This story is a few days old, catching up on old business
Yahoo Sports reports
Chris Wilcox agreed to a a two-year, $6 million contract with the Detroit Pistons, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday.
Defense
I’m not a fan of this signing. This is the third poor defender Joe Dumars has signed this summer, and that troubles me.
A Chris Wilcox-Charlie Villanueva combination would be one of the worst, if not the worst, defensive tandems in the league on the interior. That’s a major problem for Detroit.
Wilcox’s Strengths
Chris Wilcox is a very good complementary offensive player. He plays off other players well, scoring at a good rate — 15 points per 36 minutes for his career — and very efficiently with a true shooting mark of 56%. When Wilcox is asked to be a go-to scorer, he can provide some offense but isn’t prolific or reliable enough to be much more than a 15 point guy as the Seattle Supersonics found out.
Wilcox is also a good rebounder averaging a board every four minutes for his career.
$3 million
Three million is a good price for Wilcox … but considering the Pistons weaknesses on the interior, I just don’t like his addtion.
Big Men
Detroit is going to be relying on Jason Maxiell (their best big for my money), Charlie Villanueva, Kwame Brown and Chris Wilcox for their big man minutes next season. That’s an unimposing group of players.
Conclusion
I would have preferred Detroit just signed someone for one year, than signing Wilcox. I also would have preferred they kept Afflalo than sign Wilcox.
It’s a decent signing because he’s a good get at the price, but an underwhelming move to conclude a disappointing summer’s work from Joe Dumars.
Update: Marc Stein is reporting that Chris Wilcox has a player option on his second season. So if Wilcox has a good season, he’ll opt out and make more money in the free agent market … and if he has a bad season, Detroit is stuck paying him. Bad situation for Detroit.
