Roll’em

I didn’t much care for Antonio McDyess in a Piston’s uni at first.  Admittedly I didn’t know much about the guy’s personality, all I knew was that he was a leaper and an All-Star caliber player before suffering a terrible knee injury in 2001. I knew he was a shell of his former self.  I guess at first Dice was too boring for me.  But I was still young and still feeling my away around in terms of realizing what roles players could and could not fill.

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.