Up in the air, that's McDyess

New Pistons forward gets a jump-start on the rest of his career

By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/2004/pistons/0410/01/h01-290296.htm

AUBURN HILLS — The ball caromed high off the back of the rim. As several players jockeyed for position, one soared over them all, caught the ball at nearly its apex and slammed it through the net.

“Dang, Dice,” Rasheed Wallace shouted. “I guess that knee is feeling better.”

Antonio McDyess, 30, a onetime all-star power forward whom the Pistons signed to a four-year, $23 million contract last summer, just nodded and smiled.

The three-time surgically repaired left knee that has limited McDyess for the better part of the last three seasons looked as good as new during an informal scrimmage Thursday. According to McDyess, it has looked and felt good since last spring.

“It’s been a long road,” he said. “I am finally able to just go out and play. No pressure. The leg feels great. I don’t even think about it.”

McDyess, who no longer wears a protective brace, said he worked out hard all summer and never had to take any anti-inflammatory medication.

“I am good to go,” he said.

It’s been a long time since he’s been able to say that and mean it. Not since 2001, when he had to have his first surgery to repair a torn tendon.

He was traded from Denver to New York in 2002 and, in the third exhibition game, suffered a fractured kneecap. That took two surgeries to fix and cost him all of 2002-03 and half of last season.

“When you get injured,” he said, “people tend to write you off.”

That’s more or less what Knicks President Isiah Thomas did to him. McDyess was brought in at a high cost by Thomas’ predecessor, Scott Layden. The Knicks gave up Nene Hilario, Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson for him, and he was anointed as the savior by the New York media.

As such, he was under heavy pressure to get back on the court and produce. He came back too soon, making his Knicks debut against the Pistons last Dec. 1. It was not a pretty sight.

“I had no chance to get my body back in New York,” he said. “I rushed it and it took a toll on me.”

McDyess was unable to perform anywhere near the 16.7-point, 8.7-rebound career standards he had set for himself. And, as the Knicks faltered, McDyess felt as if he was made a scapegoat by Thomas.

“It was like they made everything out to be my fault,” he said at the time. “Once Isiah came, he wouldn’t even look me in the eye. Isiah never said a word to me. He slapped my hand, but that was it.”

Thomas, in one of his first moves, traded McDyess to Phoenix last January. There, McDyess was finally allowed time to heal. By the end of the season, his body and game were rounding back into shape.

Now all those clouds have been lifted. In a Pistons practice jersey Thursday, McDyess looked like a man who’s been relieved of a heavy burden. Smiles came easily. He appeared confident, content — in a sense, reborn.

“I am just so happy to be on this team,” he said. “I get an opportunity to play with (longtime friend) Chauncey Billups. We talked the whole summer. I get an opportunity to play for Coach (Larry Brown) again. I just feel like this is the right situation for me.”

There are no grand expectations for him here. He isn’t the savior. He doesn’t have to carry the team. The Pistons would be greatly pleased if, as the first big man off the bench, he can contribute a solid 25 minutes a night in relief of Ben and Rasheed Wallace.

“I don’t need to put any pressure on myself anymore,” McDyess said. “I have worked hard and I feel I am back. I don’t need no starting job. I don’t need to be the man. I just want to be a part of something.

“You know, they had great chemistry here last year and they rode it all the way to a championship. For me, to be able to come in here and play a role, I am happy and thrilled about that.”

Wish him the best. Still sad we coudln't see him play side to side with spree and houston. Would have been a nice combo.

Posted by Marv:

But man! What a pickup for Detroit if he stays healthy - another great move by my favorite genius GM Dumars. A healthy Dyess is worth a lot more than Okur - and cheaper!

I dont think its a great pick. I cannot see McDyess being effective anymore. He will be a nice body off the bench but thats all. He will not be able to score or rebound enough to make the pickup significant. He lost his knees and his explosiveness in 3 surgeries man.

Good for Dice. But he really is taking the wrong frame of mind to his game tho IMO. Why is he gonna risk re-injuring something by doing putback dunks in PRACTICE of all things. Just because you feel 100% doesn't mean that you are. I'm no doctor, but I'd say a surgically repaired knee (3 times), is never 100%.

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by Marv:

According to the article he didn't lose his knees and explosiveness. He's regained them. The question will be if he can retain them.

They said that was fully recovered Grant Hill too. You can buy it.

I think there's a difference. I never saw an article claiming that Hill recovered his physical gifts. This article quotes Wallace as witnessing it with Dyess. We witnessed it in his preseason performances a couple of years ago. I'm not claiming that his knees will hold up. I'm just "buying" what this article says - that he's regained it now. And I stated that IF he's able to maintain it then it's a great pickup for Detroit.

layden and chaney put too much pressure on him to be the savior of the franchise. isiah didn't want to build around a 30 year old with 3 knee surgeries so he traded him. i don't care if he looked him in the eye or spit in his face. it was a good move on isiah's part.

i hope dice is healthy b/c he can play (or at least used to be able to) but he's nothing more than a bench player now.

Sometimes I can't believe what I am reading on this site...McDyess shouldn't be going strong in practice, the man has to be confident in his abilities and can't think about his knee....

Sadly the Knicks were in a tough spot last year and they rushed him back and put a lot of pressure on him....Slowly you began to see shades of the old dice, 8 & 8 is hardly pathetic playing limited minutes, getting your timing and conditioning back.....

He needed to be traded and it was sad to see him go, although it would have been nice to package Harrington and Thomas in the deal instead of Dice....

They would have been something special with Dice, as he looked extremely dominating in the preseason, and the Knicks only finished around 5-6 games under 500....and that was with spree missing the first 10 games....The Knicks would have at least made it to the second round, and maybe even further considering Boston went to the conference finals....

Wish Dice luck, which he won't need he average 11 & 8, and the Pistons will win another championship as they have improved greatly with his addition, Delfino, and Darko should make a small contribution

ah, what could have been.

It would have been nice to see a healthy combo of Dice, H20 and Spree/KVH.

We waited a long time for these guys to heal, and we argued over them so much, that I would have liked to have seen it. With our draft picks, Lampe, sweets, frank, there was a design. It was faulty of course, but in a perfect world all those guys would have logged in games togehter and would have been a competitive core while obviously Laydog was going with youth.

He rolled the dice and lost, and of course having fatspoon, eyes, and Shandon made it impossible to do any deals with an owner whom obviously lost confidence in his GM.

I repeat, IM not saying i prefer a dice led team and have layden. But it would have been intresting to have seen it. And lets be real, had Layden been successful, so would have the team!

I think some will feel bette if dice is "nothing more than a bench player", but I hope he returns full strength and regains his form. Naturally this might conflict with what he might do to us, but he is a good guy, was one of us, and was nothing but a professional about things.

He is not happy with Isiah, but I think he will handle it better than when spree made his return to the garden!

I think Layden screwed the franchise by trading for McDyess giving up Nene and Camby, but Isiah did the right thing in moving McDyess + others for Marbury & Penny (I just didn't agree with the Lampe inclusion).

The only thing I wanna say about Dice is that I truly wish him the best, and I'd be very happy to see his explosive plays regardless of which team he plays for. Who knows how his knee will turn out this season. I don't think it's worth my time to speculate (same with Houston). It is always good to see a quality player come back and shine again. It'd be great if Dice, Grant, Houston, and Kidd could fully play without holding anything back.

I still think we lost out. I'm almost certain he'll get a ring the season.

It's so funny how Isiah didn't want to give up McDyess in the Marbury trade but in order to acquire the star PG, Phoenix wanted McDyess last yr contract included in the deal..

It's was a risky move on LayDum's part when he acquired McDyess
during draft night. That move was one of his blundering moves which enabled him to get fired..