Thursday’s Layup Drill

by Matt Watson on Mar 1, 2007 2:20 PM EST

The Detroit News has an update on Chris Webber's eye, which apparently has been very slow to heal. I talked about it on the FanHouse, but forget what I said about the goggles -- his eyes are sensitive to light, and Webber told the Free Press that he thinks goggles might amplify the problem.
From the same News article above, Rasheed Wallace is day-to-day with his ankle injury, and while Saunders is downplaying the severity, Sheed might still be held out of Friday's game as a precaution.
As I'm sure you saw, Amir Johnson went nuts in his first game back in the D-League on Tuesday: 32 points (13-15 shooting), 13 rebounds and five blocks (thanks to everyone who provided updates in the comments). For Amir goodness, check out this nice profile of him from Empty the Bench.
From the "yeah, no crap" department: Larry Brown is apparently getting back into the coaching game.
Everyone's talking to Natalie from Need4Sheed, from About.com to DetroitDP, a Pistons blog I just discovered.
Random site news: I'm sure some of you have been wondering where my blogroll went -- it'll be back soon, I promise, I just need to straighten out some minor technical problems.
Get a taste of spring by checking out hueytaxi's spring training pics from Lakeland, updated daily. And don't forget about checking out your favorite Tigers blogs, or you'll miss absolute gems like Billfer's recent interview with Rod Allen over at the Detroit Tigers Weblog.
And, since we talked Tigers, here's some Lions news: Dre Bly was traded to the Broncos for running back Tatum Bell, tackle George Foster and a draft pick (probably a fifth-rounder). Bell may be a bit injury prone, but he's an absolute burner: Kevin Jones probably would have had competition for the starting job even if he wasn't coming back from injury. Detroit's backfield just got real interesting -- and this is coming from someone who all but wrote off cheering for the Lions until Matt Millen leaves.
The national media is starting to catch on: via True Hoop, I found this from ESPN's Chris Broussard (in an Insider article, unfortunately):

So Detroit, which is 15-3 with Webber in the starting lineup, should return to the Finals for the third time in four years.

Again, no one not being paid by William Davidson is going to give them a snowball's chance of beating the West rep, presumably Dallas (though the Spurs and Suns have legit chances).

But maybe we shouldn't count them out so fast.

...

And neither Dallas nor Phoenix strikes any fear in the Pistons. Detroit is 2-1 against Dallas the past two seasons, and it doesn't believe Dirk can handle Rasheed on the block. They feel that Rasheed makes Dirk work so hard defensively that it slows him down a bit on the other end.

As for the Suns, the Pistons believe with several days to prepare for them -- as well as plenty of time to make adjustments in a seven-game series -- that they will prevail.

That nasty 3-2 zone they employ every once in awhile -- with long, long, long Tayshaun Prince at the top -- might throw a monkey wrench in the Suns high pick-and-roll game.

Plus, while the West winner will have to survive two, maybe three incredibly tough series, the East winner (Detroit) will have a much easier go of it.

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Comments

Nice Detroit sports wrap today… I totally hadn’t seen the Dre Bly news yet. Gotta like the pickup of Tatum Bell, especially if KJ doesn’t fully recover. And, hey, thanks for mentioning Empty the Bench. You guys do some great work here.

by Brian on Mar 1, 2007 2:36 PM EST reply actions