Moderators: Cowology, theBigLip, Snakebites, dVs33
Glen Davis' Future in Boston Uncertain
Though his nickname is “Big Baby,” Glen Davis has a mature outlook on his future.
Davis would prefer to be with the Celtics [team stats] for a third season, but the restricted free agent-to-be understands his return is no slam dunk.
“You always have to keep your options open,” Davis said after the Celtics’ 101-82 Game 7 loss to Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals Sunday. “This is a business first. You just have to go where you have to go.”
J.R. Smith Hyperextends Knee in Game 1
After missing his final free throw and fighting for the rebound, guard J.R. Smith hyperextended his knee. The injury was listed as a right knee sprain, and he will be re-evaluated today.
After the game, Smith said he was "OK."
Said coach George Karl, "I think he's going to be fine."
WWE: Settle Conflict with Steel-Cage Match
World Wrestling Entertainment thrives on outlandish story lines and characters, but the company finds itself embroiled in a real-life controversy with the Denver Nuggets. And WWE's bombastic owner is making the most of it.
The plot: Who has rights to Denver's Pepsi Center on Monday -- the Nuggets, hosting their first Western Conference final since 1985, or the WWE's traveling TV soap opera?
WWE chairman Vince McMahon, the promoter who helped transform professional wrestling into prime-time television entertainment, fired the first salvo Monday. In interviews with ESPN, he loudly called out Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke and challenged him to a steel-cage match. (Is there any other way to resolve a grudge?) "Quite frankly, it's my view that Stan Kroenke should be arrested, should be arrested for impersonating a good businessman, because he's not a good businessman," McMahon said on ESPN.
Big Baby enters next stage
Though his nickname is “Big Baby,” Glen Davis has a mature outlook on his future.
Davis would prefer to be with the Celtics [team stats] for a third season, but the restricted free agent-to-be understands his return is no slam dunk.
Davis showed he is a viable NBA player, while also raising his price tag for potential suitors this offseason.
J.R. hyperextends knee
After missing his final free throw and fighting for the rebound, guard J.R. Smith hyperextended his knee. The injury was listed as a right knee sprain, and he will be re-evaluated today.
After the game, Smith said he was "OK."
Said coach George Karl, "I think he's going to be fine."
Also, Renaldo Balkman sprained his right ankle in pregame workouts. He is questionable for Thursday.
Talking with (future Piston?) Terrence Williams
Terrence Williams, a four-year star out of Louisville, was in town yesterday to work out with the Pistons. Teams work out dozens of players before the draft, and in the past, hearing an update from any one player might merit only a line or two at the bottom of a newspaper article published days later. But these days? You can hear from the man himself simply by checking his latest updates on Twitter, where you can also find his latest iPhone pics, such as this shot of him posing with Joe Dumars at the Pistons practice facility. Williams, who’s probably spent more time in airport terminals the last couple of months than many of us will in years, wasn’t in town for very long, but he made time for a brief phone interview on his way out (and I mean “on his way out” quite literally — he was speaking from outside his airport gate, and our conversation was occasionally interrupted by airport announcements). Familiar bias aside, he’s exactly the type of player I think the Pistons should target — a strong, physical wing capable of getting in the paint, making a few plays for teammates and himself and doing the dirty work on the glass and on defense. If you want a scouting report, check out DraftExpress, NBADraft.net, ESPN or Rivals. If you want to hear his candid thoughts on the travel grind, whether NBA teams should listen to Malcolm Gladwell and press more often and why athletes on Twitter isn’t a fad, keep reading.
Matt Watson: How did the work out go? What did they make you do?
Terrence Williams: You do a lot of shooting – do a couple of shooting drills and then you’re ready to play. It’s not really long – just a short, quick, good workout, do a couple of shooting drills and play against the players, 3-on-3, 2-on-2, 1-on-1.
Matt Watson: I know you’ve been going all over the country so far – how has the travel been? Has it been non-stop?
Terrence Williams: I mean, after awhile you get tired of it, but it’s the work that you have to put in to get your name called on June 25th. It’s cool, you’ve got to get used to it, but it gets tough getting off the plane and go out to dinner and then you’ve got to wake up at nine in the morning to workout for the team. This is my third one, so I’m kind of used to it, but I know some guys who it’s their sixth one or their seventh one. I mean, it’s cool.
Matt Watson: That has to be pretty nerve-wracking. Are you going to be watching the lottery at all? I know you’re about to get on a plane now, are you going to be able to see it?
Terrence Williams: I won’t be able to see it.
Matt Watson: Being in the Big East and everything, you’ve obviously faced a lot of really tough competition. Who would you say would be the toughest player that you faced last year?
Terrence Williams: I don’t have a toughest player that I faced – Connecticut was probably the toughest team, but as far as players, I did my share well in the Big East, so I don’t really feel like there was a tougher opponent in the Big East. I had tough teams that I played against, but not opponents.
Matt Watson: Okay, that’s a nice, competitive answer. Growing up, was there any players that you tried to model yourself after? Any NBA players that you looked up to?
Terrence Williams: Magic Johnson.
Matt Watson: Completely changing subjects here – I noticed you’ve got the Facebook going, you have the Twitter going, I think a lot of younger athletes, they’re coming through college and they’ve already been exposed to a lot of this stuff. A lot of older athletes already in the NBA, it’s something that they’re really new to. Do you see that as the wave of the future? Is that something that you plan on doing as you go throughout your career, having that real close connection with your fans?
Terrence Williams: I probably will have Twitter. I mean, the main thing is to show people that me and everybody else that’s playing basketball in the NBA — or trying to get in the NBA – that we are human, you know? I know, for me, I speak for myself, I know that I’m not untouchable, so I’ve had conversations with fans that’s related to basketball so many times. … When a fan can reach you, I think that makes them stay a fan. When they can get on Twitter and write a question that they really want to know about basketball and you answer it, that will make the guy’s day. I know that if there was some resource where you can write LeBron James – or write Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan back in the day – and they answer it? That’ll make you feel so much more better about your day. And I’m not saying guys – there are some kids that may look up to me like that and some kids that might look up to Dwight Howard like that, or Nate Robinson, so trying to reach that person on Twitter, it just shows that we are human. So I think that people like us have Twitter and I think that we will continue to have Twitter.
Matt Watson: You’re obviously no stranger to YouTube, either. Do you have a favorite YouTube clip of yourself?
Video clip as well in the link above^.Terrence Williams: Nah. It makes a clip because it’s a highlight, so I believe that any clip that’s up there is a good clip because it was a highlight. … I think every clip that’s up there is a good one. I don’t really sit down and watch it, to be honest with you. There is one I’ll watch, with plays from my freshman year to my fourth year, it plays like a sad song. That’s probably my favorite one because it shows my memories throughout the four years.
Matt Watson: There’s been some talk recently among NBA fans, there was a writer who was asking why coaches don’t use the full-court press more often, and he used Rick Pitino as an example of someone who’s had a lot of success with that. Do you think an NBA team could have success in the NBA doing that non-stop energy press?
Terrence Williams: Nah. You only see non-stop energy only in the playoffs. You’re not going to see that in the regular season. Not when you have game 14 and game 26 when they’ve got to play 82 and then the playoffs? Nah. Too many guys in the league are older; too many guys would get hurt trying to play that pressing defense. Pressing defense is for kids. Kids in high school do a lot of things different than kids in college; kids in college as you see do a lot of things different than in the NBA. You can’t try to change the NBA’s style. There’s no problem like it is, that’s what makes it the NBA.
Matt Watson: Alright, fair enough. I think you’re probably right, especially about the length of the season. There’s always been talk about whether the NBA should shorten the season. Where are you headed to next?
Terrence Williams: I’m going to Vegas.
Matt Watson: You’re going to Vegas?
Terrence Williams: Yeah.
Matt Watson: Good stuff. Well, thanks a lot for your time, and good luck. Who knows, maybe we’ll see you in Detroit next year.
Terrence Williams: Alright, I appreciate it.
What could this mean for Stuckey
I know yall heard bout tha Pistons looking at taking Ty Lawson with that 15th pick. What will we do with Bynum and Stuckey if we do take him. I do like him as a Piston but I think we should take a big man. Lawson does have what it takes to be a star player but idk. Let me know what yall think.
Team USA planning for 2010, some '08 stars could return
LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the core of the Olympic basketball champions could be back in USA uniforms next summer for the world championships. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo met with half the team during the NBA All-Star break and said it's a "distinct possibility" that some of the gold medalists will play in Turkey in 2010. During the meeting, which also included Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh, Colangelo said he wanted only a two-year commitment this time, with those years being 2010 and 2012. If the Americans win the world championships, they would automatically qualify for the London games and not have to play in '11. "They said they bought into that, let's do that," Colangelo said. "Now I think it's important, as far as I'm concerned, that's what they indicated then. I think that's really where they are. A lot of things could happen between now and '10, and we just have to play it by ear. I think right now we have the buy-in."
He believes at least some of them will keep that commitment. "Yes, it's a distinct possibility that most of the core players of our Olympic team would represent us in Turkey," Colangelo told The Associated Press. Colangelo added he is giving coach Mike Krzyzewski time to decide if he wants to return and expects to have a coach in place in the fall. New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, a U.S. assistant the last three years, is a leading candidate if Krzyzewski doesn't return. Either way, the Americans plan to be ready for the world championships by holding a mini-camp this summer for 24 young players who could be candidates for the team. Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose, the last two rookies of the year, along with likely No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin from Oklahoma have accepted invitations.
Greg Oden and O.J. Mayo are among the 19 commitments Colangelo has received for the July 22-25 camp in Las Vegas, which will culminate with a blue-white exhibition game. Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano will direct the camp, joined by assistant coaches Dave Cowens of Detroit, Utah's Tyrone Corbin, Kenny Gattison of New Orleans, and Minnesota's Jerry Sichting. The plan is to have a team capable of ending the Americans' run of futility in the world championships. The United States finished third in 2006 and hasn't won gold in the worlds since 1994. Colangelo believes the Americans would show more respect to other countries by taking the event -- bigger to some internationally than the Olympics -- more seriously than they have in the past. "The rest of the world, the basketball world, looks at the world championships differently. In other words, they put a lot of emphasis on it, and it's important to show respect there, also," Colangelo said. "Our showing in the world championships in the last decade has not been very good, and so this is a chance to further show that respect by putting a lot of emphasis into it."
Friends, fans pay final respects to Tisdale at viewing
Karen Morrison drove to the Friendship Baptist Church two hours early, but swore to herself she wasn't going inside. She didn't want her memories shattered. "I want to remember that smile," she said, sobbing. "That smile."
The smile belonged to former Oklahoma basketball star and popular jazz musician Wayman Tisdale, who died in his hometown last week after a long battle with cancer. "My belief is he's resting," said Morrison, who knew Tisdale while she was a junior in high school, "when he was still a nobody."
Morrison was among dozens of mourners who waited outside the small north Tulsa church on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Tisdale, a three-time All-American at Oklahoma who played 12 seasons in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers, the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns.
Stan Van Gundy is putting Courtney Lee back into the starting lineup and J.J. Redick back on the bench. Lee had come off the bench in the last five games of the Boston series after returning from injury, but he's a better on-the-ball defender than Redick and he'll likely defend James at times in this series.
Essentially, the Playoffs start tonight for the Cavs. No offense to the Pistons and Hawks, but this is where we see what Cleveland is really made of.
"This is far from another game," Mo Williams said this morning. "This is the beginning."
What Should We Do
Who should we pick with the 15th overall pick?
NBA Draft: Clippers set to take Griffin
The Clippers are taking Blake Griffin. Yes, everyone knew that already, but this morning assistant general manager Neil Olshey officially let the worst-kept secret on the West Coast out of the bag. We made the decision in June of 2008, Olshey said. That when Blake decided to go back to Oklahoma for his sophomore season. The consensus collegiate player of the year -- he averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds -- is at the top of every team draft board.
œWe saw the same things the other 29 teams in the league see, Olshey said.What they see is a 6-foot-10, 250-pound power forward who physical, has an expanding skill set, can play both ends of the floor and multiple positions along the frontline. That frontline is crowded. Al Thornton, Zach Randolph, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and last year rookie big man DeAndre Jordan already man the 4 and 5 spots. Are there enough minutes to go around or is a trade in the works to free up time for the future No. 1 pick?
Mike Dunleavy is sitting on his flight from Spain going over those scenarios,†Olshey said of the Clippers coach who was overseas scouting probable second pick Ricky Rubio.Obviously, we strengthened a strength last night with getting Blake. Maybe there some adjustments we have to make, but right now we have to catch our breath. Olshey said several players, including Baron Davis and Randolph, texted him last night after the ping-pong balls popped up the Clippers way. They were swept up in Blakemania. The guys follow the game,†Olshey said. “They know how good the guy is.
Stars can be found at 15 – but you have to look hard
Not to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the June 25 draft, but the evidence suggests that teams picking in the middle of the draft are just as likely to wind up with a bust as a decent player – and twice as likely to draft one from either category as they are to pick a future star. The Pistons pick 15th. Just for fun, here’s a list of the other players who’ve gone 15th in this decade: Jason Collier, Steven Hunter, Bostjan Nachbar, Reece Gaines, Al Jefferson, Antoine Wright, Cedric Simmons, Rodney Stuckey and Robin Lopez. Jefferson is the only bona fide big-time player of the bunch right now. And Stuckey certainly has given the Pistons every indication he’s about to enter that category. But Collier and Gaines were busts by anyone’s reckoning and Hunter and Simmons certainly appear to be nothing more than end-of-the-bench filler. Nachbar – assuming he returns from Europe someday – and Wright are decent rotation pieces, nothing more. The jury is still out on Lopez, a rookie last year. That’s the sobering reality of the draft. Take a look at what New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn said in the Newark Star-Ledger in today’s edition: “Here’s how I look at it. In the top 10, there will be three guys who are really good. And two or three guys who are never better than rotation players. Between 10 and 20, there will be two guys who turn out to be very good NBA players. And between 21 and 30, there will be one very good player.” Hmmm. So I went back and looked at every draft since 2000. I stopped evaluating in detail after the 2005 draft because it’s still a little early trying to classify guys drafted since 2006. Can we really say if Andrea Bargnani, the No. 1 pick in 2006, is “really good” or just a rotation player? He’s not really good right now, but he’s shown in flashes that he could be. Same with Tyrus Thomas and Ronnie Brewer. Is J.J. Redick a bust or a rotation piece? I don’t know. Not just yet.
That’s how I divvied them up, into three camps: good players (at least an average starter), rotation players (below average starters or decent bench players) and busts. There is room for argument and I wouldn’t quibble if you moved half a dozen players from each draft up or down a category. But over six drafts, looking at more than 160 players (some drafts had only 28 or 29 first-rounders; and I put asterisks on injured players like Jay Williams and Shaun Livingston or those who chose to stay in Europe like Fran Vazquez), the breakdown is nearly in equal thirds: 56 good players, 55 rotation pieces, 59 busts. I think Thorn undersold how many good players can come out of the top 10. I counted 31 over six drafts, about five each year. But maybe players like Jamal Crawford, Mike Miller and Shane Battier don’t fit his profile of “really good.” I put them in the top category. I counted 16 more solid rotation players taken in the top 10 over those six years – and 11 top-10 busts. But all drafts are not created equal. The 2000 and 2002 drafts were all-time stink bombs. The 2000 first round contributed four good players to the NBA – Kenyon Martin (the No. 1 pick), Mike Miller, Jamal Crawford and Hedo Turkoglu. Joe Dumars took Mateen Cleaves at No. 14 and that selection is often cited as if to indict his drafting record. But Turkoglu was the only good player taken after Cleaves – there were a handful of rotation pieces, including Desmond Mason, Mo Peterson, DeShawn Stevenson and Quentin Richardson. Among the busts taken ahead of Cleaves were Marcus Fizer, DerMarr Johnson, Chris Mihm, Jerome Moiso and Courtney Alexander
The 2002 first round produced six good players – four in the top 10 (Yao Ming, Nene, Amare Stoudemire and Caron Butler), an astounding zero in the second 10 and two in the 20s. One of them was Tayshaun Prince. To be fair, the 2002 draft did produce a pretty good player in the second round, Carlos Boozer. The 2003 draft (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, et al) is often cited as perhaps the best in NBA history and the numbers don’t argue. Seven good players came out of the top 10 and 14 in the first round. (I counted Darko Milicic as a rotation player.) But the 2004 draft was almost as strong – though, aside from Dwight Howard, lacking in superstars – producing six good players in the top 10 and 13 in the first round. Over the six drafts, I counted 12 good players coming out of the middle 10 picks compared to 24 rotation players and 22 busts. Interestingly enough, I counted 13 good players coming from picks 20 – one more than from 11-20 – and not that many more busts, 26-22. Overall, if those six drafts can accurately predict the 2009 draft – expected to more closely resemble the 2000 and ’02 drafts than the 2003 and ’04 drafts – then teams picking outside the top 10 have a 43 percent shot at picking a bust.
Safe Pick
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pistons.com continues its draft series with the first of a dozen profiles of players who figure to be under consideration by the Pistons for their pick at No. 15 in the first round of the June 25 draft. Today’s installment looks at North Carolina junior point guard Ty Lawson.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Ricky Rubio’s name first bubbled up on the Internet a few years ago when, at 16, he began leaving his mark on Spain’s professional league. Any skepticism about his ability to compete at the NBA level evaporated last summer when he held his own against all comers as the point guard for the Spanish national team in the Beijing Olympics. He’ll be long gone by the time the Pistons pick at 15, and chances are so will another teen whose name and game have been well known to NBA scouts for years – Brandon Jennings, who dodged the possibility of academic ineligibility as an Arizona freshman by signing to play professionally in Italy last season. That still leaves a half-dozen or so point guards in play for the Pistons and other teams picking from the mid- to late lottery and through the middle third of the NBA’s first round.
And there is no clear consensus on the pecking order just yet, with the draft still five weeks away. So whatever those players – including Davidson’s sweet-shooting Stephen Curry, North Carolina’s heady Ty Lawson, Syracuse’s tough Jonny Flynn, UCLA’s gifted Jrue Holiday, Wake Forest’s explosive Jeff Teague and Virginia Commonwealth’s battle-tested Eric Maynor – can do to separate themselves between now and June 25 could be the difference in a dozen draft slots and a few million dollars over the life of their rookie contracts. Lawson might be the surest bet of the bunch to have a long and productive NBA career, at least if a resume of college success counts for much. Lawson contemplated leaving North Carolina after his sophomore year, came back and had not only his best statistical season – 16.6 points, 6.6 assists against just 1.9 turnovers, shooting .532 overall and .470 from the 3-point arc – but answered a lot of questions about his ability to lead a team. And Lawson was at his best in Carolina’s biggest games. In Carolina’s early-season rout of Michigan State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, he had 17 points and eight assists with no turnovers. In the second round of the NCAA tournament – the only March Madness game where Carolina wasn’t in complete control throughout – Lawson, after missing the previous four games with a toe injury, rescued the Tar Heels with 23 points, six assists and no turnovers.
For the tournament, he averaged 20.8 and 6.8 and committed only seven turnovers total, four of them in the national semifinal romp over Villanova. In the title game against Michigan State, Lawson’s seven first-half steals set the defensive tone. Lawson has played with more NBA-level talent at Carolina than any other point guard. NBA scouts can weigh that both ways. While he hasn’t had to carry a team and likely benefited from not having to face the constant double teams that players like Curry and Maynor did, he is practiced at the subtleties of knowing how to share ball distribution among equally gifted players and played consistently tough teams in Carolina’s loaded national and ACC schedule. While Lawson might have the lowest ceiling of anyone in the six-player group of point guards after Rubio and Jennings, he’s even more certain to have a higher floor. Translation: While Lawson might be least likely to play in an All-Star game, he’s also least likely to be viewed as a bust two or three seasons from now.
Selling points: Nobody has proven his ability to run a team like Lawson has. … Scouts compare his game to his UNC predecessor, Raymond Felton, who had a solid third season for the Charlotte Bobcats. … The assists-to-turnover ratio is encouraging. He’s displayed good floor vision but doesn’t attempt the improbable pass. … An instinctive defender who puts excellent pressure on the ball. … Outstanding in transition, an area the Pistons could use some help. … Goes left and right equally well.
Buyer beware: Lawson is listed at 5-foot-11, which means he’s probably an inch or two shorter. The Pistons already have a smallish point guard in Will Bynum. … The toe injury that limited Lawson late in Carolina’s season could be a red flag for some teams. He also was dogged throughout his sophomore year by a high ankle sprain. … Though his shooting numbers were good, this season especially, scouts wonder about his ability to score at the NBA level. He hasn’t shown a mid-range game – mainly because, like most elite college point guards, he’s been able to get into the paint with relative ease.
Langlois: Ty Lawson a safe pick for Pistons
Keith Langlois, from the Detroit Pistons official site, kicks off his draft preview series with North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson. Many people in the state of Michigan are already familiar with Lawson after he played a key role in leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA championship at Ford Field this April. Lawson, is a lightning-quick guard who has a knack for making good decisions.
While Lawson might have the lowest ceiling of anyone in the six-player group of point guards after Rubio and Jennings, he's even more certain to have a higher floor. Translation: While Lawson might be least likely to play in an All-Star game, he's also least likely to be viewed as a bust two or three seasons from now.
Selling points: Nobody has proven his ability to run a team like Lawson has. ... Scouts compare his game to his UNC predecessor, Raymond Felton, who had a solid third season for the Charlotte Bobcats. ... The assists-to-turnover ratio is encouraging. He's displayed good floor vision but doesn't attempt the improbable pass. ... An instinctive defender who puts excellent pressure on the ball. ... Outstanding in transition, an area the Pistons could use some help. ... Goes left and right equally well.
Buyer beware: Lawson is listed at 5-foot-11, which means he's probably an inch or two shorter. The Pistons already have a smallish point guard in Will Bynum. ... The toe injury that limited Lawson late in Carolina's season could be a red flag for some teams. He also was dogged throughout his sophomore year by a high ankle sprain. ... Though his shooting numbers were good, this season especially, scouts wonder about his ability to score at the NBA level. He hasn't shown a mid-range game - mainly because, like most elite college point guards, he's been able to get into the paint with relative ease.
The comparisons to Will Bynum are sound, considering Lawson's speed and defensive prowess, but Lawson is much better at utilizing his teammates in the half-court set. Drafting Lawson would also likely signify the end of the Pistons' plan to develop Rodney Stuckey as the long-term answer at point guard.