by Cavalier Marcus on Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:54 pm
No matter how badly the Pistons tank, there's absolutely no way they land John Wall (unless they get a VERY lucky lottery ball). They are a young team and are going through the motions and are hitting bumps along the way. You can't rebuild a team in one year, though. It will probably take a couple more years (or whenever they have significant cap space available again) to build through draft, trade, and free agency before they can rise back to the ranks of the elite. I don't expect them to miss the playoffs, but in an increasingly-tough East that has 3 championship contenders and another one trying to join their ranks, they will be hard-pressed to make it past the first round.
That being said, playing for next year/the draft is a terrible idea. Look at the Knicks as a perfect example. They did all they could to clear cap space for two max free agents and tank their season last year, and unless they can move the horrible contracts of Eddy Curry or Jared Jeffries, they will only be able to sign one, and that's after they let two of their best players, Nate Robinson and David Lee, walk. This is all thanks to the lowering of the salary cap that was announced towards the end of last season.
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