'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 54

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http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

Biggest Surprise: Ben Wallace is going to have a good season. Hopefully the fact that the non-Kwame/Ben frontcourt players are soft doesn't cause coach John Kuester to overuse them, but put Ben down for 20-25 minutes a game, averaging 7 or 8 boards and 2 blocks.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

MVP: Ben Gordon is going to be better than advertised. Is he a bit one-dimensional? Maybe. But he was brought here to score points, and the Pistons have not had a guard capable of lighting it up the way Gordon can since Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars were in the backcourt (sorry Jerry Stackhouse, you don't count). If a trade frees up more minutes for Gordon, he's capable of averaging 25 a game.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

Projection: I've never claimed I wasn't a homer. I'm looking for the Pistons to win 44-46 games and win a playoff series.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

Eastern Playoff Teams:
1. Boston: It's all about KG's knee, but for being a team full of ego-maniacs, it's remarkable how their superstars sacrifice stats to win. Watch the Rondo contract situation though ... contract situations always end badly.
2. Orlando: Vince Carter was born to be a second or third option. This is the perfect fit for him.
3. Cleveland: LeBron James, the slowest frontcourt in the league (Z/Shaq/Varejao), two combo guards (Mo Williams/Delonte) and two former Toronto Raptors (Moon/Parker). Not great. LeBron's good for 50 wins by himself though.
4. Detroit: Love their offense. It's weird to say this, but their playoff hopes depend on Ben Wallace and Kwame Brown staying healthy. Yikes.
5. Philadelphia: I like this team a lot. Elton Brand coming back healthy could knock them into the conversation with the top three in the East.
6. Washington: They will probably actually be higher, but I'm just dreaming of another Cleveland-Washington playoff series. They are the craziest.
7. Chicago: I think Vinny Del Negro might actually be a worse coach than Michael Curry. Unlike Curry last year, though, Del Negro had a young, versatile roster that was a matchup nightmare for the older, slower Celtics.
8. Atlanta: They could be much higher or much lower. This is another pick strictly to see a playoff rematch. ZaZa going hard at KG, Paul Pierce making gang signs at Al Horford ... it's too good.

Western Conference Playoff Teams:
1. Denver: This is the year of Melo. Unless George Karl messes it up. Just make Chauncey player-coach.
2. LA Lakers: Kobe Bryant ... ugh. This team is just too good, though, to punish because of my anti-Kobe feelings. Pau Gasol was their most important player, Lamar Odom is perennially underrated and if Andrew Bynum's knees ever cooperate, he'll be the best young center in the league. Plus, I love me some Shannon Brown.
3. San Antonio: I actually think they're the best team in the West, but they always coast a bit in the regular season.
4. Portland: This is another team that could be better or could be much worse. Brandon Roy is the truth. But Nate McMillan insists on doing things like starting Steve Blake over Andre Miller, so I dunno ... fourth seed sounds about right.
5. New Orleans: They ripped off the Bobcats in the Okafor/Chandler trade and Mo Pete is healthy. Similar to LeBron, Chris Paul is good for 50 wins even if his supporting cast could be better.
6. Utah: They should be better than they are, but talent-wise, they are a playoff team. The Carlos Boozer contract situation could be a distraction ... there will be trade rumors all season.
7. Dallas: I'm not a big fan of the roster ... Shawn Marion has been a different player out of that Phoenix offense. But Rick Carlisle is a great coach.
8. Houston: The stats-guy in me will always support Daryl Morey. Trevor Ariza is going to be really good. And I think they possibly will do something with Tracy McGrady's expiring deal.

ECF: Boston vs. Orlando
WCF: Denver vs. San Antonio
Finals: Denver vs. Boston
Champs: Denver

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

Season MVP: Should be Chris Paul. My hunch says it's going to be Kobe. Why? Because sports writers vote for it. And sports writers are not that bright.
Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans. He's good and he'll get minutes in Sacramento.
Most Improved: Trevor Ariza. He was good in LA last year. He'll put up big numbers with an increased role in Houston.
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard. He's going to be winning these for a while ... no one impacts a game on defense like him.
Coach of the Year: John Kuester. Come on ... I have the Pistons as the fourth seed. Let's be honest, if that happens, with this roster, Kuester has this in the bag. Rick Carlisle part two.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... s_aro.html

PistonPowered: Is Rip Hamilton on the verge of being traded? Things are looking a bit strange right now ...

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http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... s_aro.html

Dime: NBA League Pass is giving a free preview for the next week.

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http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... s_aro.html

flickr: A neat collection of the court designs for every NBA team.

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http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... s_aro.html

SLAM: A look at all of the international players on NBA rosters. There's more than I realized.

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http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... eless.html

Detroit Bad Boys: Kwame Brown on his hand injury:

“Maybe I’ll fumble a few passes here and there, but I do that anyway,” he said with a smile.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... s_aro.html

SLAM again: A look back at the Pistons' championship cover.

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http://www.971theticket.com/pages/3824327.php

Pistons pay a visit to Grizzlies at FedEx Forum
The Pistons open the NBA regular season tonight against the perpetually rebuilding Grizzlies at Memphis. Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commerical Appeal writes that Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley is hoping for a breakthrough year: “As the Grizzlies open their ninth Memphis season tonight against the Detroit Pistons in FedExForum, the owner’s stamp is on the team.

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Rip Hamilton, Allen Iverson agree: Curry caused Pistons' problems
Memphis Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson says his time in Detroit would have been more pleasant had John Kuester been the coach instead of Michael Curry.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/games/20091028/DETMEM/preview.html

Pistons-Grizzlies Preview
In another move to free up salary-cap space, Detroit let go off aging forward Rasheed Wallace, leaving Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and recently re-acquired Ben Wallace remaining from the 2003-04 championship team. Hoping to improve on the offensive end after ranking near the bottom of the league with 94.2 points per game, the Pistons signed young scorers Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva - reunited after leading Connecticut to the 2004 NCAA title. Gordon, 26, averaged 20.7 points last season to lead Chicago in scoring for the fourth straight year, and 24.3 during an exciting seven-game, first-round playoff series against Boston. The 25-year-old Villanueva, who joins his third team in five seasons, averaged a career-high 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for Milwaukee in 2008-09.

They join a young nucleus that includes 23-year-old guard Rodney Stuckey (13.4 ppg, 4.9 apg) and 6-foot-11 first-round pick Austin Daye, who averaged 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds for Gonzaga last season. Though the 31-year-old Hamilton spent a portion of last season coming off the bench, he averaged a team-leading 18.3 points. "They're making a lot of changes,'' said Gordon, who signed a $55 million, five-year contract and has averaged 19.3 points in 10 games versus Memphis. "They still have a few pieces from the championship team, but there's definitely some new blood and we're hungry.''

Iverson, when healthy, could help if he remains content playing behind point guard Mike Conley (10.9 ppg, 4.3 apg). The Grizzlies also traded for forward Zach Randolph, who proved to be a distraction at times during previous stops with the Clippers, New York and Portland. Randolph averaged 20.8 points and 10.1 boards last season, which he split between New York and Los Angeles. He'll join a starting lineup that features returning leading scorer Rudy Gay (18.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and rookie of the year runner-up O.J. Mayo (18.5 ppg). With that experience and 7-foot-3 first-round pick Hasheem Thabeet, the Grizzlies feel they have a team that can be a playoff contender.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... -1-detroit

Regular Season Game 1: Detroit Pistons @ Memphis Grizzlies [Game Thread]
Detroit Pistons at Memphis Grizzlies, Oct 28, 2009 7:00 PM CDT
2009-2010 Regular Season
Game #1
@
0-0 (0-0 away)
0-0 (0-0 home)
Fedex Forum
Grizzlies Blog: Straight Outta Vancouver
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Probable starters:
Rodney Stuckey PG Mike Conley
Richard Hamilton SG O.J. Mayo
Tayshaun Prince SF Rudy Gay
Charlie Villanueva PF Zach Randolph
Ben Wallace C Marc Gasol

Following the longest offseason since 2002 for the Pistons, it's finally time for the new regular season. With new coaches, players, and attitude, Detroit is officially turning over a new leaf tonight vs. the Memphis Grizzlies, marking the start of the 2009-2010 NBA regular season. New head coach, John Kuester announced his (first) starting lineup of the season earlier this morning. It will consist of Stuckey, Hamilton, Prince, Villanueva, and Ben Wallace (as you can see above). Kwame Brown, who was favored to start earlier this preseason, has been battling a hand injury, but should be good to go off the bench. A lot has been said about Richard Hamilton missing practice yesterday. It even led one Pistons blogger, Dan Feldman, to wonder if the Pistons were on the verge of trading him. While I didn't think that was the case, that's a valid question considering Hamilton is surely the largest trade bait on the team and often times, when a guy is about to be traded, they are mysteriously absent from practice leading up to it. Throw in the fact that the Pistons waived Deron Washington to open up a roster spot (and to the dismay of many fans) and the coincidental timing of Hamilton's anti-Curry comments, it all seems plausible. However, John Kuester insisted that it was a personal problem with Hamilton and he was in Memphis well before the shootaround this morning. With Hamilton in the starting lineup, that leaves their biggest free agent signee, Ben Gordon seeing significant time off the bench as Detroit's sixth man. Will Bynum will also see his fair share in Kuester's three guard sets.

The Grizzlies will be without Allen Iverson (shucks), but he wasn't afraid to reiterate some things about his time in Detroit. While I still adamantly believe Iverson was more of a team burden than anything else, I am comfortable admitting Curry may have been a bigger problem than I originally thought. As for the game itself, Detroit can look back about a week and a half ago to know what not to do in this one. In Detroit's preseason game vs. the Grizzlies on October 17, they allowed Memphis to jump out to a 22-point first quarter lead (how do you let that happen?) and the Griz never looked back. Detroit wound up losing that game by 21-points. If Detroit can prevent the Grizzlies from shooting above 50% and shoot a decent percentage themselves, they should be alright. They matched virtually every team they played in rebounding during the preseason, but it was contesting shots (mainly around the perimeter) that posed as the real major problem. Team defense will improve as the season endures, but it all starts tonight. Not many people are giving Detroit any credit for the roster overhaul over the offseason, or any chance to be a force in the Eastern Conference. In fact, many people believe Detroit will somehow be worse this season and miss out on the playoffs. Charlie Villanueva said it best last night in a few of his tweets on Twitter: Don't sleep on Detroit, because this team is going to be a surprise in the East. Sit back and relax -- it's going to be a fun ride. Welcome to the new season and go Pistons!

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... s-road-out

Deron paves way for Rip's road out?
PistonPowered is reporting that the release of Deron Washington may clear the way for multiple players to come back in a deal that would send out Rip Hamilton. RotoWorld picked up on this, and there's been some speculation on it here and there.

Would anyone really be all that surprised? The Pistons could use a young big man that they could develop, and it would free up Ben Gordon to start at SG, and more importantly I believe, allow Will Bynum to get a more prominent role.

[nasty daddy]

http://wdfn.com/pages/DETROITPISTONS.html

Allen Iverson speaks out ... again
Former Detroit Piston Allen Iverson (hamstring) won't play in tonight's game against his former team. Not to worry, people.
A.I. had plenty to say about both his former club and his new one which, as you can imagine, he believes will include a starting five with him in it once he's healthy.
(On the perceived rift between you and Richard Hamilton)
AI: "I didn't hear that one, out of all the rumors I heard. That's something new to me. I have a great relationship with him, and nothing changed in my time in Detroit. It wasn't Rip's fault. He didn't have anything to do with any of the decisions made around there."
(On the issues he had with Joe Dumars and Michael Curry)
"I didn't have any issues with Joe. My problem was with being told something and it wasn't that way. It didn't turn out the way Michael Curry told me it was going to be. It didn't have anything to do with Joe."

(On whether things might have been different if John Kuester, a former Philly assistant when Iverson played for the Sixers, would have been the head coach)
AI: "It would have been 100 percent different, a 100 percent better. I would have known, basically what I was getting myself into. I wouldn't have been shocked about anything. I'm pretty sure Kue would have been straight forward with me about how things would have been. It would have ended up that way."
(Are you willing to accept coming off the bench here in Memphis?)
"Nah, I won't accept it. Bench came into the play when I came to Detroit. You never heard about Allen Iverson coming off the bench ever in my whole career. It was never something people even thought in their head until I came to Detroit. Now it's the big topic. I'd be crazy to just out of my mouth say, 'I'd be comfortable with being a guy coming off the bench.' That's never a role I ever had."

(On whether he sees coming off the bench as a negative)
"I don't look at it as a negative. On a basketball team, you need guys to come off the bench. That's what makes up a whole team. You don't play with five starters. But my whole thing is, if that makes us a better team, with me coming off the bench, than that's something I would obviously do. If it results in wins. But I don't know anybody in the world that would feel like me coming off the bench is the right thing to do if that's not making the team better. It's just an issue because it's me. Everybody in the world know I don't want to come off the bench. So that's why it's an issue. It's a conversation because people know that's not what I want to do. It's a media thing. I don't think it has anything to do with basketball. Anybody in their right mind, to me, honestly knows that on this team or the teams I've been on, that I deserve to start."

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Ben Wallace will start opening night for Pistons
Pistons coach John Kuester has maintained that Ben Wallace has a lot left to offer.

And he backed up his words this morning by naming the 13-year veteran the starter at center when the team opens the regular season tonight against the Grizzlies. The other choice was Kwame Brown, but Kuester likes the defensive abilities of Wallace to start games. "One the things that Ben brings to us is a defensive presence right from the beginning with the way we want to defend," Kuester said.

After not playing until the last three games of the preseason because of a sore left hamstring, Charlie Villanueva will get the start at power forward. The other starters, as expected, will be Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. On the other side, former Piston Allen Iverson (hamstring tear) said he won't suit up tonight for the Grizzlies. He intends to begin full-contact drills Thursday.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.examiner.com/x-13383-Detroit ... er-tonight

Detroit heads to Memphis for regular season opener tonight
Get ready Pistons fans, the exact same team that a unanimous group of ESPN pundits claims is overflowing with turmoil (chuckle), happen to open up their regular season tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies. After a summer filled equal amounts of both optimism and confusion, fans are chomping at the bit to see all of these new faces in action for the first time. It doesn't get much better than this folks, so dust off that old Bison Dele jersey, grab a case of your favorite beverage and get ready for some NBA basketball!

Not that it diminishes the importance of this opening game or anything, but Allen "They lied to me" Iverson won't be suiting up for tonight's contest. Shame. It would've been really nice to shut Iverson and his new squad down to kick off the year. The weird thing about Iverson right now is that there are still hordes of his fans who have his back and are willing to write the "Detroit thing" off as an error on Joe Dumars' part, and not Iverson's. I know I've covered this before and it's probably been beaten to death by every publication out there, but I just can't get past Iverson's comments..."They told me, straight up, 'Allen, we would never disrespect you or your career like that' by making me come off the bench,'" he said. "That's what they told me to my face. And after that, I never thought about it again. I just went back to playing. Then, they came to me saying that they felt it would be in the 'best interest of the team' if I came off of the bench behind Rip "

As far as I know, the coach makes the decisions on which players get on the court at what time. Just because Dumars and Michael Curry might have told Iverson that he was a starter when he arrived in Motown doesn't mean that he deserved to keep that same job 20-30 games later. This only happened because the Pistons were under the belief that the trade would work out in the long-run. The fact remains that every time Iverson started a game and the Pistons lost, team morale fell through the floor. The decision to drop AI from the starting lineup wasn't some devious act devised by Dumars in an effort to ruin his career, it was because the guy simply wasn't living up to his own hype. His contract was clearly up after the season, and it made perfect sense for the sake of the franchise to sit sit him down and forget about the miserable trade. Why are both sides so hell-bent on blaming the other? The way I see it, it's a 50/50 split. The Pistons made a boneheaded deal to get a guy who they never should have went after in the first place, and Iverson basically quit on the team when they told him he was needed off the bench. Seems to me like everybody screwed up.With or without Iverson, the Grizzlies are one of the more explosive teams in the league. Athletes like Mike Conley Jr., O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay all look poised for career seasons. Then there's rookie Hasheem Thabeet, a 7'3" monster who looks like the NBA's next great shotblocker. And yet, playing defense looks like an afterthought once again in Memphis, so expect plenty of points on both sides. You can watch all of the action at 8pm ET on Fox Sports Detroit.

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http://www.examiner.com/x-13383-Detroit ... r-tonight#

Stopping Memphis
The Grizzlies love to get out and run with the basketball, and they certainly have brought in the correct weapons to suit that style of offense. But when they scooped up Zach Randolph to be their starting power forward, it essentially told the rest of the NBA that defense was far from a priority. Randolph is notorious for being one of the laziest defenders in the NBA, so Pistons big men should go right at him from the opening tip. The key with an inexperienced team such as the Grizzlies is to force them to take bad shots, preferably from the three point line. Mayo and Gay are each dangerous from behind the arc, but they never seem to both get hot in the same game. It's always one or the other who has a big performance, and you can usually beat this team if you keep one of them contained somewhat. The smart money is on bottling up Gay, who is more reserved and doesn't exactly have a killer instinct yet like Mayo does. Guarding Gay, Tayshaun Prince will likely be needed to play huge minutes tonight, since there's not much experience at the small forward position for Detroit right now. Don't fret however, as Prince's length will certainly make things tough on Gay. The biggest key to stopping him is to play as physical as possible on both ends of the floor. Gay is a finesse player who loves to attack the rim, so the more contact he endures, the further away from the basket he'll start to gravitate. If that scenario ends up happening then the Pistons have a significant advantage in this game.