AP photo

So far this NBA offseason and season, the Detroit Pistons have drafted a new point guard of the future, waived a shooting guard of their past, re-signed a small forward who coined buffoonery, lost an athletic, no defense power forward to the Boston Celtics, re-signed another, younger small forward they think will end up being a power forward, signed another, older small forward to what seems to be an unguaranteed contract, re-signed their starting point guard who might end up being a starting or backup shooting guard, and shown interest in free agent wing players. What’s missing from all that action? A big man. A real big man.

And while they might resemble the size of trees, they certainly don’t grow on them. It’s the one commodity every NBA team wants and could never have enough of. The Pistons have a solid piece for perhaps the next 10 years in second-year player Greg Monroe. The big man from Georgetown showed a lot in his rookie year last season, but the one thing he didn’t show was a lot of brute strength, a true back-to-the-basket game, or ability to get up and block shots. That’s OK. Just because he isn’t the next Shaq, doesn’t mean he won’t be the next Al Horford. But it does mean that the Pistons need to find a player that complements him well.

And by all accounts the Pistons have been searching for just that. But they didn’t find it in the draft. And it’s nearly impossible to trade for it unless you’re willing to give up a player like Monroe. With only their full mid level exception available, they weren’t in contention for Nene, David West or probably even Kris Humphries. Sure it’s more likely to be on the level of signing Damien Wilkins, but that doesn’t mean the player won’t add value to a team desperately seeking size.

After the jump, a look at free agents Samuel Dalembert, Kris Humphries and more!

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Detroit Pistons shooting guard Ben Gordon. Photo used under Creative Commons from Flickr user Deepak Popli.

Detroit Piston Ben Gordon is one of four plaintiff’s in the antitrust lawsuit filed against the NBA on Tuesday, and former Piston Chauncey Billups is a plaintiff in a similar filing in California, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Joining Gordon in the lawsuit filed in Minneapolis is Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver, recent draft pick Derrick Williams, also of the Timberwolves, and free agent Caron Butler. Joining Billups in the California filing is his New York Knicks teammate Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, first-round pick Kawhi Leonard and free agent Leon Powe.

It’s interesting that each group contains 1. Well-paid player(s) 2. A recent draft pick and 3. A free agent. While Ben Gordon is not at the superstar level of Durant or Anthony, he is a pretty good encapsulation of what the players stand to lose if they were to agree to the deal put in front of them by the owners. Gordon was signed as a free agent two years ago, but the league’s latest offer would have greatly restricted the mobility of players such as Gordon and he would have been paid considerably less.

Of course, as Pistons fans can attest two, the past two years of Gordon’s career might be a case in favor of the owners and their need to be protected from their own penchant for overspending. And I say that as an avowed Ben Gordon fan. Hopefully, we can get back to basketball soon and he can put up the numbers in a real offense that he did in his last years in Chicago.