Rip Hamilton/Ben Gordon?

[Rastapopoulos]

Just to piss off HCP...

It's pretty clear that the Pistons are wasting money by keeping BOTH Hamilton and Gordon. Rip looked very good when he came back from injury, but meanwhile Gordon had a pretty dreadful year (but is signed to a $10M a year contract). Could we use either? I like the idea of Rip Hamilton as a bench scorer, and playing him alongside Miller and Roy would be better than Rudy in the same smallball lineup, because Hamilton's a better defender. He's not so young, though.

Gordon's also interesting, especially to those who think that Roy can play PG and so can play alongside a short 2G. Gordon's performance for the Bulls in the playoffs last year was phenomenal, so you know he can score when it counts. But his defense is pretty much non-existent, and he's not a passer. I just see either of them as more useful than Rudy or Bayless proved to be in the playoffs, but it would mean getting older, and it would require the Pistons being interested in Joel's expiring contract along with one or more of Webster, Rudy, Bayless.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I have little interest in Rip even though he's probably still got some gas in the tank. I'm just not sure you can pair he and Roy together defensively.

Gordon I like on the other hand. He did have a pretty dreadful year with the Pistons, but I suspect he never got right physically after his ankle injury, as long as there are no lingering effects, I fully expect him to bounce back to his career averages. The biggest benefit would be his ability to space the floor with his outside shot and I think he'd work pretty well playing off of either Brandon or Miller as the two guard on offense and the one guard on defense. Having said that, I still think this team eventually needs a true point guard to replace Miller within a year or year and-a-half max. To get Gordon, I'd offer Bayless, Rudy and Joel's expiring this off-season and run a three guard rotation of Miller, Roy, Gordon in the short term, pick up Miller's option for his third year and at some point before the 2011-2012 trading deadline try to move his expiring contract to get a younger replacement.