Pistons Blog

Tying up loose ends

I have seen some crazy reports across the world wide Web the past 48 hours or so.

I have seen Ben Gordon''s contract offer from the Pistons reported as high as $60 million. Unless there are some incentive clauses I don''t know about, the total value of the deal should fall just short of $55 million. He will start at $9 million next season.

Charlie Villanueva''s deal will start at $6 million and is for $35 million over five years, not $40 million.

Also, I saw a report that the Bulls never made an offer to Gordon. That is true, technically. Here''s what happened: The Pistons made their offer Wednesday and before agreeing to it, Gordon''s agent, Raymond Brothers, went back to the Bulls. Presumably, he asked if they wanted to match the offer and got an immediate answer of no. The Bulls couldn''t clear that much money. So, yes, there was no offer from Chicago, but it was given a chance to get back into the bidding. Not a big deal, but facts is facts, as they say.

About Doug Collins: Man, there has been a ton of misinformation out there. There is absolutely no way Collins ever, ever, ever contacted Joe Dumars about the coaching job before Michael Curry was fired. I promise you, on my kids'' trust funds (good luck finding those), Collins never would do that. He wouldn''t do that to a coach he didn''t know let alone a guy who he considers his son. Remember, it was Collins who brought Curry into the league and gave him his first guaranteed contract. Collins has been a mentor and friend to Curry''s since 1995, if not before that. So, for him to campaign for Curry''s job while Curry still had it -- nope. Never.

Last thing: I am sitting here wondering how ESPN is claiming it broke the news on Collins withdrawing his name from consideration for the Pistons coaching job. I know you guys out there don''t really care who breaks stories, but my lord. Detnews.com posted my story before midnight. The ESPN story went up, best I can tell, around 3 a.m. I had quotes from Collins, so obviously, I talked to him. So, if we had it up three hours earlier, how is the news "according to ESPN?" It''s a mystery.