'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 63

nasty daddy · Post #881 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:39 pm

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/21 ... istons-for

John Kuester praises Ben Wallace's 'all-star' play
Rob Otto / MLive on Joe Dumars' decision to re-sign Rasheed after the '04 title:

But his big failing was getting swept up in the emotion after upsetting the Lakers for the 2004 Championship. Dumars knew they would not have won the trophy without Wallace, and he wanted to keep a good thing going, so he re-signed Rasheed. It was a move that I and many other Piston fans applauded at the time. But Rasheed coming back meant that there was not room for Mehmet Okur. And in hindsight, this team would be much better off today if Memo was still here.[...] We'll never know if the team would have been as successful the last four season had Dumars kept Okur instead of Wallace, but I certainly believe they wouldn't be as bad as they are now if Memo were still wearing Piston red, white and blue.

This line of thinking kind of baffles me -- the Pistons came within minutes of a back-to-back title in '05, and within games of being a Finalist for years after. Bringing Rasheed back was not a mistake. More importantly, re-signing Memo was never an option: a loophole in the salary cap (since fixed) prevented teams from going over the cap to re-sign second-round picks -- it's the same reason why Golden State never had a chance at keeping Gilbert Arenas. (Hah, funny how that worked out, too.) Dumars deserves to be second-guessed for a lot of things the last few years; this is not one of them. But I digress ... back to the links!

nasty daddy · Post #882 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:39 pm

http://www.nba.com/pistons/chat_mailbox ... 00121.html

Keith Langlois / Pistons.com: Role Playing:
"(Wallace) wanted to show the fans what they were missing," Villanueva grinned after the game, "but Charlie V is here."

Villanueva played hard at both ends, blocking two shots and doing a reasonable impersonation of Wallace’s two-way play. "He had an outstanding game on both sides of the court," John Kuester said. "Getting him to buy into how we want to defend, we’ve got a heck of a basketball player there."

nasty daddy · Post #883 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:40 pm

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/21 ... istons-for

Dave Pemberton / Oakland Press: Win could be turning point of season
Gary Washburn and Julian Benbow / Boston Globe: This "Baby" talk not cute or cuddly:
Perhaps if you were watching last night’s Celtics-Pistons game on television or listening on the radio, you heard an expletive yelled out. That was Boston’s Glen “Big Baby’’ Davis shouting at a Detroit fan who kept calling him “fat boy’’ during the first half.

Davis’s graphic remark stunned fans sitting behind the Celtics’ bench. The fan, Scott Zack, was warned by arena security about his heckling but was determined to press the issue about Davis’s remark. Zack said he filed a complaint with NBA security.
Two thoughts: 1) Is that really the first time Davis has heard that insult? Dude needs a thicker skin on that soft belly. 2) Heckling can be fun, and getting a reaction out of an athlete makes it 100 times more enjoyable ...

... but feigning shock and pretending to take offense when the athlete curses is incredibly lame. Get off your high horse, Mr. Zack -- you got in his head and you likely got him fined, so quit pretending that making him scream in frustration wasn't the exact outcome you were hoping might happen, or that the language he used was something worse than what most adults use a dozen times a day.

nasty daddy · Post #884 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:41 pm

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/21 ... istons-for

ESPN's Marc Stein with trade rumors:
The Pistons are suddenly 5-1 since their 13-game losing streak, including Wednesday night’s home win over Boston, but don't expect them to abandon their efforts to find a big man who can score by offering up old reliables Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton.

nasty daddy · Post #885 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:42 pm

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/21 ... istons-for

Last but not least ... PistonsNation: Block Don't Lie:

Video in the link above^.

nasty daddy · Post #886 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:46 pm

http://www.emptythebench.com/2010/01/20 ... nba-teams/

NBA Writers Roundtable: Which NBA Team is the Least Fantasy Hoops Friendly?
ETB’s Pick: It’s a close call between the Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets, two craptacular offensive powder puffs at the bottom of the league in team scoring, field-goal percentage, and assists, but the difference between them is that the Pistons actually have some established, proven firepower; they just haven’t gotten it done so far. Attribute it to lingering injuries (Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Tayshaun Prince, Will Bynum) or to disappointing play (Charlie Villanueva, at times Rodney Stuckey), but either way this team, whose strength was supposed to be on the offensive end, has given fantasy owners very little to cheer about. Never would have thought that 35-year-old Ben Wallace would be the most valuable fantasy contributor.

Still, at least the Pistons have guys who should, theoretically, pull it together at some point: outside of emerging stud Brook Lopez, the Nets’ likely fantasy assets have been shockingly inadequate. It starts at the point with Devin Harris, who’s taken a sizable step back in his second full season in Jersey in addition missing games, as usual. His shooting (38%), points (15.9), free throws (78%), boards (3.2), assists (6), and steals (1.6) are all down–in some cases way down–compared to last season.

nasty daddy · Post #887 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:48 pm

http://www.emptythebench.com/2010/01/20 ... nba-teams/

Nels, Give Me The Rock
With a little bit of fancy statistical analysis using the GMTR Player Rater, Patrick and I came to the conclusion that the Detroit Pistons are easily the least fantasy-friendly team in the league. If I had to hypothesize without looking at any stats, I probably would have said San Antonio, since they’re so slow and their players aren’t doing all that great this season; looking at the stats, though, they’re actually doing better than I thought they were.

We came up with Detroit by taking the top 156 players from the Player Rater (156 is the number of players in a 12 player x 13 team league), and then comparing on two stats. First, we took the average of rank of the players on each team, and second, we counted the number of players in the Top 156 from each team. The worst team in the league for average ranking was the Detroit Pistons with 111.50. Compound that lackluster performance by placing only four players in the Top 156, and all of a sudden, you’ve found yourself with the least fantasy-friendly team in the league.

The only teams with less players in the Top 156 are the Cavs and the Pacers, who both have three players in the Top 156, but they ended up at 2nd and 8th in average player ranking, and adding one more guy to get them to the four that Detroit has is not going to sink anyone’s battleship. The Magic are actually close with their average player ranking of 101.80, and five players in the Top 156, but again, if you add another player to Detroit to match them up with Orlando’s five, then their average ranking is only going to torpedo their submarine.

nasty daddy · Post #888 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:49 pm

http://www.emptythebench.com/2010/01/20 ... nba-teams/

Alex Woods, BleacherCreatureRotoTalk
There’s a very close three-way tie in the NBA for the worst fantasy-friendly team in the league between the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, and Minnesota Timberwolves. My answer is based on the number of “rosterable” players I could quickly identify for each team.

The Detroit Pistons have four players who clearly belong on fantasy basketball rosters: Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace. A rough estimate of the league average for what we are calling “rosterable” is between 6-7 players, so the Pistons are clearly below that mark. Furthermore, the players that do make the cut are hardly spectacular performers from a fantasy basketball perspective.

nasty daddy · Post #889 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:51 pm

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

Wings could move to Palace
Sources tell WDFN that Mike Ilitch would consider buying the Palace and move the Wings there.

nasty daddy · Post #890 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:51 pm

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

Pistons Spoil Rasheed Homecoming, Beat Celtics 92-86
Charlie V. had 19 and Rodne Stuckey game hi's in points and assists with 27 & 11 as Detroit dealt Boston its season high tying 3rd straight loss.

Rasheed Wallace tallied 16 points and 7 boards in his first game at the Palace as a member of the Celtics.

See a recap of the game and some highlights here.

nasty daddy · Post #891 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:55 pm

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/3294 ... ces-return

The Boston Celtic's And Rasheed Wallace Come to Motown
Wallace has played in 36 games for Boston and has averaged 24 minutes, 10 points, and 4.5 rebounds.Wallace will start tonight due to Kevin Garnett sitting out with a sore knee, according to Boston's head coach, Doc Rivers. Rivers doesn't want Garnett to play till Friday against Portland. It sends chills up my spine just thinking of Wallace wearing the Celtic Green and White—lasting bad memories of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish. Yuck.

Boston has its new three-headed monster in Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.Pierce has a sore knee but, played in the Lost Monday to Dallas and scored 24 points. Allen scored 21 for Boston in that contest. The Pistons haven't been able to get their big scorers healthy. "Rip" Hamilton sat out the game against the Knicks with the flu. Tayshaun Prince, Ben Gordon, and Will Bynum did not play in the last game due to injuries.

Prince's layoff is one with big questions. He was the Pistons' iron man so to speak.
He'd played all 82 games in six-straight seasons until this year. He's played in only nine games thus far.In his rookie season he only played in 42 games. Prince has also played in 118 playoff games. Can he still be the Pistons' iron man? With rookies Jones Jerebko and Austin Daye playing well, Tayshaun might be the odd man out.

nasty daddy · Post #892 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:57 pm

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2010/01/th ... -sale-yet/

The Detroit Pistons are not for sale … yet
Despite misleading headlines in The Detroit News – Karen Davidson: Pistons are for sale – the Pistons aren’t for sale yet. Davidson’s actual statement via Chris Iott of MLive.com: "We’re looking into the possibility of inquiring about selling it, but there’s nothing that’s definite," she told media members during halftime of the game between the Pistons and Boston Celtics. "We’re just looking into it. I know it’s splitting hairs, but I think the distinction is important.

The Detroit Free Press has more interesting Karen Davidson quotes and dug up this gem from Bill Davidson’s 2008 interview with Mitch Albom:
Question: Have you thought about or made plans for the Pistons after you’re gone?
Answer: Yes. We’ll keep it in the family. It will always be in the family.
Q: And is it your hope your relatives will run it?
A: I’ve already set up the method in which it’s gonna be run.
Q: By your family members?
A: Yeah.

nasty daddy · Post #893 » by **nasty daddy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:59 pm

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2010/01/ga ... t-pistons/

Game Review: Anything is possible for Detroit Pistons
It’s fitting the Pistons played the Celtics last night because the game renewed my faith in this team. Anything is possible. Detroit is 1-0 to begin their six-game home stand and beat its best opponent in the stretch.

The Pistons sit just 3.5 games back in the playoff race. How they played last night – with hustle and defense, a resilient offense and swagger – the Pistons could reach the top eight in the Eastern Conference pretty quickly. I know I’m probably getting ahead of myself. The Celtics are the type of team that can have letdown games. And the Pistons desperately need more inside scoring (the starting front line combined for 10 points last night).

But I’d rather believe Detroit is hitting its stride. I don’t know if that’s the case. But I do know this: It’s possible.

nasty daddy · Post #894 » by **nasty daddy** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:01 am

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

Cavs’ Mo Williams out 1 month with shoulder injury
Cavaliers starting point guard Mo Williams(notes) will miss at least one month with a sprained left shoulder, a major blow to the Eastern Conference’s top team.

Williams injured his shoulder in Tuesday night’s win over Toronto when he reached for a steal in the third quarter. He was taken to the locker room for an examination and treatment before returning to the floor and making a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.

The Cavs said Thursday before their game against the Los Angeles Lakers that an MRI taken at the Cleveland Clinic revealed the sprain and that Williams is projected to be out for the “next four to six weeks.”

nasty daddy · Post #895 » by **nasty daddy** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:02 am

http://pistonsnationblog.com/2010/01/20 ... utta-here/

Maxy says get that Sheed outta here!
Block don’t lie, love it!

Video in the link above^.

nasty daddy · Post #896 » by **nasty daddy** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:10 am

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... ton.com+-- +Boston+Celtics+news

This ‘Baby’ talk not cute or cuddly
Perhaps if you were watching last night’s Celtics-Pistons game on television or listening on the radio, you heard an expletive yelled out. That was Boston’s Glen “Big Baby’’ Davis shouting at a Detroit fan who kept calling him “fat boy’’ during the first half.

Davis’s graphic remark stunned fans sitting behind the Celtics’ bench. The fan, Scott Zack, was warned by arena security about his heckling but was determined to press the issue about Davis’s remark. Zack said he filed a complaint with NBA security.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers expressed disappointment in Davis, and it’s not the first time this season the player has been in some trouble with his coach. “[If he said something back], then shame on Glen,’’ Rivers said. “To the victors go the spoils. I tell our guys all the time, you lose a game they have every right to yell, say whatever they want and you’ve got to be strong enough to walk away. So that’s not the fan’s fault, no matter what he said. We know about it. We’ve got to walk off the floor. So if that happened, then shame on Glen Davis.’’