Top 50: Ben Gordon, no. 47

by Eric Woodyard The off-season of the National Basketball Association is like a game of chess! Organizations gain great delectation from competitively moving the right pieces to improve their chances of winning… or as Ving Rhames called it in the movie Baby Boy, deciphering the “guns” from the “butter.” Now what are the “guns?” The guns are the things that appreciate with value! What’s “butter?” All that other stuff that doesn’t mean anything after you buy it. That’s what it’s about! Detroit Pistons Manager, Joe Dumars is no different, he goes through the same process. Dumars’ greatest challenge now is to reconstruct a winning franchise from the ground up. Last season, Dumars went after an AK-47 in Allen Iverson but in the end it turned out to be nothing but regular Blue Bonnet, melting as the season progressed. This season, he hopes Ben Gordon can be that selective rifle. Pulling the trigger and lighting up the opposition with pinpoint shots just as he did in the Chi Town. Why wou...