Hoops

Ben Gordon to Pistons

Gortat to Dallas removes one option I was hoping for.

SI: Pistons' quick free-agent strikes promising first steps back to elite

Yeah, if I were Rip or Tayshaun, I wouldn't be expecting to stay in Detroit much longer. He needs to shift both of them to land a quality big man, or at least clear cap space IMO. Always hard to trade wings for a top notch big man though.

As for the defence side, it is perhaps a little odd. That is why I tend to think CV and Gordon are transitional options to keep the team treading water while he tries to retool. Maybe he also thinks they can learn to play better defence in the Pistons environment.

I hope Ben really enjoys the dollars..

I used to think Gooden might be a solid FA pickup, these days I'm not so sure. He didn't do much to improve the Spurs last year, and I can't think of a much better situation he could have landed in. Charlie V is no franchise player, but I would take him ahead of Gooden.

Boozer is clearly a different story. I think TR is probably right that Charlie was their second option behind Boozer. I don't know if it was a reach though. I think with a bit of stability, CV will be a reliable 18-20 ppg scorer for a few years, so $7-8 mill is not a terrible contract to live with.

So I imagine Dumars is thinking that he will still have a solid team that fans will support with guys like CV, Stuckey, Gordon, etc. until he can land that one exceptional piece - who would need to be a dominant big man - since ralistically you can only be successful with CV if your other big man is a dominant rebounder and defensive presence.

Would love him back at Chi Town...

Dumars should have traded for Darko...lol

Would have chased Gooden 1st personally. He is a free agent isn't he TR?

Seems like an odd move by Dumars to sign Gordon for that much unless he plans on moving Hamilton soon?

I think it is a loss for the Bulls in the short term. They definitely have hurt their playoff chances this year. But they weren't going to win a championship, so I can understand them passing on that big a contract for an undersized shooting guard.

Charlie V is an interesting one. He will probably be solid value at $7 mill for a few years. I'm guessing Dumars thinks his scoring will keep people interested in the transition period until he can find his next franchise big man. The best thing about this news is that Charlie isn't going to the Cavs!!!

We need a center and we need AI gone.

I was hoping they'd make a run at Hedo, but that looks less likely with Villenueva coming in.

Iverson is meant to be going to Charlotte from reports. Ben Gordon will just fill his role, shoot, shoot, dribble, don't pass, over dribble, and when in trouble, shoot.

Bulls really need to find a scorer, and now.

"Bulls better get someone otherwise they will struggle to score"

I think it's the best move the Bulls could have made - addition by subtraction. Their biggest problem in recent years was too many guys wanting to be the man and now they have done something about it. Gordon was a selfish player and committed a hell of a lot of dumb fouls in the Celtics series.

I don't know of any other Bulls' transactions so far but a team with Rose, Deng, Salmons as the main focal points, with Thomas and Hinrich (and Noah and Miller, to a lesser extent) has got plenty of firepower.

Villenueva also signed a 5 year deal with the Pistons worth 35 mil.

Is Charlie V really worth that much?