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The name being thrown around most is Carlos Boozer, to such a point that it seems a done deal. While I’m not 100 percent sold he’s coming to Detroit, if you fast forwarded to Halloween, I’d bet he’s on the Pistons’ roster.
The reason that the media has already basically married Boozer and the Pistons is that Detroit is about the only team with any cap room available this summer. If Boozer comes in to the fold and takes up, let’s say, $10 million in cap space, the Pistons will still have room to make another move out of that $34 million chunk.
Acquiring Ben Gordon has been a hot rumor lately, but that would most likely mean that Rip Hamilton would be dealt, so don’t sign me up for that one.
The free agent I would really like to see come to Motown is David Lee. Yes, he’s a restricted free agent, but the guy is young and immensely talented.
On a crappy, dysfunctional Knicks team, he pulled off a double-double nearly every night and was a great scrapper and hustler, a match made in heaven for working class Detroit.
New York is salivating for LeBron, and my guess is that they would like to avoid paying Lee what he deserves as much as possible, so with that, I’m not sure the restricted tag will affect him too much.
Other names being mentioned include Paul Millsap of Utah, former Wolverine Jamal Crawford, Ron Artest, Hedo Turkoglu, and Mehmet Okur, among others.
I think Millsap reeks of “I’m a real strong bench guy who got a chance to start and did pretty well, so now I’m going to get overpaid.”
He’s a tweener, a guy who doesn’t have one true position, which in turn makes him perfect for a bench spot, where his tweenerness is known as versatility. (I’m pretty sure I just made up a word). The only problem is that it’s going to take too much money and most likely a starting guarantee to get him. I don’t like this potential move.
Turkoglu and Okur are attractive options. However, I feel after Orlando’s run in the playoffs, they are going to do whatever it takes to keep that rotation intact. I have not heard much on Okur so far this offseason, so that could be a developing situation.
As for Crawford and Artest, Jamal is in the mold of Allen Iverson and Ben Gordon in that he is a slightly undersized guard who shoots a lot. That’s not what the Pistons need.
I don’t even think I need to say anything on Artest. There’s a better chance of the Ford family selling the Lions to Matt Millen for $5 than the Pistons bringing in one of the masterminds of the “Malace at the Palace.”
So there you have it. The next few months has a chance to be real exciting.
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