FAN-O-METER (Post Gordon/Charlie signings and Curry's firing)

[Glenn]

Just taking the pulse...

[WTFchris]

If this is our roster to start the year it sucks (assuming the 4 mil is spent to resign Dice or a comparable big). I'm going to hold off until I see his trades.

[Glenn]

Are we supposed to do something?

Yes, wait for the poll options.

[Fool]

I'm very excited. We might be shit. But I'm still very excited.

[Glenn]

I'm somewhat disappointed that most of the cap space is gone already and all we have to show for it is a third starting-caliber SG and a somewhat soft perimeter-oriented big man.

Curry's firing should be enough to push me into 'neutral' territory, but I just couldn't bring myself to vote 'neutral'.

Plus, unless other big moves are to come, then who the coach is won't matter much.

[Zekyl]

When we make the eventual Rip trade, we'll have to start a new version of this. All opinions will likely change (for better or worse).

I'm neutral. We'll have to wait and see how Gordon pairs with Stuckey. Villanueva could be a steal if he keeps up his consistent improvement. Yes, he's a perimiter oriented big, but he's got enough size and athleticism to hold his own. With him, it seems like it's always come down to focus. He's been getting better, so let's see if he can really dial himself in and live up to his "potential".

I always find it interesting to see who guys are compared to. DraftExpress says:
Best Case: Chris Webber, Young Derrick Coleman
Worst Case: Jonathan Bender
He's not going to reach young Webber/Coleman levels but he's already surpassed worst case and he's starting to put things together.

Here's to hoping this is like Billups' situation. Highly touted player out of college, never quite put things together, started to figure things out (Billups when he got his shot in Minny, Charlie starting to show consistent improvement), then we sign him to a reasonable deal that ends up being a steal.

[MoTown]

I doubt we get anything good for Rip. The Pistons need bigs now and other teams know it. Who's going to bail them out?

[Kstat]

I think you would have gotten similar reactions to the deals that brought Ben, Rip and Chauncey here. The only guy that arrived here with any fanfare at all was sheed.

[Vinny]

I doubt we get anything good for Rip. The Pistons need bigs now and other teams know it. Who's going to bail them out?

I agree to a point, but I think we've started to undervalue Rip a bit. He still can be quite an asset to a team, and his contract isn't outrageous.

[MoTown]

I think you would have gotten similar reactions to the deals that brought Ben, Rip and Chauncey here. The only guy that arrived here with any fanfare at all was sheed.

I agree with that. There wasn't much excitement with any of them, especially since we traded away fan favorites for Ben and Rip. Expectations were lower back then, however. Gordon and Charlie could potentially be very good players, I'm just angry at how the teams look right now. If Joe does his thing and we land Okafor in the next month, my opinion will change drastically.