The Pistons have just waived Rip Hamilton according to The Free Press. This is not an amnesty situation.
Detroit Pistons guard Rip Hamilton is expected to be waived today, according to a personal familiar with the situation.
Hamilton is owed $22 million over the next two seasons. He was set to make $13 million this season before the lockout and $9 million next season.
His contract is expected to be bought out by the Pistons and then he would be able to sign with another team.
Hamilton, who is not at the Pistons’ practice facility today for the opening of training camp, has been with the team since before the 2002-03 season.
Stay tuned for more info.
UPDATE: Via Matt Dery @DeryNBA
This is a buyout, for less than what Rip was owed this year. Rip will now be an unrestricted Free Agent and free to sign with any team.
HELL TO THE YEAH
Sad. Firstly, he is my favorite player in the league (sans superstars). I love his game and felt (in his prime) it was great watching him come of screens and drain jumpers all over the place. He was a key cog on one of this city’s all time great sports teams and is certainly one of the best to suit up in Piston blue. However, him being my favorite hasn’t blinded me to the fact that his contract, injuries and declining production have burdened the club. I wish his contract was smaller because he is still a guy you can get 14-17 points out of when he’s healthy. For the vet minimum or a little bit more, he’d be great. I wish he could retire as a Piston, but I guess it’s not meant to be. Still, the guy did a lot for the franchise and has had a pretty good career post UConn. If this is the last of Rip in the D then I just want to say it’s been nice ride, through the good and bad.
His declining production was mostly due to the fact the the pistons had no point guard.
He’s too good to sit on the bench and we don’t have enough time in a game to play all our guards. Glad to see him go, he’ll be starting with another team soon. Good luck Rip, love the way you play basketball.
Now, how do you feel about that Tay signing? Not so bad.
At least Dumars has done one thing right so far this training camp.
This is an end of an era. Good luck Rip. I’ll miss you!
Detroit Pistons add four players to training camp roster
The Pistons announced the signings of Jake Voskuhl, Kareem Rush, Walker Russell Jr. and Brian Hamilton to the training camp roster.
Glad he’s finally gone but you know what this means: Coming tomorrow:Joe signs Stuckey to a HUUUUGE deal. Shoot me in the face.
lol @ mr blaha hope not.
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those guys arent guaranteed though right? i remember i hated jake voskuhl and kareem rush. they not good at all
As for Rip it was time but that doesn’t mean im going to down hiim. He gave championships he gave history and more importantly he was loyal and caring to us fans. I am genuinely sad to see him go and hope he does go to a contender to win another ship.
Now we can use the amnesty on Ben Gordon and then trade CV and there will be no one other than stuckey that i have a problem with on the team
We gonna win this year 🙂
Man as a true Pistons Fan its hard to see RIP go… He brought us a lot of good times as Piston fan, none of which i ll forget. I wish him the best and the Richard Hamilton fan in me hopes some how he’ll pair up with Chauncey after he gets amnesty.. YES SIR =(
Rip, you’ll be missed. He is by far my favorite player of all time. I grew up watching him in Piston Blue and it is sad to see him go. I play basketball and my game is based on him. I understand this move is best for the team, but is still a sad day for me.
So how ’bout one last YESSSSSIR!!!!
Love Rip, great history with this team but just doesn’t fit the situation anymore.. he will stay in my heart as a former Piston but he really should go… let’s hope Stuckey will be the back up for Gordon at the 2, with Knight and Bynum as 1 then maybe we can find a trade for CV, and it’s all good for building under Coach Frank.
rip youre always loved here and you will be missed. relationships grow apart its time for you to sign with a team that is contending. i see the celtics making a push for him since he simply plays the same role ray ray is doing right now. he has the ability to play the 2 or 3 depending on teams. it was a good one.
In other news: Wilcox signs with Celtics!
One last YEEEESSSS SIIIIIIRRRR!!!
Good Luck Ripster!
Chris Wilcox will get 5 minutes a game and a million dollars a year at the veteran minimum. Nice job if you can’t get it. Being a big in the NBA means you never have to work too hard. I don’t have any hard feelings about Chris Wontcox. The NBA teams keep paying him money, it’s not his fault that people seem to give him money for free. Hard to say if someone that lazy is even worth the vet minimum, but as they say you can’t teach height.
Best wishes RIP!
Thanks for the great memories and bringing all us fans another Championship banner.
Firstly, thank you to Mr. Rip Hamilton for his contributions to Pistons basketball. We won’t remember him for the last two seasons, but for his incredible consistency as a pure scorer when we were winning championships. No one can take that away from us. Rip, we salute you: ‘Yes sir!’
Now, this is a good progressive decision by the Pistons. Frank can now start Gordon without stepping on the toes of Prince or Wallace. Gordon finally gets the opportunity to show what he can do with more minutes. Finally, the Pistons get younger and can set about rebuilding the culture of the Pistons.
I really like the Prince signing more with this news. I like the idea of retainiing some veterans who can keep a level head (usually) during the hard days. It’s also a fairly economical contract so he still has high value to a contender. I might be in a minority, but I like the fact that Daye is not handed the position of SF on a plate. He really has to work for his minutes. I think this signing may be a reflection of what the Pistons front office thinks of Daye–I know that he has had maturity issues and didn’t set the world on fire overseas during the lockout.
Oh, and…NEED4SWEDE! Love JJ coming back.
don’t really care for Boheim at all. Or these blog snobs that didn’t do shit but trash him all year. Now y’all wanna eulogize him… (middle finger, sarcastically speaking) wherever he goes, he’s gonna come back and torch my new Stons (sarcasm)
That said Nice article very nice article. Rip Hamilton may have declined in his years as a Piston but yall sure enough hung him out to dry. Look, I ain’t making excuses for his behavior but he’s human like everybody (very wealth human albeit). Thanks for giving the man his just props.
Some of the comments on here are deplorable. Where I am from we have no B-Ball. We’d freaking kill to have our team back. I have my favorite players in the league but my team will always be the Detroit Pistons. Since a young boy. Then when I moved out here, I was truly excited! I am glad I saw those 7+ years of DETROIT domination.
They are a representation of what this city/state is going through (a rebuilding phase). This is Determination. Things have to stop being a slogan and you really have to mean it and to put it into practice!
I have tremendous respect for each and everyone of you living here in MI braving the hard economic times. That shit is Determination
YESSIRRRRR! RIP HAMILTON go with the greats man..