Archive for October, 2005

Chat with the voice of the Pistons

Published by Matt Watson on October 31, 2005 in Interviews. 0 Comments

Here’s a pretty sweet way to get excited for the season — chat with George Blaha at 11 a.m. on Wednesday:

One of the most recognizable sports personalities in Detroit and the NBA, George Blaha will begin his 30th consecutive season as the television and radio play-by-play voice of the Pistons in 2005-06.

The “Voice of the Pistons” is now, with the retirement of Tigers legend Ernie Harwell, the longest tenured play-by-play broadcaster in the state of Michigan.

Blaha’s extensive knowledge of basketball and his trademark colloquialisms such as “two and twenty-two to play” and “a high glass gun that goes” have thrilled Pistons fans of all ages for almost three decades.

Chat with Blaha on Wednesday, November 2 at 11:00 a.m.* online at Pistons.com.

Chat With George Blaha [Pistons.com]

Get ready for the real games

Published by Matt Watson on October 31, 2005 in Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

The Pistons wrapped up the preseason with Friday’s 96-92 loss to the Timberwolves in the basketball mecca that is Rapid City, South Dakota. Pay no heed to the final score, as Chauncey, Ben and McDyess sat out to avoid injury, and Rasheed, Tay and Rip played less than 15 minutes. Carlos Arroyo made the most of his start, scoring 17 points with 12 assists, and Maurice Evans was great off the bench (24 points, four boards, two assists, three steals and a block).

I’d say the theme of the preseason has to be the emergence of the bench. It became increasingly evident that the starters were simply taxed by the end of the playoffs, so it was encouraging to see guys like Maurice Evans, Darko, Delfino and ArroyoRonald Dupree belongs in this list, but the latest scuttlebut has him being traded or waived in favor of rookie point guard Alex Acker by Monday’s 6 p.m. roster deadline step up. Plus, it’s nice to see a veteran team re-load through the draft: at least two rookies and possibly three (Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson and Alex Acker) will make this team.

Also, it looks like the Tayshaun deal is done: MLive is reporting reporting $47 million over five years. Sigh. I’m used to the days when $9 million a year was A LOT of money. I’ll give Joe Dumars the benefit of the doubt, even though I definitely raised an eyebrow at the negotiations. Maybe I’ll go deeper into this sometime in the next day or two while waiting for the real games.

So, with a meaningless month of exhibition stats in the books, gear up for Wednesday’s season opener against the Sixers. Here’s a bit of news to chew on: the pesky Samuel Dalembert will be sidelined.

Minnesota 96, Detroit 92 box score [ESPN]
Prince agrees to deal, Pistons to make one last cut [MLive]
Injury to sideline Dalembert up to two weeks [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Prince wants more money than Dunleavy

Published by Matt Watson on October 28, 2005 in Contracts, From the news and Games. 1 Comment

Joe Dumars is still confident he’ll get Tayshaun Prince to sign, but he may have to up the offer based on what Golden State is doing:

Over the last couple of days, a new wrinkle has come to the bargaining table — a wrinkle named Mike Dunleavy.

The Warriors fourth-year forward is also working on a five-year extension, and reports out of Golden State believe Dunleavy wants a $50 million deal.

The Warriors, it is believed, have offered him a deal closer to $40 million.

How does this impact Prince? From the Pistons’ standpoint, it doesn’t. Dumars has said repeatedly that he can’t let how other teams structure their payroll dictate how he structures the Pistons’.

But from Prince’s point of view, Dunleavy’s contract matters. Dunleavy was the third overall pick in the 2003 draft, Prince was the 23rd. Both are the same size and play the same position.

Since the two have been in the league, Prince has been to the playoffs every year, including two straight trips to the Finals and one title. Dunleavy and the Warriors have never been in the playoffs.

And Prince has dominated statistically, especially when the two have matched up against each other. Prince has more points, rebounds and assists over his career — despite generally being the fourth option. He’s also by far a better defender.

Two years ago in a game at Oakland, Prince hit seven straight shots on Dunleavy at the start of the game, causing Dunleavy to be benched.

So to Prince, accepting a contract for less money than Dunleavy would be unconscionable.

If the Warriors compromise and give Dunleavy $45 million, the Pistons will have to go a bit higher. If they don’t, Prince will probably test the free-agent waters.

“You don’t want it to come to that,” Prince said. “But at the same time, you have to do what’s right for yourself.”

I need to get Mike Dunleavy’s agent to negotiate my next contract. I was skeptical about Prince being worth $10 million a year, but Dunleavy? If he had been the third pick of the second round instead of the first, he’d be getting half of that.

In other news, how about Darko getting six more blocks last night. And what happened to all that Dale Davis will get extra minutes talk? Dude was a DNP-CD last night. At least Jason Maxiell was productive: 10 points, four boards and a block in seven minutes.

I didn’t see the game, but from what I can tell the only reason the Pistons lost was because the starters started to sleepwalk a bit. Understandable for the second to last exhibition game, I suppose, but they better snap out of it soon.

Dumars thinks Prince will sign [Detroit News]
Dallas 103, Detroit 76 box score [ESPN]

Hill out six weeks

Published by Matt Watson on October 27, 2005 in Former Pistons. 0 Comments

I’m only including this here because I touched upon this a few days ago:

Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill will have surgery to repair a painful lower abdominal injury and miss 3 to 6 weeks of basketball and the start of the NBA regular season.

Hill injured himself at the start of the exhibition season earlier this month and hasn’t played since. Hill said the pain is located around the pubis bone below the lower abdomen. Hill has traveled the country trying to find a remedy, but he found out today that surgery is the only solution — a week before the regular season.

Surgery is nothing new to Hill, who’s had five surgeries on his left ankle. Hill’s spot in the lineup will be filled by Hedo Turkoglu.

Tough break for a good guy.

Grant Hill to have surgery, miss up to 6 weeks [Orlando Sentinel]

Zaret joins Blaha and Laimbeer

Published by Matt Watson on October 27, 2005 in Miscellaneous. 1 Comment

Long-time Detroit sports personality Eli Zaret will join George Blaha and Bill Laimbeer in the booth this year:

Zaret, who missed out on a job with the Tigers broadcast team in 2002, will work 28 Pistons games on WB20. He’ll handle the pregame show, halftime interviews with Pistons coach Flip Saunders and also work the sidelines as a reporter.

“This is the best way to see a game,” joked Zaret on Wednesday. “I don’t want to do talk shows or the late news again, so this is going to be fun.”

I’ve always liked Zaret because he’s always been a bit more edgy than the other local sportscasters. I never really understood why he didn’t catch on as a Detroit favorite like Bernie Smilovitz.

Zaret to join Pistons telecast [Detroit Free Press]

Acker vs Dupree

Published by Matt Watson on October 27, 2005 in From the news. 1 Comment

As expected, it’s coming down to a battle between two-guard Ronald Dupree and point guard Alex Acker for the final roster spot. Acker may have a slight edge with Lindsey Hunter out early in the year — I have to think that’s a good chunk of the reason why he’s made it this far.

I wouldn’t read into the fact that both the Free Press and News wrote stories about Acker today, though. They did the same with Dupree a couple of days ago. I kind of get the feeling they’re just searching for content until the season starts.

Excerpt from the Freep:

The final two games of the exhibition season will be crucial for Pistons point guard Alex Acker, who’s in danger of being cut from the regular-season squad.

Acker, the 60th overall pick of the 2005 NBA draft, has a simple approach to tonight’s game at Dallas and Friday’s game against Minnesota in Rapid City, S.D.

“Try not to cut myself,” Acker said. “That’s all I’m trying to do. I don’t want that to happen.

“I’m trying to go hard every day.”

Acker, who has averaged 2.8 points, 2.8 assists and 1.8 rebounds and 7.8 minutes in five exhibition games, is battling swingman Ronald Dupree for the final roster spot.

Acker said the coaching staff hasn’t approached him about what he needs to do better, and he prefers it that way.

“They want me to stay comfortable, to see me perform,” Acker said.


Pistons’ Acker plays cool on roster hot seat [Detroit Free Press]
Don’t let Acker know his status [Detroit News]

More national press for Darko

Published by Matt Watson on October 25, 2005 in From the news. 0 Comments

Just a few of months ago, you couldn’t find anyone in the press saying something positive about Darko. Now, everyone loves him. Excerpt from today’s article in USA Today:

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Darko Milicic hasn’t gotten enough playing time during the last two seasons to even earn a varsity letter. But each year, when the NBA trading deadline approaches, Detroit Pistons players parade to Joe Dumars to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid — such as trade the multitalented 7-0 center, who rarely got on court under former coach Larry Brown.

“They keep telling me not to give up on him and that he can really play,” says Dumars, president of basketball operations for the Pistons. “I just smile because they’re preaching to the choir.”

The rest of the league could be about to see what Detroit sees as Milicic enters his third season — his first away from the hard-to-please Brown, his first under the more favorable eye of new coach Flip Saunders.

Darko has to feel like he’s on top of the world. He was nothing but the Human Victory Cigar under Larry Brown, but Flip Saunders is actually excited about using him:

“I’m not comparing him to Kevin (Garnett), but he is a lot like Kevin when we had him when he was younger,” says Saunders, who coached Garnett for 10 seasons in Minnesota before being fired last season. “If you sat up in the stands and watched Kevin run, you thought he was 6-5 or 6-6. Darko is like that.”

Milicic, who is left-handed, also has a nice shooting touch and an assortment of inside moves. He prefers to play facing the basket but also is effective with his back to it.

“I’m both excited and surprised,” Saunders says. “It’s going to be a long process for Darko because he is still only 20 years old and there are a lot of things he still has to go through to get where he wants to be. But you can see why he was drafted where he was drafted.

“We’re going to use him because I think he can help us win.”

I’m just hoping that everyone stays realistic and doesn’t expect the world. A realistic best-case scenario involves Darko becoming a valuable reserve, playing 15-20 minutes a game tops, scoring about 7 points a game with 4-5 boards and a block. I still think his upside is Dirk Nowitski, but that probably won’t happen for a few more years.

Pistons say Milicic’s time is coming [USATODAY.com]

Can Saunders handle Sheed?

Published by Matt Watson on October 25, 2005 in From the news and Sheed said it. 1 Comment

That’s the question posed by Free Press today, and Saunders thinks it’s just ridiculous:

“You gotta realize, I was a junior college coach and coached guys who people didn’t want. I was a (Continental Basketball Association) coach for eight years. You coach down there for eight years, you can deal with anybody.”

Hey Rasheed, what do you think about your current critics?

“We’ll see them bandwagon ass-cats come May and June,” Wallace said.

Pistons’ theory? Expect gentle ‘Sheed [Detroit Free Press]

Saunders gets creative with free throws

Published by Matt Watson on October 25, 2005 in From the news. 1 Comment

It’s not often teams try to do anything fancy on free throw attempts. I mean, what can you really do? One guy shoots, the other guys jockey for position to get the rebound, right? Well, Flip Saunders has designed a play he hopes will occasionally catch the opposition off guard, and he broke it out on Saturday against Miami:

Antonio McDyess was shooting the second of two free throws. The Pistons were lined up around the lane as usual, except that Carlos Delfino had positioned himself deep in the baseline corner, behind the three-point line. Upon McDyess’ release, the Pistons executed a series of screens and blockouts while Delfino raced to the basket unchecked along the baseline. He wound up slam-dunking the missed free-throw attempt in the face of the stunned Heat players.

. . . snip . . .

As long as Delfino starts from behind the three-point arc, and as long as he doesn’t cross it until the ball is released, he can legally pursue the offensive rebound from that position.

The rule states, “Players not occupying lane spaces must remain on the court behind the three-point line and may not be touching the line or floor inside of the line when the ball is released.”

Saunders will use that play with Delfino, Richard Hamilton or Carlos Arroyo, and he doesn’t really care if other teams know it.

“If we execute it correctly, they shouldn’t be able to guard it,” Saunders said.

That’s because, if everybody does his job, the play boils down to a foot race to the basket between one of the Pistons’ fastest players and his defender.

Eventually, defending teams will position a player in the corner, as well. But, since the ball isn’t there, that defender isn’t allowed to impede the forward progress of the Pistons player. All he can do is try to beat him to the basket.

And Saunders likes his odds with speedsters Delfino, Hamilton and Arroyo.

The Pistons tried it twice before Saturday’s game, but the team was whistled for a line violation both times. This time, Saunders warned the refs before the game, explaining why it wasn’t actually illegal.

I didn’t see the game, so I’m still a little confused at how this actually goes down, but it sounds like a pretty nifty card to have in the deck.

Basketball 101: Free-throw lane violations [Detroit News]

Grant Hill’s latest medical woes

Published by Matt Watson on October 24, 2005 in Former Pistons. 1 Comment

I grew up watching the Bad Boys, but by the time I actually got a chance to go see some games in person, the Pistons had fallen on some pretty hard times. I had one of those 12-game mini-season ticket packages in 1993-94, so I caught the tail end of the (thankfully short) Ronny Rothstein era.

What do I remember? Bill Laimbeer playing 11 games before calling it quits; Sean Elliott pouting in his only season in Detroit; Isiah Thomas sadly picking up a few DNP-CD’s before resentfully passing the torch to rookie Lindsey Hunter; Terry Mills turning in the best season of his career, and me believing it was just the start of things to come.

The Pistons won just 20 games that year, but the silver lining was that they were awarded the second overall pick in the 1994 draft. Grant Hill immediately made being a Pistons fan fun again. I attended his very first exhibition game at the Palace — the Pistons won the tipoff, Dumars dribbled up court and tossed a picture perfect alley-oop to Hill for the first points of the game. I kid you not, it couldn’t have been scripted any better.

Hill got the Pistons back to the playoffs by his second season, and he kept them there for four of the next five years. The media loved his clean-cut image, and he was universally regarded as the “next” Michael Jordan, before Kobe, and before LeBron.

Even though Hill bolted for Orlando as a free agent in 2000, it’s impossible for me to hold any ill-will against him: it was his sign-and-trade deal that brought Detroit Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins, and he hasn’t exactly had an easy time of things since moving on.

He arrived in Orlando with a balky left ankle, and after countless surgeries and comebacks, he played just 47 games over the first four years of his contract. He finally stayed healthy long enough to play 67 games last year, but even though he finished with decent stats, you can’t help but feel for a guy that was basically robbed of the prime of his career.

Where am I going with this? Well, all of this is basically just an extended intro to this piece of news:

Hill missed the Magic’s 105-100 exhibition victory against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night at TD Waterhouse Centre with what the club called an abdomen strain.

But there’s obviously just as much stress as strain for the Magic.

Hill said he would travel to Philadelphia today and be evaluated Monday by Dr. William Meyers, an abdomen/groin specialist who has treated some of the biggest stars in pro sports.

Magic team doctor Joe Billings said Hill’s magnetic resonance imaging results — which were shipped Friday from Orlando for viewing by a doctor in California — showed no obvious tear.

But Billings said there is “concern” because Hill is still in pain, necessitating the trip to see Meyers, who has treated Nomar Garciaparra, Donovan McNabb and Roy Oswalt.

“If it was a big tear, we would have seen it on the MRI, but there’s concern because he’s still pretty sore,” Billings said.

Hill will probably sit out the last two exhibition games, and his status for the season opener on Nov. 2 looks to be in question. Hopefully this is nothing, because I’d really like to see this guy put all of his injury problems behind him once and for all. Poor guy is already 33 years old. . . one year older than Isiah when he finally hung it up back in 1994.

Magic’s Hill to see specialist [Orlando Sentinel]

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