The Football Fan Spot

The Pistons have made the biggest so called splash in free agency. Yesterday, they signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva for a combined 90 million over the next 5 years. That doesn't seem like a big splash to me, even in this weak free agency class. 

The Pistons have had their most success this decade playing great defense, without any superstars on offense. They had their patented DEEEETROIT BASKETBALL, with Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, and Tayshaun Prince all being above average for their position on defense, along with key defensive role players off the bench like Lindsey Hunter. Now look at them. They had an opportunity, after losing in the first round as the 8 seed, winning no playoff games, to have a huge offseason. They had the 15th pick in the NBA draft, and massive amounts of cap space due to the expiring contracts of Rasheed and Allen Iverson, Iverson's expiring contract being the only good thing to come out of Joe Dumars' questionable trade of Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets earlier this season. However, with the 15th pick, they took Austin Daye, and with their cap room they have signed Gordon and Villanueva. This makes it so their top 6 players going into next season, Daye, Gordon, Villanueva, Hamilton, Stuckey, and Prince, are all offensive first players, though Prince is an above average perimeter defender. 

Furthermore, their top 6 play similar positions. Gordon, Stuckey, and Hamilton create a logjam in the backcourt. Stuckey is the only one who resembles a point guard, but even he is not a true point guard. Both Gordon and Hamilton complained at times last season about coming off the bench, but since they play the same position, with similar score first mentalities, they aren't going to be able to be on the court at the same time. And of course, none of their guards can play defense against the Dwyane Wades, Gilbert Arenas, and Paul Pierces of the Eastern Conference. 

At forward they have Daye, Prince, and Villanueva. At 6-10 192, Daye makes Tayshaun Prince, a very skinny man, look like the hulk. Villanueva, while an excellent scorer, is not a good rebounder, not good on defense, doesn't hustle and is skinny at 6-11 230. Ideally, you only want one offensive minded, skinny forward who doesn't hustle. The Pistons have three. The “D” in Detroit is going to be very small next season.

As for center, they don't have much. They had Fabricio Oberto, but released him because apparently he plays defensive too well. Walter Hermann could play center, I guess, but he looks like he belongs in a hair product commercial. Jason Maxiell provides the defensive toughness that you would require out of a center, but he's 6-7 in shoes. There isn't much out there on the free agency market. Orlando backup center Marcin Gortat is the best pure center on the open market, but he has 3 career starts. Anderson Varejao can play center, but he's now out of their price range. Their best bet, free agency wise, is Antonio McDyess, who played for them last season. 

There have been reports that they are interested in New Orleans center Tyson Chandler, though most of those reports have them sending Prince to the Hornets. Chandler would bring them the interior toughness they need, but it would be at the cost of Prince, their best perimeter defender, and if Prince were gone, that would mean Daye would be forced into the starting lineup at small forward. You don't want a 192 pound rookie who looks like a cardboard cutout at small forward. The best idea would be to move Richard Hamilton, solving the logjam in the backcourt, for Chandler. Hamilton would fit in New Orleans, but his 4 year deal at 11 million per wouldn't fit into the Hornets' frugal attitude that has them shopping Chandler in the first place. Hamilton is going to be tough to move, especially for a center, since there are very few centers on the trade block right now. 

This isn't a good position to be in when you're looking for a new coach. Avery Johnson is the best coach on the market right now, but he's a defensive minded coach who isn't going to want any part of this mess. Bill Laimbeer, former Piston, looks like the most logical candidate, although he might be more valuable to the Pistons suiting up and playing center (I'm only partially kidding). 

In other free agent news, Ron Artest is going to the Lakers, taking a pay cut to do so, only 6 million a year over 3 years. The Lakers, once worried about losing Trevor Ariza, no longer care about Ariza, who is essentially a poor man's Artest. If Artest keeps his head on straight, he makes the defending champs that much better. It'll be interesting to see if Lamar Odom resigns with the Lakers as a 6th man. They don't have a ton of need for him now, but the Lakers are clearly his best shot at winning another ring. 

As for the Rockets, this is just another blow to their once hopeful franchise. After making the 2nd round for the first time in what seems like forever last season, they have lost Yao Ming to injury for the season, and possibly his career. There is no word on whether or not Tracy McGrady will ever play for them again as he battles injury after injury and now Artest, the last remaining member of their high potential big 3, is a Laker. They have a lot of good role players on their team, especially if the reports that Ariza will replace Artest in Houston are true. They have Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier, and Kyle Lowry, and all those role players are the reason that, with their big 3, they were so promising, but now, they just have role players and lack any star power.