Charlie Villanueva Open To Buyout, Eyes Rockets February 24 at 11:48am CST By Chuck Myron FEBRUARY 24TH: Villanueva would consider joining the Rockets if he and the Pistons reach a buyout agreement, tweets Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times. FEBRUARY 21ST: Charlie Villanueva would consider a buyout if the Pistons want to negotiate one, as he tells reporters, including Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. The 29-year-old wasn’t in many trade rumors leading up to the deadline as the Pistons were unable find a new home for his expiring contract, which pays $8.58MM this season. “Anything’s possible. Right now, it is what it is,” Villanueva said. “I wish I could help this team in any way possible, but they’re going in a different direction. It’s part of the business, but if it presented itself, that’s something we’d look at, for sure.” The Excel Sports Management client has played sparingly for Detroit this season, averaging just 8.9 minutes in 14 appearances. He’s never averaged as many as 24 minutes a game for the Pistons after signing a five-year, $37.7MM deal in 2009 that’s sparked widespread criticism of president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hearing Charlie Villanueva, if he reaches buyout with Pistons, wouldn't mind latching on with Rockets.</p>— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeryWoelfel/statuses/438006756095324160">February 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I actually didn't even realize this guy was still in the league, let alone making over $8M this year. How does Joe Dumars still have a job??
I can't think of any big's minutes I would want to give him. I guess maybe DMo, but even then DMo is younger and would rather see him get the minutes to develop.
He stopped playing basketball at an NBA level 3 years ago. There are 3-4 players on our D-LEAGUE team that are better basketball players than Charlie Villanueva right now.
He's terrible. Looking at his career stats it blows my mind how he even got that contract. His shooting % have always been terrible for a big man even in his "prime" except one season he shot 38% from 3.
Career 34% 3pt shooter, only shooting 23% this season though. Obviously it's in limited minutes so maybe its hard for him to get into his rythym like he would in the past.
