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Looks like Trenty and Washington are going to Europe.Joe Dumars was smiling like a guy who knows something about Walter Sharpe that nobody else knows. He watched “a ton of tape” on him and brought him in to work out, holding him over for a second day.
“He’s good, man, he’s good,” Dumars said. “Handles it, shoots it, long and smooth.”
Dumars said Sharpe will be a small forward in the NBA, though he was playing out of position at UAB as a power forward.
As for Sharpe's history of off-court trouble - arrested for disorderly conduct, academically inelgible, shot two years ago though it appears he was an innocent victim - Dumars said almost all of it traces to the narcolepsy only recently diagnosed. He said Sharpe is now on medication and that "he says it's changed his life." Dumars said he's talked to "more people in Alabama than I care to remember" and is perfectly convinced Sharpe has a firm grip on his life now.
Dumars was prepared to take him at 29 when Seattle called and wanted to trade up to get D.J. White. Dumars saw it as an opportunity to get the guy he wanted and pick up and extra pick in the deal. He also said he knew of two teams preparing to trade up to take Sharpe.
Trent Plaisted and Deron Washington, the two other second-rounders, were picked in part because they agreed to play in Europe next season. Dumars said the organization asked potential second-round picks if they would be willing to play overseas because he didn’t anticipate having a roster spot for them next season. Those who answered no, the Pistons scratched off their list. That’s one reason they didn’t take Bill Walker, though Dumars said “we liked him a lot.”
The reason they didn’t keep White, Dumars said, is they saw him as too close in playing style to Jason Maxiell – an undersized power forward who can play, but a duplication of Maxiell.
That’s pretty much it for tonight, guys. I’ll be back tomorrow with more on the draft.
Nice to see Sharpe might actually be a good player for us..