The Pistons and the beginning of free agency

The Pistons used up all of their cap space on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. This has been seen by some as two terrible moves, all clumped into one big terrible move. When you could be signing and trading for big names, why would you "settle" for Gordon and Villanueva? some hae asked. There's no settling being done. These two are on the move.

Villanueva had a great year on the very disguised Bucks. The Bucks lost total interest from me, at least, after Redd and Bogut went down. Their best two players were Jefferson and Villanueva, and at least Charlie V didn't dissapoint. He's looking like the perfect next Sheed. A three, a block, a steal, 17 points in 27 minutes at 6'11". I like it.

Ben Gordon is young Ray Allen. That's it. He shoots the ball really well. When you ask him to shoot, he's a godsend. When you ask him to pass, everybody calls him shoot-first. He's a shooting guard, for Pete's sake. He shoots. That's his job. He does it well, by the way.

When you add Ray Allen to Rasheed Wallace, you'd get a pretty good deal, right? Think of it that way.

There are a couple teams with significant cap space. The Heat could be one of them, but right now we're sure of the Grizzlies, the Thunder, and the Pacers. The Pacers would probably love a point guard and a true center (and can afford both). The Grizzlies would probably love Blake Griffin. No cigar, but they might be in the mood for a 4. The Heat probably want a point guard too. The Thunder need a five.

Let the Lamar Odom Sweepstakes begin.