Is It Time to Go for Richard Hamilton?

 First off, Kaman’s contract is virtually identical to Rip’s, making the trade easier for a 1-1 swap with some cash considerations. Secondly, Kaman played his college ball at Central Michigan after growing up in Grand Rapids. Most players, when given the opportunity to go home and play for the people he grew up surrounded by, tend to play with much more life in their game, and I believe Kaman would do the same. The only issue with this trade is whether or not there would be any friction by playing two shooting guards with starting-level skill together, but if they could make it work, it would be a great trade.

 Denver has a great point guard in Chauncey Billups who is already incredibly familiar with Hamilton’s game. However, Denver already has several up-and-coming quality young guards, and no quality big man they would be willing to trade in return.

Kenyon Martin would be a possibility, but I doubt they would release him, and his contract would require the Pistons to throw in more players on our already depleted roster. I would not expect to see this happen.

The San Antonio Spurs have a young point guard in Tony Parker who would be able to get him the ball very easily, but unfortunately they would never go for a trade because Hamilton would complain about losing playing time to Ginobili (unless Manu gets injured again), and they have no players that would be serviceable to the Pistons besides Tim Duncan, whom you know they will never trade away.

In Dallas, Jason Kidd could work with Rip, but there is nobody worth a straight trade except for Jason Terry, and his contract extends past 2011, which is too long. 

The 76ers could put him next to Andre Miller, but that would cause friction with Andre Iguodala. 

Orlando could put him next to Jameer Nelson, who has the abilities to work with Rip as well, but it would only work in a sign-and-trade for a player like Gortat, and the Magic will not look to retain him or take on Rip with that much cap space. Besides, Gortat is not worth that much money, so Orlando would also have to unload more players.

Finally, New Jersey has a couple decent point guards who, even though they prefer to shoot first and pass later, do have the ability to pass well, and opposing teams focusing on them will frequently leave players like Rip open.

Basically, I do not expect any of these trades to happen, but these are some teams that Dumars should look at if he decides it’s in his best interest to shop Hamilton to other teams. I would love to see a couple of the first possibilities I mentioned happen, but as we all know, they probably won’t.

Either way, I am a great fan of the Pistons, and am certain that we will rebound from this dismal season sooner than expected, and to greatness, especially with the much-needed removal of first-year coach Michael Curry.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?