I wanna know, is anyone not surprised by this? I think we could poll the entire basketball nation, and perhaps 90 percent of you would’ve said “Yeah, Tayshaun is gone” at the start of free agency talks. But Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Tayshaun Prince will re-sign with the Pistons for four year and $27 million-plus. Um… excuse me? Detroit became such a basketball wasteland in the past two seasons that pretty much everyone assumed mass changes were in order. This is certainly a step in a different direction.
Of course, Prince wasn’t getting more money anywhere else, and there is the fact that Detroit hired a new coach this summer in Lawrence Frank. That pleases everyone, especially the veterans. Ben Gordon for one, texted me earlier this summer and said he was very excited to start over. So in a way, I guess the organization is starting over, and that begins from the top. As Yahoo! Sports reported, Frank, the new owner Tom Gores and a longstanding relationship with GM Joe Dumars brought Prince back again.
So how does this affect Detroit? Prince will continue to do what he’s always done for them. But at nearly 32 years old, how much longer can he keep this up? Detroit certainly thinks he can for at least four more years, and they made this their No. 1 priority to bring him back. Will it get them to the playoffs? No way. But I think Prince still has a little left in the tank, and some unfinished business in Detroit.
Is this a good move for both parties?
Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
