Hooped Up

The Pistons wasted no time signing free agents as fast as they could and as a result Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva will now call Detroit home.

According to league sources, Ben Gordon has agreed in principle to a deal worth $55 Million over 5 years and Charlie Villanueva has agreed in principle to a $35 million pact with Detroit for the same length of time. Last season with the Bulls Gordon averaged 20.7 points for the Chicago, leading them in scoring for the fourth straight year and should be able to keep near that average in Detroit.

Charlie Villanueva, who turns 25 next month, averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last season for the Milwaukee Bucks. Villanueva went from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted one when Milwaukee chose to not make him a qualifying offer.

I’m officially confused about what Joe Dumars is trying to do in Detroit.

Via Press Release

The firing of Pistons coach Michael Curry after he went 39-43 in his first year comes as little surprise.

Players, especially toward the end of the season, openly questioned game plans, as well as the many lineup changes Curry implemented. Rip Hamilton and Allen Iverson both publicly questioned Curry’s decision-making.

Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement today that while it was a difficult decision, he has “decided to make a change.”

The Pistons opened the season with high hopes but couldn’t recover from the loss of All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups who was traded to Denver for Iverson last November.

The Pistons plummeted to the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs and were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in four lopsided games. Dumars said after the series that Curry would return. At some point, that decision changed.

Detroit Free Press

The Boston Celtics appear willing to make major roster changes to balance a chance for a championship run and future financial flexibility. The Celtics offered Ray Allen andRajon Rondo to the Detroit Pistons for a package that includedRichard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to aPistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a GM like Ainge to dispatch an underling to make that kind of a call, if for no other reason to give the top executive some level of deniability that he’s shopping his stars.

Yahoo! Sports

The Shanghai leg of an NBA cheerleading-squad contest yesterday selected eight cheerleaders for the semifinals. The eight may have the chance to go to the United States to perform at an NBA game, organizers said.

Arranged by China Central Television’s sports channel, Tsingtao Beer and the National Basketball Association, the contest will take place in 48 cities across the country over the next six months. The Shanghai leg, held at Shanghai University, was the second preliminary contest.

The contest is divided into six areas. Each area will select eight cheerleaders from 12 squads. A total of 48 cheerleaders will participate in the semifinals in Guangzhou and Xi’an. Twelve will be selected to take part in the finals in Beijing. They will be flown to the US for professional cheerleading training and may get the chance to perform at an NBA game.

At the first preliminary heat, held in Jinan, Shandong Province, on June 2, NBA star Richard Hamilton was there to encourage the cheerleaders.

Shanghai Daily

When the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups  for Allen Iverson in favor of a more offensive minded game plan ditching their defensive one, it worked out like a Britney Spears jazz album release.  After Dumars banished Iverson and the Pistons went back to defence, they found some level of success and stuck with it.

So with that in mind and a ton of cap space for the Pistons on the way, could soon to be free agent Ron Artest land in Detroit? Well Ron-Ron answers that very question via his blog.

Okay, getting traded to Detroit really sucked and the fact that Chauncey Billups has been money in Denver hasn’t helped things out for A.I. But retirement???

Will Allen Iverson play in the NBA next season? At this point, the answer appears to be no. Iverson, who turns 34 in June, still has scoring skills, but he demonstrated in Detroit that he’s unwilling to alter his ball-dominating role for the good of his team. When asked to come off the bench for the Pistons late in the season, Iverson chose to stop playing and left the team. Add the fact that Denver made enormous improvements after trading Iverson for Chauncey Billups and it’s tough to imagine a team that would see Iverson as an asset.

There is no way, Allen Iverson will be sitting on a couch next season retired. On an NBA bench — perhaps.

Via Daily Herald

Chuck Daly, the Detroit Pistons coach who led the Bad Boys to the back-to-back NBA titles and was nicknamed Daddy Rich for his snappy dressing style, died this morning. He was 78.

The Pistons said Daly died in Jupiter, Fla., with his family by his side. Funeral arrangements are pending, but the team said services would take place next week in Florida.

An announcement came in March that Daly, who had the most wins in Pistons franchise history, was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer.

Detroit Free Press

Their is always a need for Sheed, but probably not at $8 million per year. According to reports, Rasheed Wallace will retire if he is not paid exactly that summer as a free agent. If this report’s true and that’s Sheed’s magical number, he might as well go ahead and ask for a diamond studded turtle and for Dane Cook to be funny.

At 34 years old, Sheed still has one of the leagues highest basketball IQ’s, but his physical skills are on the decline and his services are not worth $8 million per. With the days of being over paid in the NBA on it’s last legs, it’s probably safe to say we have seen the last of Rasheed Wallace in the NBA if that’s his happy number.

Unless, Daniel Snyder buys an NBA team. 

Via SLAM

The Pistons have been doomed since the Allen Iverson trade and now the off season has begun for the Pistons thanks to a Cleveland hammering in the playoffs and Joe Dumars has to officially break up the band like Destiny’s Child. 

The Pistons will likely undergo a major roster overhaul in the off-season as this season is just not acceptable to a franchise used to battling for Eastern Conference supremacy. Besides,Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown and Allen Iverson are all unrestricted free agents. Iverson is a goner with Wallace likely out, too. McDyess’ future is a little more up in the air. It’s Brown’s option whether he will stay or not, but with a $4 million contract guaranteed, it’s hard to see him finding that kind of deal anywhere else in this economy and with many teams looking to shed salary. Walter Herrmann and Will Bynum are restricted free agents. It’s hard to see Herrmann back, but it’s the team’s option on Bynum and he’s expected back. As for Michael Curry, it appears he will return for a second season despite presiding over this transition season. He has two years left on the $2.5 million per year deal he signed last year when he became a rookie head coach. As for the rest of the roster, Joe Dumars will likely be very active this summer in free agency, so it remains to be seen what other players may be moved.

For the record, Chauncey Billups was like Beyonce.

Via Detroit Free Press

Just how far will the chain reaction of trading Chauncey Billups to Denver reach? And could Tayshaun Prince be a victim of the Chauncey Effect this summer?

If the Pistons are going to rebuild and add a young, elite-level forward, they may not be able to go the free-agent route. It might have to come through a trade, and if that’s the case, the most valuable chip other than picks is Prince.

Prince has two years and about $25.1 million left on his contract, far from unmovable. The Raptors have shown interest just as the Pistons have barely hid their interest in forward Chris Bosh. Nobody is saying that will happen. But Prince is no longer untouchable.

A Chris Bosh for Tayshaun Prince trade makes no sense for the Raptors, but stranger things have happened in the T-Dot. I don’t think this one will go down, but if it does, this helps the Pistons front court like you wouldn’t believe down the stretch.

Via Detroit News