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The Pistons' Carlos Arroyo confronts the Mavs' Dirk Nowitzki after what Arroyo perceived as a hard foul. Arroyo was later ejected.Pistons: Notebook
Dumars thinks Prince will sign
Pistons president says although the deal is not done, he's confident it will be by the deadline.
DALLAS -- Pistons president Joe Dumars and small forward Tayshaun Prince were checking out of the hotel together a couple of hours before the game here Thursday.
Dumars looked at his bill, specifically at the long and expensive list of phone calls, and handed it to Prince.
"I told him, 'You should pay this bill,' " Dumars said, laughing. "I had been on the phone with his agent all day."
And despite a new wrinkle, Dumars believes he and agent Bill Duffy are moving closer to an agreement on a five-year contract extension for Prince.
"I still feel that at the end of the day, we will get it done," Dumars said. "Pretty soon we'll be sitting here talking about we got Tay locked up for another five years."
The Pistons, who were defeated by the Mavericks 103-97 Thursday, have until midnight Monday to sign Prince to an extension, otherwise, he will become a restricted free agent in the summer.
The Pistons have had a five-year offer, believed to be worth $45 million, on the table for over a week. Duffy has been trying to stretch that closer to $50 million.
Over the last couple of days, a new wrinkle has come to the bargaining table -- a wrinkle named Mike Dunleavy.
The Warriors fourth-year forward is also working on a five-year extension, and reports out of Golden State believe Dunleavy wants a $50 million deal.
The Warriors, it is believed, have offered him a deal closer to $40 million.
How does this impact Prince? From the Pistons' standpoint, it doesn't. Dumars has said repeatedly that he can't let how other teams structure their payroll dictate how he structures the Pistons'.
But from Prince's point of view, Dunleavy's contract matters. Dunleavy was the third overall pick in the 2003 draft, Prince was the 23rd. Both are the same size and play the same position.
Since the two have been in the league, Prince has been to the playoffs every year, including two straight trips to the Finals and one title. Dunleavy and the Warriors have never been in the playoffs.
And Prince has dominated statistically, especially when the two have matched up against each other. Prince has more points, rebounds and assists over his career -- despite generally being the fourth option. He's also by far a better defender.
Two years ago in a game at Oakland, Prince hit seven straight shots on Dunleavy at the start of the game, causing Dunleavy to be benched.
So to Prince, accepting a contract for less money than Dunleavy would be unconscionable.
If the Warriors compromise and give Dunleavy $45 million, the Pistons will have to go a bit higher. If they don't, Prince will probably test the free-agent waters.
"You don't want it to come to that," Prince said. "But at the same time, you have to do what's right for yourself."
Roster headache
Dumars is still anguishing over the final cut. He has until 6 p.m. Monday to trim one player -- either rookie guard Alex Acker, who has no guaranteed contract, or swingman Ron Dupree, who is owed one year at $630,000 -- to get the roster down to 15."Normally, I have a clear-cut idea," Dumars said. "I know exactly what I want to do in these situations. This is the first time that I have absolutely no idea how this is going to go. I have gone over every possible scenario and here I am on Thursday evening and I have no clear-cut answer."
Dupree played another strong game Thursday, contributing six points and five rebounds. Acker played the final 11 minutes of the fourth quarter, against many of the Mavericks' front-line players.
He had two points and an assist.
Arroyo fumes
Carlos Arroyo was giving up nearly a foot in height to Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, but he wasn't backing off one inch when the two tangled under the basket with 4:40 left in the second quarter Thursday.Arroyo, who was having his best quarter of the exhibition season (eight points, three assists), took a hard foul from Nowitzki under the basket. Nowitzki seemed to throw an elbow at Arroyo, which missed.
Arroyo retaliated by sticking his finger in Nowitzki's face.
The two were quickly separated, but Arroyo kept up the tussle with another 7-footer, Erick Dampier.
Arroyo and Nowitzki each was assessed a technical foul. Arroyo was then ejected, picking up a second technical for carrying on with Dampier.
"I told him you can never do that," coach Flip Saunders said. "You get one tech and you step back, especially if you are playing that position (point guard). It's important to stay in the game."
Saunders was hoping to rest Chauncey Billups, who wound up playing 28 minutes, with Acker finishing the game.
"It's tough to think about what this means for the team when you are mad like that," Billups said. "I don't know what happened, but I am sure he had his reasons. He didn't do it because he just felt like he wanted to get into it. But I am with him. I don't care what happened. If he felt like that, I felt like that."
Although the fracas took place in front of the Pistons bench, nobody came off the bench to get involved. Had they done so, they would have been suspended for one game.
"I am pretty sure we learned that lesson last year," said Billups, referring to the Nov. 19 brawl at The Palace.
As for the game, the Mavericks, playing their regulars, scored 58 second-half points, playing mostly against Pistons reserves. The Pistons led by 10 in the first half and by as many as 13 in the third quarter before they went to the bench.
Richard Hamilton had 18 points in 25 minutes. Darko Milicic had seven points, six blocks and three rebounds. Rookie Jason Maxiell scored 10 points in seven minutes.
Last one
The Pistons will conclude the exhibition season tonight in Rapid City, S.D. against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a trip that is bound to stir the echoes for Saunders. His first professional coaching job was in Rapid City, coaching the CBA's Rapid City Thrillers in 1988-1989."I was (coaching) in college when I took that job," Saunders recalled. "I took a $20,000 pay cut and moved my wife, my four-year-old and my two-year-old into a two-bedroom apartment.
"Two weeks on the job, the owner told me that the team had been 16-38 the year before. He said, 'If we don't win and make money this year, we're going to fold.' "
Nice. Saunders responded, leading the team to a 38-16 record and a spot in the CBA Finals. The team still folded.
Tickets
There are still several hundred tickets available for the season opener, Nov. 2, against the Sixers. It will be the only Palace visit for Allen Iverson and Chris Webber this season.
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The Detroit News.
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