And I’m not happy about it….
Via Adrian Wojnarowski the man who seems to know all at YahooSports.com
“The Detroit Pistons have reached agreement with free-agent guard Ben Gordon(notes) on a five-year contract worth around $55 million, a source with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday evening.
The Pistons are continuing to negotiate with forward Charlie Villanueva(notes).
July 8 is the first day free agents can sign contracts.
Gordon and Villanueva, who played together for a year at UConn, traveled to Detroit on Wednesday morning to meet with Detroit president Joe Dumars.”
Over 11 million dollars a year for Gordon….say it ain’t so Joe.
And, if you follow me on Twitter you know…I’m not cartooning Ben Gordon until I find out his contract is under 11 mill. NO TOON FOR YOU!!!!
UPDATE from Dave Dial at MLive
“A 5-year $55 million dollar contract is what Ben Gordon was reported to be looking for, and the starting salary for that deal would by just under $9.5 million. The Pistons have been reported to have $20 million in cap space, so will still have around $10.5 million to spend on other free agents. If Charlie Villanueva agree to a contract starting at around the $7 million dollar range, Dumars will have a little cap space left over to initiate a salary cap trade or to sign a lower level free agent.”
July 1, 2009 at 8:05 pm
If you guys think about it some of our past players werent really known for the things they are known for now. Rip and Chauncey werent really known for good defence until they go to Detroit. Maybe Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva will become better players with their stay here.
July 1, 2009 at 8:40 pm
You mention Duncan, KG, Shaq etc. as having a post game. Yes they do, but the Pistons aren’t going to get any of those players. Great post players don’t come along very often, so I think Charlie V is a good fit.
July 1, 2009 at 8:41 pm
NBA.com is reporting that Ben Gordon has signed with the knowledge that he will come off of the bench for the Pistons. If this works, the Pistons will win the ’ship.
July 1, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I don’t understand why people are upset. Who was available that is better than CV and Gordon? The Jazz will trade boozer to retail Millsap, and Turk is 30 and plays the same position as Tay. If anyone thinks we could have saved the money for Wade or Bosh, they are smokin’ something. This was the best that was available.
July 1, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I hate Pistons fans. Neither of these guys has played a second in a Pistons uniform and we don’t even have a coach yet… and at least half of you guys are already bitching. We just picked up the two best free agents on the market. What’s there to be upset about? What exactly were you expecting Gordon to sign for? He’s consistently rejected lower offers; do you really think low-balling him a third time would even be worth the overture? We had cap space and we used it as wisely and aggressively as the circumstances allowed. Or would you rather we just sit on it and endure another long long season of mediocrity? Please don’t tell me you were eyeing Turkoglu… blargh…
July 1, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Ben has been overpayed for a 6th man. If Detroit doesn’t make a trade involving Rip or possibly Prince then I see problems with this line up. You can’t have Gordon and Stuckey on the court at the same time, they both need the ball to be successful. Add Will Bynum, Charlie Villanueva, and Tayshaun in to the mix and Detroit will be playing isolation basketball for the entire upcoming season. Which is never a good look considering the Cavs couldn’t do it this year, and they had LeBron in the line-up.
July 1, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Did everyone just not watch that Celtics-Bulls series? Gordon has what it takes: brass balls.
July 1, 2009 at 10:24 pm
McDyess/Kwame
Villanueva/Maxiell
Prince/Daye
Hamilton/Gordon
Stuckey/Bynum
and the LiL General, Coach Avery
This would be the deepest and one of the youngest teams in the league! The money being spent on Gordon is about the same that was being spent on Sheed. Would you rather we spend 14 mil. on Boozer? How about 15mil for Bosh? Kobe just gave the hometown discount of 22 mil to the Fakers. 11 and 7 mil for the players we wanted in free agency is not bad at all. And for the nervous nellies, BG has averaged 21 for his career, is a 3-point shooter and has done it off the bench primarily. There is no way Joe promised him a starting spot; he knows he is coming off the bench for 30 minutes a game, this was about the money and getting some appreciation. Keep Rip in Detroit! He is no spring chicken, but he can still score and gives a size, speed, and leadership from the backcourt!
July 1, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I have a feeling the Boston series was Gordon’s last push to raise his free agency stock…and apparently Dumars fell for it.
July 2, 2009 at 12:26 am
Absolute nonsense. The idea that certain players only get up for contract years is the sort of off the cuff Skip Bayless-esque over-analysis that should be promptly banned from all media. Never in all my years of watching the NBA have I seen this occur with any player of Ben Gordon’s caliber. Sure, lower tier players will often “cash in” on a good playoff performance (like Ariza will likely do this off-season) before coming back to Earth, but gamers like Gordon (i.e. guys who average 20+) don’t just “slack off” once they get a nice big contract…
July 2, 2009 at 1:05 am
Best PG since the early 90’s? Are you ****ing retarded? Billups is good but not THAT good.
July 2, 2009 at 1:07 am
Well said, SC. Ben Gordon is one of the most professional and hardworking players in the league, and none of that will change this contract. Hell, the fact that he’ll be playing for a team that clearly wanted him will probably help to motivate him and push him further. But the guy was still participating in Bull related community events despite not being under contract with Chicago.
July 2, 2009 at 2:38 am
I’m not that happy, but I agree we have to give these guys a chance, look at some positive stuff, just imagine…Rip and Ben both coming of screens for shots
July 2, 2009 at 2:53 am
McDyess isn’t gonna resign with you, he wants a championship. Did you think he’s been playing for 500k cause he likes the pile of failure that is Detroit?
Kwame is garbage
Vilanueva is good Offensively but a ballhog that refuses to play defense (really if he won’t play D for Scott Sciles in a contract year, he won’t play defense for you).
Prince is pretty good defensively but not really a star.
Hamilton is good but reliant on his teamates to be effective, and is overpayed by about 6 million.
Gordon is good offensively, but not as good as Billups, who you essentially him for, and he’s also overpayed by 6 million.
Stuckey is overrated, and can’t save you
So you Have a Garbage center. A 25 minute PF that will NEVER play defense, a decent backup big that is still a backup. a defensive small forward that can’t carry you offensively, 23 million worth of shooting guards that can’t play at the same time and can’t carry you offensively OR defensively, and a overrated point guard who can’t carry you either.
And YAY! you spent yourself out of the 2010 free agent bananza, and you have no hope of contending till Hamilton’s contract runs out (in 4 years).
Cangrats on your genius GM!
July 2, 2009 at 3:47 am
Wow – I am really surprised by the universally negative reaction to this news. Who else were we going to get folks? BG averaged 20 a game regular season and was a stud in the Boston series – did any of you watch that? Charlie V just came off a season of 16 and 8 playing with a bunch of scrubs in Milwaukee. Rip is going to be traded and good riddance – I hope Joe purges all of those guys from the fluke ship of 2004 – they walk with a strut and get mad T’s but they fold under pressure – and they are old. Atlanta Braves of the NBA. They can get rid of Prince too. Where has he been the last two years in the playoffs?
July 2, 2009 at 8:50 am
Congrats on stating your opinions as facts!
July 2, 2009 at 2:37 pm
In the words of Sheed, you’re either with us or against us. I refuse to believe there are so many haters in Piston Nation, so you must be against us. I read the Chi-Town hateration saying we will be stuck at .500 for years and years to come, and the spew being spat reminded me of many of your words.
All I have to say is, we’ll see who is right and who was true blue all along.
July 2, 2009 at 2:38 pm
so weak and so sad. Are you from Milwaukee or Chicago?
July 2, 2009 at 2:59 pm
YOUR best PG, not the best PG overall
July 2, 2009 at 3:59 pm
y would joe D want to get rid of rip for a big? we have kwame, dyess, sheed, maxiell (who btw is far younger than charlie and boozer) and we just got daye in the draft, we have our team right there!!! Who else could we possibly need? we now have plenty a depth. i cant believe maxiell wouldnt be a starter now, he is like a shaq that can actually hustle down the court. then for the guards, we got stuckey, bynum, gordon, and rip, and tayshaun. so here’s the starting 5: Stuckey, rip, gordon, tayshaun, maxiell. We can play small!! we have the depth now we just got 2 use it!!
July 2, 2009 at 6:20 pm
now they are saying that ben gordon’ offer might be 60 million!!!!
July 3, 2009 at 9:19 pm
What did I say that you would take issue with? You traded one of the top three point guards, and the best one you’ve had since Isaiah, so you could give two non all-starts 90 million
July 4, 2009 at 3:55 am
neither, but either would be better thsn Detroit right now
July 4, 2009 at 10:26 am
f off diogenes, that team in ‘04 was supposed to be the face of our franchise for years to cum. the only problem was coaching, dont tell me that they fell under pressure. there was absolutely nothing wrong with last years team at the beginning, 4-0 and then chauncey, gone, that ended our era.