Detroit Pistons Fans, Be Weary of BG and CV Bankrupting Your Basketball Team
July 7, 2009 by Staff
Filed under All Sports
I hate to say this about a town that has gone through so much over the past year and a half. However, the city of Detroit had better hope that Matthew Stafford can turn around their football team, because their basketball team is doomed for years to come.
When the 76ers signed Elton Brand last summer, everyone thought that the upstart team that had just fought tooth and nail with the Pistons in the 2008 playoffs would turn the corner on the basis of that signing. What they failed to recognize was that Elton did not fit the 76ers scheme, their players’ styles, nor their players’ youth. He was the complete opposite of everything the 76ers had going for them, and even though he himself is an all-star, you can’t throw his “square” skills into a “round” basketball team and expect success. You just can’t. And now the 76ers are stuck with big contracts on Brand and Andre Iguodala, and they probably aren’t going to be relevant for a very long time.
Unfortunately, I think that is exactly what is going on in Detroit with their new acquisitions of Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon. Two good players in their own right, but do they really fit what’s going on in Detroit?
First, Detroit already has a 2-guard in Rip Hamilton. So it appears to me that Ben Gordon, their now $11 million/year man, is going to be one of the highest paid 6th men in the history of the NBA. And money aside, why they would want a guy who fires it up early in the shot clock, can be quite streaky, and isn’t exactly the best defensive player at the guard position, is beyond me. None of those qualities fit well into slow-tempo, screening, systematic offensive and defensive philosophies of the Pistons. Call me crazy, but the Pistons lineup isn’t suited for shooting a bunch of 3’s and long-range twos as much as they are about mid-range game and getting the ball in the paint. So I’m not sure how Gordon (once again, coming off the bench!) can really help them there.
Secondly, Villanueva, is more or less an unproven entity, isn’t he? The man averaged 16 points last season, certainly not bad, but let’s face it, it wasn’t the norm for him either. He had averaged 12.25 ppg for his career up until last year, making last season a 32% aberration. Sure, last year could have been the springboard for a career’s worth of 20-point for Villanueva, but nothing he did last year assures me of that. And does he really replace Rasheed Wallace? The man lacks defensive promise, and he grabbed only 6.7 rebounds per game last year. To Villanueva’s credit, he averaged 8.9 rebounds per 36 minutes. However, he ranks 27th in rebound rate amongst power forwards alone. I mean the guy is a worst defensive rebounder than Yi Jianlian, so I certainly don’t thing he’ll be dominating the boards for the Pistons anytime soon.
Lastly, I have to go back to the money thing, because it’s important when you’re building a franchise. Combined, Villanueva and Gordon will take up roughly $19-$20 million in cap space per season over the next 5 years. With Hamilton on board, that leaves the Pistons with very little money to acquire any other impact players over the next half decade, outside of signing someone to the midlevel exception. That puts this team in a 76ers-esque position, where if this combination of players doesn’t work out, the team is doomed.
Can the Pistons as constructed make the playoffs? Sure they can. But last year’s team, a team that despite being completely heartless may have been slightly better talent-wise, made the playoffs last season, and we saw what happened to them.
