Jimbo

I am not impressed with this off season at all so far. Its not over but I would be surprised if a move happened before the trade deadline. Although lets not forget the Pistons are a very young team and all players will get better. They should be above 50 wins (unless injuries or something else happens) and I would take that bet in a heartbeat.

Like becoming a professional basketball is a choice that anyone would turn down. Any professional sports. But if your that athletic and you could choose, basketball is probably top of the list. I am sure basketball players have their own health issues when they get older although it might be the best for not having to deal with brain injuries that often. Any profession that deals with a lot of $, there is a lack of loyalty. There isn't loyalty with the players either in todays sports. I am also confused on what happened with him in Boston. Thought he wanted to go to a team he could be alpha. Was he annoyed that he took them to the playoffs but the team still thought Tatum was #1 and that annoyed him?

I would take a straight up trade of Durant for Duren. Just don't think this team can have both Thompson and Duren long term and I prefer Thompson.

I don't think the Dodgers trade for Skubal because they feel like they need him to win the WS. I think they trade him to keep him from going to a team like the Brewers. So that is the angle the Tigers need to go. You wait till the end and simply take the best option and play teams against each other. I am wondering if the situation next year will get more or less for Skubal. On one point, teams like the Dodgers might want to get another championship before there is a harder cap. On the other end, that is why you need top prospects with years of control. So it will be interesting.

Looking at the list, I think he is definitely a top 5 player I would start my team with based on talent and age. Honestly if teams were drafting, I think the only players I would put in front on him (now and future) would be SGA and Wemby. Luka is only 27 but doesn't play defense. Jokic is 31. Brunson is 29. Edwards is the same age but there is no doubt most teams would take Cade over him. Giannis is 31. Leonard is 34. I like Tatum more than most except he just came back from a major injury. Paulo should be a top 10 (I put him right after Cade and Edwards), especially after last playoffs and his age. I know this was based on current talent but his current talent level is still a top 5-10. Maybe Jokic, Giannis, and Brunson are better now but that is not even 100%.

I want all the Detroit teams to go for championships now. We went like 10 years without any playoffs so I was good with making the playoffs with a bright future. Although I feel like all teams have their bases (Wings are debatable) now and don't have early draft picks. Go for it and if you don't succeed then have a couple of years with retooling. Especially for the Pistons with a top 5-10 player in the league. If you swing and miss, the turnover shouldn't be that long. I am no longer happy with just being in the playoffs. I was good not swinging at the deadline because you needed to see what this team looked like in the playoffs and really we were ahead of schedule for our rebuild (less than 3 years away from a 14 win season). I am good with trading picks and/or any player/s (except Cade). We need a better #2 than a 33 year old. Tobias had a very good playoffs but your not going to win a championship with him being your #2. Duren is only 22 although unless he can all of a sudden have a mid range shot, he will never be a #2. The rest of the roster is very good and showed they can win games without Cade although we are not a championship team. Patience for all the Detroit teams is now gone. We need to start getting some championships.

This was a great trade for Detroit. You get two draft picks and a possible depth player with some salary cap relief for a 29 year old RB (when you already have a top 5 RB). The fact that we don't have a 3rd pick this year, adding a 4th round pick was very important. Also it seems like this year is deep with RB talent. Monty is a very good RB and loved his running style although with certain players getting big contracts we don't have the luxury of having veteran high salary depth. We need to add depth in the draft. So I don't think looking to add a RB in free agency isn't the solution. This is really where Holmes is going to show how good he is as a GM compared to other GMs. He had one of the best starts to being an NFL GM in history. Although the last couple of drafts have not been great (they could look better if some of the draft picks start to show up as good depth this year). To keep on being competitive you need to find ways to save $ (restructuring contracts), get good value with free agents, and find more of those contributing late draft picks.

Not sure any CB outside of Surtain is worth 2 1rsts Although for Arnold and Williams, he could be worth it

I think when Brad and Dan took over this franchise, the most important thing was to change was the culture. That is why I think his job was a lot harder than the others that he is being compared to. I do think its fare to compare him to the top GM's in the league now though. He is in discussion for the best GM in the league. I do not think his legacy will only be if he wins Superbowls although if he wants to be considered one of the best of his time or ever than that is something he should be judged on. In my opinion, his tenure is already a success. Taking the worst (or top 5) franchise in sports history to being very relevant and respected in a short time is already a great feat. Will he be the next Dombrowski or will he be a legend like Jack McCloskey/Ken Holland is the question.

Great post. I totally agree. This is the NFL and there are games like this all the time. This just seems like one of the worst games I saw them play in a while, especially after a bye week. Not sure if it was not being prepared, over confidence in the players, or just a combination of stuff. I definitely am not as confident in this team after this game although that's the NFL. Hopefully this is another one of those wake up games. Biggest concern is definitely the OL. Would love to see them add a couple of depth guys at the deadline.

A lot of experts and even just friends think this is their best year to win a superbowl. I personally think it all depends on the health of the team. I think that goes for all the top NFL teams. If we can prevent from any serious season ending injuries than I truly think we are the favorite this year. I think the Lions window is the next 3-4 years. For future years the biggest question will be who will be adding depth and eventually replace Decker. I think that will be a big focus in the draft next year. The other question will be can they resign all their 2023 draft picks. I actually think they can with some maneuvering. You can do that when you sign your own draft picks instead of overpaying in free agency and trade deadlines. That is why I don't think they are going to make a big splash at the trade deadline (unless a major injury happens on sun). They can use extra cap space next year which will help with resigning the 2023 guys. I expect them to trade for some depth. Their trade deadline will be getting injured players back.

I don't like the idea of giving a pitcher that will be almost 30 a 10 year contract. So I want to make that clear first. Especially with smaller market team that can't absorb that contract in the later years. I will say this though that giving any player a 10 year contract for a small market team is bad. Although if when you made the Cabrera contract, would you rather have Verlander and/or Scherzer or Cabrera? My opinion is the pitchers. Now its easy to say now after the results. I do understand that pitchers (especially high velocity pitchers) seem to fan out a lot sooner and if Cabrera could of controlled his weight we could of gotten more years out of him. Although if your a Tigers fan, who would you compare Skubal to besides Verlander? Verlander was a little younger when he started to dominate although I think Skubal has been slightly more dominant at this point and doesn't seem to be slowing down. The Tigers could spend some $ next year and go for a world series with Skubal and then let him test out FA while we retool in 2027 and let our top farm system go into the next run. It looks like some of the top young guys could also join our team next year either at the beginning or at some point.

So can the Tigers discuss with other teams Skubal's contract demands during trade discussions and what he would take from each team? Not even sure the Tigers, Boras, and Skubal have these type of discussions but I would hope they would. I would have zero issues with the Tigers giving him a 40mil for 6 years (maybe 7) but the talk of giving a pitcher 10 years at his age is crazy. Although if you compared him to Verlander, it would be value for 10 years. Verlander was a dominant pitcher until he was 36. Even after that he was a starter. Obviously he was the exception. Again, I don't care what Illitch has to pay him, its not my money. Although if it means the Tigers are handcuffed every year because of this contract than I would rather them trade him. I just look at the Tigers trading or letting go all those Dumbrowski players and it scares me to give up such a talent. It would suck to see him go on and win multiple championships.

Another thing to consider is there could be a work stoppage in 2027. If your Boras and Skubal, maybe taking a contract this offseason wouldn't be the worst idea

I was looking at highest paid pitchers. Obvoiusly Ohtani is highest but he's not even getting paid mainly for pitching so really he doesn't count. Wheeler is next at 42 mil although it was only for 3 seasons and he actually stated he wants to retire after 2027 season. Philly is definitely a very good possible trading partner because Wheeler's salary comes off the books after the 2027 season. No pitchers (excluding Ohtani) are getting a 10 year contract. Would the large market teams actually be willing to give him that many years? Salaries with sports are out of control so if I were to bet I would think someone would offer it.