“Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg posted on his Twitter account that former Hokies standout Deron Washington has signed a guaranteed contract with the Detroit Pistons, who selected him 59th overall (second round) in the 2008 NBA draft.” Via Daily Press.com

Now there is more….. Our guru Dave Dial gives us the juice.

“Moves like that(signing players like Washington to guaranteed contracts) are often made when one team has to send back a certain amount of money back in a trade. For example, if Detroit is $4 million under the cap after signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva and were to get involved with the Hornets in a trade for Tyson Chandler, the Pistons would have to send back a certain amount of salaries in order to make it work.

Chandler makes $12.2 million dollars, and the Pistons might be $4 million under the cap so a straight salary dump couldn’t work. Stay tuned…

{Update: I’ve been informed that there is a 30 day waiting period when you sign a second-round pick before that player can be traded.}”

Detroit Bad Boys adds even more….suggesting Rip could be on his way out.

Now with the quickness in which this is all happening a girls’ head is spinning. I can’t even sleep without waking up to some rumors or possible trades.  I have been locked to Twitter for the past few days to send out the info as quickly as I get it no matter where I am, so do some following.

Joe Dumars wastes no time and seems to be weighing no other options.

The AP is reporting

“Villanueva, the seventh overall pick by Toronto in 2006 who has played all three of his NBA season with the Milwaukee Bucks, also agreed to a five-year deal. His contract is worth at least $35 million.”

UPDATE: Pistons.com has it as front page news now.

David Aldridge weighs in at NBA.com.

A small snippet from Slam made quite a splash and as we know the “close personal friend” route can never be confirmed.

“SLAM contributor J. Gamble [making his debut with us next issue] hears from a close personal friend of Rasheed Wallace’s that unless Sheed gets $8 million to play next year, he’s going to retire. If that’s true, we’ve probably seen the last of Sheed in the NBA.”

It was a buzz on local sports radio yesterday as well as chatter I heard from Sheed fans via email. I’m with Detroit Bad Boys on this one, if 8 million is the true price tag you have seen the last of Sheed in a Pistons uniform (although I didn’t see him coming back either way).

Dave Dial with his expertise of the Salary Cap over at MLive also weighs in:

“As for the $8 million dollar price tag, that will be tough for Rasheed to get next season. The Mid-Level Exception was set at $5.585 million for the 2008-2009 season and is expected to decrease next season. So teams that are over the salary cap can’t offer Rasheed the $8 million he wants, even if they wanted to pay him that much.

There will only be a handful of teams that have cap space this summer. OKC, Memphis, Portland, Detroit, Atlanta and Minnesota will all have significant monies under the salary cap.

I think you can rule out Portland and Detroit, for obvious reasons. I doubt Rasheed would want to spend his last year or two playing for Memphis, OKC or Minnesota. The losing and having no chance at winning a Title would get to him too much. That would leave only Atlanta, which would only have the cap space required if they renounce Mike Bibby and let Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia walk.

Which leads back to Rasheed deciding to just retire, or maybe the Pistons would include Wallace in a sign and trade deal with a team that is over the cap. The Spurs, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Bobcats and Celtics have all been rumored to be interested in Wallace. If Rasheed wants a one or two year deal at $8 million per year, it probably wouldn’t scare off all of those teams. With the summer fast approaching, we will know for sure if this rumor is true or not.”

A no brainier for the Pistons as they picked up the option for Will Bynum for next season.
Will quickly became a fan, as well as Need4Sheed favorite. As you know…he’s

BYN-U-MITE

If you’re too young for the the J.J. Evans (Jimmy Walker) DYNOMITE reference, you are missing some Good Times.

So popular, Will scored a Q and A with Cleveland Plain Dealer.BYNUMITE

“In addition to acquiring Allen Iverson in a three-for-one trade with the Denver Nuggets, the Pistons agreed to a three-year extension with Richard Hamilton, a team source told ESPN.com’s Chad Ford.

The new contract is worth $34 million, with the first two years guaranteed. The third year is only a partial guarantee, the source told Ford.” Via ESPN
Dumars isn’t playing people.

Some think he’s after LeBron in 2010.

“Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell accepted a contract offer today and will not become a restricted free agent following the season. The deal is for $20 million over four years.” Via The Detroit Free Press

Jason Maxiell’s agent has made it clear that he will test the waters next season and become a restricted free agent.

“(The team has) expressed that he is a major contributor to their success,” Maxiell’s agent, Richard Katz, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “What we differ about on, is what that is worth.”

Detroit was offering Maxiell a three-year deal worth $15 million, with a team option for a fourth season.

“He loves it in Detroit, and is very comfortable,” Katz said. “We’ll just have to see how all this plays out.”

“I’m not really thinking about (contracts),”Maxiell  said. “I’m just going to play this thing out, and go from there.” Via A. Sherrod Blakley at MLive.

I happen to share the opinion of Matt at DBB.

“I think Detroit’s offer is fair, and considering Max has never proven himself as a full-time starter, I don’t think there’s much risk in another team throwing the full mid-level at him. That said, there’s nothing wrong holding out for another guaranteed year or two.”