The Morning Shootaround Is Finally Healthy
by Matt Watson on Feb 3, 2010 6:02 AM EST
in Morning Shootaround
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Print• How bad have the injuries been this year? So bad that 47 games into the season, Tuesday was just the second time all season that John Kuester had his entire roster at his disposable. From Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News:
"It's going to be interesting, getting everyone back," Kuester said. "But the bottom line is, we have to start playing well."
[...] "You would hope at this stage of the year, you're adding more and more and more in regards to plays you want to use or defensive schemes," Kuester said. "But it's been like the start of training camp all over again. But it's good to get everyone back and let's see what happens."
Sadly, everyone isn't completely healthy -- Charlie Villanueva is clearly less than 100%, and Ben Gordon is still struggling with this rhythm, if not his groin injury -- but it's a start.
• Speaking of Kulfan, he has no love for the Meadowlands. DBB reader Other Matt agrees.
• Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News talking with Ben Wallace:
When asked if he was lucky or it was a testament to being around, he said, "Both. Lucky because I've been around for a while."
Wallace, who will turn 36 in September, doesn't yet know if he'll spend his birthday preparing for another training camp, or his first year away from the game he loves. As for today, he's as healthy as he's been in years.
"Man, I'm trying to win some games," he said. "You're talking about playing another year?"
• More on Wallace, this time from MLive's Chris Iott on Wallace becoming the 17th player in league history to block 2,000 shots (and the only player on that list shorter than 6-foot-10):
"Shot blocking is not always about big guys going in and blocking shots," Wallace said. "You’ve got timing, footwork, being in the right place at the right time and being on a solid defensive team."
Wallace explained that when his teammates play good defense, it causes opposing players to take bad shots, which allows him more opportunities for blocks.
• MLive's Justin Rogers is thinking about the draft -- in particular, Evan Turner, Derrick Favors and Al-Farouq Aminu.
• Speaking of prospects, the comment section in the Adopt-a-Prospect FanPost is the gift that keeps on giving. It's a few days old, but if you haven't seen it yet, this ridiculously (and awesomely) thorough scouting report on Favors and Cole Aldrich is worth your time.
• Natalie from Need4Sheed with the pretty moving pictures from last night.
• The Pistons may not have any representatives in the All-Star game, but they do have two players on Empty the Bench's Most Consistently Inconsistent list. Yay?
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CelticsBlog relays
The report from CBS that Detroit has interest in Kendrick Perkins. Er, not really has interest in him, but the reporter feels he’d be a good fit in the D.
Detroit Bad Boys- SB Nation's Detroit Pistons Blog
Twitter
To quote Kenyon Martin watching Kwame take a jumper . . .
Oh HELL no. I don’t want that stupid angry turkey face on my team.
agreed
And Jeff at CB thinks there’s no shot they’d trade him anyway.
Detroit Bad Boys- SB Nation's Detroit Pistons Blog
Twitter
here's a laugher from the CelticsBlog comments
I’d move Perkins and Scalabrini Total Salary $7.7M and ask for Stuckey and Villanueva Total Salary $8.3M.
I think that Stuckey is the next great scoring machine to replace RA and Villanueva is a lost puppy who needs a KG for direction. Rasheed would then be the main Center force since he seems to be sleeping right now.
by BigT1942
Detroit Bad Boys- SB Nation's Detroit Pistons Blog
Twitter
No worse...
… than some of the Piston’s-centric trade stuff that gets thrown against the wall around here.
But, yeah. Seriously?
by Big Z in Orlando on Feb 3, 2010 11:41 AM EST up reply actions
Oh Christ
THIS IS WHY NOBODY LIKES THE CELTICS. JESUS GUYS, YOU HADN’T WON A CHAMPIONSHIP IN OVER TWENTY YEARS AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, YOU DESERVE DAVID STERN’S HEAD ON A PLATE BECAUSE THE T’WOLVES GAVE YOU KG OUTRIGHT.
I mean godalmighty, you can’t say the Lakers are worse because the Celtics fans have such a sense of selfenfuckingtitlement. Who CARES if you’re the winningest franchise of all time.
I need a glass of water. Beside, Stuckey has pictures of Joe Dumars having a dogfight/orgy in his basement, so you KNOW he aint’ getting traded.
by Biz Markie Moon on Feb 3, 2010 11:46 AM EST up reply actions
Do Dumars dogs win their fights, is the question
"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee." — Drew Gooden.
by Skylar on Feb 3, 2010 11:49 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
They do...
provided they’re trained by an elite level coach.
by Birdman84 on Feb 3, 2010 12:13 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Love the Shotblocking 101 quote by Ben Wallace
My hope is that he stays in Detroit to coach the new breed of Detroit Hellions and guides us into a new and prosperous era of defensive savagery
"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee." — Drew Gooden.
Perk is a Beast
I like Perkins (as a player). He plays good defense. He’s a good rebounder and he always makes that hook shot that he backs down for five minutes to get off.
Speaking of which, I’d be willing to bet that he can’t pass off the dribble, so I have no idea why teams don’t double him once he puts the ball on the floor. He makes that hook shot EVERY TIME so you have nothing to lose and more than likely a turnover to game.
DRAFT
Regarding Justin Rogers draft post. This is my ranking based on what little I’ve seen…
1. DeMarcus Cousins – A freak athlete for his size. NBA body. Great production. The red flags is character and a lack of commitment to defense.
2. Derrick Favors – He didn’t impress me when I saw him play, but supposedly he’s a great athlete that plays good defense.
3. Cole Aldrich – Solid Pryzbilla-like Center.
4. Ed Davis – Best case is Al Horford according to draftexpress.
Hopefully, the Pistons can get a low first round pick as well or some big men will drop to Round Two. I could see Greg Monroe, Jarvis Varnado or Larry Sanders falling to lower in the first round (or further).
Chauncey's replacing CP3 at the all-star game
An impressive 5th straight appearance.
Round of applause for Mr. Big Shot.
Statistically
Perkins is a decent rebounder, but not great by any means. His 8.3 rpg is less than even our own 35-year-old Ben Wallace.
As for passing— he only comes off with 1.1 assists per game compared to 2.5 turnovers— which is pretty insane given that he takes so few attempts per game. Guys like Brook Lopez turn the ball over as much as Perkins does, but Lopez is a top 2 option for the Nets, so he turns the ball over 2.5 times a game vs. 13.9 attempts, quite forgivable especially for a 2nd year player. Perkins, on the other hand, turns it over a LOT, and only takes 7.4 attempts per game. With that, he reminds me of other Mike Payne Favorite™ Tyson Chandler, who loves to turn the ball over constantly even though he doesn’t take any shots.
One other thing I mentioned upthread was that Perkins is pretty bad at offensive rebounding. He’s collected half as many offensive boards than Ben Wallace has this year. He’s way the hell down the list in terms of Orebs, 39th in the league. All of those lost possessions that he alone is supposed to generate can really hurt a team, especially one like the Pistons who have relied on Ben Wallace’s offensive rebounding SO MUCH this year.
Alternatively, there’s another player on the trade market who is a MUCH BETTER rebounder, better shot blocker, better ball-handler and lateral defensive player— and has $12M expiring next season, making him a great trade piece should he not work out in a Pistons uniform. But we’ve all discussed this player ad nauseum all season long… It’s just interesting to hear people lust after Perkins when this guy is a step up in terms of what a Center is supposed to be doing…
Dalembert
If we get a post scorer in the draft (like my boy Cousins), then I think Dalembert would be awesome, but with everybody talking about how we need more front court scoring even with V-Nuv, Dalembert isn’t what I’d want, but then again, you’ve stats. I don’t.
by Biz Markie Moon on Feb 3, 2010 5:02 PM EST up reply actions
I still like your Gasol idea
Looking at what Memphis is going to have on the books in terms of reupping young players, they may be forced to let Gasol walk …
I don’t like dumping salary for cap space this summer, but I’m intrigued by the possibility of doing it for summer 2011.
Dalambert fits both scenarios well. And $12 million on him can’t be worse than $12 million on Gordon.
I think Memphis will be just fine
They have $25 million off the books with Randolph and Jaric alone. They won’t need to extend Mayo or Thabeet until 2012 and 2013, respectively, and Mike Conley isn’t even worth the qualifying offer they’ll be forced to tender next summer (thus preventing them from needing to open the check book any further).
Bidding against Memphis for Marc Gasol would 1) be possible only if we added a second big expiring contract (dalembert, but in addition to retaining Prince), and 2) may prove too costly as the market for marc could be overvalued.
If a trade involving Hamilton (or kwame, maxiell + contract) brought us Dalembert, we’d be in a great position to bring in Gasol (or failing that, Landry).
In short, I don’t think Memphis will have any reason to let Gasol walk, and few teams will have the kind of money needed to pull that off, Detroit not currently among them.
Are you sure they’ll let Randolph go over Gasol? I’m not. If they retain Randolph at a high price, then they have to decide between Gasol and the rest of the guys you just mentioned. Memphis has never been one to overspend either … I could see them sigining Randolph and then retaining those others guys and being content with mediocrity.
But, that’s pure speculation on my part, and I could be completely wrong.
Memphis MGMT is super high on Gasol.
If I had to lay a wager, it’d be that they keep Gasol over Randolph.
"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee." — Drew Gooden.
and it makes the mgmt look waaaay smarter for trading pau.
by C$ on Feb 4, 2010 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
z key
OT:
I’m pretty sure I’ve hit my “z” key more since DBB 2.0 began than I have in my entire life prior.
by brgulker on Feb 3, 2010 5:02 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I’ve actually started pressing Z on other forums where it doesn’t actually work.
by garrettelliott on Feb 3, 2010 5:43 PM EST up reply actions
Could we get Jawai?
Take a shot at a guy that can’t be any worse than Kwame?
I get the feeling he and Minnesota might be partial to a trade.
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