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I give Mr. Griffin all the credit in the world for playing his ass off the whole time he's been here in Detroit. He left one of the better teams in the league (The Clippers) for one that completely stinks (The Pistons). Posted gaudy numbers in numerous games until he got hurt toward the end of last season. He never complained about the trade. Always a complete professional on the court.

That said - I was highly critical of the trade from the get-go, whereas people such as Bob Wojnowski were ambivalent. Pistons gave up too much in return for absorbing the massive contract of a big man with a history of injuries. The Pistons lacked the necessary pieces to be worth a damn following Griffin's arrival.

In an effort to nudge Mr. Griffin out of town, the Pistons have officially announced he will be out of the lineup until further notice. There's no way in hell the Pistons will be able to trade Griffin unless they agree to eat a large portion of his contract or Griffin agrees to restructure his contract in hopes of being traded a playoff contending team.

Another possibility? The Pistons put Griffin on waivers, and if he goes unclaimed (which would be extremely likely under such a scenario), the Pistons will use the stretch provision under the league's CBA to amortize next year's salary over three seasons from a cap hit standpoint.

During Griffin's time in Detroit, the Pistons made one playoff series appearance and won zero playoff games.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/ ... 754121002/

Curious to know how Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris have fared since then. Other than the Pistons and Bucks(my former classmate is the GM of the Bucks), I don't follow the NBA much other than the playoffs.

Harris is a great player. 20 points and 7 boards a night. 52 percent shooter from the field. 90 percent from the charity stripe.

I believe the Harris contract expired at the end of the '18/'19 season.

Bradley is a utility player in Miami and gets decent minutes when he is healthy. He's a pretty good bench player but is nothing special.

MWmetalhead wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:24 pm

Harris is a great player. 20 points and 7 boards a night. 52 percent shooter from the field. 90 percent from the charity stripe.

I believe the Harris contract expired at the end of the '18/'19 season.

Bradley is a utility player in Miami and gets decent minutes when he is healthy. He's a pretty good bench player but is nothing special.

Sounds like an awful trade then.

Svi and Sekou will be the only ones left from last season. Talk about a housecleaning!

Griffin vs. Harris -- we weren't going anywhere with either one of 'em. I enjoyed watching Griffin when he was relatively healthy in his first season here.

Griffin vs. Harris -- we weren't going anywhere with either one of 'em. I enjoyed watching Griffin when he was relatively healthy in his first season here.

Agreed. Harris was much, much cheaper, however. He likely would've bolted once his prior deal expired in any event.

Indeed, Griffin's outstanding performance in so many (sadly often futile) games was a bright spot. Phenomenal player when he's healthy.

He's been bought out and is now free to sign anywhere.

I would be curious to know how the buyout is able to be amortized from a salary cap hit standpoint.

On the surface, it would appear he took the Pistons to the cleaners! The Athletic reports he only gave back $13 million of the roughly $75 million he was owed over the next two seasons.

A TON of money down the drain!

That trade was one of the more idiotic moves in Pistons franchise history.

Because Griffin was technically waived, I believe the $62 million *might* be stretchable over five seasons (2 seasons owed × 2 + 1). If that is indeed the case, this negotiated buyout would prove to be a very good thing for the Pistons.

Sure would be nice if one of the Pistons beat writers could get off his ass and explain the financial implications!

Per James Edwards III of the Athletic:

Per sources, the #Pistons will not stretch the money owed to Blake Griffin, will eat this year and next. Detroit is in rebuild mode and has three draft picks as of now in 2021.

Kudos to Mr. Edwards for answering the question that the dopey beat writers for the News and Freep failed to answer in timely fashion.

We all know the Pistons are gonna suck next year, albeit perhaps not as much as this year. The 2022-2023 season is the soonest opportunity they'll have to seriously compete. If the financial albatross known as Blake Griffin's contract is removed by then, I'm all for it.

I do think it's bullshit he only agreed to concede ~$13 million, as I suspect he'll be able to earn at least that much money on a new deal from another team over the same timeframe.

I think this line - courtesy of Adrian W. at ESPN - is important to remember:

Griffin was traded less than a season into a five-year, $171 million max deal with the LA Clippers, arriving in Detroit in late January 2018.

Gee - how have the Clippers fared since then? In the regular season anyway, pretty damn well, last time I checked! Horrendous deal. The dopey sports pundits in Detroit refuse to call out the Pistons (Tom Gores in particular) for making that awful trade.

The fact the Clippers were able to weasel out of their massive mistake so quickly is remarkable.

While I appreciate Mr. Metalhead's penchant for scrutinizing a team's financial situation, especially as it ultimately affects a team's present and future performance on the court/field/ice in the salary cap era, I simply can't garner the same enthusiasm over what's essentially other people's play money.

As a fan I watch a game "in the moment"; I follow a team over a season; I speculate on a team's prospects based solely on the participants. What happens behind the scenes in the front office concerns me only as it relates to the present and future construction of the team.

In this case, it turned out to be a losing gamble, but as it is so often in pro basketball, one or two players and some actualized team chemistry can turn the team's fortunes on a dime.

All the best to Blake Griffin wherever he goes.

moldyoldie wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:52 am

While I appreciate Mr. Metalhead's penchant for scrutinizing a team's financial situation, especially as it ultimately affects a team's present and future performance on the court/field/ice in the salary cap era, I simply can't garner the same enthusiasm over what's essentially other people's play money.

As a fan I watch a game "in the moment"; I follow a team over a season; I speculate on a team's prospects based solely on the participants. What happens behind the scenes in the front office concerns me only as it relates to the present and future construction of the team.

In this case, it turned out to be a losing gamble, but as it is so often in pro basketball, one or two players and some actualized team chemistry can turn the team's fortunes on a dime.

It got asses in the seats in 2018 and 2019. That's for sure.

The team mortgaged its future at long odds. The result? Zero playoff wins, a prolonged rebuild (which would've been farther along by now had the Griffin deal never occurred), and among the worst attendance in the NBA pre-COVID.

Van Gundy is such a moron for not drafting Donovan Mitchell, who is still on his rookie contract, is an all star, and is averaging nearly 25 points a game for Utah.

MWmetalhead wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:06 am

Van Gundy is such a moron.

Fixed.