This will hopefully be a morning regular (at least on game days), which will allow you to read up on other Detroit Pistons stories.  It's like a team's morning shootaround in that it's somewhat informal, brief, and gets you prepped for the game.  

Matt Watson from Detroit Bad Boys and NBA Fan House was gracious enough to shoot me an email and serve up an alley-oop on his site welcoming me to the Detroit Pistons blog family.  He calls his shout outs alley-oops, which is much cooler, but for purposes of the morning shootaround I'll refer to shoutouts within this post as a link to the "tip drill."

Another great Pistons site that I need to acknowledge is one that I'm sure everyone is already aware of.  Natalie Sitto puts a lot of hard work into Need4Sheed for all the 'Stones fans. It's really impressive what she does with images and creating her own video clips.  The site is a part of my regular web surfing routine and should be a part of yours too, if it's not already.

Normally the Masters wouldn't be relevant except for our Coach Michael Curry grew up in Augusta, GA and worked the tournament for three years in high school.  The Free Press did a quick interview with him about it.  Although it's not quite the same as quitting a job at Augusta the year before Jack Nicklaus wins the Masters, but I used to caddy at Oakland Hills near my home in Michigan and I quit a few years before the Ryder Cup.  I definitely kicked myself for that when it came time for scoring tickets.

Speaking of Coach Curry, a lot of people want his head on a mantle for the way things have gone this season.  I think those people need to take a deep breath and give him a fair chance.  It's his first year as a head coach and he's hardly had the chance to coach the same group of guys on a nightly basis due to injuries and some of his own trials as a result of a trade he probably didn't expect to happen two games into his first season.  I don't normally put much stock into the Official Pistons blogs since they are undoubtedly biased, but George Blaha discusses Coach Curry in a way I definitely agree with. 

As I have mentioned in my intro post and other places of this site, the name Motown String Music incorporates the George Blaha-ism, "sweet, sweet string music."  I'm not the only blog that has a Blaha-ism as part of the title, though.  Count that Baby and a Foul is another Blah-ism and also another great Pistons blog.  I look forward to working with them and hearing their intelligent fan feedback on this site as well.

  It's not just the Pistons fans who question the moves Michael Curry has made this season. Before it was announced that Iverson would be out for the season, Rick Kamla of NBA.com expressed his displeasure with the idea that Georgia Tech graduate Will Bynum would cut into Iverson's minutes off the bench.  I don't think Will Bynum would appreciate the Snoop/Jonas Brothers analogy. 

This is the last mention of Allen Iverson for awhile, I promise.  Sticking with the music theme, I have to share with you a faux rap that Iverson probably would have recorded had he actually been telling the truth about his willingness to come off the bench and do whatever it takes to help the team win.  Maybe he should make a new one, "Whatever You Dislike."

With the season winding down, awards discussion is picking up.  Nick and Roll revealed their early submissions.  It's great to see Stuckey cracking the All-Sophomore team.  I think the MVP discussion will be a heated one, as Dwayne and Lebron are both more than deserving of it.  Call me crazy, but I'd be okay with seeing co-MVP's this season.

Lastly, the Pistons will take on the New Jersey Nets tonight at 8:00 PM EST.  Nets guard, Devin Harris is having a career year and an even better season against us (25 ppg and 7 apg).  A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive says the key to tonight's game is stopping him.  Despite facing teams with sure stars, the Pistons tend to allow the lesser names to beat them.  If anyone is going to beat us, I'd rather it be the stars. 

Make sure you join the game thread tonight as it is my very first one here at MSM.  I'm looking forward to it.