Joe Dumars did not wait long to make a splash during the free agency period. The Pistons GM’s busy summer continued last night, as he got Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon to agree to make the move to Motown.
Gordon finally found someone with deep enough pockets to give him the money he thinks he deserves, and let’s just say that he will not be shedding any tears over his departure from Chi Town. The Chicago Tribune reports:
Gordon, the team’s leading scorer the last four seasons, has agreed to a five-year, $55 million deal with the Detroit Pistons. The veteran guard will sign his contract once the free-agent moratorium ends July 8. The deal is slightly more than the five-year, $50 million and six-year, $54 million deals Gordon rejected from the Bulls the last two summers.
“I don’t have any regrets, and I don’t have any bitter feelings for the Bulls,” Gordon said after returning to Chicago late Wednesday. “Business is business. I’m going to a situation now where winning is the No. 1 priority. I’m happy with my decision…I’m sure there are fans with mixed emotions. Some will remember me positively. Some will remember me negatively. One thing I hope they remember me for is being professional, competing hard and never giving up on the game. I just always tried to help my team win.”
Charlie V’s deal will reportedly net him $35 million over the next five seasons.
Don’t expect any calmness in Detroit; there’s talk that in an effort to shore up their interior presence, the Pistons may look into trading Rip Hamilton and/or Tayshaun Prince — to say nothing of the fact that there’s only one basketball to go around.
