Considering the Pistons’ rather poor performance last year and their tremendous cap space, it was no surprise to see Detroit being very active on the free agent market. Nonetheless, many are wondering whether the Pistons’ management really made the right decisions to get the franchise back on track. More specifically, Detroit announced that they agreed on multi-year contracts with former Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva and Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon.

Even though no contracts can be finalized until the 8^th of July, verbal agreements and contract details have already been made public. Both players are expected to sign five year contracts with Gordon earning about $50 million and Villanueva roughly $35 million over the next years. On first glance, both acquisitions appear to be valuable additions to the Pistons’ roster when one considers the numbers Charlie V and Ben Gordon put up last year for their former teams. In 2008-09 Gordon averaged 20.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest for the Bulls and played a significant role in Chicago’s memorable first round playoff series versus the Boston Celtics. Likewise, Charlie Villanueva has proven to be a solid contributor for the Bucks and stepped up big time when Milwaukee lost Michael Redd for the rest of the season. Villanueva managed to achieve a respectable stats line consisting of 16.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last year.

However, things are not as simple as adding those numbers to Detroit’s performance and hoping for a spectacular 2009-10 season in Michigan. One major problem for the Pistons was the inability to find a working rotation for their two excellent shooting guards Rip Hamilton and Allen Iverson. Although Iverson is gone now, it will still be a back to square one situation once Gordon arrives. But even more importantly, Detroit’s success throughout out most of the last decade was largely due to their excellent individual and team defense. Assuming that both Villanueva and Gordon may very well end up being starters it is inevitable that the team’s identity will change dramatically. Without any doubts, Charlie V and Ben Gordon have both been defensive liabilities for their respective teams and will most likely deteriorate the Pistons’ team defense. Thus, it remains to be seen whether an upgrade on the offensive end of the floor will justify defensive break downs in the long run.

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