LLTP: "Billups was the best mid-level exception signing in NBA history"
Discuss.
Quote:
James (Ann Arbor, Mich.): Now that Chauncey Billups has been named third team All-NBA, he is be definition a top-15 player and a top-three guy at his position. If we gave up a top-15 player, should fans not expect to acquire a top-15 guy in his place this off-season? Neither Carlos Boozer nor Ben Gordon are even top-10 players at their positions, let alone players who will ever receive even one vote for one of the all-NBA teams. Unless we’re signing someone of Chauncey’s caliber this summer – and none of the players available are now nor ever will be of Chauncey’s caliber – then the trade will have been a failure. Am I missing something here?
Langlois: Quite a bit, actually. First, Boozer was a third-team All-NBA pick last season when he averaged 21.1 points and 10.4 rebounds a game. He’s 27. That should give him at least five more prime seasons. Coincidentally, if he becomes a free agent, the Pistons can sign him for up to five seasons. Gordon was one of 27 players in the league to average 20-plus points a game. He carried the Bulls to a few of their postseason wins over Boston despite playing with a pulled leg muscle. He just turned 26 – within a few months of Billups’ age when he joined the Pistons seven years ago. Billups was the best mid-level exception signing in NBA history and the Pistons got six great seasons out of him. If trading him gives the Pistons a shot at adding two players the caliber of Boozer and Gordon as both are entering their prime years, then Joe D will have made two great moves involving Chauncey Billups.
