White trade a reality

The Detroit Pistons will trade forward Rodney White to the Denver Nuggets for a first-round pick and two players, a basketball source said Tuesday.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Pistons will receive 6-foot-11 Chinese center Menk Bateer and former Detroit forward Don Reid.

The deal will likely be made next week. Since Reid was traded recently, he can't be traded again until October 1.

Via ap

Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets

Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets

---

Pistons, Nuggets looking for the White deal

The Detroit News is reporting that the Pistons are desperately working on a trade which could send second year forward Rodney White, the ninth pick in the 2001 NBA draft, to the Denver Nuggets.

White, a player who Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards coveted whilst owning the first overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, only played in 16 games as a rookie last year and doesn't seem to have improved during the summer league this year. As it stands right now he is the teams fourth best small forward behind Michael Curry, Corliss Williamson and rookie Tayshaun Prince. Rather than let White continue to deteriorate on the injured list, something which would be counter productive for both White and the Pistons, team president Joe Dumars is looking to cut his losses and trade him to a team who can afford to be patient.

"Nothing has been decided for sure," said John Hammond, Pistons vice president of basketball. "Something may happen later in the week."

Nuggets General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe said he would not confirm or deny any trade, but added, "We have some little things we are pursuing but no blockbusters."

There are several different packages being considered from Denver, but as Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports all of them include a future first-round draft pick (Which Perry Ferrell of the Detroit Free Press reports would be the pick that Denver acquired from Milwaukee last year). A strongly rumored package currently being reported involved Chinese center Mengke Bateer, former Piston Don Reid, and a first round pick. Reid, in the final year of his contract, will make $1.3 million. Bateer, a restricted free agent, would have to be signed -- probably close to the NBA minimum for second-year players ($512,435) -- then traded. [RealGM Note: Since Don Reid was recently traded from Orlando to Denver he cannot be immediately traded to another team in conjunction with other players. This is effective until the 1st October, after which time he is no longer restricted. For a list of players currently affected by trade restrictions click here.]

Via

Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets

Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets

---

Blood may have been found on Dele's boat.

The Associated Press reports that investigators have found what appears to be blood traces on Bison Dele’s 55-foot catamaran. Authorities found traces of the substance on the inside and the outside of the vessel, said Michel Marotte, Tahiti's chief prosecutor. The findings must be verified in a laboratory "but it does seem to be blood traces,'' he told The Associated Press on Friday.

Dele's brother, Miles Dabord who is also known as Kevin Williams, was in a coma and in critical condition at a hospital in Chula Vista. He was found unconscious in Mexico last week. The FBI arrested him Thursday on a fraud charge after learning his identity. Dabord allegedly used his brother's former name, Brian Williams, while trying to buy $152,000 in gold in Phoenix earlier this month.

Dabord's mother, Patricia Phillips, told the Los Angeles Times she fears her son may have tried to commit suicide in a fit of guilt, somehow believing he was responsible for his brother's disappearance. On Friday, she stood at his bedside in a San Diego hospital. "I wanted to hug him, to stroke his face, to hold his hand,'' she said.

In a Sept. 13 telephone call, Phillips said Dabord sounded groggy and spoke of committing suicide. He told her he hadn't killed his brother and that he wanted her to know this before ending his life, she said.

Marotte said there is reason to think that Dele, his 30-year-old girlfriend Serena Karlan and Bertrand Saldo, the captain of Dele's sailboat, were killed July 6 or 7 during a layover in Tahiti. Investigators are working on the suspicion that a single person committed the killings, and "that is the brother of the victim, Kevin Williams.''

"We presume that the bodies of these people must be in the sea, the ocean, and will probably never be found,'' said Marotte, who speculated that the bodies could have been weighted down to sink them. "But we're still looking.''

The LA Times adds that Dabord may not live to tell his side of the story. Law enforcement officials admitted Saturday that they might never know exactly what happened to a missing former NBA player and two others who are presumed dead in the waters of the South Pacific.

Dabord is "dead, living only through artificial means," his mother said. Patricia Phillips said doctors have discovered severe damage to her son's brain--injuries they have told her are the result of an insulin overdose and Dabord not taking his asthma medication.

Via

Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers

Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets

---