<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Pistons have secured the services of starting shooting guard and leading scorer Richard Hamilton for the next seven seasons. Hamilton and the Pistons agreed on the terms of a seven-year, $63 million contract Thursday. "It is not signed yet, but it is done," said Leon Rose, Hamilton's agent. "Other teams were interested in him, but Detroit wanted him back and they put their best foot forward. Richard is thrilled. He wanted to be back in Detroit." Hamilton, 25, entering his fifth NBA season, was a restricted free agent. Last season, he averaged 19.7 points in the regular season and 22.5 in the playoffs. "We think Rip is one of the league's young bright stars with a great future," Pistons President Joe Dumars said. "We wanted to lock him up so we can continue to build on our success here." Hamilton will earn $6.5 million next season, making him the highest-paid player on the Pistons. But he is still moderately priced relative to starting shooting guards in the league. He will make the same as Sacramento's Doug Christie, but less than Washington's Jerry Stackhouse ($6.9 million), for whom he was traded last summer, and Portland's Derek Anderson ($7.5 million). And he will make far less than the likes of Allan Houston ($14.3 million), Kobe Bryant ($12.5 million), Allen Iverson ($12.5 million), Michael Finley ($12 million), Latrell Sprewell ($11.9 million), Eddie Jones (11.2 million), Tim Thomas ($11 million) and Paul Pierce ($11 million). Hamilton, who for the past two seasons has been on the verge of earning an All-Star spot, should thrive in new coach Larry Brown's system. "If you watched how Iverson played in Larry's system, it was not unlike how Rip plays," Dumars said. "Both fly around the court, shooting the ball coming off screens." Hamilton is expected to sign the contract within the next couple of days. </div> Good to have rip locked up for 7 years...got more money than i expected but i'm cool with it..he is a 20 point scorer in only 32 minutes a game...he was huge in the playoffs
yeah he did get more money than i expected, before it was rumoured a 6 year 34 mil contract, anyway hes a good player, good thing they have him locked.
Hamilton is worth the money. Pistons got a lot for their money last season considering his salary wasn't much. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting sunsfan1357:</div><div class="quote_post">Timmy D and Rip were the two players that were basically guaranteed not to go anywhere.</div> ^very true.
