Van Gundy doubts Pistons will make major move

It didn't take long early this evening for the topic to switch to Thursday's trade deadline.

The second query to Detroit Pistons czar Stan Van Gundy after the conclusion of the first practice after the All-Star break was for comment on the espnnewyork.com report that the Pistons were interested in Brooklyn Nets small forward Joe Johnson.

He didn't confirm nor deny the report, but did let media members know where things stand on the trade front.

"You get into starting to comment on things," Van Gundy said. "We've probably talked to 20 teams about 30 different possibilities so we've talked about just about everybody. Everybody on our roster has been mentioned at some time. There's nothing imminent. There's nothing we're really working on trying to zero in on.

"We've basically said no to everything or other people have said no so we're not really along the spectrum unless things have changed in the last two hours, which I doubt."

There you have it from Van Gundy's mouth less than 24 hours from the 3 p.m. deadline.

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Van Gundy said that, after some time in Florida, he spent the last couple of days working the phones with general manager Jeff Bower to see whether a deal could be made.

The team, which is 21-33 and two games out of a playoff spot, likely won't be adding a major reinforcement, though it could use a point guard and a small forward.

But the timing isn't right for such a move because the Pistons aren't in position to sacrifice the future (young players, draft picks) for short-term gain over the last 28 games.

"Through this whole thing, talking to teams, our stance has been the same," Van Gundy said. "We would like to improve, but not at the expense of anything in the future.

"There were a lot of possibilities of sending a second-round pick, or something, somewhere, to bring back somebody who might help us. We held firm on all that. We just did not want to give up an asset for eight weeks.

"We did a lot over the last few days, but there's not a whole lot going on right now. I'll check with Jeff after practice, but I'd be surprised if there was a lot going on."

More on Johnson: If the Pistons were to acquire Johnson, there would be benefits. They would have a starting-caliber small forward for the rest of this season and next, filling a hole. But it would put a significant dent in their cap space this summer.

It's beneficial that Johnson would be off the books by the summer of 2016 for what will be a strong free-agent crop. But with the cap expected to grow significantly with the influx of money from the new TV deal, many teams will likely have significant cap space, offsetting any advantage the Pistons might have in wooing free agents.

Gray update: As with Josh Smith, the Pistons used the stretch provision to waive center Aaron Gray when a pulmonary issue was discovered. He signed a two-year, $2.5-million deal last off-season. He gets the full $1.2 million this season and will receive $452,000 per year over the next three seasons.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.