Detroit Pistons sign Gordon & Villanueva

[n8dogg2669]

well it's a start.. I really like ben gordon, not too sure bout villanueva but we shall see.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...ug=aw-gordonpistons070109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Pistons reach deals with Gordon, Villanueva
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
2 hours, 1 minute ago

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The Detroit Pistons have reached agreement with free-agent guard Ben Gordon(notes) and forward Charlie Villanueva(notes), a source with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday evening.

Gordon will receive a five-year contract worth around $55 million while Villanueva’s five-year deal is expected to be worth about $35 million.

Gordon and Villanueva, who played together for a year at UConn, traveled to Detroit on Wednesday morning to meet with Detroit president Joe Dumars and other Pistons front-office officials. They took a tour of the practice facility in Auburn Hills, had lunch with management and both ultimately came to terms on an agreement. Gordon agreed first and Villanueva followed soon after.

The loss of Gordon is a blow to the Bulls, who tried to re-sign the shooting guard. Gordon turned down contract extensions for $54 million and $50 million in the past two offseasons as a restricted free agent. It is believed the Bulls were willing to go to $10 million a season for him, but were outbid by the Pistons.

No free agents can sign until the league-mandated moratorium ends on July 8.

The Pistons also continue to negotiate with one of their own free agents, forward Antonio McDyess.

The signing of Gordon, 26, could make another former UConn player, Richard Hamilton, expendable in a trade. Hamilton, 31, could be used to bring back another low-post presence: perhaps Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, Los Angeles Clippers’ center Chris Kaman or New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler. Gordon averaged 20.7 points a game last season for the Bulls and 18.5 in his five seasons in Chicago. He was the third pick in the 2004 NBA draft.

Dumars is remaking the Pistons, who are expected to lose Rasheed Wallace to free agency. Dumars fired coach Michael Curry on Wednesday, and ex-Pistons coach Doug Collins is considered the frontrunner for the job. Sources say Collins still has to sell his staying power and stability to Detroit management. Former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson will be considered, too.

 

[nitrousrick]

I'll wait to see how it plays out, 11 Mil a year is a big number. With Gordon coming in we know Rip is on his way out. If Rip can get us decent big man I'll feel a little better about the deal.

 

[YLWFVR]

fuuuuuck. i can't stand villaneuva and his bald head and no eyebrows. Another uconn recruit...argghh....

 

[jo_885o]

I like the deal especially for the long term. If we can get another big ina trade i'll be even happier as we need a Center or PF like asap.

 

[jsxtreme]

I like the deal especially for the long term. If we can get another big ina trade i'll be even happier as we need a Center or PF like asap.

The long term part is the exact reason I hate both signings. Next year is such a great year for free agents. This isn't the year to be making long term deals.

 

[jo_885o]

With everybody gearing up for next years free agent class, i like that he made an upgrade now as it will be hard to bring a big name here next year with everybody having cash to throw around. Everybody would be killing Joe if he waited and then came up with nobody significant next year, so to each his own.

 

[82hatch]

The long term part is the exact reason I hate both signings. Next year is such a great year for free agents. This isn't the year to be making long term deals.

x2 Way to much money. Well see how it'll play out.

 

[churd609]

Yes the next year will be a great free agent class, but from what I have seen it doesn't seem like any of them would want to come to detroit. Boozer didn't want to opt out early as he could have this year, so bets are he is probably staying in Utah. Lebron is not going to anywhere that is not a huge media market. If he doesn't stay in Cleveland, he'll probably end up in NY. I got this feeling we are going to end up with Bosh, I don't think I really like that. We definitely need to get a good center if we want to be able to compete in the east. Shaq may be on his downfall, but he is still huge and hangs out around the basket, Garnett should be back in good shape next year and Howard in Orlando. I think a good center is a must for us.

 

[joestang]

If they can land Bosh or one of the big names in the next couple years I give it a thumbs up, otherwise i think it was way too much money and a bad move.

 

[mark468]

Yes the next year will be a great free agent class, but from what I have seen it doesn't seem like any of them would want to come to detroit. Boozer didn't want to opt out early as he could have this year, so bets are he is probably staying in Utah. Lebron is not going to anywhere that is not a huge media market. If he doesn't stay in Cleveland, he'll probably end up in NY. I got this feeling we are going to end up with Bosh, I don't think I really like that. We definitely need to get a good center if we want to be able to compete in the east. Shaq may be on his downfall, but he is still huge and hangs out around the basket, Garnett should be back in good shape next year and Howard in Orlando. I think a good center is a must for us.

x2 none of the superstars will come here to the D.best he could do..IMO rip or tay will be traded for the big we need

 

[mark468]

If they can land Bosh or one of the big names in the next couple years I give it a thumbs up, otherwise i think it was way too much money and a bad move.

not bashing here but i cant stand hearing the to much money bs..so explain your thoughts on this please..

 

[n8dogg2669]

i don't think we had any chance to get any big names next year if we didn;t get at least gordon and move rip for a big.. we'll see what happens.

 

[DBK]

I like it. Alot.

Rasheed Wallace is a good 6th or 7th player for a team in title contention. He is a horrible player for a 45 win team with a bunch of young guys that need veteran leadership. He was great a couple years ago, but you can't melt down year after year as a primary player. At his age, he was done being useful to us because his negatives outweighed his positives.

Any way you slice it, we're adding 33-35 worth of points a night, two three point threats, a very clutch scorer, and we got a bunch younger. We're now going to start a 31, 29, 27, 24 and 23 year old, and have a 20 ppg scorer coming off the bench who is 26. Plus we got what look like 3 reasonable guys who can play 3-4-5.

This puts the team in a good position to possibly move either Hamilton or Prince for a good big man. Free agency adds pieces. Trades and the draft make teams. Prince has a movable deal and we drafted a clone of him. He's looked tired the last couple years and he looks like he's peaked here. If someone wants Hamilton, we've got a guy that can replace his scoring off the bench immediately and creates his own shots.

Next year the team will be fun to watch again, which they haven't been. You can't go on winning 50 games forever then losing in the Conference Finals forever. I think this team has the potential to win 45+ depending on how much Stuckey has improved. Good guards usually blow up in their third year and here we are. 7.6 ppg as a rookie, 13.4 as a sophomore...year 3? Maybe he turns into a 17-18 ppg player and we suddenly have a 3 guard rotation dropping 55 points a night.

If the worst season we endure in 10 years is 39-43, we should all kiss Joe D's ring. The NBA is structured so you need to be really bad before you get really good, and we might be able to avoid that.

 

[CRASH]

Well, my only worry is the decisions that Stuckey makes with the ball. He's afraid to drive to the hoop, and throws up dingers when he has the opportunity to get the layup/foul. Gordon fixates on the bucket and goes after it.

Charlie V is a force in the post.

 

[DBK]

Point guards are very rarely good their first couple years. His first couple years, Billups got thrown all over the league as a point guard who couldn't make good decisions and or shoot the ball. Turned out pretty good. Stuckey has definitely looked retarded out there at times, but he's also exploded for 40 on back to back games. He gets to the bucket alot.