Wednesday’s Layup Drill

Bear with me as DBB slowly ramps up for the season: I'm still finding my 2007-08 rhythm. In lieu of actually having something to say, let me direct your attention to some people that do:

• Chris McCosky has a hilarious account of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton in a shooting contest during today's practice. Billups won, but Hamilton wasn't happy:
  

  But Hamilton complained that somebody, somehow cheated. (Just so you know, Hamilton has NEVER lost at anything -- either he wins or he got cheated.) I don't know what the details of his complaint were, but I can tell you Billups wasn't buying it. The two continued to argue (good-naturedly) in the locker room as they were getting ready to hit the showers -- some 15 minutes after the contest was over. Finally, the door bangs open and out comes Hamilton and Billups back onto the court, both clad only in towels and shower slippers. Apparently they were going to settle the dispute on the court -- dressed or not. It was hilarious. My guess is Billups maintained his victory, and Hamilton refused to accept his defeat.

• A lot of people are taking this "Gilbert Arenas vs. Jarvis Hayes" stuff seriously, but I really don't think there's any point reading into it. Sure you can twist some of Hayes' comments to sound like he's dissing Gilbert, but what's not getting a lot of attention is some of the nice things he's said about Agent Zero. From one of Krista Jahnke's articles on Monday:
  

  Hayes laughed when asked whether the Pistons had anyone in their locker room to compare to his former teammate Arenas, a player quickly becoming known for being unafraid to speak his mind -- usually to comical effect.

  Not even Rasheed Wallace can compare to that.

  "Gilbert is Gilbert," Hayes said. "He's very hilarious. He's a good guy. We have no Gilberts here."

  Doesn't sound like bad blood to me.

• Remember when we all assumed Flip Murray would be traded by the start of the regular season? I'm not seeing it anymore. For one, he's a legitimate NBA rotation player, especially if he's fourth guard off the bench. A. Sherrod Blakely talked to Murray about his recent weight loss.
  

  "I just wanted to go back to the drawing board, where I was most successful at," said Murray, who came into camp last season weighing close to 215 pounds. "When I was in Seattle, I played at 195, 197, but no more than that."

  The weight loss has added to Murray's quickness in getting into the lane for baskets, and to his ability to keep up defensively.

  Murray acknowledged that defending players with the extra weight last season was a challenge at times.

  "As far as me having to chase guards around and stuff like that, I don't think that was a good weight for me to play at," said Murray, who spent most of last season weighing about 210 pounds. "I felt a little heavy."

  I know it's just one meaningless preseason game against a J.V. lineup, but he looked good on Monday, scoring five with five dimes and two steals in just 16 minutes. He spent some time on the court playing next to Rodney Stuckey, a combination I hope to see a bit more of, at least in the preseason. Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton are more spot-up shooters, but Murray and Stuckey can get into the lane, giving the Pistons a completely different look offensively off the bench.

• Allan Houston is returning to NY.
• LeBron can't make up his mind.
• Let Dave Wieme show you what Media Day looks like. (via Need4Sheed)
• Last but not least, I stumbled across this the other day:

  Does anyone out there still have their copy? On my wish list of things I'll probably never own is one of those cartridges autographed by Laimbeer and displayed in a shadow box above my bar.

Update: how off of my rhythm am I? I originally named this post "Tuesday's Layup Drill" until I realized it's actually Wednesday. Anyways, here's a bonus bullet point:

• Afflalo & Stuckey by the numbers.