'Billups staying in Detroit is a virtual lock'

Chris Sheridan from espn.com reports on the top 25 free agents this summer:

" 2. Chauncey Billups, Pistons
It was only a few months ago that the Detroit media was reporting that Billups would get a max contract from the Pistons for all of his years of faithful service. But Billups' value took a hit when he struggled in the Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland, and his only hope of leveraging a new deal starting somewhere north of $12 million per year would be through a sign-and-trade.

Agent Andy Miller will try to find such a deal, but the consensus around the league is that Billups staying in Detroit is a virtual lock."

He also says this about Grant Hill:

"8. Grant Hill, Magic
All indications point to him returning to Detroit if Joe Dumars is able to clear Lindsey Hunter, Ronald Dupree and Flip Murray off his cap. If that fails to happen, expect Toronto and/possibly San Antonio to make a push."

I am not a fan of Grant Hill signing here, but if he does he should sign for the vet min. They guy basically stole 92 million from Orlando. He shouldn't need a big pay day. If he is looking to steal 4 or 5 million a year more Joe D. should just pass on him.

Good news. Joe cannot just throw money at him now. He gives Chauncey a good amount. If another team comes in and is willing to give more money, then Joe raises the deal.

Billups new slogan may be........."If it ain't 80 million, it ain't right"

I would respectfully disagree with you. Grant Hill, in my opinion didn't steal squat.

He would have played from the git go with them and been an all star like he was for us if he hadn't been hurt.

He did not injure himself on purpose.

Orlando Magic have doctors whose job is to make accurate assessments of players' physical condition and heal player's properly and as fast as humanly possible .

If you go back and read the history of this you will see that it was the Orlando Magic doctors that screwed up his career. Yes he may have gotten a lot of money but that was his agent's doing and good for his agent. Hill would have played if he was able. The Magic doctors screwed up his ankle big time and it took numerous operations for Hill to be able to play again with a minimum of pain.

Have a nice day

If you look at the Piston's guard situation right now, assuming C-Bill re-signs, one of the things that Joe D. did in this draft was to help C-Bill.

The fact is that even though Rip has a very nice game, primarily based on his mid range jump shot and ability to get to the free throw line and convert he is not the world's best ball handler.

By adding Stuckey, Joe D. did a number of things to improve the back court of the Pistons.

The Pistons will now be able to have a solid backup point guard for C-Bill and they will also be able to play Stuckey along side C-Bill. This will then give them in effect two guys on the court in the back court at the same time that can handle the ball and score.

In addition, with the addition of AA they have added a guard that shoot and play excellent one on one defense.

Both of these moves will make C-Bill's life a lot easier. Maybe he should give some of his contract money to JS and AA. LOL

Could Murray have done this? Evidently the feeling in the Piston's organization is probably not.

It is cool. We can agree to disagree. It is not his fault he was injured, but the fact remains that he was not able to preform. What I really was trying to get at was that if Grant Hill is really about winning a championship then he would not need the full MLE to sign here. He already has had his big pay day. He should understand that the team needs to address other areas and take a small portion of the MLE.

I agree with you. I don't think Hill stole any money. Injuries happen. While it's unfortunate for both him and Orlando, it obviously wasn't done on purpose. If anything, like you said, it's the Magic Doctor's who should be cutting a refund cheque to the organization.

Good post Budda, the Pistons have been very fortunate to go without major injuries. Should a guard breakdown this year we should be OK.

Grant Hill is ther greatest gentleman in all sports. I know Armygirl agrees with me on that. Anybody who is soft like he is ....I mean soft-spoken and is able to get injured and still comeback and play basketball is an inspiration to us all.

Am I am the only one who wouldn't have a problem with CB leaving? I'd take Maurice Williams over him any day.