lost a step. No he did not, that was your excuse for Detroit not able to fit AI into our system, or the other way around. Yes, we get the short end of the stick, but wouldn't you be upset? We keep losing at the ECF (the higher you're, the harder you fall, which means you hurt more), wouldn't you desperately wanna make a move and get us over the hump?

3. From my memory, I think I remember a blog saying Rasheed will traded to NY at the end of 2006-2007 for Eddy Curry and David Lee, and I remember everyone saying we should trade Sheed' for anyone at the end of the 2007-2008 (when the Celtics beat us and he was burned by KG). I'm probably biased about this, but I think Rasheed is great piece of the puzzle for a championship team, which we still are at the end of 2007-2008 until we fell apart.

4. Rip Hamilton is one of the best if not the best conditioned player in the NBA. His non-stop movement on the court makes people don't want to guard him when he runs of the screen. Right now, I think he's the 7th best scorer in the Piston basketball history. Once he recovers from his injury, he'll shoot at a better %.

But one thing I do hope though, is we trade Tayshaun for someone.

1: Emeka Okafor

I think he's the easiest to get without trading our best players because of their money problems. We can give them Kwame and Maxiell, and a draft pick. Kwame's contract expires next season so they'll have 4 million of cap relieve. Kwame can be their starting center, Songaila can be their backup center, Maxiell is their backup PF. They can drop Hilton Armstrong's contract next season (2.6mil). For us, we'll have a better rebounding and defensive PF/C to pair up with Ben Wallace (which I'm scare that he's eventually going to wear out someday).

If we can pull that off, we can still have Rip or Tayshaun on the table.............

2. Carlos Boozer

Last night in NBA Coast-to-Coast, I saw a question about should the Pistons trade either one of those cornerstones. They mentioned a Carlos Boozer-Rip Hamitlon swap would be perfect for both teams. Rip is a great fit for the Jazz and Boozer solves our frontcourt scoring problems.

3. Antawn Jamison

Again, last night on NBA Coast-to-Coast, Chris Bouchsard (or something like that) said the perfect case for the Cavs would be getting Jamison, but who are they willing to trade that can lure the Wizs to give Jamison? We have Tayshaun Prince, I can see a Prince + Maxiell for Jamison (or Caron Butler) + Mike James, two quality players (us) for one (James, no offense, isn't really doing much this season), a win for both teams.

Basically:

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yk85sft

Anymore suggestions?