For the rest, I’ll go point by point again.

26 isn’t NBA young.

All-Star-level players who have gotten significantly better at 26 (or older): Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Steve Nash, Mehmet Okur, David Lee, Tony Parker, Peja Stojakovic.

As for Charlie V, like I said I have no problem with Charlie V except in the context of the rest of Joe D.’s moves. Charlie V, Jerebko and Daye (and Summers for that matter) all serve relatively similar functions.

When the Pistons signed Villanueva, none of those other three had played a game. None of the three were can’t-miss prospects. You just can’t pass one a free agent you like for those three at that point. Plus, I’m not sure how redundant they are. Villanueva is a power forward. The other three are probably best at small forward.

Doesn’t mean that I’m not fond of them, but that much replication suggests that the money might have been better spent elsewhere.

Tads basically explains the logic behind this in the comment right above this.

Joe Johnson doesn’t deserve any part of a max contract, but he’s also led a team to the 2nd round of the playoffs in back to back years. And he makes only 3.5 mil more per year than Rip.

Joe Johnson will make $7.5 million more per season than Hamilton will make per year the next three seasons (if Hamilton’s option is picked up for the final year).

Lewis isn’t a franchise player but he also provides a valuable skill set to a title contender. So his marginal value to a contender is much higher. I wouldn’t pay Lewis in a vacuum but his contribution, though limited, has increased value to a title contender.

When Hamilton agreed to his extension — remember, this was before the Billups trade — the Pistons were still probably considered contenders, maybe on the fringe of that label, but still deserving nonetheless. So, Hamilton should get the same benefit of the doubt you’re giving Lewis.

The other issue that I have is that when Arenas and Brand signed those deals they had a chance to be franchise corner stones, I don’t know who we were supposed to be bidding against for Rip, but I can’t imagine anyone else was in a rush to give him 12.5 million dollars a year.

I don’t think anyone expected Hamilton to be a franchise player, and he’s certainly not paid like one. Only seven teams — the Warriors, Bobcats, Pacers, Timberwolves, Nets, Thunder and Raptors — are slated to enter next season with a player paid more than Hamilton. The Raptors and Nets desperately tried to sign someone for than Hamilton makes, and they failed. The Timberwolves and Pacers are conserving cap space for the future. The Thunder will have a player who makes more next season, when Kevin Durant’s extension kicks in. That leaves only two teams, the the Bobcats and Warriors, who you can legitimately make the case believe a franchise player in their plans should be paid like Hamilton.

If Dumars thought Ben Gordon was a special player that’s a huge strike against him. Ben Gordon was nobody’s idea of a franchise player. Again, I don’t have a problem with paying Ben Gordon 10 mil a year.

I think it’s completely reasonable to think Ben Gordon is a special player. He’s a special scorer, and he was the Bulls’ best player the two years before coming to Detroit. Here’s what Matt McHale of  By the Horns said before this season:

“One last thing (or perhaps a couple things) worth noting. The biggest dig on Ben has been “He may score 20 PPG, but he gives up 25 PPG.” That’s not quite fair. According to 82games.com, the 2008-09 Bulls scored 23.8 PPG from the SG position while giving up 20.2. That’s a net production of +3.6, which ranked 6th in the league at that position. The Bulls also had a net PER of +2.6 at shooting guard, which ranked 7th in the league. Since BG played about 37 MPG, most of that was his handiwork. The point is, Ben Gordon — on average — solidly outperformed opposing shooting guards last season.”

(And Gordon actually makes $11.6 million per year with a player option for his fifth season.)

Cap space doesn’t disappear if you don’t use it.

Yes, it does. Most players contracts are designed to go up year-by-year, which eats into cap space in future years. Plus, most projected the cap would go down this year, which would further decrease cap space.

Wouldn’t we look a lot better if we had been able to chase after Carlos Boozer this summer? Instead we have 25 million tied up in 2 players that can’t play together.

Even if the Pistons hadn’t signed Gordon, they wouldn’t have had enough money to sign Boozer.

By all accounts Dumars scuttled this trade over Tayshaun.

I wrote about this trade, and I was for it. But, as BrGulker, addressed in the comments, it would have been a big risk before the draft. What if someone traded up with Minnesota to get Cousins? Then, you just made that trade for Wesley Johnson, Ekpe Udoh or Greg Monroe, and it’s an abject failure.

So, I don’t think it’s fair to say Dumars passed on the deal because of Prince. There’s a solid chance he would’ve made the deal when the Kings’ pick came up. But Sacramento found someone willing to take Nocioni before the draft and pulled the trigger.

The holdup could have just as likely been agreeing on when to make the trade as it was a reluctance to part with Prince.

We have spent our entire cap on players who can’t take us to a title. I love the ’04 team, but it is such an outlier that it can’t be assumed to be repeatable.

Maybe it hasn’t be repeated because nobody else has really tried it.  Everyone else’s plan has been to get to the lottery and draft a star or clear enough cap room to sign a star. There’s a lot of competition for building that way. Maybe the quiet signings and trade route, with no competition, is more prudent.

That was a truly special collection of complimentary talents and it remains the only title team since the ’79 Sonics to win without a superstar. I’m not knocking the guys on that team, but none of them were superstars.

Ben Wallace was a superstar. He wasn’t recognized as one, but without a doubt, his impact on the game was that of a superstar’s.

Monroe is a great start, Thanks GS Warriors for picking Udoh!

I completely agree with that. What were they thinking?

His FG% took a dive without Chauncey

There have been a TON of variables other than Billups being gone. I’m not convinced that’s why Hamilton has fallen off.

I just don’t see his value at this point.

Few teams do, but I think Hamilton will rebound in a year without Iverson and injuries. That’s when his real value will emerge.