The Magic have been interested in acquiring point guard Carlos Arroyo and forward Darko Milicic. They are offering the Pistons a partially protected first-round pick and center Kelvin Cato, whose $8.5 million contract expires after this season. This trade, which is still being discussed, would have virtually no impact on the Pistons this season. Arroyo has been averaging less than 10 minutes for the past month or more, and that time might be cut further once Lindsey Hunter returns to game shape. Milicic is out of the rotation.
The Pistons likely would waive Cato, who has been hurt all year.
But, with the pick (which would be protected for the first five or seven picks) and the $8.5 million of salary cap relief, the Pistons would be addressing some long-term needs.
They don't have a first-round pick in this year's draft, and the cap relief would come in when they have to re-sign Ben Wallace.
Dumars is aware if he made the trade, he would be admitting drafting Milicic second overall was a mistake.
As a magic fan, I think it's an outstanding trade. Considering the magic currently have the 5th worst record in the league, they'll probably keep the pick anyway.
My question is, if the pick does fall under the protection, do the pistons get it another year, or what?
I think Darko needs playing time to transition to the NBA. Something he has never gotten in Detroit. Orlando would be a good place, because they aren't going to be competitive until they stop paying Grant Hill 13 million a year to play like 25 games. Francis can get the fuck out too. The entire team needs to be scrapped except for Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard. We should have offered this trade to the Pacers for Ron Artest. Maybe we did.
The Detroit Pistons traded forward-center Darko Milicic and point guard Carlos Arroyo to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and a first-round draft pick, ESPN.com learned Wednesday.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported the first-round pick in the deal won't belong to Detroit until the 2007 draft at the earliest. Orlando keeps the pick for this June's draft and the pick is top-five protected in 2007, meaning that it would only go to the Pistons if it's No. 6 or lower. The pick is totally unprotected in 2008.
The little-used Milicic appeared in 25 games for the Pistons this season, averaging 1.5 points per game in 5.6 minutes. Arroyo, a reserve guard, averaged 3.2 points and 3.1 assists in 50 games for Detroit.
Cato averaged 13 minutes in 23 with the Magic, averaging 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds.
Milicic didn't play much more for Flip Saunders this season than he did for Larry Brown last season, fueling more second-guessing on Detroit's decision to draft the Serbian 7-footer over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
Yet, even if Milicic had gotten more regular playing time this season, it's doubtful the Pistons could have afforded to keep him. With Ben Wallace bound for free agency in July and Chauncey Billups expected to seek lucrative contract extensions before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2007, Detroit also needed Cato's expiring contract ($8.6 million this season) to create the salary-cap space to resign both comfortably and keep together its vaunted starting lineup.
After Wallace and Billups re-sign, all five Pistons starters will possess contracts averaging at least $10 million per season -- an NBA rarity but a necessity for Pistons president Joe Dumars given the success and relative youth (Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace are both 31) of the group.
While Orlando continues to explore its Steve Francis trade options, the trade gives Milicic a chance to play immediately alongside franchise forward Dwight Howard. It might also eventually give the Magic two highly touted but unproven European big men for its frontcourt rotation, with the Magic still hopeful they will have 2005 first-round pick Fran Vazquez, who elected to play in Spain this season, in the near future.
