Is Rodney Stuckey again going to lead the team at more than 36 minutes per game? Not likely. Image courtesy of Yardbarker.

Virtually every article from Pistons’ media day focused on one thing — health. Richard Hamilton is healthy and ready to contribute. Iron man Tayshaun Prince has shaken off his lingering back troubles and is healthy once again. Charlie Villanueva is ready to atone for last year’s lackluster season because he’s no longer struggling with plantar fasciitis. Ben Gordon’s got his legs back and is ready to be the overpowering scorer from his Chicago days. Tracy McGrady is supposedly going to be Arnie Kander’s latest reclamation project.

Everyone’s healthy! Great! Only one problem: everyone’s healthy.

What I mean is that there are only a limited number of minutes to dole out, and there is a surplus of players who feel like they deserve them. Oh yeah, another problem: One of the benefits of last season’s plague of injuries was that the Pistons’ rookies played quite well, and on a team that doesn’t expect to contend, I’m sure many fans, and many within the organization, would love to see the young guys continue to develop — especially rookie Greg Monroe.

My analysis shows that there is an “expectation” among players of 320 minutes of playing time and only 240 minutes available. Assuming we want a healthy team all year, minutes are going to have to be cut, players are going to fall out of the regular rotation and veterans aren’t going to get the minutes they feel they so richly deserve..  (more…)

Five years now as a Piston, McDyess has been nothing but a classy guy bubbling with loyalty, sincerity, and accountability, and a fabulous smile.  He’s a gamer.  He’s knows and performs his role as well as anybody.  I enjoy watching Dice compete.

Dice now needs to do what’s best for Dice. Sign with a contender. Please. Even though he will be 35 going into next season, Dice can still be key piece for any one of these teams.

How he fits in with the makeup of the…

Cavs.

Definite upgrade over Ben Wallace, Darnell Jackson, and probably even Joe Smith, though to a lesser extent. Would be a perfect fit to back up Varejao or whoever the starting power forward is. Even being the starting power forward is not out of question, but I would think his offensive punch would be better suited on the second unit. Though let’s picture the Cavs starting lineup being the same, just with Varejao replaced by Dice… talk about having a solid jump shooter at every position for Lebron to fool around with. Scary.

Magic.

I don’t have a clue as to what direction the Magic intend on going next year, but if they keep things somewhat the same, Dice would easily play 20 minutes a game and take a nice work load off Dwight on the glass. Plus with all the threes the Magic take (jack up too) there’s going to be a lot of long rebounds and Dice always seems to get those if he’s in the vicinity. A bench role would be ideal.

Celtics.

If the Celts lose Powe, Dice becomes a perfect replacement, and arguably a more consistent one as well. Big Baby and Dice subbing in for Perkins and Garnett would be pretty lethal. And Rondo is a creative player, so Dice would get his share of open looks.

Nuggets.

I can’t see Dice ending back over there, but I’m sure if he expressed interest the Nuggets would gladly take him for a cheap price. They could use one more competent big in that rotation, even if it’s just for 12-15 minutes a game, provided Birdman stays. I’m certain Billups can’t say enough good things about Dice.

Lakers.

If Odom departs Dice would seem like a nice alternative. Come in, hit the boards and probably get some good looks on a second team that has some good penetrators and passers such as Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton. Put Dice on this season’s Laker team and they look a whole lot better, which doesn’t seem fair because 1-10 they look pretty spectacular, but as we’ve witnessed against the Rockets,  they’re a little delicate too. 

Trailblazers.

Would be an interesting choice to go here because Portland is not yet a contender– any team having a starting lineup in which only two players can consistently score is so far out from being a contender it’s not even funny. Putting aside my feelings about the overrated nature of the Trailblazers this season, Dice backing up the young and talented LaMarcus Aldridge is a no-brainer.

Spurs.

The team is already old and looking to get younger, but I wouldn’t argue with whatever the Spurs’ front office does as it usually seems to work out, even if it is somewhat unorthodox at times.

Rockets.

I don’t see the Rockets making too many changes except for maybe adding a decent backup center. Of course Artest could leave, but that’s another story. With Landry and Hayes being such a big part of the team, the room does not seem to be there. But if they think Dice can be a better contributor than Landry for maybe just one year and that it could put them over the edge, then they might do it.