The replacement referees caused confusion in the first quarter of the Pistons’ 113-104 preseason win over the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night. Ersan Ilyasova was fouled while shooting a jumper and awarded two free throws. During the next timeout, more than 90 seconds later, the officials decided he had been taking a 3-pointer, and gave him another shot.He made it, but Prince pointed out that the error was only correctable within 24 seconds, so the point was taken away from Milwaukee.”I told him that they couldn’t change it after five minutes or whatever it was, and he said ‘yeah, you’re right,’” Prince said. “Then I had to remind him to tell the scorer’s table to take it back off the board.” (ESPN)

I think it’s a little much the way this has been blown out of proportion. There’s a reason the word replacement falls in front of their titles. Plus, this is preseason. It must’ve been quite a slow news day for this to make it to the #4 spot in ESPN’s top NBA headlines.

Back to the game:

•I loooove seeing all those 20′s in the Points column and a W to go with them. Stuckey, Gordon, and Bynum combined to score 60% of Detroit’s points (while all shooting over 50% FG). 23-26 at the line. From all the horrid memories the phrase “small ball” brings back from last year, seeing that score makes me a bit more optimistic.

•I can only hope that Kwame Brown’s effectiveness translates into the regular season. If he keeps this up, he should pan out to be a solid 10&10 player, which is far from what he was last year. It almost seems like he has motivation for once, for whatever reason that is (Big Ben?). But then again, Chucky V hasn’t played yet.

•Ben Gordon has disgusting hops.

•20 turnovers – not so good. But it’s early and it could be worse.

•Austin Daye is like a skinny Tyson Chandler. Interpret that how you will.

•Not enough Jerebko or Summers. This is preseason basketball, rooks should be playing more than eight minutes.

•Big Ben didn’t put up quite the same numbers he did Monday, but they weren’t really that far off par from what I would expect.

It’s a good thing this happened after the Gordon signing, because this move give Joe Dumars a smidgen if his reputability back. I have always liked Villanueva and believe he is grossly underrated. $7 million a season is fair for Chuck’s talent level and will be a bargain when he continues to improve. Really, the guy’s a potential all-star.

But Ben Gordon, not so much. And yet his contract entails $20 million more over the 5 years. I’m confused at Dumars’ logic…and that’s saying it politely.

Yahoo Sports:

Gordon will receive a five-year contract worth around $55 million while Villanueva’s five-year deal is expected to be worth about $35 million.

Gordon and Villanueva, who played together for a year at UConn, traveled to Detroit on Wednesday morning to meet with Detroit president Joe Dumars and other Pistons front-office officials. They took a tour of the practice facility in Auburn Hills, had lunch with management and both ultimately came to terms on an agreement. Gordon agreed first and Villanueva followed soon after.

From Yahoo! Sports:

The Detroit Pistons have reached agreement with free-agent guard Ben Gordon(notes) on a five-year contract worth around $55 million, a source with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday evening.

The Pistons are continuing to negotiate with forward Charlie Villanueva(notes).

July 8 is the first day free agents can sign contracts.

Gordon and Villanueva, who played together for a year at UConn, traveled to Detroit on Wednesday morning to meet with Detroit president Joe Dumars.