Comments on: Myth: Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva were horrendous signings by the Detroit Pistons

By: Pistons Links |

Pistons Links | — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:31:00 +0000

[...] PistonPowered: Myth: Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva were horrendous signings [...]

By: frankie d

frankie d — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:13:42 +0000

the signings also show the folly of depending on cap space and speculation about free agents as a basis for building a team.
except for miami’s splash this year and the rare, isolated signing, free agency is a horrible way to look at adding players. you have no leverage with them – unless they are your own and you have bird rights or they are restricted – and you end up overpaying them.
the two signings, as has been noted, were roundly panned when they happened. i read chicago papers routinely – i lived there for a while and got into the habit – and when i kept reading how much interest detroit allegedly had in gordon, which was all over the chicago media, i didn’t believe it. it made no sense. it made no sense at the time and it still makes no sense. there is still no clear manner in which ben gordon is going to play enough minutes to justify his contract.
and charlie v?
geez…all you needed to know how much of a stiff he was is that milwaukee said, thanks but no thanks. teams do not simply let talented big men like him walk away in free agency unless there is something basically wrong with that player. detroit fans got a real, birds-eye view of why milwaukee let him walk. and why detroit is his third team in only what…5 years in the league. it was a horrible signing when it happened – and i railed against it on other fan forums – and it is a horrible signing now. as i said at the time it happened, joe d will be trying to get rid of his contract for its duration.

By: Laser

Laser — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:45:16 +0000

1) don’t say those pistons couldn’t have gotten past orlando. i was never high on that team in the first place, and we CERTAINLY had the bigs to guard howard one-on-one, the key to having success against orlando. i think it would have looked a lot like the NBA finals that year. obviously all we can do is guess the outcome, but based on years of history between these teams i think it’s a lot safer to guess detroit wins handily.

2) saunders may have been 100 times the coach as curry, but he was never terribly good with adjustments. he was a poster boy for coaching the game plan instead of the game. he made good use of three guard sets against the celtics in ’08, but that’s the only significant adjustment i can remember him making in any playoff series. and besides, see item #1. i just don’t think orlando is very scary when you have the bigs to guard howard one-on-one.

By: Thursday Bullets | Your NBA News

Thursday Bullets | Your NBA News — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:00:44 +0000

[...] Signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva has not been a homerun for the Pistons. But given their other options at the time, it wasn’t the dumbest thing ever, either. Even saving the cap space for the 2010 free agent class wasn’t a no-brainer. At that time, the salary cap was expected to be so low that they could not have been assured room to sign even one max player. [...]

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:47:45 +0000

“but the celtics ended up fading due to age and injury and the east was WIDE open. don’t tell me we couldn’t have made it to the finals over orlando.”
They couldn’t have made it to the Finals over Orlando. Orlando made it to the Finals b/c they murdered Cleveland’s bigs with Lewis/Turkoglu on screen and rolls, and Howard was a beast. I know Detroit had good success against Orlando, but that Magic team was really unique, well-coached and got hot at the right time.
The one factor in all of this that you might not be considering is the Pistons were coached by Michael Curry. That team had playoff meltdowns under Saunders when adjustments needed to be made, and Saunders is 100 times the coach Curry is. I can’t imagine MC trying to make an adjustment in a playoff series. He would’ve been a huge liability.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:43:15 +0000

@koz:
No way that’s true. Until last year, Gordon is one of the top shooters in the NBA. He’s over 40 percent for his career. White only shot like 33 percent from the college line. There’s absolutely no data that supports your argument.

By: The Rake

The Rake — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:36:06 +0000

Fair and compelling arguments made in the article. That being said, the only thing that really matters is performance. As of today, the signings were sh*tty. This year, they may (should) become better. And perhaps, with luck and time, they can become excellent. As of today, they suck. Looking forward to see if they can/will improve significantly this year.

By: koz

koz — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:12:52 +0000

Terrico White is a better shooter than Gordon.

By: Laser

Laser — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 03:25:04 +0000

i’m ignoring nothing. i never said (or would say) we should have re-signed sheed, and billups and dyess would have been MAJOR upgrades at their respective positions. there’s just no doubt in my mind that the team had one more good run in it. joe broke up the band because he thought we couldn’t get past the celtics, but the celtics ended up fading due to age and injury and the east was WIDE open. don’t tell me we couldn’t have made it to the finals over orlando. and again, this is in ’08-’09 with chauncey, rip, stuck, afflalo, tayshaun, bynum, sheed, dyess, amir, uh… kwame brown. i’m sure i’m forgetting people, but this team was better than the magic. this was the team that OWNED the magic.

also, don’t assume i’m saying that team should still be around today. i understand the need to adapt and get younger, and i have no doubt that it would have been absolutely necessary to have moved on by now.

but in my opinion the fact that joe busted up the team while it was still great (2nd best record in the league in ’07-’08) wasn’t close to his worst crime. it’s every single decision he’s made since then that’s been the real problem. i sincerely think this team could have been set up for years to come by fleecing teams looking to score a max free agent this summer. but all these things combine to set the team back ten years. he had unlimited flexibility, and he blew it. hard.

just don’t tell me i’m ignoring things. i don’t ignore things. i’m the biggest advocate you’ll ever meet of looking at the big picture and dismissing ideas that ignore crucial facts.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:44:09 +0000

Laser

You are ignoring the fact that Sheed has retired, Dice was mostly ineffective for San Antonio last year, and Billips can no longer guard the point and it is likely that he finishes his career at the two – where the Pistons have plenty of other options. The deconstruction was necessary.

But you are correct that Joe could have used the cap space in more creative ways instead of signing CV & Gordon. Teams were looking to dump players and we could have taken advantage of that. Even this year, the fact that we missed out on Chandler still irks me. He would have been perfect for this team.