Morning Shootaround: Final Farewell to Chuck, Noisy Behind the Scenes, 'Dyess, and John Salley Hates Spiders

Although, things have been relatively quiet on the media front since Chuck Daly's passing and while the playoffs wrap up the final few rounds, there are some stories that I'd like to touch on:

A final goodbye was said to Chuck Daly at his funeral last Wednesday.  It was a nice touch to have the "Bad Boys" as pallbearers where hundreds showed up to give Daddy Rich a sad, final farewell.  Rick Carlisle really impressed me by attending the services just hours before he had to be in Denver for Game 5 of the Mavs series against the Nuggets.  RIP Chuck Daly.

Things may seem to be quiet on the surface, but they are noisy behind the scenes according to Pistons beat writer, Keith Langlois.  On a daily basis, Joe Dumars meets with his staff and schedules individual workouts, goes over film, scouting reports, and contacts anyone affiliated with information that might help them with their four draft picks for the June 26 draft.  Mr. Langlois says that "evaluating dozens of prospects" will "demand the lion's share of the man-hours spent over the next six weeks."

That doesn't mean we can't start discussing possible Free Agent possibilities, too.  Dave Dial of MLIVE's Full Court Press starts breaking down one of the Pistons free agent targets: Ben Gordon.  Mr. Dial does a wonderful analysis of Gordon's statistics to come up with the general consensus that Gordon is a type of player that can create his own shot while providing more of an offensive spark.  Right now, the Pistons don't really have anyone capable of creating their own 3-point shot like Gordon.  Gordon's negatives are that he's fairly small for a two guard and is a below average defender.  It will be interesting to see if Dumars feels he is worth the $9-10 million he will most likely seek.

Life on Dumars thinks Antonio McDyess should do what's best for Antonio McDyess and sign with a contender.  LoD breaks down a list of teams that might be a good fit for 'Dyess.  While I definitely believe 'Dyess deserves a championship after all the hard work and loyalty provided for the Pistons, I'd rather have that 'ship come with the Pistons.  I respect 'Dyess, for the most part, because he turned down what may have been a sure title in signing with the Cavs to stick it out with the Pistons this year.  That being said, I'll root like hell for 'Dyess if he signs elsewhere this off-season and his team is in the playoffs after/if the Pistons are ousted.  *For the record, I have a general frustration with players who have been with a team for their entire career and just up and leave organizations for an easier opportunity at a championship, organizations that have been arguably just as loyal to the player.  Do not misunderstand me, I don't think that's the case with McDyess (especially since he's only been with the Pistons five of his 13 years). I just felt like sharing that*

Dan Feldman at Piston Powered looks at the optimal number of shots each player should take during a game.  He charts every single player's shots and the team's record when said player shoots said times.  Great (tedious) work out of Dan--it's definitely an interesting read.  I will say that it's tough to evaluate this in some cases because the sample size of games for a particular shot number is often minuscule.  I think Dan does a nice job of selecting an approach in his analysis and sticking to it.

Natalie Sitto of Need4Sheed has been feeling nostalgic during a time we're all not used to being sans Pistons basketball.  She scrounged up some old Pistons specials she taped and posted a good one about the Bad Boys.  Check it out.

On a lighter note, John "Spider" Salley apparently hates spiders.  Pistons Nation brought to my attention that John Salley will be on a reality show, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! where Salley reveals he hates spiders. Like PN, Alanis Morissette would call that ironic, too.    The show airs June 1 on NBC if you're interested.  Check out PN for more quality press clippings.

Feel free to leave your comments below or email me with any tips and/or general inquiries.  I'm looking forward to start posting more in the coming weeks about the Pistons draft prospects.