From Dave Dial at MLive

“Aran Smith of NBADraft.net is reporting that the Detroit Pistons have made a promise to B.J. Mullens to select him with the 15th pick if he is still there when Detroit selects.

When rumors that the Pistons gave Rodney Stuckey a promise to draft him at #15 two years ago surfaced, The Pistons denied the rumor. Keith Langlois even wrote that the promise was not true, although he did pick Stuckey as the Pistons draft choice.” Read more at MLive.

This one has been floating around for more than a week now… Amir Johnson to Oklahoma to move up in the draft.

With the draft coming up on Thursday and all the rumors floating around, I think things might start coming together as to what kind of team Dumars is going to put on the floor come November.

It seems as though we have a Ben Gordon to the Pistons rumor.

Sam Smith,who’s been writing for and about the Bulls for quite some time says the Pistons have promised Ben Gordon 11 million dollars.

“I haven’t heard they are, and General Manager Gar Forman has not come off his stance that he wants to bring Gordon back. But I also heard that Gordon’s agent allegedly has been saying he has an $11 million promise from the Pistons.

This could go with the promise I received to play giving me a chance to win the lottery. I’ve never fully understood the supposed Pistons interest. Not because teams don’t like Gordon. But because the Pistons have Rodney Stuckey, not a true point guard, and Richard Hamilton. Though the rumors supposedly are the Pistons would trade Hamilton. Though why trade a 6-7 shooting guard to accommodate one maybe a half foot shorter? Though I never say never in the NBA, as Phil Jackson taught me. And Michael.” Via Bulls Blog

As for the Rip Hamilton mention, it’s been whirling around that Detroit is shopping Rip.  Though all this is just speculation and rumor, I keep hearing that Rip is on the block.

While I’m not sure Ben Gordon is the ansewer, he’s(26) a lot younger than Rip (32). If the Pistons are trying to build young, this may have some truth to it.

UPDATE:

Our good friend Dave Dial over at MLive makes an interesting point:

“One more reason that could be the one that would tip the scales in favor of replacing Hamilton with Gordon is that Joe Dumars could use Rip as an asset in a trade to grab a big man that the Pistons will need next season.

Hoops World points out that it’s not legal for the Pistons to contact Gordon or his agent until after July 1st, but theorizes that Dumars may have had conversations last summer while Gordon was a restricted free agent and looking for a raise.

What’s not clear in Smith’s report is if the ‘promise’ is for a contract starting at $11 million dollars(doubtful) or if it will average $11 million dollars over the course of 5 seasons. If it’s the latter, and that seems most likely, then the contract would start out at under $9.5 million dollars. In that case Joe Dumars would still have enough cap space to sign another big name free agent, and then could make a trade involving Rip Hamilton.”

UPDATE:
Our Pistons insider Matt Dery of 97.1 The Ticket just shot me this email.

“I talked to a Pistons source today who told me that they are denying this story about Ben Gordon and they add that it is illegal.. and not how it works.”

We know it’s illegal, but something tells me this one might be true. Stay tuned.

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.”

The Detroit Pistons first round schedule was released today with the fist game on Saturday afternoon. As you can see I have already decorated the site with the usual countdown to keep track of Detroit’s run in the playoffs.

And yes….I see it too, Game 4 is a Sunday home game at 3:30.

Game 1 Sat., April 18 Detroit at Cleveland 3:00 p.m. ABC
Game 2 Tue., April 21 Detroit at Cleveland 8:00 p.m. TNT
Game 3 Fri., April 24 Cleveland at Detroit 7:00 p.m. ESPN
Game 4 Sun., April 26 Cleveland at Detroit 3:30 p.m. ABC
If Necessary
Game 5* Wed., April 29 Detroit at Cleveland TBD
Game 6* Fri., May 1 Cleveland at Detroit TBD
Game 7* Sun., May 3 Detroit at Cleveland TBD

This should serve as motivation for the series from Cleveland.com

“This time around, the once almighty Pistons are merely an opening band in a rock show that will go on long after their set is done. It’s like, “Uh, dudes, can’t we just move on to the next series?”

Don’t get cocky Cleveland, it won’t be that easy. Any team can take a series no matter what their record states. Detroit has a chance. Cockiness aside, Cleveland and it’s fans still would rather not see the Pistons in the first round, no matter what comes out of their mouths.