What is Chauncey doing? He should know that he won't get anything better, the offer is comparable to what Nash and Parker make, and he's basically wasting time for no reason.

wouldn't that be mildy humorous if Chris McCosky costs the Pistons a chance to resign Chauncey Billups?

what a great wikipedia entry that would be...

What is Chauncey doing? He should know that he won't get anything better, the offer is comparable to what Nash and Parker make, and he's basically wasting time for no reason.


Worse. He's wasting time that Joe has to work on other free agents/trades.

ok, now Ric Bucher is reporting that Chauncey has finally agreed to sign:


Sources: Billups, Pistons agree to multi-year deal (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2928321)

ESPN.com news services

Updated: July 6, 2007, 7:19 PM ET

ESPN's Ric Bucher reports sources say that Billups has now agreed to multi-year deal with the Pistons, but terms and length of the deal are unknown at this time.

On Wednesday, Billups' agent, Andy Miller, refuted a reports that his client had agreed to a contract that could be five years and worth $60 million.

"This is a vicious rumor," Miller told The Detroit Free Press. "It's entirely untrue. We have not reached an agreement. I don't know what stage we're at. We're having ongoing discussions, and I don't believe that we're on the verge of signing an agreement anytime today by any stretch of the imagination."

On Tuesday, The Associated Press and some Detroit-area media outlets had reported that Billups and the Pistons had agreed to a five-year contract. According to the Associated Press, its source, who requested anonymity because of league rules preventing contract announcements before July 11, said the deal is worth $46 million guaranteed over four years and the fifth year is a team option.

Billups had become an unrestricted free agent last month after opting out of the last year of a six-year contract.

Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said shortly after the team was eliminated from the conference finals by the Cleveland Cavaliers that his top priority was re-signing Billups.

The 6-foot-3, 202-pound All-Star said he would prefer to stay with Detroit and expected to be back if the team could match any other team's best offer.

Billups, 30, who played with the Celtics, Denver, Orlando and Minnesota in his first four seasons, was selected the NBA Finals MVP in 2004 when Detroit won the championship. He was an All-Star in 2006 and 2007.

He averaged 17 points and 7.2 assists in 70 games last season and 14.5 points and 5.3 assists over his nine-year career. But Billups struggled in the playoffs each of the past two seasons, and averaged 15.3 points, 3.5 assists and 3.8 turnovers in the Eastern finals against the Cavs.

Didn't we know that already?

vicious.

Ya ever think these agents might get kick-backs for letting 'X Network' break the news? Thats far fetched, but this shit gets weird sometimes.

It's like ESPN did not want to get scooped by a Detroit paper.

And then "No Details"

:mccosky:


Billups will re-sign with Pistons

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

LAS VEGAS -- Point guard Chauncey Billups will remain with the Pistons, a source close to negotiations said Friday.

As The News reported on Tuesday, Billups has agreed to a five year, $60 million deal. The club has an option on the fifth year.

The deal can't be signed until Wednesday.

Pistons president Joe Dumars, by NBA rules, cannot publicly discuss negotiations.

Billups, 30, who has led the Pistons to the Eastern Conference finals the last five years and was MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals, was the top point guard on the free-agent market.

Billups, under the proposed structure, would earn an average of $12 million a year -- the highest average contract the Pistons have paid. Rasheed Wallace signed a six-year, $60 million deal in 2004.

Billups' contract would be richer than the one signed three years ago by Steve Nash, but and not nearly as exorbitant as Jason Kidd's $103 million deal.

The Pistons are left with the mid-level exception -- worth roughly $6 million for next season -- to re-sign Amir Johnson and sign another free agent.


Looks like he never read my email, still getting it wrong.

I was gonna ask you about that. I'll fire him one off now. Let's everybody flood his inbox.

Glad to see that Billups will be staying in Detroit. He didn't have a great postseason, but the front court was so inconsistent, both he and Hamilton had a ton of pressure to do well every night. Plus... we'd have had terrible point guard play next season had we not re-signed him.

Now, if Maxiell continues to mature into a force at one of the forward spots and we land a serviceable big man (at least more serviceable than a washed up Chris Webber or Nazr Mohammed), we can win the east.

The contract, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press, is for five years and worth $60.5 million. The fifth year of the deal is a team option.

On Wednesday, Billups' agent, Andy Miller, refuted a reports that his client had agreed to a contract that could be five years and worth $60 million.

lol

http://dananbaplayoff.blogspot.com/


CHAUNCEY'S BACK

By DANA GAURUDER
Of The Oakland Press

AUBURN HILLS - It's finally official.

Chauncey Billups has reached a multi-year agreement to remain with the Pistons, his agent Andy Miller confirmed Friday afternoon.

"We're ecstatic to come to an agreement with the Pistons," Miller said. "This is where Chauncey wants to finish his career."

Billups will sign a five-year, $60.5 million contract. The final year is not guaranteed.

Miller said that the negotations were focused all along with Detroit.

"Chauncey told me before the process 'Don't look outside the Pistons. Let's give them every opportunity and go from there,'" Miller said. "They were his first option and no other team was remotely close."

Look for more details in Saturday's Oakland Press.

It's funny to me that McCosky keeps reporting this at 5 years/$60m (to match his original story) and other places are using $60.5 million.

Blakely also had this tidbit in his report today:


The deal is also believed to include a 15 percent trade kicker.

I wonder if Miller insisted an an extra $500K to get the deal done just to make sure that McCosky's report was factually incorrect?

Wow, this has been 'somewhat' comical. I wouldn't doubt that Miller insisted on that. Cuz I know I was about to say, so McCosky had it right all along.

But the 15% trade kicker is interesting. CBill thinks JoeD might want to move him? Or he's pretty sure he won't be a Piston in 5 years? Or are these caveats fairly normal.

IMO, its a power move. Without it, he can be shipped to anyone. With it, he can dictate who he'll drop the kicker for. They are not uncommon.

I don't think the kicker can be dropped. Oftentimes the kicker is an obstacle in trades (for salary match purposes), even if the player is in favor of the trade.

KG's got a kicker that just went into effect on July 1, which is why they were trying to get him traded before then (the draft was a factor, too). Now that his kicker is in place, trading him is even more difficult, even if he wants out.

No trade clauses can be waived (Kobe's got the only one in the NBA, apparently), but trade kickers are embedded into the contract. I'm about 95% sure about this.

So, if Glenn is correct, its more of a 'I want to stay here in Detroit' clause?

Its more of a 'I don't want to get traded to some shit team trying to get an expiring deal at the end of my career' clause.

lol

The CBA allows the player to waive part of his trade bonus, if necessary to allow a trade to fit within the 125% plus $100,000 margin. To make the above trade work, the player would need to waive $100,000 of his $300,000 trade bonus. The bonus would then be worth $200,000, and $100,000 of that would be allocated to the current season. The player would therefore count $1,100,000 as incoming salary, which exactly matches the maximum the other team can accept in return for their $800,000 player. The player is not allowed to waive more than the amount necessary to make the trade legal.

I know this may sound funny, but what is Dumars trying to do, make sure the Pistons keep getting eliminated in the sixth game of the EC finals?

^yep.

that trade kicker is a nice little card in chauncy's hand. the bad news is you got traded. the good news is you get an extra 2 mill.

btw, any basketball player worth anything has a huge upperhand on management. you hear your name being rumored for a trade, all you gotta do is even hint that you'll be unhappy to blow up the trade. teams are so tentative about trades (and theyre also so difficult to do thanks to the last 2 cba's) that the players really are in control.

finally, i wish the owners would change the cba to make trades exciting again. time was, a blockbuster trade would occur and it would discussed on the merits of talent, not who got the better expiring contracts or better future protected draft picks. trades in the nba used to be by far the best of the big 4. now they are horribly boring and only true geeks (like me, for one) even know or care whats going on with these trades. why hamstring the league. bring back the blockbusters!

Thanks for the Coon, Fool.

Does that make me completely wrong or just partially? ha ha

Does anybody know Chauncey's salary for year 1 of the new contract?

I'm trying to put together the cap situation in a spreadsheet right now.

it should be starting around 10 mil

10
11,05
12,21
13,5
-------
46,76 for 4 years + 14 mil for the 5th year, teamoption

Thanks Joe.

So he isn't the highest paid Piston after all, eh?

I believe it's the biggest contract we've ever given a free agent.

Probably, Sheed got 5/57

:mccosky:

Billups signs 5-year contract
Deal could be worth around $60 million

lol

Check out this assclown from the Grand Rapids Press.

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/118433190860150.xml&coll=6&thispage=1


Billups no bargain for Pistons

Friday, July 13, 2007
By David Mayo
The Grand Rapids Press

This might not go down so well after seeing Ben Wallace depart for free-agent riches when his presence might have gotten the Detroit Pistons back to the NBA Finals this year, but the Pistons made a mistake with Chauncey Billups.

Outbidding yourself is a mistake.

Paying for past performance, rather than future returns, is a mistake.

Clinging to the concept of team personified, when the coach behind that tattered concept left for 30 pieces of silver after winning one championship and coming within minutes of another, is a mistake.

Let's get this part straight: Billups is a top point guard, and his game shows few signs of deterioration. He still can drive the lane against weaker guards, when he isn't backing them down in the post. He still is an excellent perimeter shooter.

He is not a great playmaker, relative to some others in the league, such as the one in San Antonio who recently added two more rings to his vast collection, one for bagging another championship, one for bagging Eva Longoria. Granted, Tony Parker isn't a scorer in the same manner as Billups, but no one can argue with those results.

The Pistons weren't going to find a Parker this offseason. Not even a T.J. Ford or Raymond Felton. So they kept Billups, at the cost of $60 million, the same sum they refused to pay Wallace before he bolted to Chicago last year.

The Pistons kept the status quo, when the last two years indicate the status quo isn't good enough (for more information, see James, LeBron; and Wade, Dwyane).

They committed a huge chunk of the financial pie, for up to five years, and a minimum of four, to an 11th-year point guard who helped them to one championship and diminishing returns since.

They solidified themselves at the most important position, and one of the two most difficult to fill, along with centers, which is why this is an easy sell. The Pistons needed a point guard, so why not keep Billups?

The answer: This is a team closer to retooling than restoration, and while the Pistons might ride their 2004 championship scraps long enough to eke out another trip or two to the Eastern finals, that's hardly a guarantee for a team growing old together, when that togetherness isn't what it used to be.

True, the Pistons would not have found another point guard of Billups' offensive ability.

But they could have gotten younger with that money.

They could have used it to shore up the center spot after dumping Nazr Mohammed's contract, if they ever find anyone to take last year's free-agent bumble off their hands. (In fairness, breaking the bank for Billups is nothing like that doozy.)

They could have used it to provide another scoring weapon (who shall remain forever nameless) for their new playmaking point guard (ditto).

If nothing else, they could have banked some and probably still kept Billups, who wasn't finding eight-figure annual offers anywhere else, but got a $12 million average from Detroit.

Instead, the Pistons clung to the past with a player whose scoring average has increased subtly, while their postseason success has decreased not so subtly.

Billups was at his best when bearing less of the scoring load, and playing alongside a center who, while not a traditional scoring threat, gobbled offensive rebounds.

Then coach Larry Brown defected, followed by Wallace a year later. The holes were patched by Flip Saunders' two years of playoff coaching flops, and Chris Webber and Mohammed playing exactly like what they are, a has-been and never-was.

So the Pistons cracked the vault to keep their point guard, who was not alone in playing beneath his ability during the postseason loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, though his uncharacteristic turnovers prompted an utter lack of offensive flow.

They could have bought a younger scoring threat to replace Billups' lost offense.

And since their best moments together came when Billups was scoring less, next year's Pistons may have been just as efficient with a lower-profile distributor at point, and the right free agent.

In the end, they got neither.

http://www.mlive.com/images/sports/col_david_mayo.gif

This guy is pretty clueless and even contradicts himself. I really doubt that we could have gotten Billups for under 10 mil a season and his style of play will allow him to reamin very good for 4 or 5 years easy. If Billups is not worth the money, why did so many other teams want him? If the Pistons decide to rebuild, we can always trade him. Maybe Mayo isn't familiar with that concept. It was a good signing, Billups is still considered a premier PG, he has a lot of trade value, and Mayo should find a new career!

Chauncey's on Tim probation nowadays ,but did that guy say Tony Parker was a better PG? LOL and just because he bagged a flat chested, no ass having bitch you can find anywhere in the southwest or at any JC Chasez concert? LOL

LOL

if tony parker always plays like he did in the playoffs, hes the best pg in the world.

thats areally bad article. in order to criticize, you need to suggest that theres something better. mayo doesnt have a clue.

im not thrilled with the direction this team is going, but joe did good getting chauncy at that K. to say we bid against ourselves is nonsense. all these ideas he has, he never includes any names or ways how. hes an nba novice.

And I apologize if my comments about Eva exposed me for being the pig I really am.

At just a little under 10 million starting, he'd have been available to the likes of Milwaukee or Memphis, even with Orlando losing their mind with Rashard.

Well the Billups signing looks better after Mo Williams signs for almost 9 mil a year!

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/10256961

"So you resigned a former Finals MVP and 2x All Star? Well, we got Mo Williams...bitch!"

lol@the heat?

Chauncey Billups, Detroit
Ever since Larry Brown left, Billups has lost his way. In Flip Saunders' iso-oriented scheme, Billlups basically delivers the ball to whichever teammate has been tabbed to take the shot. Billups gets to shoot only when the other guys are firing blanks, or when he's on the plus-side of a glaring mismatch. Gone are the days when Billups orchestrated a quick-hitting, cohesive team-offense and got his shots within the flow. Now he's just another guy waiting in line with a number in his hand. That's why his offensive output has been so erratic.

So, if the return to the Motor City is a good deal for the Pistons, Billups would have been better served gong elsewhere. Grade: A for the Pistons, C- for Billups

Yea, why the fuck would Billups come back to Detroit?


Here are more grades.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7021990

Mikki Moore, Sacramento

Despite his threatening glares, cheap shots and overly aggressive fouls, Mikki Moore is not nearly as tough as he thinks he is. Also, his defense is poor, he doesn't rebound well in heavy traffic, he's an inferior passer, and a habitual fouler. What he is, though, is an exceptional mid-range shooter. Strictly a one-trick pony.

If Moore is a useful player, he's not the force that the Kings need in the middle. Grade: C
Thank you Joe D for not entertaining the idea of signing him. [smilie=amish.gif]

The Pistons were quick hitting when they won the 'ship? I love history.

lol@the heat?

gawd bless jessica biel.

gawd bless jessica biel.

i agree [smilie=yup.gif]

i could watch Gutz Jessica Biel gifs all day long

Dont know what you guys are talking about. [smilie=peepwall.gi:

Chauncey likes himself it would appear.


Billups says his heart is dedicated to Detroit

Associated Press

Updated: July 30, 2007, 11:28 AM ET

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -- Chauncey Billups never really considered leaving the Detroit Pistons.

"This is the first city and the first organization that has ever really shown me any love. I didn't want to break their hearts," Billups said Monday at a news conference before his charity golf tournament in suburban Detroit. "There was never really a point where it got close to me leaving. My heart was set on staying in Detroit."

Billups signed a $60 million, five-year contract earlier this month, allowing the Pistons to retain their floor leader and one of the NBA's top free agents this summer.

"You have to go through the process, but it's hard finding guys like Chauncey, who are great players and great guys, to represent your organization," said former Pistons player Joe Dumars, now the team's president for basketball operations. "When you find them, you don't let them go."

Billups has guided Detroit on the court during what has been one of the league's most consistent stretches in two-plus decades.

He was the NBA Finals MVP three years ago, when Detroit beat a Los Angeles Lakers team that included Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, and he nearly led the Pistons to another title the next year.

Billups joined the Pistons as a free agent in 2002 after bouncing around the league. The former Colorado star was drafted third overall in 1997 by Boston and was with Toronto, Denver, Orlando and Minnesota in his first four years in the league.

In Detroit, Billups became one of the NBA's top point guards with his steady leadership and clutch shooting.

What will really break my heart is if he plays this season the way he played last season pa-POW!

What will really break my heart is if he plays this season the way he played last season pa-POW!

LMFAO


BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (AP) -- Chauncey Billups saw what happened to the Detroit Pistons and their fans when Ben Wallace left last summer for Chicago.

He wasn't going to put them through it again.

"This is the first city and the first organization to show me love," Billups said Monday. "They've helped me go from a pretty good player to an elite player, and I wasn't going to break their hearts."

Billups spoke before teeing off in his annual charity golf tournament at a joint press conference with Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations. It was their first meeting with the media since Billups agreed to a five-year, $60 million contract earlier this month.

"You don't get many great players who are also great guys, and when you do, you don't let them go," Dumars said. "We had to go through the process, but we knew it was imperative that we keep him."

Billups was the third overall pick in 1997, but played for five teams in his first four seasons before coming to Detroit as a free agent in 2002.

He immediately took over the point guard job, led the Pistons to an NBA title in his second season and had them in Game 7 of the finals in 2005.

Even after losses to Miami and Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals the last two years, Billups has become widely seen as one of the league's best point guards and clutch players.

"This is our captain, our point guard and our leader," Dumars said. "Making this happen was a no-brainer."

Billups had said all season that he hoped to stay in Detroit, and he acknowledged Monday that he might have hurt his own bargaining power in the process.

"A lot of teams probably didn't even bother, because they knew my heart was in Detroit," he said. "This is where my family wants to be, because this is where we've made our home."

While Billups did say there were "plenty" of teams that were making offers, he never took them seriously.

"I told my agent that Detroit got the first chance to sign me, and they also got the second, third and fourth chances," he said.

Billups struggled in Detroit's loss to Cleveland, which made him even more determined to stay with the Pistons.

"The way the season ended -- that hurt, man," he said. "I know this is an elite team that can still win championships. I still believe we were the best team last year, no matter what happened against Cleveland, and I'm going to stay here and prove that."

The loss to the Cavaliers also pushed Billups in his stint with the U.S. team as it prepares for next month's Olympic qualifying tournament.

"That was cool," he said. "After we lost, it let me get back on the court right away, and it was even better to have Tayshaun (Prince) playing with me."

Billups thinks the current American roster has the balance that the team that won bronze in Athens never had.

"We've got veterans who have been through the wars," he said. "They already had a good team, but when you add me and Kobe and Jason (Kidd), that's a lot of leadership."

Billups said that his national-team duty had kept him from paying close attention to the Tim Donaghy scandal, but he knew enough to be shocked.

"You never expect to hear something like that, and I always thought Timmy was a pretty good referee," he said. "It's going to be hurtful, because our referees already take a lot of abuse. I just hope this was an isolated incident."

"A lot of teams probably didn't even bother, because they knew my heart was in Detroit," he said. "This is where my family wants to be, because this is where we've made our home."

NBA teams are always looking out for that and stepping back because of a dude's love for the city.

Meh, I should stop snapping on the guy. I mean, he has real love for tha D, and that's special.


NBA teams are always looking out for that and stepping back because of a dude's love for the city.

If this were true there wouldn't be any ball going on in Houston. That place is a shithouse, no one loves it there.

Sarcasm is special.

Maybe I should have ended that post with "that's why KG is in Boston."

If this were true there wouldn't be any ball going on in Houston. That place is a shithouse, no one loves it there.
Of course, a lot of people will say the same thing about Detroit. I've never had any great fondness for humid Houston, though.