Pistons still deliberating McGrady offer

A source with knowledge of the discussions told TNT's David Aldridge Sunday night that the Detroit Pistons are not close to signing free agent forward Tracy McGrady, and are continuing to weigh the pluses and minuses of signing the forward.

The Pistons "are not about to do anything" imminently with McGrady, the source said, disputing reports that the team had signed McGrady to a contract. Detroit is considering offering McGrady a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum of $1.352 million, but the team continued internal discussions on Sunday between the front office and the coaching staff, trying to decide if the 31-year-old McGrady would be a good fit for the team.

Detroit is making a full evaluation of several factors before deciding what to do: McGrady's health, his impact on team chemistry, what role he would feel comfortable accepting and whether adding McGrady would create an unwanted log jam at the shooting guard and small forward spots. Detroit already has Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon at shooting guard, and Tayshaun Prince at small forward, though Charlie Villaneuva and even second-year forward Austin Daye could see time at the three spot.

Many believe the Pistons will ultimately move Prince, who's entering the final year of his contract. A second source said that the team would not trade Prince unless the veteran asked to be dealt, and even if that happened, a trade would probably not happen until closer to the trade deadline next February.

McGrady averaged 8.2 points last season in 30 games, less than a year after undergoing microfracture surgery on his left knee. He started the season in Houston, but got into a dispute with Coach Rick Adelman after Adelman and the Rockets determined that McGrady was not up to handling more minutes as he'd requested. The team told McGrady to stay home until it could work out a trade, which it did in February, sending him to the Knicks as part of a three-team trade. After a good start, McGrady leveled off, averaging 9.4 points in 26 minutes a game.

McGrady had tweeted that the Lakers, Clippers, Heat and Bulls were among the teams interested in signing him. He'd hoped to sign in Chicago after working out for the Bulls a couple of weeks ago, but Chicago decided that McGrady wasn't what they wanted and opted to sign veteran guard Keith Bogans last week.

The Pistons will meet with McGrady's representatives on Monday.