He Kaman Took It - From A Deserving Player
by Kevin Sawyer on Feb 8, 2010 3:29 PM CST
19 comments
Sometimes injuries to players selected to the All-star game can be a blessing. The league can remedy an oversight by sending someone who should have been selected by the fans or coaches. Or maybe it can find room for a player representing a team that doesn't have an all-star.
As the injuries pile up, the qualifications narrow. Maybe a long-time fringe candidate finally gets the honor, or an old fan favorite gets one last shot to be a hero. If worse comes to worse, the league can send a second player from a championship contender.
Or... It can send Chris Kaman.
The case for Kaman as an all-star can be summarized as follows. He averages 20 ppg. Oh, and he, averages... Oh, wait, I already said the points thing, didn't I?
His inclusion almost certainly owes to the perception that he is a great rebounder. My guess is that David Stern sort of Frankensteined Kaman's past rebounding numbers into this season. But Kaman's rebounding rate isn't even in the top 20 at his own position.
He also isn't a noted defender, and is one of the worst play makers in all of basketball. Oh, and he's not exactly brimming with intangibles. He's a surly guy who like to shoot fish, when not playing for Donald Sterling's Clippers.
Sadly, this is as good as Kaman gets, meaning this pick will look especially strange years down the road, especially since guys like Carlos Boozer, Marc Gasol and Carl Landry were left off the squad. If only the Rockets would let Landry stay on the extra court and put up crappy numbers for nine extra minutes, they'd have themselves an all-star.
This is the case of the league listening to sportswriters, rather than using their heads. Kaman is surprisingly leading the Clippers in scoring, and that has given writers something to write about, which also translated into a late campaign for Kaman's selection.
In doing so, the league squandered an opportunity to take the best player available (Kevin Love), or honor the best team (the Rockets) not represented with an all-star. They could have built the brand by selecting the likely rookie of the year (Tyreke Evans), or a flashy first-timer (Corey Maggette), or a flashy veteran (Manu Ginobili). The list goes on.
Instead, we will all have to be patient and wait for Chris Kaman to get his obligatory five touches during the game. Nothing like an all-star game featuring a guy who likes to put in reverse layups underneath the basket.
The NBA, where arbitrary and annoying happens.
19 comments | 0 recs |
Colts vs. Saints: Super Bowl XLIV [Open Threads]
by Packey on Feb 7, 2010 3:48 PM CST
14 comments
Add today's game face to the collage of Manning Face, but will Peyton add a second Super Bowl to his resume? All the 'experts' seem to think it's the Colts' game to lose.
If you are feeling chatty during tonight's Super Bowl, there's a plethora of open threads.
SB Nation is holding the grand open thread for all -- here.
If that is too crowded for you, then you have other options:
- The Colts blogger here at SB Nation, BigBlueShoe, is credentialed and at the game. If you feel like mingling with the Colts fans you can go to Stampede Blue.
- The Saints blogger, Dave, is also in Miami. If you're pulling for the Saints and want to discuss along with their fans, you can join the chatter at Canal Street Chronicles.
- Of course, you can always stay here and use this as your open thread for the game (or anything you'd like really -- Robocop, Puppy Bowl, Erin Brockovich, etc). The choice is yours.
I'm going Saints, who do you got?
14 comments | 0 recs
Where Helping the Nets Chase History Happens (Twice in a Week): Pistons 99, Nets 92
by Packey on Feb 7, 2010 11:10 AM CST
in Recaps
23 comments
What Happened:
What should have been expected -- the Pistons picked up a win against the Nets at home.
Neither was particularly pretty, but the Pistons handed the Nets their second loss in the past five days adding to what seems like will be a record breaking season of futility for the Nets. After last night's loss, the Nets are now 4-46, tying the '92-93 Mavs and '72-73 76ers for the worst 50-game start in all of sports.
The Pistons started the game en fuego, shooting nearly 70% with a little over five minutes left in the first half, thanks in large part to hitting their first eight shots in the 2nd quarter -- six being threes. That helped the Pistons build a nine-point first half lead.
Unfortunately, as has been the story all year, the defense wasn't very good. The Nets' 60 TS% helped them stay in the game in the second half, and even take a brief lead at one point. But following the same science that says hot air rises to the top, suck seeps to the bottom. And the Nets suck more than the Pistons.
The Good:
Jonas Jerebko. He scored 20 points on 9-9 (!) shooting while grabbing seven rebounds in just 24 minutes.
The ball movement, leading to 29 assists. 11 came from Rodney Stuckey, the same number of assists that led to 22 of the Pistons' 36 points scored in the paint. Detroit's 9-8 this season when they have 20 or more assists and are 4-2 when having greater than 25. That should be a key to every single game, though it kind of goes without saying.
The Bad:
Surely the Pistons aren't paying Ben Gordon $10 million this season to take five shots. He was 1-5 for five points and had two turnovers in 22 minutes of action.
Tayshaun Prince isn't doing much to help his 'value' before the deadline. He was also 1-5 until that basket in the final minute.
Also, I'll cut and paste Watson's from the last Nets game: "Austin Daye must have gotten lost at Somerset Mall -- it's the only reason why I can justify giving the kid a DNP-CD." Seriously, how does Daye not see a single minute in two games against the worst team in NBA history?
The Who Unsung Heroes:
This is in honor of their performance during tonight's Super Bowl, or my difficulty choosing just one unsung hero.
Jason Maxiell made himself a nice case during the final quarter, when he scored nine of his 13 points. 13 points (on 6-8 shooting) and six rebounds in 24 minutes are numbers we could get used to seeing from him.
Charlie Villanueva was a catalyst to the Pistons strong start, hitting all four of his three point tries. Some may have been quick to forget that he didn't play Friday night and played through the sore back last night. He only saw 16+ minutes and had 12 points, two rebounds, and two blocks.
Ben Wallace. The 35-year old didn't play his youthful clamp down defense, but he still grabbed 10 boards, had nine points, and blocked four shots. He also hit BOTH free throws when the Pistons were only up one with five minutes left.
And then there is Rodney Stuckey who played like a true point guard. He only scored 10 points on 4-13 shooting, but he made his statement taking care of the rock with 11 assists and only one turnover. He supplemented his double-double with three steals, as well.
The Takeaway:
The season is a wash and if Dumars is trying to trade Rip and Tayshaun (which is up in the air at this point given his latest statements), they didn't do a whole lot to improve their stock. There's a chance Maxiell could help a contender and if that's the case, he definitely impressed (beyond his four turnovers). But what else can you takeaway from a game in which the Pistons made the lowly Nets look relatively good and their major trading chips didn't play all that well? A win -- and when we haven't seen many this year we can at least try to revel in that much.
23 comments | 0 recs |
Fist-fight in the sewer, Nets @ Pistons
by Kevin Sawyer on Feb 6, 2010 4:41 PM CST
in Previews
292 comments
Game tips at 7:30 pm ET
Detroit Pistons: 16-32 (11-14 road, -5.6 margin)
New Jersey Nets: 4-45 (3-19 road, -11.7 margin)
Oppo Research
They're back, and now there is reason to worry. The Pistons were scarcely able to dispense with the lowly Nets on the road, yielding a ridiculous 24 points and 14 assists to Devin Harris. Now they are playing on the end of a back-to-back, which began with a humiliating drubbing by the Pacers.
If the Pistons can't stop Harris, then suddenly the Nets offense looks downright potent. Brook Lopez had 27 points to go with his seven rebounds, and only a horrendous night from Yi Jianlian allowed the Pistons to escape with a victory.
Nonetheless, this is still a team that is giving heavy minutes to a number of players who don't belong in the league. There really is no excuse for dropping a game at home to the worst team of all time when that team is play its fourth game in five days.
Pistons Retro Moment
I don't remember this game, or know why Nets fans were so geeked up over it, but it's nice to see the old team back together.
Keys for Detroit
More Ben Gordon - It appears that he's better, and if he's producing, he should get all the minutes he wants.
Feed it to Charlie V. inside - I've got a feeling I can just cut and paste this one for the rest of the season.
Stop Chris Douglas-Roberts - I could just see him randomly owning us for 30 tonight.
Question of the Game
Will we ever get back to full strength? The Pistons were desperate for front-court offense in the absence of Charlie V. Can anyone step up, here?
Valuable Links
Set Saily for Nets Daily.
292 comments | 0 recs |
Done Got Paced... A Game Recap
by Kevin Sawyer on Feb 5, 2010 9:41 PM CST
in Recaps
55 comments
What Happened:
The Pistons were destroyed by a mediocre team in spite of owning the boards and generating more turnovers. Seriously, how often does it happen that a team gets eight more shots and still loses by 24? Well, for the third time in four games, the team failed to crack 40% from the field. That helps.
The Good:
Ben Gordon scored 26 points in 25 minutes. That's phenomenal. If he can keep that up, there is some hope for turning this ship around, sorta.
The Bad:
Well, the frontcourt scored 25 points in 132 minutes on 8-32 shooting. I would hazard to guess that breaks some sort of team record for futility. That partly explains why three of our guards combined for 0 assists in 81 minutes.
Oh, and the Pacers made most of their shots. That hurt.
The Darvin Ham Unsung Hero:
Jason Maxiell. On a night when the frountcourt had more or less left the bulding, he posted a tolerable five points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. Also, while I refuse to get excited about the Tinsley-esque stat line, MFWB (which, for new readers, stands for Mangled Foot Will Bynum) had 70% of the team's assists.
The Takeaway:
This team has serious gaps on offense and defense. There is no low-post scoring threat, nor is there an outside scoring threat, which means the team lives or dies on contested two-point shots. On the other end of the court, there is no clamp down defender on the wings, so the Pistons also live or die on missed open shots by the other team. Surprisingly, this combination has not resulted in too many wins this season.
55 comments | 0 recs |
Your Belated Pistons - Pacers Game Thread
by Mike Payne on Feb 5, 2010 6:29 PM CST
in Previews
437 comments
Excuse the communications breakdown, DBB. Here is your game thread, without the standard details you've come to know and love. Discuss!
------
Sorry, everyone. Big thanks and steak dinners to Mike and Kevin for taking initiative to get a thread up -- at the same time. I hid Kevin's because it was a minute later than Mike's, but here's what he had to say:
Is it weird for anyone else that the Pacers have suddenly become the most plain vanilla team in the league? Other than that, it would be nice to get a road win.
DISCUSS!
Again, sorry for the non-traditional preview. Keeping with the theme: Discuss!
-- Packey
437 comments | 0 recs
Morning Shootaround: Is David Katzman the Next Pistons Owner?
by Packey on Feb 5, 2010 6:45 AM CST
in Morning Shootaround
38 comments
Has Karen Davidson found someone to take the NBA's 4th most valuable franchise off her hands?
According to the Detroit Sports Rag, she has:
Jeff Moss is reporting that David Katzman will soon become the new owner of the Detroit Pistons, acquiring a majority ownership position from the Davidson family.
Moss’ sources (who also correctly predicted the firing of Rick Carlisle days before the firing was reported in the mainstream media) are stating the Katzman has severed ties with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans in anticipation of this move.
David Katzman is currently part owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Vice Chairman for Quicken Loans.
Not so fast, though. There is nothing around the 'net, aside from this report, about Katzman severing ties with the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans, much less becoming the next Pistons owner. And the parenthetical, citing that this "source" was right about something 7-8 years ago, doesn't exactly scream credibility. Most importantly, who is Jeff Moss and who is his "source"?
However, this "source," who correctly predicted the Rick Carlisle firing in 2002-2003, also told Moss sometime around December 22 that Karen Davidson was not seeing eye-to-eye with Tom Wilson. A month later, and out of the blue, Karen Davidson admitted that she is trying to sell the team. Interesting. Maybe, just maybe, DSR was on to something then and perhaps there is some truth to this David Katzman rumor.
At the onset of the "Pistons for sale" talks, a couple rumors fluttered about the possibility of Dan Gilbert, current majority owner of the Cavs, buying the franchise, but those were unrealistic and quickly squashed. If Gilbert didn't already own the Cavs, then he would have made sense for the role -- he was born and raised in Detroit, went to undergrad and grad school in Michigan, and still resides there with his wife and kids. Of course, being one of the Forbes 400, money would not have been an issue.
Similarly, Katzman is a Michigan man. He did his undergrad at Michigan State and attended law school at Detroit. Despite owning part of the Cavs, he is still centralized in the greater Detroit area. Mix in that Katzman has been a rather successful business man and it's certainly feasible that he could be a potential suitor for the Pistons.
We might not be as close to having the next Pistons owner as DSR reports, but I do think this could be the first realistic option to buy the Pistons (and one that would presumably keep them in Michigan). Only time will tell if this rumor comes into fruition.
UPDATE 11:40 AM EST: This from Rob Otto at MLIVE:
A Pistons representative points out it would be impossible at this time for Katzman to buy the team, because it isn't actually for sale yet:
"Mrs. Davidson is only exploring the possibility of selling the team at this point. They haven't even gotten to the point of putting it up for sale. You can't buy it if it's not for sale, and officially the Pistons are not for sale."
Other Links:
- Pistons expected to be at full strength tonight -- MLIVE
- If you write something bad about Tayshaun Prince, he wants to explode -- Piston Powered
- Pistons have a chance at a winning streak? -- Detroit News
OK, I'm verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves until game time tonight.
38 comments | 0 recs |
Morning Shootaround: It's Development, Stupid
by Matt W on Feb 4, 2010 5:00 AM CST
in Morning Shootaround
93 comments
• Despite the positive vibes coming out of Tuesday's win (a three-guard lineup that doesn't feature Chucky Atkins? Outstanding!), dreams of playoff berths have long been supplanted by those of lottery picks.
Unfortunately, even if the Pistons end up with a high pick, there's still a sense of dread among fans that Joe Dumars will try to outsmart everybody by taking the less obvious (and ultimately less talented) pick. But is the criticism warranted? Maybe, maybe not. But as MLive's Patrick Hayes points out, picking the right the players isn't so much a problem as actually developing the ones that are here:
The bigger question to me has not been Dumars' draft picks -- debating the high profile fails is pointless, high profile picks fail every year -- it's been the seeming lack of a system that allows picks to thrive.
[Carlos] Delfino, [Amir] Johnson and [Arron] Afflalo were dealt in similar deals -- clear a bit of cap space, get a future aspect like a second rounder back in return. All of those deals suggested the Pistons didn't think those players would materialize into much on the court. Why is that? Some of that has to relate to feedback the coaches are giving, right? What has broken down that has allowed the Pistons to trade guys who have become valuable NBA players for not much in return?
The same can be said for Milicic: after three seasons of sink-or-swim at the end of the bench, he was tossed aside for cap space and a future pick. Would Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony be the players they are today if they were drafted by the Pistons? I'm not so sure. Eventually talent trumps everything, but would they already be MVP and scoring champ candidates or just hitting their stride?
This goes back all the way to Prince's rookie year -- largely ignored as a rookie, he was only given a chance as a last resort when the Pistons were on the brink of elimination. Dating back to the early part of this decade, the only rookie I can recall the Pistons made a concerted effort to develop is Stuckey, and even that was likely a matter of timing than anything since his arrival coincided with the team's core looking old and broke in the playoffs.
Fortunately, if you want to call it that, the Pistons have lowered expectations so much that it should be near impossible to keep next year's rookies off the court. But still, I can't help but shake a sneaking suspicion that as good as Wall/Cousins/Favors/whomever ends up looking in a Detroit uniform, a guy like DaJuan Summers will be moved for a ball rack and a case of Gatorade only to someday burn the Pistons for 30 points. But I digress -- more links!
• Matchups, injuries and the phase of the moon will likely dictate the big man rotation, but for the time being, Jonas Jerebko has secured a starting spot.
• Apropos of nothing, this ESPN.com article from 2006 predicting what the NBA will be like in 2010 is incredibly amusing. Three of six "experts" thought Adam Morrison would be the next big superstar, which looks silly until you see the last guy picked Joel Freeman. Who? Exactly.
• Chauncey Billups is an All-Star.
• Isiah Thomas is apparently candidate for DePaul's coaching job.
• Last but not least, while the Pistons may or may not have their own issues, schaudenfreude is kind of awesome sometimes: Rajon Rondo complains that Boston's locker room is falling apart:
"We are getting bored with it some," he said, "but I think it’s a little bit of different agendas maybe creeping in. It just all depends. You know, I think if we all had the right spirit as far as one goal, one thing in common, I think we’d be a lot better."
[...] "It’s a different team this year," Rondo said then. "That’s our problem. A couple of years ago, we didn’t have the same team. We had the same main guys, but it’s still a team effort, from the first guy to the 15th guy."
(OK, fine, everyone was backtracking after Wednesday's win, but still -- the roster is showing cracks.)
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