Free Agency Day 1 - The Motown Experiment

Remember Deeetroit Basketball? The solid team that used to go to conference finals every year and won one championship in that stretch? What have happened to them?

It seems that they after they lost Ben Wallace, the team was still really good, but they couldn't make it to the 'ship. So, the Pistons GM decided to make an experiment - he swapped Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. My first thought was - Pistons will really rock now. Man, how wrong I was. We all know, how it worked. Pistons turned into below .500 team and exited the playoffs in the first round, not winning a single game. Who was punished for that? The head coach Michael Curry paid for his inability to fit in the square peg of AI into round hole of Detroit Pistons. He just got fired.



They failure of a bad answer to Detroit question didn't discourage Dumars from making yet another bold moves. Iverson is not coming back, Rasheed Wallace neither. Instead of this, Pistons on the first day of the free agency offered 5-year long contracts to Charlie Villanueva (40 mln) and Ben Gordon (58 mln). Does Ben Gordon really fit into the concept of Deeetroit Basketball? I don't think so. But maybe a huge change is coming. Or yet another coach will be fired.

Asides from Motown, not much going on in the Free Agency Day 1. Quentin Richardson had to change his jersey yet again in the span of few days, being sent to LA Clippers in exchange with Zach Randolph.
Raptors still didn't get anything going yet, although they are trying to do the shopping. The names include: Hedo Turkoglu, David Lee and Linas Kleiza. Turk & Kleiza are small forwards, which is what we need, but why are putting yet another big man (Lee) in that equation? Only time will tell, how it ends.

I wonder

1. Why Raps made a qualifying offer to Pops Mensah-Bonsu. We're securing another big man in the rotation. We already traded Jason Kapono for Reggie Evans, we also have Bosh, Bargnani, O'Bryant, Hump. And the hole in the wings is growing bigger and bigger. We drafted DeRozan, but who else is gonna be there? Are we gonna teach Bargnani how to dribble? Or can we somehow trade O'Bryant and Hump for a SG/SF.

2. When O'Bryant is going to change his avatar. Man, Celtics don't love you anymore. Deal with it.

3. Why everybody is so concerned about Brandon Jennings trash-talking. NBA players get to earn millions when they are young and stupid, they trash-talk, they have huge egos... That's why we love them.

4. What could have happened if BC traded up in the draft to get Ricky 'Franchise' Rubio to play in Toronto.


Would his Mama become another Vince's Mama for us?


5. When Yao Ming is gonna catch a break. The big man suffered enough injuries for at least 3 players. He's broken his foot now, which can spell the end to his season, before it even started.

6. What's gonna happen to Charlie V. Something sad about the fact, that the Bucks wouldn't extend the qualifying offer to him. The biggest heart on the team, he tried to carry this bunch of losers on his back to get to the playoffs while Michael Redd ended his season; and he nearly made it. I'd say - Raps, go for him, but we cannot have a roster containing only big men [nearly].

7. Is the Thunder really going after Ben Gordon, and where the logic is in that plan. There's only one rock to play with and only certain amount of available shots.

8. Why on Earth Mehmet Okur wants to opt out of his contract in Utah. Is he scared of Mormons? Or is he another player that wants 10 mln? everybody seems to want to get 10 mln now.

9. How to survive the off-season. Plans include:
- reading all these books I gathered in last few months. The pile is at least NBA-player high.
- watching all the basketball movies ever made.
- finally unpack after the moving.