It will be nothing compared to the revenue that will be lost when the Pistons get dumped early in the playoffs each year as the Teal II era begins.
I was thinking since the Bulls are in our division and our competitors maybe they are trying to push up the price so we have left to spend in FA. They have Chandler just drafted the guy from LSU why would they want Ben? Of course he is going to try to get as much as possible after all at 32 this is probably his last payday. Ben is a good guy and i am sure the Pistons loyalty to him will count for something at crunch time. "if you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter"
all is not lost if ben leaves. mcdyess would be freed up. i think his skills are waisted if he isn't getting the regular minutes. he is a 20 and 10 player and not too shabby on defense. he isn't as mobile as ben but he absolutely kills what ben brings to us offensively. i'm sorry but our best lineup last year was when sheed and mcdyess were on the court together not when ben was out there. we need to adapt to the league or die. if we try to stick to defense first we'll go back to the teal era anyway. you can't win with defense only anymore. you need defense and offense. something ben can't do. darko isn't signed to a long term deal. i think orlando will wait to sign him. we have an outside chance of correcting our mistake. don't have too many high hopes for our 2007 draft pick orlando will be a playoff team next year. the draft will be deep but i don't think any impact players will be there especially with the piston philosphy on rooks.
Well, to be fair, Hooper is slightly wider than Shaq. He'd be a %%%%% to guard on the block, especially with that mane swinging in your face. New rumor, with rumored semi-confirmation: Pistons end up with PJ Brown in 3-way with the Hornets and Bulls.
Okay, I'm on the bandwagon now with the avatar. The loss of Ben would mean the start of mediocrity at best.
I keep checking those Chicago boards and they are not talking about Chicago offering Ben a big deal yet. Next season would suck without Ben.
Watch the 2005 video on Ben. We need him. Plain as simple. Give him his 15 mill / yr. Also, with or without Ben we have no salary cap space. So you have to pay him or get a mid teir midlevel exception guy. Go get Ben and the Playoff money will pay the tax.
I agree with that, Ben Wallace leaving would leave Detroit charged up. It's not like the pistons will fall to the worst team in the league, at the least we would do a sign and trade and at least get someone in return. Joe D already has a plan in place if Ben does leave...
The word on some hornets boards is they are involved in a trade of JR smith and PJ Brown for Chandler and Malik Allen. This could POSSIBLY expand to be a 3 team deal (3rd team pistons?). They wouldn't do that deal if they didn't sign Ben. This rumor is apparently from the same guy that broke the Peja to the Hornets deal hours before ESPN did. IMO if chicago doesn't announce a deal with Ben before thursday they aren't going to sign him at all. I can't imagine Ben negotiating with the Bulls much. They are either going to offer him 15mil + a year and he'll sign almost immediately (Agree to terms, you get the deal) or they'll offer 13/14 a year and Ben will go back to Joe and see how he responds. Joe matches or declines, and Ben chooses. I just don't see how this could be drawn out. Only 1 team has a chance of stealing him, so it should be pretty quick.
