Ben Gordon is in Michigan today to talk to Joe Dumars about signing with the Pistons. In an average free agent market, this is the one guy I would like to see the Pistons sign. Aside from the points he can put on the board, Gordon plays hard, makes good decisions and hits clutch shots down the stretch consistently. He has been a winner dating back to his days at UConn. Also, even though Ben Wallace was a dud for the Bulls and was traded to the Cavs after an uneventful stint in Chicago, I would still like to re-pay the Bulls for what they thought was a coup in signing Wallace, and signing their best player would more than trump the Wallace move. I would also like to re-pay Chicago for trying to usurp the Red Wings as the dominant team in the Western conference by stealing their players. The Blackhawks signed former Wing Marian Hossa today to a 12-year deal reportedly worth $5.2 million a year. They also signed another former Wing, Tomas Kopecky, to a 2-year contract. As far as I’m concerned, the Hawks can have them. I defended Hossa in the playoffs, but the fact is, he didn’t do a whole lot when it counted. And Kopecky missed 98% of the playoffs because he got his face smashed in after picking a fight. I can’t wait to punish these two Benedict Arnolds in the upcoming years, hopefully in the playoffs again.
But back to the Pistons- if they were somehow able to sign Gordon, Hedo Turkoglu and Amare Stoudemire, which is unlikely but possible, pencil them in for the NBA Finals. They would have to let go of Rasheed Wallace and Allen Iverson, (this is a done deal and good riddance), as well as Antonio McDyess and Rip Hamilton (McDyess is a decent bench piece but as expendable as Wallace and Iverson if you ask me, and Rip is on the down-slope of his career but would easily be the most-missed of the four) to make it happen, but they could pull this off nonetheless. How about a starting line-up of Rodney Stuckey at PG, Ben Gordon at SG, Tayshaun Prince at SF, Amare Stoudemire at PF, Kwame Brown at C, with SG Hedo Turkoglu, PG Will Bynum, F Austin Daye and F Jason Maxiell coming off of the bench. That is one hell of a team.
I realize this will be difficult to pull off, but not impossible, as we witnessed Boston maneuver similarly a couple years ago to sign Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the same off-season. More likely, the Pistons sign two of the three, and I would gladly take Gordon and Amare and try to keep Rip if this were the case and I had my druthers. In any case, it seems Turkoglu is being courted aggressively by Portland, and Hedo’s agent Lon Babby claimed that as of today he had surprisingly not heard from the Pistons brass. I would like to see the Pistons go after Turkoglu because he has the lethal three-point shot the Pistons lack now that Chauncey is in Denver and he is a team-player who has a track record of winning.
I also agree with the firing of Michael Curry. He is a good person by most accounts, and he was a good player, but he had no control over the team, has no relationship with Richard Hamilton and possibly other Pistons, and clearly was not comfortable as a head coach. Doug Collins and Avery Johnson are waiting in the wings, and either would be a huge improvement over Curry. I favor Johnson slightly, but have the feeling Collins might get the gig. I don’t think Laimbeer is in the mix at all in Dumars’ mind, incidentally.
So sit back and watch Joe Dumars go to work, all you doubters. It’s a thing of beauty. And haters, try to tell me in a few weeks how much the Pistons are going to suck.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
