What To Do With Rip?

This probably should've dawned on me while writing my Pistons preview, but alas, the world is fluid and time is an adventure. Joe Dumars has been widely panned for using the cash-formerly-known-as-Iverson to sign Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Both guys will have to change in major ways to make a lot of sense on this team, much less fit the mold of Dee-Troit Basketball.

The real downer for Detroit fans, though, is that this effectively blew their shot at any unchained monstrosities roaming the plains in 2010. It placed undue pressure on these two imperfects, and gave the impression that Dumars had missed out on the chance of a lifetime (again). But as many are now pointing out, this isn't the end. Kelly Dwyer observed that the cap space left, plus moving Rip Hamilton, would put the Pistons right back in the saddle.

The more I think about this roster, the clearer it becomes that something's got to give, someone's got to go and Hamilton's the most likely target. You could even argue that this new Pistons team won't work unless Rip's shipped off.

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