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Originally Posted by DelNegro
To sign him assumes he would be willing to give up tens of millions of dollars. This is highly unlikely since by NBA standards he's been underpaid for quite some time now and this offseason represents the best chance he'll ever have to cash in during his entire career.
To trade for him assumes the Pistons are going to be interested in whatever you think the mavs should give up for him. Terry would be the obvious choice on the mavs end, but would the Pistons want him and the bloated contract Cuban gave him last year? The Pistons are going to be flirting with luxury tax land and while you definitely pay lux tax to keep Chauncey Billups around, do you really want to risk paying luxury tax over Jason Terry? Pistons don't need or want Dampier, Howard's BYC so he's hard to trade, Harris doesn't make enough to match salaries. What else is there? Sometimes getting nothing isn't the worst case scenario in a transaction so the Pistons aren't going to take garbage and a bunch of salary cap dead weight just to say they didn't let Billups get away for nothing. They'd just let him walk and go get another PG in free agency.
Basically, Billups is a pipe dream. He likes Detroit, Detroit likes him, and Detroit can pay him. He's going to sign a big money deal to stay there.
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Yeah, I agree that it is a pipe dream, but the rumor mill is pretty high here about getting Billups. I dont know if we will get him, but stranger things have happened. The thing about the potential trade is this? Billups can walk away from the Pistons and the Pistons get nothing in return. Or the Pistons can try to get something back. The issue here is that all teams know that the Pistons are in a tough spot, so I dont see teams offering too much for Billups as well.
As far as the salary match, Billups does not have a salary if he opts out. Lets say that he wants to leave the Pistons and thinks the Mavs is a great spot. He could then, now I am not an expert on this, but lets say that he agrees to a 1 year deal with a player option to be traded to the Mavs. Billups could accept the MLE for one year, and let the Mavs match that or any salary to get Harris. Pistons get a good PG back, and is not locked into a big contract with Harris. I know this is a stretch, but I am just pointing out something that could/maybe happen.
I agree that sometimes getting nothing in return is best, but if the Pistons lose Billups then they are very short on the PG spot, and nothing is really out there in free agency in that spot. Maybe a Brevin Knight.