Brian McCormick truly knows the game, he runs a great blog and we can all learn a lot from him about the ins and outs of both the pro and amateur game. That said, I have to raise a quibble with his take on the recent Charlotte-Detroit trade.

Last Friday, with 2/3rds of Bristol's population having hunkered down in Charlotte for the evening, the Bobcats sent big men Primoz Brezec and Walter Hermann to the Pistons in exchange for center Nazr Mohammed. Mohammed's been an absolute waste as a Piston over the last two years, he has all the makings of a lazy big man who got a big pay day and decided to take the rest of his career off, while the Pistons (and their purportedly can't-miss GM, Joe Dumars) appeared to have picked up two solid frontcourt prospects and cap relief all at once. 

Well, the last part is true. The Pistons saved themselves a whole lot of money with the deal. As to Brezec and Hermann's game, well, we'll need a while on that. Brezec, flush with minutes and available shots, came on like gangbusters as a Bobcat in 2004-05, but his game has been sliding ever since. It doesn't appear to be his fault, his head's in the right place, but it also appears that the league has caught up to him, while Primoz has slowed down a bit. He's not as quick with his shot, and he's not able to get low post position as well as he used to.

Hermann was a revelation late last season with the Bobcats, but he also benefited from a hot shooting streak coming around at about the same time he was afforded the chance to shoot quite a lot. Hermann gets shots up, quickly; he has a rolling hook that he's in love with, he'll take the baseline three-pointer if you'll let him, and he's skilled enough to let you believe that - in spite of his last four misses - the fifth one is going in. He can play, but let's not overrate the guy.

And yet, it doesn't really matter how much these two contribute in Detroit, because anything they give the 18-7 Pistons is gravy. Detroit doesn't need anyone else to shoot the ball, and they're really after contract relief (and the ability, eventually, to sign Chris Webber without going into luxury tax territory). They got rid of Mohammed's contract for the best possible payoff (potential, wrapped in expiring contracts), and that's enough.

But what about Nazr? Should we write the big lug off? I don't think so, and neither should you. For now, at least. 

Mohammed was a mistake for the Pistons, not because he's lazy or doesn't care, but because he was incredibly unfit for Flip Saunders' offense. I'm still shocked, well over a year later, that Saunders signed off on Dumars' acquisition of Mohammed. Nazr competes, he can play, and he has some significant gifts in the low-post scoring and rebounding departments. At his best, he's a legitimate starting center, and in spite of his less-than-glorious exit from San Antonio and time wasted in Detroit, he's still the best player in this deal, and he provides a skill the Bobcats are desperate for: competent offense in the paint.

Even though Charlotte was desperate for Brezec to return to his 2004-05 levels of contribution, he still couldn't get off the pine for them, and Hermann wasn't going to be able to play with Emeka Okafor, rebounder Ryan Hollins, and the emerging Jared Dudley taking up minutes.

Nazr will sop up those minutes in the pivot, once he gets a hold of the Charlotte offense his turnover ratio will fall, and he's worth a chance in exchange for two players who weren't going to play. Charlotte wasn't going to get under the cap anyway, not with all those rookie contracts to extend, so they might as well have a solid center in place once the injured list starts to slim and the youngsters come around.