Don't Call Him Superman: Magic 116, Pistons 91
by Packey on Feb 18, 2010 12:10 AM EST
in Detroit Pistons Recaps
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What Happened:
The gasometer was teetering E all game, but it finally hit it in the fourth quarter.
The Pistons were outscored 33-14 in the final quarter (60-36 in the 2nd half) and fell by 25 to the second ranked team in the Eastern Conference.
Dwight Howard, FKA Superman, was in full-blown beast mode, racking up a season-high (and career-high against the Pistons) 33 points, 17 rebounds, and seven blocked shots. Although he averages 17+ points and 12+ rebounds against the Pistons in his career, and has had his fair share of dominating performances, this one really stood out more than usual -- maybe it was the career-high, maybe it was the 25 point loss, or maybe it was the Ritalin I took earlier today.
The Good:
Richard Hamilton. Speaking of beast mode... Hamilton sent a strong message to the rest of the league that there is a trade piece in Detroit that could really help out a team in contention. Rip scored a game-high 36 points and collected five rebounds. What's most impressive is that he scored his 36 points in just 36+ minutes and with a 82 TS%.
The Bad:
As a fan of Ben Gordon, it does not bring me great pleasure that BG seems to be setting up a tent in 'the bad.' Six points on 3-8 shooting, four turnovers, and an ejection for saying a couple choice words to the ref after J. 'dick threw a 'bow b-slap is a bad stat line. It was nice to see him get a little fired up, though, so maybe he'll translate that into some baskets next game.
Charlie Villanueva only saw 3+ minutes. Injured? Benched?
The Oh, I Don't Know Unsung Hero:
No, really. I don't know. When in doubt, vote Jonas?
Tayshaun was just 5-14 shooting, but he did put up his normal, and average, 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Takeaway:
Back-to-backs are tough as it is, so it doesn't help when the back end is in Orlando. Virtually zero production from your two big off-season signees and a monster game from Dwight Howard certainly doesn't help either.
I think everyone would (and should) agree that the Pistons aren't going to make the playoffs. So if you want something to takeaway from an otherwise meaningless game, you can take the positives in Rip (and kind of Tay) improving trade value, that it was a competitive game (and somewhat fun to watch) for three and a half quarters, and the Pistons helped their odds, as slim as they may be, in landing a star in the lottery. All in all, not an ideal night, but not the worst night ever. Here's to tomorrow's 3 PM EST deadline.
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Oui... S'il ressemble un rat, les odeurs comme un rat...
BTW – does anybody still smoke a pipe (unless it’s got weed in it)? My dad smoked one for 20 years (weed-less… I think), but I haven’t seen someone smoking a pipe in a long time.
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Maybe it’s time you brought the pipe back, Packey.
by garrettelliott on Feb 18, 2010 8:55 AM EST up reply actions
Of course people smoke pipes
They sell the goods in drug stores. I see pipes on sale there and in mega marts.
Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.
McGrady finally traded?
ESPN is saying he went to the Kings for Kevin Martin, and that the Knicks may get in on the action as well.
I'm just like a sports reporter, but without the insight or money.
holy fuckin' wowzers
that’s actually a pretty solid trade for both sides, even though my first response was to flip the hell out and punch things.
Would you like me to give you Hubie Brown's home telephone number so that you can actually call him yourself to confirm that he is someone who knows me?
by Mike Payne on Feb 18, 2010 2:41 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
haha +rec
Yeah, unfortunately the rumors of Morey’s greatness are now one step closer to being confirmed.
With an efficient, high usage scorer like Martin, Ariza can scale back his FGA’s and Houston’s glue-guy filled roster can gel around them. If they make the playoffs, that is a team nobody is going to want to play.
Disagree
Martin is an empty scorer, what have his teams done since he’s come into the league?
I’d rather take Landry and cap space over Martin any day. Landry is one of the toughest (undersized) bigs in the league, meaning he’ll always be underpaid for his production, and has been one of the best fourth quarter players this year.
Definite win for the Kings in my book. Not sure how Martin fits in with the Rockets, he’s got talent, but its kinda like T-Mac talent. Their team is completely based off sharing the ball and being unselfish, and I’m not sure Martin will be able to settle for such a smaller role.
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 9:13 AM EST up reply actions
Martin has played for the Kings. Houston was good before Landry. I don’t like that argument.
I guess with the cap space, it evens things out, but I still think Houston got better with Martin. Ariza is clearly not a go-to scorer and that’s what they get with Martin.
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Landry > Martin
How many scoring wings are in the league?
How many 19ppg from the post big men are in the league?
They just made the same mistake we made when we signed BG to a big contract and not David Lee. Guards are easy to find— good big men are nigh impossible.
maybe a bold strategy...
guess we’ll see how it plays out
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Packey, I was thinking more from the perspective of their entire roster. They’ve got wings who score already, and I would personally argue that their stellar big man play is as much to credit for their relative success as anything.
I like Martin; he’s a good player. He’ll help. But Martin doesn’t replace what Landry gives … he gives something else entirely.
I suspect this move was probably as much about future as present, though.
I agree
I tend to think that Martin will give them more than Landry did, hence my vague equation. The Rockets have always been a solid TEAM, but they were a 50 win team when they had a T-Mac like scorer.
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Just wondering, has Martin ever had a serious injury in the past few years?
It doesn’t make sense that his FG% has gone from 47 to 45 to 42 to 40 (though he has an excuse this year, he was red hot before his injury).
The reason why I don’t think Martin is elite (not sarcastic elite) is because is such a 1 way player. He does rebound at a fairly good rate for a guard, but I think that has more to do with the Kings previous lack of a front line. I’m not sure how good of a defender he is, but at the very least I know he’s not known for being a good one. The thing that gacks me is that he takes 6 FG per assist (and that’s not accounting for fg he got fouled and went to line on) for his career.
In comparison, since Larry Brown smacked sense into Rip, he has flirted around only 3-4 FG per assist (his best being 04-05). He has always been a better team player, and that’s why I’d take 20 points from someone like him over Martin’s.
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 10:02 AM EST up reply actions
In fairness to T-Mac
He has always averaged 5-6 assists in his time in Houston. As much as people plague him for his teams never making the second round, you can’t fault him for not sharing the ball.
T-Mac has a career 34% assist rate in the playoffs, 27% in the regular season
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mcgratr01.html
Martin, on the other hand, has only an 11% assist rate. And that’s why I don’t think he fits in with Houston.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/martike02.html
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 10:05 AM EST up reply actions
But as you said, that’s Houston’s style — they move the ball around so naturally, T-Mac was going to get some assists. T-Mac also had Yao.
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Actually, yeah, Martin missed time with a non-shooting wrist injury.
From January 28:
“I’m relaxed, but I think I left my shot on the surgeon’s table,” Martin said. He’s still only a few weeks back from wrist surgery and shooting a dismal 31% from the floor since returning.
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No, not this year
I’m talking a few years ago. It doens’t make sense that his FG% has regressed from 47% to 40% in the past 4 years. If anything, it should have gone from 47% to 50% etc
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 10:24 AM EST up reply actions
Houston took a risk that Martin can return to the form he’s shown in the past, but I’d rather take a risk that a previously highly productive player can return to his previous level of production (especially when he is still pretty young), than do what Jod did, which was hope that a previously unproductive player (or not very productive player) can transform into a productive one. IMO, that is an important distinction.
Comparing career numbers of Martin to Gordon: here, Martin is an amazingly efficient scorer, and not a very good passer. But he compensates because relative to other high scorers, he doesn’t need to use many possessions to score his points.
Houston only has two players signed after 2010, Ariza and Martin, so they still have a lot of flexibility going forward.
I see how this is a great trade for houston, but what did the kings get other then cap space? Are they in the f.a. hunt of 2010 now?
by dandresden on Feb 18, 2010 2:57 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Carl Landry
That alone made the deal worthwhile. Now they’ve got cap space and three solid bigs for Tyreke to work with.
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 8:32 AM EST up reply actions
yeah i didnt see that landry was involved in the trade
but yeah, landry is a good pickup for the kings. it might hurt houston in the short term losing him, but once yao comes back they will be a-ok.
I just can’t believe that the Rockets are even still planning on Yao long-term at this point. I don’t think he plays another full season the rest of his career, and the Rockets probably know this. He’s just too big. It worked for a while though, and he approached “elite” big man status for a minute there, but I see chronic foot injuries pushing him to a premature retirement, a la Bill Walton. Something tells me the Rockets are going to be spending some of their loads of cash on some big men this summer.
Next year
Yao Ming will officially be known as Yao Ming’s Expiring Contract as the trade deadline nears. That’s all the Rockets can count on from him at this point. It’s makes me sad to see such a good player break down the way he has, but the Rockets have to use that contract as part of the rebuild. The NBA can be quite cruel that way.
As for Yao, it seemed like he was really putting it all together with getting the attitude of a killer/bully to go with his skills and talents. Then his feet gave up on him. Sad.
I'm just like a sports reporter, but without the insight or money.
Possibly a rejuvenated T-Mac
People forget the amount of talent McGrady has. He just breaks too easily. He could easily replace what they had in Martin if healthy.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:33 PM EST up reply actions
I think it's a case of the spirit being willing but the body being weak
Coming out of high school, he has a lot of miles on his body, nothing you would want to depend upon.
I root for the Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and yes, the Lions.
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Exactly
He’s always been that way. T-Mac would be so worn down from carrying them throughout the regular season, and the Rockets couldn’t win a playoff series for a while (and still haven’t, not sure though). It’s not the only reason they couldn’t get to the second round (injuries didn’t help), but it’s one of them.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:41 PM EST up reply actions
The Rockets got out of the first round for the FIRST time in the Tmac/Yao era...
in the first playoffs where McGrady DIDN’T play… hmmmmm…
OVER. RATED.
My point exactly
I thought he was so worn down by the playoffs that he was a detriment to the team, especially when they were asking him for 40+ minutes per game
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 19, 2010 4:34 PM EST up reply actions
Not anymore
Can’t replace Martin if he isn’t a King anymore.
He was finally worked into a 3 team deal that sends him to NY
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 1:43 PM EST up reply actions
Just saw that
There goes my theory
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:55 PM EST up reply actions
Drew Gooden
It would have been nice to see Joe trade Kwame for Gooden, I don’t think Washington had any intention of keeping him. Then again they got fairly good value out him to get Al Thornton (not exactly the best team guy to build around, but still, dude has talent).
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 8:35 AM EST reply actions
Washington got a steal: Big Z, Thornton, and a first round draft pick, all that for just Jamison?
If anything I don’t see how Jamison will help the Cavs, a reduce role will just make him another role player with James still running the show.
The Clippers got the shorter end of the deal only receiving Gooden.
All Antawn Jamison will have to do for the Cavaliers is rebound, spot up and practice his 3-point stroke. He’s going to get a lot of wide open looks playing with LeBron, Shaq and company and not have to worry about carrying the team offensively aside from playing with his teammates in the second unit. It’s a good situation for him.
For sure. Antawn’s going to make life a lot easier for everyone in Cleveland. And even though it makes me throw up in my mouth to say this, I’m actually pulling for the Cavs to win it all this year now— Jamison’s just that class of an act.
Off-Topic— does anyone else love that Mavs trade as much as I do? They’re going to be SCARY in a 7-game series. I’ve always been a huge Butler fan, and between he, JET, and Dirk, they have maybe more closers than anyone in the league. The Nuggets better do something.
by The Joel on Feb 18, 2010 11:36 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, that team desperately needed a front rim protector badly since there isn’t any good perimeter defenders on that club aside from Shawn Marion who can stop dribble penetration. Brendan Haywood could actually be a better fit than the currently-injured Erick Dampier anyway since I think he’s quicker and covers more ground than Dampier.
rec'd
I agree, I think that trade makes the Mavs the second-best team in the West (the best when Kobe isn’t hurt)
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:35 PM EST up reply actions
Looks like Washingotn is going to waive Big Z.
And Cleveland is going to pick him up (a la Lindsey Hunter in the Rasheed Wallace deal). Now if that happens I will admit that the Cavs got the better end of the deal but as of right now I think Washington has it.
It’ll depend on what Washington does with their cap space to determine if they come out on the better end of the deal. I’m still of the mind state that most if not all the big name free agents of this summer will re-sign with their current teams, which will leave awfully slim pickings for teams looking to do major offseason shopping. But we’ll see.
One other factor, though...
Even if Wash. doesn’t use all its cap this summer, I’ve gotta believe that some teams will be anxious to dump salary in preparation for a new CBA…
If they fill the roster and manage to hang onto a bit of cap room, they could absorb a quality player or two that other teams simply need to dump.
It’s still iffy, but it’s possible.
If Washington changed their name back to the "Bullets"...
I would give much more of a shit about them. I just don’t think it’s in the cards for a professional sporting team called “The Wizards” to ever be taken seriously.
Why do I have this feeling..
like Detroit is going to come away with nothing in the next hour or two. sigh.
I would bet pretty much everything I got
that Detroit makes zero deals. Even without that little press release, nothing Dumars is willing to part with is something another team will give up fair value for.
Another lame deadline passes, and Cleveland picks up more talent. I am actively hating on and rooting against those bozos, I hope they lose to Orlando.
"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee." — Drew Gooden.
Why is Kwame still here?
We should have gotten something out of him by now. Kuester clearly doesn’t like his energy level (even if he won’t directly say it), so its not like Brown will start be playing a lot all of the sudden.
Jared Jefferies is a nice perimeter defender, I’m sure NY would love to trade him + 2 second round picks for Brown. And as many faults Joe has, he seems to be great with second rounders. How amazing would that be if we come out with both Parakhouski and Varnado?
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 1:22 PM EST reply actions
I agree a lot. There’s no reason we couldn’t turn Kwame into something useful, even if it’s a short-term bad contract and picks.
NY just got seriously ripped off
Turns out they finally got rid of Jefferies. For their 2012 pick and the rights to switch picks in 2011 (both first round).
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 1:51 PM EST up reply actions
I must say, that’s a good quality ’shop
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 1:53 PM EST up reply actions
Not mine
I Googled it. But yes, it’s pretty damn good. Way better than anything I’ve ever done.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:54 PM EST up reply actions
I take that back
Houston just ripped off both Sacramento and NY.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
I disagree
Sacramento got their money’s worth. If anything, before NY agreed to give up those picks, they were getting ripped off. Carl Landry is much more valuable than Kevin Martin. There are very few Carl Landry(s) in the league, there are tons of one dimensional scorers, many of which cannot make the league.
However the two picks are a steal for just McGrady. In his prime he was better than Martin, but I doubt he’s even a 20 ppg player after all the injuries. And if he is, it’ll be purely because of NY’s up tempo style, not because of outstanding shooting ability or athleticism.
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 2:02 PM EST up reply actions
In the short term, yes
but Jordan Hill is still a rookie and could turn out to fit that mold left by Landry. I’m not saying he will be, just that he could. If it pans out, Houston could look really good in the long run.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 2:11 PM EST up reply actions
Knicks are even listening to offers on Lee.
Which until very recently, they weren’t.
D’Antoni must want Hamilton or Prince for his team… that franchise desperately needs vet(s) with their kind of post season experience.
"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee." — Drew Gooden.
What the HELL
NY just gave up their 2012 first round pick and the right to swap picks in 2011 with Houston to get rid of Jared Jefferies’ contract.
WHAT THE HELL JOE? Would it have killed us to take on an extra year’s worth of salary to get NY’s 2012 pick? And there’s no guarantee they will get a superstar, so who knows, that 2011 pick could be very valuable too!
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 1:45 PM EST reply actions
Milwaukee got ripped off
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=4924897
Hakeem Warrick and Joe Alexander for John Salmons. I’d rather have Warrick than Salmons any day
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 2:05 PM EST reply actions
Alexander is talented too
He was a Top 10 pick, I wouldn’t write him off as a bust yet.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 2:07 PM EST up reply actions
Alexander played like shit for the Bucks though. Ilyasova outplayed him by a long shot and made him expendable.
A rookie played like shit
Not very surprising, especially when I believe Alexander had another year of eligibility left at WVU (and should have stayed IMO). Ilyasova played professionally in Turkey before coming to the NBA. I’d expect him to play better because of that experience.
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by handsomerob1 on Feb 18, 2010 2:18 PM EST up reply actions
*Salmons of this year
I would have done this in a heartbeat last year when Salmons was on fire. His contract is very good, but he just isn’t producing at all this year.
by bearded thundar on Feb 18, 2010 2:07 PM EST up reply actions
CV is dead weight.
Unless he wakes up and decides he wants to be completely dedicated to winning and working hard. Which he is not.
Hard one(loss) to swallow, thats what she said.
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