Cory Joseph has a partially guaranteed contract for next season and the Pistons could retain him, depending upon how the draft shakes out, Rod Beard of The Detroit News opines in a mailbag post. Only $2.4MM of Joseph’s $12.6MM is guaranteed and the Pistons will have decide whether to give him the full amount prior to free agency.
However, Joseph earned respect with his production and professionalism after being acquired in a mid-season deal with the Kings. If the Pistons draft Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs, they’ll probably pass on Joseph’s guarantee. Otherwise, there’s a good chance the Pistons will keep him.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Pistons forward Sekou Doumbouya finished his second season on a high note and next season will be pivotal regarding his future with the franchise, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. He averaged 11.8 PPG and 4.9 RPG over the final eight games. Doumbouya needs to be in top condition to accentuate his strengths as a cutter in half-court situations and finisher in transition. He also needs to improve his 3-point shooting to gain a rotation spot. Detroit will have to decide by the start of next season whether to pick up the fourth-year option on Doumbouya.
- Even with All-Stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls have virtually no shot at reaching the top three in the Eastern Conference in the next few seasons, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes. Chicago will even have difficulty breaking into the next tier of teams, considering that franchises such as the Hawks and Knicks are on the upswing and the Celtics and Heat are committed to winning.
- Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer says his team needs to have a “short-term memory” after its disastrous outing in Game 2 against Brooklyn on Monday, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets. “Whether you get beat by a point or by 40, you have to be ready for Game 3,” he said. “You’ve got to have a short-term memory. You’ve got to get yourself ready, understand what we need to do to go home and win Game 3.”
“No chance” is a bit of an overstatement on the Bulls. A few key injuries, and any team could be in it in the East.
The Bulls have a decent youngish core and one of the best scorers in the NBA. They need to add some 2-way wings and a point guard and they can compete.
The Knicks will probably revert, Thibs typically gets overachievement at first and then the limitations of his “projects” start to show. The Hawks are a Trae Young injury away from being irrelevant. Pacers are very near to starting a rebuild soon. Celtics have not made it over the hump.
So that leaves Bucks, Nets, 76ers top tier, Miami close behind, with the rest pretty wide open to teams who get lucky.
I wouldn’t say the Hawks would be irrelevant without Trae. They won some big games without him this year. Goodwin isn’t a bad backup pg, he filled in nicely. Definitely not a serious contender but a fringe playoff team without him. Still better than the Bulls.
Sportswriters seem to be the same alarmist type in every city. Weren’t the Suns viewed in the same way a year or so ago wasting the talents of Booker in an impossible conference? Bulls still may not make it but it’s not an impossibility.
Consider the source (Joe Crowley) and it’s a typical gloom & doom article.
Even if the Pistons do draft Cunningham or Suggs, it might not be a bad idea to keep a solid vet like Joseph as a backup. Very few 19 year olds are ready to start right from day one. It is possible that either would be fine and could be as dominant as thought, but it is not ordained. The team should not give up a relatively cheap option on a less than sure thing. Best case scenario, the young guy works out and Joseph is a decent trade chip at midseason.
Joseph usually surprises and he fits Weaver’s needs from a veteran. Or most coaches, as a backup.
Budenholzer needs to plan on moving soon, he’s not coaching the Bucks next season.
He is hoping the GM has a “short” memory when it comes to his playoff coaching record. Yea, I agree, he is gone even if they lose in 7.
The whole team looks so flat. It looked like Middleton wanted to take over for a minute there, but then he backed off again like he was afraid to step out n Giannis or something. Lopez was completely overmatched and looked clumsy. It’s like nobody had a plan and they were throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick. Have never seen them all shoot this badly.
If Middleton is afraid to do what it takes to win because of GA then the BKN’s Big 3 have better chemistry than two players who have been together for 8 years. Middleton is turning into a regular season “star” and a playoff flop. Last two years, Bledsoe got much of the blame for not doing something in the playoffs that he did not do in regular season (make 3s). Middleton is not doing what he does in the regular season during the playoffs which will limit Giannis’ effectiveness. The much vaunted bench has also been a flop for the most part.
Writer Beard rated Mitchell behind Suggs, and guessd the Pistons would get the #1 or #2 pick because they deserve it. So much for that local.
As for Langlois, the Pistons will have paid for Doomtuya’s training. Who will “benefit” from it? Probably the Pistons— seven years down the road, a fair starter, before injuries. But his fans will say, they were going to be losing anyway.
Knicks need a free agent superstar
And keep free agents
Rose
Bullock
Burks
No more salary cap
So what? Not enough articles on the Nix to track down and post pointlessly on?
Just out of curiosity…what teams do NOT need a free agent superstar? Seems like that description would be welcome anywhere.
phx, uth, den, atl, no, mem, brk, det
So you think Kawhi Leonard wouldn’t improve any of those teams?
adding kahwi would take away valuable players for just one. these teams are constructed for balance, not being just top heavy. so i say no.
Watching Giannis last night put me in mind of a comparison I used to make jokingly that he’s ‘Deandre Jordan with a handle’.
I’m not so sure I was wildly off the mark.
“Even with All-Stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević…”
Let’s not forget that these two “All-Stars”, who both combine for a whooping three nominations in 15 years of NBA experience, have been perennial losers throughout their careers. And that includes their former college teams, UCLA and USC.
If Reinsdorf and his Bulls FO stooges really believe that one can build a winner around a ball-hogging chucker and a slow-as-molasses shooting big, both without an ounce of defense, they should all be immediately premedicated by Dr. Woody Mallet, Head of Anaesthesiology, for an emergency lobotomy.
In short, there’ll never be any significant winning or contending with these two stat-padding tooth fairies in charge of the floor.
Gullible Bulls fans have been cheated out of their money ever since MJ left 23 years ago.
CoJo will not be playing for the Pistons next year, at least not on this contract!
He was good, but he isn’t worth the $10M on top of his guarantee.
He will either be released (w/ the Pistons paying his $2.6M) or he’ll be traded to a team, for a dude on a guaranteed deal, and be released by the acquiring team to save the $10M.
(The Pistons could try to resign him after releasing him for a lower amount.)
I hope Weaver can convince some team Sekou has upside and trade him for a future pick or as a chip to move up a few spots. I wouldn’t mind trading him for a late 1st round pick if he can get it.
Lol nobody cares what Cowley thinks, he knows less than your average HoopsRumors commenter. Dude’s been steady trying to trade Zach for a year and now he’s in too deep to admit he might be wrong.