In an attempt to get anyone talking, I will ask the question: What would you do this summer if you were Joe D?

Any and all comments appreciated, and I will not call anyone's idea's dumb, mainly because I know we have absolutely no control or influence over Joe D's decision, and no one REALLY knows what would or would not work for this team.

Here's how I would go about it as of now:

Draft only bigs. In the first round, best PF or C available (Cousins or Favors if available, then Aldrich if available, and if none of those 3, then someone like Ed Davis, Greg Monroe, etc. Kind of early to decide.), and in the second round, best C available because I think we already have too many PF's with Maxi, Villanueva, JJ, and Wilcox.

If anyone with a 3, 4, or 5 draft pick was looking like they were willing to trade it, I would be more than willing to trade up because I think Cousins and Favors have a much bigger chance of being impact players than all others (as of now, this could change by the end of the college season). Instead of saying who I would trade, I'm going to go with the shorter list of who I would not trade to move up in the draft. I wouldn't trade Stucky, JJ, Daye, or Bynum. My only other stipulation is that I would not trade BOTH Rip and BG, because I think we need at least one of the two.

I would actively look to trade one of Rip or BG, and one of Maxi or Villanueva because think the first two are both starting SG's and the latter two are both backup PF's and not starters (and Wilcox if possible, but I don't think ANYONE wants him). Who needs two backup PF's making 5+ mil or two sg's making 10+ mil? I would also be open to trading Daye or Prince if it would be for an impact player, because I am a big advocate of Summers getting backup SF minutes next season.

I would try to resign Big Ben at backup center for probably the Bi-annual or vets min if he would take it.

I would resign Bynum, but not if he was going to make more than 4mil a year. If someone offered him more than that, I let him go. I know he is good, but backup PG's are relatively abundant in my opinion and cannot take up that much salary.

More than anything, I hope we do something (and something does not just mean resigning current players and drafting). I think it means trades and trading up in the draft, because I don't even think we will get much out of our MLE. Especially if most of it goes to Bynum.

I feel like I'm just rambling at this point... But hopefully my rambling encourages others to do the same and at least gets a little discussion going!!!

I feel that we need a center first and foremost. If we could get Gortat and keep big ben as a back up that would be a good start, if the price is right, maybe do a sign and trade with orlando for tay or rip, or a three team deal.

1. draft only bigs, unless we get the #1 pick. in that case we take wall or trade him right away one to two spots down to make sure we get favors or cousins.

2. see what we can get for each of our three top shooting guards (rip, bg, stuck). if stuckey can get us an impact frontcourt plater, go for it. if not, ship one of the others for any sort of frontcourt help you can get. or draft picks or whatever. we don't have enough minutes or shots for these three guys.

3. do what you can to keep bynum. he can be 1/3 of a great backcourt. with our surplus of SGs, i'd rather keep him around than stuckey. and he'll never command the salary stuckey will. if we're extending stuckey without room to keep him in the 2 spot, we're doomed. i'd rather have him as an underzised 3 than running the point. and i'd rather let him walk for nothing than pay him $10 mil to run a stagnant point.

4. get maximum value for tayshaun. we can't afford to keep him, and we've got his replacements. ideally jj is our starting 3 or backup combo forward, because we'll have a quality starting frontcourt.

5. much as i love ben wallace, i offer him only the bi-annual exception. he's made plenty of money over the course of his career and already chose money over detroit once. he may be a great lead-by-example kind of guy, and has surely been invaluable to the development of our rookies, but he's not going to be in the league much longer, and our midlevel exception will probably go a long way in getting us a solid rotation player moving forward.

6. use that midlevel exception to replace the perimeter player we presumably traded for a big man. preferably a PG, even if it means stuckey is our starting 3. if we were unable to turn one or two of our perimeter veterans (rip, tayshaun, bg, stuck) into impact frontcourt help, god help us. i suppose we see which bigs are available for the midlevel exception.

in the end, we've held onto bynum, jj, daye, summers, and two of our SGs. our active roster looks something like this:

PG: [MLE free agent acquisition], Bynum
SG: Stuckey, Gordon
SF: Jerebko, Daye, Summers
PF: [Trade acquisition], [1st round pick], Villanueva
C: Wallace, Maxiell

our 2nd round pick would be inactive along with wilcox. i suppose in this ideal world villanueva is pretty much out of the rotation entirely. but if he can manage to defend well enough to stay on the floor, that's great by me. also someone like max might get thrown into a trade. and i realize we've shed rip and tayshaun and gotten only one player back via trade. not sure how that works, but o well.

I agree with essentially everything you said Tay. The one thing I would add was that I would try to use attach Wilcox or Villanueva to either Rip or Tay because I think we have WAY too many power forwards on our team.

Also, I don't think I would start Stucky at the 3. I have not problem with him playing some SF, but I would rather start JJ, Daye, or Summers there even if they are taken out early and replaced by small ball, just to set a defensive tone... That might mean either Stuck or BG coming off the bench, but I'm not opposed to that (although Joe D probably would be, because Stucky is golden).

I also agree that if we don't find a way to trade away any of our SG's for frontcourt help, we're screwed, and next season will be pointless to watch.

agreed. too many power forwards, not enough IMPACT at the position.

as for stuckey at the 3, i don't want to see it either. situationally, maybe, but not a regular slot for him. BUT if the option is to play him at the 3 or the 1, i'll take him off the ball no matter what. guy stinks as a floor leader. bynum goes down in the second quarter and with all that time to run the point, stuck manages one assist in 31 minutes.

no matter what, it is necessary that we drop one shooting guard. i'd give any of them away for a late second rounder if that's what it took.

latest blaha waste of time blog is that the pistons were supposed to make the playoffs and that when people talk about rebuilding, they should take into account that they're "rebuilding" a playoff caliber team. i won't argue about them being good enough to make the playoffs or not, but there's nothing good about a team whose ceiling is squeaking into the playoffs and getting swept right out. and no matter how you slice it, that's what we were/are looking at.

Well, now that Chicago has Boozer, leds find a 3 way deal to send Rip to Chi and for us to go for Gortat. Maybe not a three way deal, but maybe Rip for a 1st round draft pick and brad miller.

Well, definitely the Pistons will have a great summer league this year and, most likely a great season, without injuries. Joe D is a great GM and see what's the next step for this organization. I personally feel the Pistons this year will be first or second in the central division. We have a roster full of talent that can get it done each night going in to this season with heart, passion and, skill. All my fellow Pistons fan'ees, get ready for the season of revenge!

With all of the signings and trades going on, I feel like we are either being left out, or just being lazy. We could have used someone like chandler, for rip or prince. We need to get something done or I actually might get upset with our management.

squiz, with all due respect, you sound ridiculous. joe is not a great GM. not anymore. he built this team up from nothing and brought it right back down to where he found it. he hasn't made a good personnel decision in five years.

the reason the team has been on the outside looking in to the trade market is a combination of: 1) bad contracts, and 2) dumars is too stubborn to make a deal he doesn't see as a slam dunk.

keep waving the flag, squiz. no matter how healthy this team is, they're living at the bottom of the eastern conference if all they do is stay healthy and add two rookies. with the worst frontcourt in the league, rodney stuckey leading the offense (gag), and three shooting guards who need starters' minutes and loads of shots, this team will continue to STINK.

Teams have been trying to get Hamilton and Prince on the cheap, so no deal has been made.

Dumars has also made trade offers like for Tyson Chandler, but Jordan turned him down and took a worse deal with Dallas.

Activity will heat up again, though as the trade deadline nears.

activity will heat up "again?" when was it hot in the first place?? joe hasn't done anything. also, prince had better be traded by the deadline. if we let him expire for cap relief i'll blow my brains out. and if we don't move one of our shooting guards by the deadline i'll throw up. this team is a disgrace.

also, boris, you're like the zen master of the pistons fan community. but that's not what this team and fanbase need right now. your sunny optimism is great when things are going alright for the team, but this team is a walking nightmare. and you don't seem to notice. it's bizarre.

Can you name some great deals that Dumars failed to pull the trigger on this summer?

I wouldn't say I'm blindly optimistic about the Pistons, so much as combining a wait and see attitude with a glass is half full outlook.

What does condemning the front office accomplish anyway except to depress and anger yourself and others?

Boris: "Can you name some great deals that Dumars failed to pull the trigger on this summer?"

very very very very very very very very very very very very very very (that enough verys? i'll do a few more for emphasis...) very very very obviously i'm not privy to ANY of joe dumars's trade options. i know we haven't spoken in a while, but this reminded me of the way you like to argue, and it isn't fair.

very very obviously i can only speculate on these deals, but i do know he passed on a deal last summer that would have netted us rondo and ray allen's expiring contract, and i know he's gotten many calls about stuckey. i'd pull a trigger on stuck-rip-tay for rondo-allen, and i don't think there's a CHANCE i would have passed on half the deals he's been offered for stuckey. i can only speculate on what's been offered this summer, but suffice it to say i'd trade "rip and cash considerations" for "nothing."

Boris: "I wouldn't say I'm blindly optimistic about the Pistons, so much as combining a wait and see attitude with a glass is half full outlook."

buddy, you're like a lions fan. i think we'd get along if we knew each other personally, but i guarantee we'd have some heated pistons arguments, and we would never ever see eye to eye. your optimism will never die. no matter how bad things get you'll always wave the flag. i'm utterly convinced. call it "blind" loyalty or not, but it is unconditional. no situation will ever look bad to you when it comes to this team.

it's always wait-and-see. wait and see, wait and see. we trade chauncey, it looks bad; wait and see. iverson doesn't work out, but we have cap space; wait and see. the gordon and villanueva signings look bad on paper; wait and see. the gordon and villanueva look as bad on the court as they did on paper; wait and see. the roster looks imbalanced; wait and see. it's all wait-and-see. i've waited. i've seen. it looks bad. the skeptical fan can never win, no matter how right he is, because the wait-and-see game only holds water for so long. WHEN can we start judging these decisions, boris? according to you, never. 2020 rolls around and we'll have spent the past decade in the lottery, and you'll be wait-and-see'ing because sports is a continuum. but at some point you can feel free to judge individual moves. or rather, i can. for some reason you can't.

Boris: "What does condemning the front office accomplish anyway except to depress and anger yourself and others?"

what does trumpeting the front office accomplish? it frustrates realistic fans and only sets yourself up for disappointment. we're both here to discuss a team we care about. i'm sure not depressing myself here. the team is depressing. venting my frustrations is cathartic. there's not a chance in the world that my pessimism angers you more than your sunny disposition angers me. not a chance. at least i argue fair.

we've done enough to entertain deals.... but it is really frustrating that trades dont go easy on our team...

joe d has been patient in moving TAY and RIP... while most of the fans... including me.. are itching for a big trade.. it didn't happened..

but there is a big chance that before the camp or season starts... we will move TAY or RIP...

i think if we have done that.. we will move forward with the young guys taking charge... we need our young guys to gain more responsibility

TD: very very very very very very very very very very very very very very (that enough verys? i'll do a few more for emphasis...) very very very obviously i'm not privy to ANY of joe dumars's trade options. i know we haven't spoken in a while, but this reminded me of the way you like to argue, and it isn't fair.

I don't see myself as arguing so much as trying to get to the heart of an issue, but viewpoints can be different.

TD: very very obviously i can only speculate on these deals, but i do know he passed on a deal last summer that would have netted us rondo and ray allen's expiring contract, and i know he's gotten many calls about stuckey. i'd pull a trigger on stuck-rip-tay for rondo-allen,

At the time, Rondo hadn't broken out. I believe Ainge wanted Prince, Hamilton, and Stuckey. Giving up 3 players for essentially Rondo (since Allen is declining before our eyes) strikes me as too steep a price.

Surprisingly, Rondo still has a number of bashers among Celtic fans who call him overrated for not developing his jump shot.

TD: and i don't think there's a CHANCE i would have passed on half the deals he's been offered for stuckey. i can only speculate on what's been offered this summer, but suffice it to say i'd trade "rip and cash considerations" for "nothing."

I'd like to know what was offered for Stuckey. The Pistons need a dominant defensive PF/C to put alongside Monroe. Getting a big man directly for a wing player isn't a high probability transaction.

TD: buddy, you're like a lions fan. i think we'd get along if we knew each other personally, but i guarantee we'd have some heated pistons arguments, and we would never ever see eye to eye. your optimism will never die. no matter how bad things get you'll always wave the flag. i'm utterly convinced. call it "blind" loyalty or not, but it is unconditional. no situation will ever look bad to you when it comes to this team.

I tuned the Lions out for years. I only started eying them every now and then when they hired Schwartz and drafted Stafford. I'm curious to see what Suh, Best, their free agents, and trade acquisitions do this year.

I wasn't happy when the Pistons imploded in the wake of the Billups for Iverson trade. Yelling about it wouldn't have stopped Rasheed Wallace from acting out, Iverson being a prima donna, and Michael Curry showing he's out of his depth.


TD: it's always wait-and-see. wait and see, wait and see. we trade chauncey, it looks bad; wait and see. iverson doesn't work out, but we have cap space; wait and see. the gordon and villanueva signings look bad on paper; wait and see. the gordon and villanueva look as bad on the court as they did on paper; wait and see. the roster looks imbalanced; wait and see. it's all wait-and-see. i've waited. i've seen. it looks bad. the skeptical fan can never win, no matter how right he is, because the wait-and-see game only holds water for so long. WHEN can we start judging these decisions, boris? according to you, never. 2020 rolls around and we'll have spent the past decade in the lottery, and you'll be wait-and-see'ing because sports is a continuum. but at some point you can feel free to judge individual moves. or rather, i can. for some reason you can't.

Gordon started off the season with 20 ppg till he got his first ankle sprain in the first Cleveland game. Villanueva played 78 games, but struggled through a hamstring, broken nose, plantar fasciitis, and lower back problems. He finished the last 2 weeks with 15 points and 5 rebounds, he's been strengthening his body, working on his defense, and averaged 20/10 for the Dominican National Team in a Central American summer tournament.

I want to see what a healthy Gordon and Villanueva do for Detroit this season.

TD: what does trumpeting the front office accomplish? it frustrates realistic fans and only sets yourself up for disappointment. we're both here to discuss a team we care about. i'm sure not depressing myself here. the team is depressing. venting my frustrations is cathartic. there's not a chance in the world that my pessimism angers you more than your sunny disposition angers me. not a chance. at least i argue fair.

I didn't favor drafting Terrico White. When I look over things, though, there were no big men in the second round who tempted Detroit and White was a projected 1st rounder in the 20s.

I didn't champion the T-Mac signing. But from what I've dug up, he's healthy and motivated to play well. If he doesn't work out, he'll be cut. If he contributes, the bench will be that much stronger.

I wanted Dumars to break up the Going to Work Pistons and fire Saunders after they laid an egg against the Cavs in the 2007 ECF and gave them a free pass to the Finals.

I take things in stride since sports, like life, is cyclical. No championship organization transitions from one era to another painlessly. The Pistons aren't an exception to that rule.

The Lakers won't be on top forever. Kobe will retire sooner rather than later and Laker fans will be demanding a new contender overnight and agonizing as the post-Kobe team struggles.

I also have things going on in life and work that make sports entertainment secondary to me.

I feel Dumars is trying to be smart and patient about his moves rather than making headline-grabbing deals with downsides. Ainge putting together Garnett, Pierce, and Allen came at the price of Boston's young talent pool. Riley getting his Big Three came at the expense of salary cap space and draft picks he needs to bring in quality role players to round out his roster.

I don't see this current Piston roster winning championship #4, but they're better than 27 wins and Dumars isn't going to stop making moves.

The Bad Boys and Going to Work Pistons weren't assembled in one summer. The same holds true for the new contender Dumars is building step by step the old school way.