http://0rz.tw/482OO Chris McCosky: Around the NBA Pistons owner Davidson faces some taxing decisions AUBURN HILLS -- It's probably as good a time as any to clear up a popular misconception. Pistons owner Bill Davidson never has declared publicly that he flat-out refused to ever pay the luxury tax. He doesn't want to pay it, obviously. He no doubt has instructed president Joe Dumars to avoid it, if at all possible. But Davidson also knows there is a price to pay for continued success. You don't win 50-plus games and advance to the Eastern Conference finals five straight years without having to expand the payroll. Davidson understands that. To criticize him for being too cheap to pay the luxury tax is premature and presumptuous, if not just wrong. Paying the tax has not been an issue until this summer. The Pistons, because of Dumars' uncanny ability to tap unproven (and thus inexpensive) talent, have managed to keep their payroll in the middle of the NBA pack during this five-year run. But in the last couple of years, they have had to shell out sizeable contracts to Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, and now they will have to pony up to keep Chauncey Billups. They also want to sign another free agent to a mid-level contract, which this year could start as high as $6 million, and re-sign promising young forward Amir Johnson. They are knocking on the luxury-tax door. The Pistons presently are on the books for roughly $53 million in salaries for next season. That includes the two first-round draft picks, but not Billups, Chris Webber or Alex Acker. The luxury-tax threshold last season was $65.4 million. It is expected to increase slightly this summer, but for the sake of this illustration, let's leave it at $65 million. If the Pistons were to sign Billups to a deal starting at $13 million (which is in the ballpark), that alone puts them over the threshold. So, if they were to sign Johnson for, say, $3 million on top of that, that contract would in effect cost them $6 million. The luxury tax is one dollar for every dollar over the threshold. You can see where this might get sticky. The Pistons might get lucky and be able to divide their mid-level exception between Johnson and a free agent (say Grant Hill, whom the Pistons covet). If they can bring those two players back for $6 million, Davidson might not balk at having to pay the tax on that. But, if signing Billups and Hill takes them right to the threshold, and Johnson gets a $6 million offer from another team, that could be a tougher sell. That would in effect be a $12 million contract for an unproven 20-year-old. It’s easy for us to say, "What's another $12 million to a billionaire like Mr. D?" But he didn't get to be a billionaire by being imprudent. Who's at center? The answer to that right now is -- well, Nazr Mohammed. Although there is still a good chance Mohammed will be traded, he is the only center on the roster at present, and may well be the fall-back plan when everything shakes out. Webber, by all accounts, won't be returning to the Pistons. Nor will Dale Davis. Both are unrestricted free agents. So, right now, there seems to be a hole in the middle and not many obvious prospects to fill it. The Pistons certainly aren't likely to find their next center on the free-agent market. Here are the names -- Darko Milicic, Mikki Moore, Frabricio Oberto, Jamaal Magloire, Chris Mihm, Calvin Booth. Anybody jump out at you (save the Darko jokes)? Didn't think so. Most likely, the Pistons will have to trade for their next center. Washington is shopping either Etan Thomas or Brendan Haywood, but neither would provide a significant upgrade. The Nuggets were trying to move either Nene or Marcus Camby at various times, but they aren't likely to take on a package of Pistons outcasts. This is going to be a tough fix. There are no easy or obvious answers. This might be a good time to remind everyone that the Pistons were 16-6 at one point last season with Mohammed starting alongside Rasheed Wallace. They began to plummet when Wallace got hurt and Antonio McDyess slumped. Nobody wants to hear this, but Mohammed may end up being the Pistons' best option. So long, Will Will Blalock, we hardly knew you. If the Pistons drafting three guards last Thursday wasn't a clear indication that Will Blalock's days were numbered, then Arron Afflalo showing up wearing Blalock's jersey No. 8 certainly was. The Pistons did not pick up their option on Blalock, leaving the point guard free to latch on with another team either here or abroad. Most likely, Blalock is going to have to battle his way back through the European circuit. He has to prove to NBA teams that he can stick an open 15-foot jump shot. The way the backcourt depth chart looks now, Billups and Rodney Stuckey are the point guards, Richard Hamilton and Afflalo are the shooting guards. Lindsey Hunter is expected to see limited duty as a backup to both positions, and Flip Murray is expected to be shipped out. The Pistons could also bring in Acker, their former draft pick who played last season in Greece. --

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