Two of Pistons president Joe Dumars' top free agent choices flew to Detroit this morning and are already negotiating contracts, according to an online report.

July 1, Yahoo! Sports: Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon and Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva flew to Detroit on Wednesday morning for a mid-day meeting with team president Joe Dumars and indications are both are moving rapidly toward deals with the Detroit Pistons , league and sources close to the two players told Yahoo! Sports.

Getting the contracts worked out and receiving verbal commitments would be a great first step for Joe Dumars in rebuilding the Detroit Pistons . Then he can start to concentrate on the second part of his plan, making trades to shore up the frontcourt. Stay tuned...

YOUR COMMENTS

From Retnep: How about making the second part of his plan to be 'Getting a coach'. Maybe that should be the first part as different coaches use different players in different systems.

From 13ballack: these 2 guys arnt the stars that we r hopin for but they make gordon is definetly a difference maker and charlie v is a very good complemntery peice, he is also just younf enough to grow in to a difference maker or even potentially a star if we sign gordon then we definetly will use rip as trade bait for a power forward like bosh amare

if we can sign these godon and charlie v and also trade for 1 of these other two guys with the great possability of rodney stuckey bein a much better player next year then we could definetly be lookin at anthor piston playoff run

From BigDSports: This is a great first step. Getting your 2 FA nailed down this quickly would allow for you to pick and choose from what players are on the trade block.

Next order of business is finding a good defensive minded big man to play along side CV. RIP or Tay should get that done.

From crazylion: Both of these guys can score, but BOTH don't play defense!!! Are we going to turn ourselves into the Phoenix Suns pre 2008. Run and gun, score points, but no defense. Better not hire Avery Johnson if that is the case unless the plan is to get him to MAKE these guys play defense.

From vonkers: Charlie V does lack some quickness, but posesses more of a SF skill set than a PF skill set. He's a defensive liability either way though.

Hedo Turkoglu Detroit Pistons first option

Posted by Dave Dial, July 1

With NBA free agency starting today, the Detroit Pistons are interested in pursuing Orlando Magic point-forward Hedo Turkoglu as their first option, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times.

July 1, Chicago Sun-Times: With Boozer out of the picture, the NBA source said small forward Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic is now the Pistons' first choice. Detroit can free up about $18 million in salary-cap room, and probably would have to overpay Turkoglu to get him to leave a contending team for a rebuilding team.

If the Pistons can't sign Turkoglu, they would turn their attention to Gordon, who is the second-best scorer in this year's class behind Turkoglu. Exactly how Detroit's firing of coach Mike Curry on Tuesday will affect its pursuit of free agents - or the free agents' perception of the Pistons - remains to be seen.

This year, the only teams besides the Pistons that can free up significant cap room are the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings. Neither is expected to make a significant push for Gordon, so his only hope for getting the contract he seeks may be a battle between the Bulls and Pistons .

It might be hard to believe that Joe's top target is Hedo Turkoglu, considering Hedo is 30 years old and said to be demanding $10 million a year contract for five seasons. But Turkoglu is a 6'10 forward that can play multiple positions, bring the ball up the court and puts up pretty good numbers.

Hedo scored almost 17 points per game last season, while grabbing 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Although last year was not his best season, in 2008 Turkoglu put up 19.5 ppg, 5.0 apg and 5.7 rpg while shooting 40% from the 3-point line.

Whether he's Joe's first option or not, I'm not sure. It seems more likely Joe is targeting Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Stay tuned...

YOUR COMMENTS

From Louiethefan: Am I missing something here????

The Pistons are in desperate need of Big Men. Centers and Power forwards. They don't need guards and they don't need small forwards after just drafting three for pete's sake.