Morning Shootaround: Media Day Recap
by Packey on Sep 28, 2010 6:00 AM EDT
in Morning Shootaround
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PrintWith the start of camp, the "morning shootaround" will peek its hairless little head out into the open more often. Yesterday was media day, so there's plenty of links and stuff from those in attendance. Let's not waste any time:
- Game On. "Joe Dumars set up the roster he handed John Kuester to ensure competition for minutes at every position."
- Rodney Stuckey clarified his comment to Dime Mag, saying that they misquoted him and he said the Pistons are "among" the best teams in the league on paper.
- Richard Hamilton is not sure what to make of the new technical foul rules.
- Terrico White is on Twitter. The account @tee23white was confirmed as being him.
- PistonPowered recorded an interview of Tracy McGrady, but you can barely hear a thing. The Ben Gordon video is more audible.
- Was point guard Vernon Hamilton extended an invite to Pistons camp? He sent out an all-caps tweet Friday saying he was signed, but we haven't heard anything from the local beat writers. According to Hamilton, the Ukraine offices haven't sent his release yet, but his Twitter profile is decked out in Detroit Pistons, so he seems pretty intent on being with the Pistons for at least this preseason. UPDATE (1:02 p.m. est): Vernon Hamilton officially joined the Pistons for camp, according to Chris Iott.
- The official @detroitpistons Twitter page has a bunch of pictures from media day.
- A lot of the pictures on the Twitter page, you'll see, are players sitting down for a live chat with fans. The chat was moderated by Keith Langlois and one of his co-workers over at pistons.com. There were a lot of PR-scripted cliches, but after the jump are some of the more notable questions/answers from the chat:
Q: How are you going to take the next step this year into becoming one of the NBA's elite point guards?
A: "I think it's all just becoming a leader of the team and I'll just gradually flow into it. I think the more we win, the better it looks."
Q: Do you still eat babies?
A: "That popped up my 2nd year. Some people don't like it, but I think it's fun."
______________________
Q: How do you plan on playing an even bigger role this year?
_____________________
Q: Who is your idol?
A: "Out of bball it's my grandfather. In bball, it's Charles Barkley and the old Shawn Kemp. I mean the young Shawn Kemp."
A: "Aw yeah, Easy. I crush it on Maxiell all the time in practice."
Q: How many assists do you plan on having this year?
A: "It just depends on if I start or not. I'm shooting for 10, but if I fall in the 7-8 range I'll be good."
______________________
A: "Stuckey's crazy, man."
Ben Gordon
Q: Ben, would you rather be 6th man of the year or a starter?
A: "As long as me and Willy B are out there at the same time, whatever.
_____________________
Q: What are you most looking forward to this season?
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Austin Daye:
Q: Which current players do you look up to?
A: "Ben Wallace and Kobe Bryant just because their work ethics are out of this world. Just being around Ben and knowing Kobe's personality. Also Rudy Gay. He's played well for Team USA this summer."
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Q: Hey Austin, have you gotten a lot stronger this summer?
A: "I've gained about 9 pounds of productive weight this offseason. I look forward to using it to my advantage this offseason."
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Q: Have you been working on that three pointer?
A: "I've been working on a lot of things this summer, but I've been focusing on my post play the most."
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Jonas Jerebko
Q: What have you been working on most this summer?
A: "Probably mid-range and ball-handling is what I've been working on the most. After that just the overall game."
___________________
Q: Stort Grattis till en supersäsong som första svensk i NBA (Congratulations for a superb debute as the first Swede in NBA) I've been following most every game of the Pistons since -05 and I'm really glad you ended up there. You make us all proud of your efforts last year. Feeling good about this season? Want to see the playoffs?
A: "hej till alla mina svenska fans dar hemma. folj mig denna sasongen!"
___________________
Q: Jonas, how much better have you gotten on offense?
A: "I'm a lot more confident that I was last year. I've only been in the NBA one year, so it's going to take time. Hopefully I'll show fans that I've got more to my off. game than I did last year."
___________________
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Q: Have you been practicing that little hook shot you got?
A: "Of course, that's my shot and it can always get better. You'll see it more this year."
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Terrico White
Q: What have you been working on this summer?
A: "My ballhandling and my shooting (deep and mid-range)."
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Q: We going to see those hops you got this year?
A: "Yeah, I'm gonna show it on defense, block some shots. I'm definitely going to show it."
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Q: Hey Terrico, you or Will Bynum in a dunk contest, who wins?
A: "I think I'll win, because I've already got some style dunks like a windmill. But Will would probably give me a really good challenge - for his height."
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Q: What part of your game will get you on the floor?
A: "Just my scoring ability."
_____________________
DaJuan Summers
Q: Who would you say is the funniest player on the team?
A: "Maxiell. He's just always making me laugh. He's silly, a jokester."
Note from Moderator: "T-Mac was easily the most requested player both here in the chat and at the other media stations."
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I would've loved to see Maxiell's face
when MFWB said that.
BTW, have you guys had issues with all the text in your posts not appearing? It’s happened to me 3 times already on 2 different computers. I dismissed it at first thinking I just fat fingered the keyboard, but not 2 more times after that.
As long as me and Willy B are out there at the same time, whatever.
Hm. That’s interesting. I wonder if there’s a split on pg loyalties….
Interesting, because I had the same reaction as Shinons
Also, I’m wondering whether I should try and learn Swedish.
I think its interesting that...
Other than MFWB, Maxy and BG. None of the players mentioned they were interested to see what others can bring to the table.
I do like the level of confidence they seem to display in their tone and confidence for each other though.
Actually
on the KL article both Hamilton and Prince talk about the excitement towards the level of competition in camp and how they will all be basically fighting for their spots.
At the moment, it seems as if everyone is saying more or less the right thing. They are all gonna go out to compete with each other and they are pleased with that.
Oh and there was also an interview or something about the Villanueva vs Jerebko matchup thats coming (somewhere), but I didn’t read it.
Where in the world is Chris Wilcox?
All kinds of interesting stuff
Rodney Stuckey clarified his comment to Dime Mag, saying that they misquoted him and he said the Pistons are “among” the best teams in the league on paper.
Oh? So then it was just “among” the most retarded comments of the summer.
Richard Hamilton is not sure what to make of the new technical foul rules.
That’s too bad. It should be obvious. Keep your yap shut or end up in the locker room.
Jason Maxiell
Q: How do you plan on playing an even bigger role this year?
A: “More offense than the past few years. Trying to be the offensive PF besides Charlie.”
Uh… Jason, we love you, but not because of your offense. Marginal players should really focus on what they do best (see Rodman, Dennis) and not on what they are barely proficient at. Less fade-away 15 footers this year would actually be a good thing.
Ben Gordon
Q: Ben, would you rather be 6th man of the year or a starter?
A: "As long as me and Willy B are out there at the same time, whatever.
I was glad to hear the explanation above that MFWB was sitting next to Gordon at the time, because otherwise this quote is dangerous and confusing. Stuckey/Gordon and Bynum/Rip actually make a lot more sense as pairings, if you ask me.
Jonas Jerebko
Q: Have you been practicing that little hook shot you got?
A: “Of course, that’s my shot and it can always get better. You’ll see it more this year.”
by Big Z in Orlando on Sep 28, 2010 1:39 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
competition for minutes at every position...
Ummm, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Great, everybody’s mediocre. Wonder how much competition for minutes Tim Duncan, Karl Malone or Shaq had. Can we get a Dwight Howard, please?
The unbalanced roster makes it worse, and too many competitions is bad for continuity
First, in some positions, the problem is we don’t have a lot of good players. At center, it’s Ben W., and um, Chris Wilcox and a couple of PFs who would be playing out of position (and yes, I’m including Monroe in that). Meanwhile, at SG, Rip and BG probably both deserve more than 24 minutes a night. And then we have the mess o’ SFs. Most-all of them have real plusses as well as potential problems — but how are we going to give them enough minutes to figure out what to do? And are Stuckey and Bynum really going to compete for the starting PG position?
Because it’s not that I think Stuckey or Bynum is necessarily Obviously Better. It’s that constantly shifting lineups are bad for continuity. So I wonder, how long are these competitions for starting positions going to last? When are we going to get some semblance of a regular rotation (starters and bench)? We’ve had way too many lineups (including some WTF? lineups) in the past couple of years, what with the injuries, player moves, and general roster imbalance. While I’m not sure exactly who I would play for how many minutes given this roster, I think it would be better to get that straightened out sooner rather than later, so guys would get used to playing with each other.
In other words, two guys competing for one starting position and two other guys competiting for a main backup position might well be good. But ongoing competition for up to four starting positions, plus the ridiculous logjam at SF, has some significant downsides.
BODY..
Dude is a monster. Glad to hear that they SOUND like they are motivated. Like to see it on the court though.
http://thefilmnest.com
Michigan, Pistons, Wings, Tigers, Chargers 'til I die.
After taking that picture...
Ben Wallace put down the sledgehammer, picked up Austin Daye and said, “Nope, still lighter.”
Terrence J. is feeling a bit fishy...
by Trout Jefferson on Sep 28, 2010 5:48 PM EDT reply actions 4 recs
After Seeing This Pic Of TMac
I was wondering, do the Pistons have an official taxidermist?
by V. on Sep 29, 2010 6:08 AM EDT reply actions 3 recs
No but Madame Tussaud is a big fan.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
by The Boourns on Sep 29, 2010 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
If he starts at the 4
I will quit watching this team play, for serious. I couldn’t stomach that, even if we’re talking TMAC from 5 seasons ago.
by brgulker on Sep 29, 2010 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
this is a serious question though
where does he fit?
there is already going to be enormous competition at the 2 and 3.
technically speaking, there is competition at every position except Center
CV31, JJ, Maxiell, Monroe, Wilcox, Diogu at PF
Gordon, Hamilton, Stuckey, White, Daye, Bynum at PG/SG
Summers, TMac, JJ, Prince at SF
Wallace, Wallace, Wallace, and Wallace at C.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
by The Boourns on Sep 29, 2010 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Honestly, since our team is built on taking advantage of mismatches in specific 1 on 1 matchups,
Our starting 5 should look like this:
PG – Ben Wallace
SG – Charlie Villanueva
SF – Will Bynum
PF – Rodney Stuckey
C – Ben Gordon
This way Ben can constantly post up the opposing team’s PG while we forece their center to guard Ben Gordon on the perimeter opening up the lanes for Bynum and Stuckey to drive past their slower defenders and if needing to do so, kick out to Charlie V for a 3 who will be able to easily shoot over 95% of the SGs in this league.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
by The Boourns on Sep 29, 2010 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions 7 recs
It's good, but. . . .
Consider, if you will, my “all SF” lineup:
PG: Tayshaun
SG: T-Mac
SF: Summers
PF: Daye
C: Jerebko
Two points. First, this creates a nightmare matchup for teams at at least four positions! Tayshaun and T-Mac are too big for opposing guards to handle! Daye and Jerebko are too quick for opposing bigs to handle! It can’t fail!
Second, depressing as it is, I honestly think it’s possible we might actually see this lineup (or something very close to it — maybe CV instead of Summers, but playing center) at some point in some game.
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And I think that lineup might actually be able to rebound the ball effectively.
"Any player that plays with emotion, it’s going to be tough. Somebody like Tayshaun, he’ll be cool. You never know what he’s thinking, but somebody like me, I might get a gang of them"
What will Hamilton do to try and avoid the technicals?
"I don’t know, put some tape over your mouth or something," Hamilton said. "Whining can be emotions. You don’t even have to say something to whine. It’s going to be very tricky."
I thought it was funny what Rip said about Tay and techs. Like a cool breeze Tay is. I’m also intrigued to see Rip wearing a mask and lips taped shut this season. Should be fun.
To experience the consequences of my own choices. This is why I live
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