Ben Gordon appeared on the Waddle and Silvy show on ESPN 1000 today, to talk about him becoming a Detroit Piston. Here is a recap of what he had to say.

• He is happy about the situation he’s going into.  Joe Dumars is really focused on winning and his priority is winning a championship.  That’s also Ben’s main goal as a player.
• He first knew he was going to sign with the Pistons right after he met with Dumars.  Dumars exuded winning, and everything he talked about was building a team to win a championship.  Dumars convinced Ben pretty easily to sign, and it was a no brainer to sign with the Pistons.
• The Bulls didn’t pursue him at all, they didn’t even make an offer.  It was pretty much a one team race.
• On whether the Bulls were lying when they said it was a top priority to re-sign him, Ben said that it is what it is.  There was no offer made.  You have to put it together.
• He felt that he always got a lot of love and respect from the fans that really followed the games.  When walking down the street, people always showed him love.
• The fans were real.  If you were messing up, they’d tell you.  If you were doing good, they’d tell you.  Coming from New York, he really appreciated that.
• As far as the organization giving him respect, he really doesn’t know what they thought of him.  But when you go through the negotiations he’s gone through, the writing is kind of on the wall.
• He thought him and Derrick Rose played well together.  He thought their games were pretty different and that they played well off of each other.
• Moving forward with the Pistons, Dumars wanted to create that three guard offense that they had back in the Bad Boys days with Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson.  Ben thinks that Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton, and himself are no Isiah, Dumars, and Microwave, but anytime you have three guards of the caliber the Pistons now have, it’s a tough matchup for other teams.
• He was joking about how cool it would be to have Jim Calhoun come and be the coach, as the Pistons have so many UConn guys.
• It’s not really weird signing with a team without a coach.  In the past, the Pistons have had coaching changes, but were still always winning.  He thinks that it’s about the way the teams are put together and the basketball environment there that is most responsible for the Pistons success.  He thinks that they will obviously end up with a good coach, but thinks it’s about the players that are there, the expectations they put on themselves and the way they perform every night.  He thinks they are going to win regardless of the coach.
• He is not sure whether Vinny will last the entire season as the Bulls coach.  He hopes Vinny does well and can be the coach for the entire season.
• He supported Vinny.  He was understanding that it was Vinny’s first head coaching job, and that Vinny had a lot of room for improvement.  But Vinny showed a willingness to learn and try to get better.  He never had any problems with Vinny and never disliked him.
• He just wants all the fans to know that he genuinely loved them all.  The fans supported him through the ups and downs.  He always loved playing in Chicago.

Similar Posts:

• Ben Gordon on ESPN First Take Recap
• Ben Gordon on Waddle and Silvy (5/4/09)
• Ben Gordon on Waddle and Silvy Recap (June 10th, 2009)
• John Paxson on Waddle and Silvy Recap
• Amare Stoudemire On Waddle and Silvy (May 30th, 2009)

Tags: 2009 free agency, Ben Gordon, Derrick Rose, Detroit Pistons, ESPN 1000, Isiah Thomas, Jim Calhoun, Joe Dumars, Microwave, Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, Vinnie Johnson, Vinny Del Negro, Waddle and Silvy

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