wtf are the pistons doing? they threw all of that money at ben gordon and charlie villanueva, but neither of those moves make sense unless they truly thought they were a couple'a role players away from contending... and even if that's the case, you paid how much for who? maybe i wasn't watching close enough, but i didn't notice BIG BEN GORDON AND HIS TORCH around during the 4th quarter or overtime... a perfuctory examination of his stat-line comes up with...
Ben Gordon 7 PT 3-6 FG 0-0 FT 1-2 3P 3/1 RB 1 AS 0 BL 0 ST 0 TO 4 PF 18 MN (Final, Bulls)
i'm pretty sure i also checked that early in the 4th quarter and it's the same. i know ben has had some injury problems plaguing his time in detroit, and look at his season statline...
Ben Gordon 11.7 PT .451 of 9.5 FG .868 of 2.3 FT .394 of 3.1 3P 2.7/0.4 RB 2.27 AS 0.17 BL 0.70 ST 2.00 TO 2.57 PF 27.1 MN 30/6 GS
Ben Gordon Salary - Pistons: $10.8M 2011 | $11.6M 2012 | $12.4M 2013 | $13.2M 2014 (P)
and look at that! he's even got a 13.2 million player option for 2014, whcih at this rate he's going to take and run with it. remember when the bulls offered him and LOL DENG matching contracts and both turned it down at first, with LOL taking the offer the second time around... tell me if those #s look familiar...
Luol Deng Salary - Bulls: $11.4M 2011 | $12.3M 2012 | $13.3M 2013 | $14.3M 2014
so LOL ends up with a little more, but in the end it looks like that ben gordon money is going to be beyond-LOLDENG horrible... especially when the pistons saw him drop 25 in a spot start for rip hamilton and said "ok you're our guy"... now he can't even sniff the floor in a game against his own team, which not only speaks of his tanked value to the team, but also puts him beyond LOLDENG territory in nuking his trade value. i always thought that BIG BEN GORDON WITH... A TORCH! would have value for a team in an eddie house / nate robinson role, in fact, with eddie house being older and an afterthought since his 2008 celtics glory days, look at nate robinson's stats....
Nate Robinson 8.3 PT .433 of 7.2 FG .833 of 0.9 FT .380 of 3.6 3P 1.7/0.3 RB 2.50 AS 0.11 BL 0.32 ST 1.25 TO 2.21 PF 19.7 MN 28/8 GS
they are completely and utterly similar to ben gordon's stats, although ben plays 10 more minutes a game. the big difference?
Nate Robinson Salary - Celtics: $4.20M 2011 | $4.50M 2012
so basically, ben gordon is paid like an upper-tier (i won't necessarily say elite) shooting guard who should be a perennial 6th man of the year, when in reality he's just, statwise, a slightly better version of nate robinson. his contract is already an albatross, and when you combine that with charlie villanueva...
Charlie Villanueva 13.6 PT .429 of 11.4 FG .763 of 2.6 FT .352 of 5.0 3P 5.1/0.9 RB 0.59 AS 0.90 BL 0.66 ST 1.10 TO 2.90 PF 26.2 MN 29/3 GS
Charlie Villanueva Salary - Pistons: $7.02M 2011 | $7.54M 2012 | $8.06M 2013 | $8.58M 2014 (P)
you've got 18-22 million per year tied up on two players who aren't going to help you create a foundation to rebuild around, nor are they going to chip in as pricey luxury roleplayers on a team that's contending for a championship, so i have no idea what's going on here. i'm pretty sure that mike ilitch wants to buy the pistons, so maybe the overall ineptitude since they lucked into that championship in 04 (no true beast in the east around then, such as iverson's sixers making a final... lebron's cavs making a final, etc--- oh and the lakers were such a miserable lot they couldn't win the damn title) will finally come to an end... cuz i have no idea what the hell the pistons are doing right now, so hey, keep on trucking guys.... i can't say that i especially miss you atop the division.
_________________ Curious Hair wrote: Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?
|