Chris Webber to the DETROIT PISTONS is (pretty much) a Done Deal...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Hopefully this isn't another mid-season Rasheedesqu acquisation for Detroit, making them undeniably the strongest force in East...


Webber nearly a done deal
Sources say Pistons plan more moves

January 13, 2007
BY KRISTA JAHNKE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

ATLANTA -- Chris Webber can't officially become a Piston until after the three-day weekend, but a team source said Friday afternoon a deal was nearly done to bring the Detroit native home.

ESPN.com was reporting Friday night that Webber would not make a decision about his new team before today, but it still seems likely that by next week, the Pistons will start the former Michigan and Birmingham Detroit Country Day star alongside Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups.
 
Coach Flip Saunders said he couldn't comment on any specifics regarding Webber's decision, but said any team would hope he brings 20 points and 10 rebounds -- "what he did last year."

The Philadelphia 76ers waived Webber, a 33-year-old former All-Star, on Thursday. He must clear waivers before he can sign with a new team, a two-business-day waiting period that ends Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.

Several signs Friday pointed to Webber's arrival in Detroit. Saunders moved Wallace back into his usual starting spot for Friday night's game in Atlanta, and moved Nazr Mohammed to the bench.

Center Dale Davis started in Mohammed's place Friday and likely will do the same tonight against Boston. He also had his agent, Chubby Wells, on hand in Philips Arena on Friday and was trying to ignore various trade rumors that have him on the way out of Detroit.

"You hear the rumors, you just can't worry about it," Davis said. "You have to let things happen as they may."

Pistons sources have indicated that signing Webber will not be the final move before February's trade deadline, and Davis said Wells has spoken with president Joe Dumars. Davis has an expiring contract, always coveted by teams.

"It's not about wanting to be anywhere else," Davis said. "I just want to know the direction, if they're happy with me. ... From that standpoint, it wasn't in the intentions of going anywhere, but at this time, you hear a little bit of everything."

As for Mohammed, Saunders said he thought he might be more productive off the bench.

"He is what he is," Saunders said. " ... We're tinkering with maybe seeing if he's a guy who can go to that second unit and bring him off the bench, because with some of our main guys out, he'd get more touches and be more effective."

Saunders has rarely played Mohammed with the reserves this season; Mohammed has typically been a first- and third-quarter player, and the first man subbed out as well.

He sounded frustrated when asked about his role Friday morning.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," Mohammed said. "It hasn't helped me talking about it before, and it's not going to help now. Coach knows how I feel about it. Everybody does; it's not like it's a secret."

The Pistons offered Mohammed a five-season deal in the summer to fill in as a starter in Ben Wallace's absence. But Mohammed has not had the offensive impact the Pistons predicted.

Part of that is because of his limited minutes, a sore subject for Mohammed all season.

"I'm just going to try to go out there, play hard and be positive and do whatever I can within the minutes I'm given," Mohammed said. "I think, for the most part, with playing the type of minutes I've been given, I'm doing a decent job. ... I can definitely make improvements. ... I'm playing 18-19 minutes and I'm surprised I'm even able to score seven or eight points. It's tough ... but so what?"

Saunders' two-game experiment using Wallace as a sixth man ended Friday.

"He is a starter; he's not a sixth man," Saunders said. "More than anything else, we did it the one night and didn't have practice the next, and (Jason Maxiell) had played well, so I think it was as much as anything else a reward for what Maxey had done the night before. But 'Sheed's a starter, he's not a guy to come off the bench."

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

2007 Easter Conference Champs?:

PG Chauncey Billups...Flip Murray/Will Blalock
SG Richard Hamilton...Carlos Delfino/Lindsey Hunter
SF Tayshaun Prince...Jason Maxiell/Ronald Dupree
PF Rasheed Wallace...Antonio McDyess/Amir Johnson
C Chris Webber...Nazr Mohammed/Dale Davis

Coach: Flip Saunders

[t.c.o.p.]

hopefully webber getting bought out will make philly worse...cuz oden would look pretty good in a philly uni...but he should do well on the pistons i guess, i just really dont have much faith in the guy. but in the system that the pistons run, he should be much better than he was in philly...

[GangstaBoogy]

Webber & Rasheed on the same team? Welcome back Washington Bullets.

I don't care about the East as long as Miami doesn't make it.

[Halu Sination]

pistons had been my favorite east team since the days of grant hill. as long as they never beat the lakers for the championship again, i'm happy for them

["THE" MoSav]

told ya sparegeez...

[wcsoldier]

I see Cleveland as a Conf Champ, why ? after dickriding Wade, it's James turn, I'm pretty sure  the NBA , via the refs, gonna do all they can to make it happen....

[AZ§o§a]

The Detroit Pistons are close to reaching an agreement with free agent Chris Webber, sources close to the negotiations said Thursday night.

Webber, 33, who had the final two seasons of his contract bought out by the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, will return to his Michigan roots where he once starred for Detroit Country Day High School and the University of Michigan.

Webber, who's still clearing waivers, can't officially sign with a team until Monday. He is expected to receive a pro-rated $1.87 million-a-season, 10-year-veteran contract.

All along, sources said, the Pistons were Webber's No. 1 choice upon leaving the 76ers. They would give him a chance to finally reach the NBA Finals and perhaps compete for his first NBA title.

should be a solid pick up for them, they need help down low

[R-Tistic]

ESPN just reported that he told Marc Stein.

[R-Tistic]

Only article I see right now....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/nba/wires/01/15/2030.ap.bkn.pistons.webber.0305/

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -Chris Webber could be headed to the Detroit Pistons, returning to the area where he starred in college and was tarnished in a booster scandal.

The five-time All-Star was waived by the Philadelphia 76ers last week. He becomes an unrestricted free agent after clearing waivers Tuesday, freeing him to sign a new deal.

When asked for an update on his future, Webber told The Associated Press in an e-mail: "Detroit homie..... Detroit!''

Webber did not immediately respond Monday to follow-up e-mails seeking elaboration. Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek said the team wouldn't comment until Webber clears waivers at 2 p.m. EST.

Messages also were left for Joe Dumars, Pistons president of basketball operations, and Webber's agent, Aaron Goodwin.

The 76ers cut ties Thursday with Webber by buying out the final 1 1/2 years of his contract, which called for him to make nearly $21 million this season and $22 million next year.

Webber would be coming back to familiar territory. He was born in Detroit and was one of the nation's outstanding college players at Michigan. His accomplishments, however, were clouded by his ties to a booster that resulted in federal charges against him and NCAA sanctions against the university.

Webber, the No. 1 pick overall in 1993, wants to contribute to a contender, and Detroit would give him a chance to do that.

Webber, 6-foot-10, might start at center next to power forward Rasheed Wallace. The Pistons have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and are the first team since the early 1990s to advance to four straight conference championships.

[rik]

I don't think he's goin to be a factor.

["THE" MoSav]

I don't think he's goin to be a factor.

yeah right..he still can pass great, rebound, and last year when he was PLAYING REAL MINS, he avg 20 and 10...how can he go from that in 05-06 in not being able to play...HES NOT GETTING MINUTES...donmt get it twisted...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

I don't think he's goin to be a factor.

yeah right..he still can pass great, rebound, and last year when he was PLAYING REAL MINS, he avg 20 and 10...how can he go from that in 05-06 in not being able to play...HES NOT GETTING MINUTES...donmt get it twisted...

What do you mean he's not getting minutes? He averaged over 30 minutes a game this season for the Sixers...LOL.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Pistons win sweepstakes, will sign Webber Tuesday

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Chris Webber is going home.

Literally.

Webber told ESPN.com first on Monday via e-mail that he has chosen to sign with the Detroit Pistons, which will officially happen Tuesday after he clears waivers at 2 p.m. ET.

Chris Webber
Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
Chris Webber's heading back to Michigan to join the Pistons.

But first, Webber will spend the Martin Luther King holiday with family members after flying to his native Detroit ... and he says he'll attend the Pistons' home game as a fan Monday afternoon against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Pistons emerged as a strong favorite to land Webber from the moment his Philadelphia 76ers buyout became official Thursday. Webber, though, spent the weekend talking with two high-profile coaches to consider their teams as well -- Miami's Pat Riley and Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers -- amid a growing belief around the league that he had all but chosen Detroit.

"Joining the Pistons will allow me the opportunity to play the game I love in my hometown of Detroit surrounded by my family," Webber said in a statement released to the media Monday afternoon, according to The Associated Press.

With his hometown team, Webber will have the "an integral role" with a championship contender that he was seeking, as he described it to ESPN.com last Wednesday. He's expected to start at center for the Pistons alongside Rasheed Wallace.

Yet the clincher, according to sources close to the situation, is the ability for Webber to rebuild his relationship with the community that watched him grow up, which is obviously something no other suitor could offer.

Webber is more than a few years removed from his status as a local icon and openly shunned by the university where he became a famous name as a star of Michigan's Fab Five. He sees the opportunity to help the sputtering Pistons regain their standing as an East beast as a golden opportunity to reconnect with Detroit at large.

Dallas and San Antonio were on Webber's original list of preferred destinations along with the Pistons, Lakers and Heat. The Mavericks were never a serious contender because they couldn't guarantee playing time and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich decided early that he wasn't interested.

The Lakers were serious about Webber.

"It was a good conversation both ways," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said in Monday's editions of the Los Angeles Times. "He's got a decision to make. He didn't give me any indication. I just told him that he could help us ... He wants significant minutes. I said, 'I don't know what that converts to, but you can have an influence on the team.' That's all any player can really want."

In Detroit, Webber will earn a pro-rated share of the league's $1.2 million veteran minimum, with $450,000 of that amount -- also pro-rated for the rest of the season -- picked up by the league office. Webber was scheduled to earn $20.

[WC Iz Active]

I don't think he's goin to be a factor.

yeah right..he still can pass great, rebound, and last year when he was PLAYING REAL MINS, he avg 20 and 10...how can he go from that in 05-06 in not being able to play...HES NOT GETTING MINUTES...donmt get it twisted...

What do you mean he's not getting minutes? He averaged over 30 minutes a game this season for the Sixers...LOL.

Yeah hes had alot of playing time, he's just not playing well