Solid moves by Detroit. Detroit doesn't really have a game plan other than stockpile on offensive talent. Gordon and Villaneuva don't play defense or do much off the ball, but both are capable of putting up 25 ppg on any given night and have great range. With Villaneuva it's a question of consistency. I've always maintained a contender needs 2 above average defenders starting and Detroit has that in Maxiell and Prince; this allows Gordon and Charlie V to focus on putting the ball in the basket. Gordon's size isn't a huge liability with a 6'5 PG in Stuckey, so the Pistons had a lot to gain from signing these two. Stuckey Gordon Prince Villaneuva Maxiell Intriguing starting 5 if CV comes to play every night.
As good a defender Maxiell is, there's no way he can guard opposing starting centers. The guy is LISTED as 6'7", which means he's closer to 6'5". I don't know what the heck the Pistons will do at starting center position, but I doubt Maxiell is the answer.
He spent the majority of his minutes at the 5 spot last season and did a better job defending C's than PF's, although his offensive production was better at the 4 (almost insignificant). It's not like he (or anyone ) will be guarding Yao every night.
neither would i, but without yao in the picture i'd rather go for someone younger. solid signings by the pistons. nice young ore they've got going on there. i wonder where rip ends up.
You guys sure of this? Because i'm here in NY and spoke this morning with his best friend who told me that Ben was considering and leaning towards leaving for Detroit, however he told me that he didn't agree with the Pistons yet. He told me this like 4 hours ago...
He's obviously 6'2..... He actually measured in at 6'6.25 - but has a 7'3.25 wingspan which gives him an 8'11 standing reach. So yeah, his head is pretty short, but when he sticks his arms straight up, they reach pretty high (Landry makes it to 8'6 - which is bad). But still, for an opposing 7' centre that's not going to cause too many issues.
a rip and prince deal for tmac would give them the cap space they need for 2010 to make a run at another big name. i think Dumars has the balls to do it. He dealt with iverson and his bad attitude for a season to get 20 mil worth of relief, I could see him wanting to do it again. He just turned Iversons's Expiring deal into Ben Gordon and Charlie V. Not bad at all.
BG7! BG7! Now that he got what he wants, the pressure is really going to be on Ben Gordon to produce as a full-time starter. The Boston playoff series really scored him some money.
i thought they were going for 2010? well, i guess joeD realized that none of the big names would want to come to detroit. but i cant see why would you overpay both. im sure they could have gotten gordon for 8m and charlie v for 6-7m.
