Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  118 responses

Pistons Nab Villanueva, BG

Bringing New York to the midwest.

by Marcel Mutoni

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.

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  • seven deuce

    I guess Detroit really doesn’t want to win with defense, because the group they have damn sure won’t. On the plus side, CV’s tweets are going to be hysterical this season. Still think he should’ve gone to Cleveland.

  • bashmo

    With a contract like that, BG is DEFINETLY not coming off the bench…Joe Dumars wants him to work very hard for sure.

  • Sturm Drang

    Villanueva at $35 million for 5 years or so? That’s a pretty good value buy for a guy who can still improve a fair amount.

    Gordon’s deal though, is a head-shaker. To me, he’s kind of like AI was (though maybe not as awful a locker room presence/influence) – an undersized, streaky scorer.

    If he could actually learn how to play the point, then he’d *maybe* be worth that much money, but if all there is for that contract is a bigger Iverson who shoots the 3 better but passes and steals the ball less… It’s really not worth it. He’s still an under-sized 2 and he needs to be a better play-maker.

    It’s not worth it to try to trade Rip (who may be too difficult to trade) just to sign Gordon for this much money. You’re trading one more 3 pointer made per game and losing one assist per game (as well as having worse defense), and you’ve lost your cap space.

    Not a good move.

  • Sturm Drang

    That is – getting Gordon and losing Rip –

    You’ll get maybe 1 or 2 more 3s per game, on average, at the cost of 1 or more assists per game and Gordon’s bad defense.

    Even if the Pistons trade Rip, which I don’t know they’ll manage to do, the Pistons have basically lost cap space for a player that is not better than the one they’re giving up. Gordon is not worth that much. I mean, Hedo might be older, but at least he has decent defense, provides the same great shooting, AND HE CAN PASS. Hedo > Gordon at that price.

  • Enigmatic

    The Pistons, contenders??? For the playoffs maybe. Should be interesting to see them fighting over shots. If Villanueva hustles some, he could average 12 boards a game chasing down errant BG, Rip and uhh….Villanueva shots. As for my Bulls, losing BG isn’t nearly as bad as it would be if we didn’t have Salmons. I’ve been saying for years we needed a bigger 2-guard and now we’ve got him. I think we’ve got a really good chance to improve to a five or six seed. With D. Rose, we’ll be contenders soon enough.

  • http://nba.com tealish

    Silliness. I just want to know where AI’s going. Chi town would be fun.

  • http://Nicekicks.com Meloman20

    ahh man. As a raptors fan, im happy Charlie V is getting what he deserves. a phat contract to match his phat game.

  • http://myspace.com/edilvia_da_best edilvia4sho

    I’m from Chicago. This wasn’t exactly the best news for me. But, then again.. Ben Gordon left us for the PISTONS(suckness).. You know how much the Chi offered this year?? Who knows, cause’ we didn’t offer him anything ha.. Chicago is cookin’ something, and I’m sure it involves better defense than what Ben gave us.. Maybe saving some money, cause’ next year there will be some very awesome free agents, SUPER STAR status players. Players who can play DEFENSE, not just offense. & So what is he saying about Chicago?? Winning is everyone’s number 1 priority, moron!

  • Quail

    @Tealish: i heard AI is gonna meet with the Wolves sometime this summer. doubt it’s true, but it’s the only rumor i got right now.

  • http://www.fastbreak.com.sg Darksaber

    So who’s Rip gonna blame now when things don’t go his way. curry and Iverson are gone, Sheed’s being courted and Tay might be next on the chopping block. You think he’ll blame his *gasp* advancing age, and loss of explosiveness? Naaaa. Rip is a STAR, he’ll find a scapegoat. FREE ANTONIO MCDYESS ALREADY, DAMNIT!

  • http://4pistonfun agapax

    I dont think so piston needs a guard,U got stuckey,they need ligimate center thats the truth!dumars

  • Mo

    Hello Detroit, welcome to the level of the Bucks, Raptors, Grizzlies, Warriors…I dont fully understand what direction this team is headed but i know that playoffs will be way out of reach….my advise, blow of this season and get 2 lottery picks in the next draft

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    LOL Co-sign Darksaber: Actually though, its Dumars who always gets away with finding scapegoats. Ripchard is next.

  • Ty

    Absolute shame…..huge stepback. Pistons are lost and in rebuilding mode for the next several years.

  • iLL wiLL

    90 million combined for CV and BG? Desperate times in Detroit, no?

  • scntfc

    Gordon and charlie bring you a combined 37 ppg,and 10 rpg, and lets be stingy and say 3 apg. at roughly 17 mill a year I would say that those are steals by anyones standards. name a team with two similar players at that price tag.Lets not forget that both are in their mid 20s and charlie still has yet to reach his peak. I consider where they are now a better place than they were in 03. lets look at that squad and how “they” came to acquire those players. Jerry Stack for Rip, chauncy after playing for 5 teams in a trade, Tay in the draft, Sheed for pennies on the $ and a draft pick,Okur draft,Ben Wallace: a throw away from Orlando. catch my drift? stop all the whining, these are good moves, Detroit is really young, and they have more tradeble assets than ever before. more moves are yet to come.

  • tavoris

    scntfc..actually they combine for 37ppg, 8rpg, and probably 3 assists, along with NO defense or ball movement whatsoever. If Stuckey doesn’t turn into a ball-distributing PG they need, they aren’t gonna do any better than last year. Maybe Rip can be moved (not likely a market for him tho) for a PG (I hear steve blake may be available, altho the blazers would need a 3rd team to make that work)

  • tavoris

    JE…I’d like the Pistons going after Okur over Boozer….he’d just get in CV’s way

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