Archive for February, 2006

Welcome the newest Piston, Tony Delk

Published by Ian Cameron on February 28, 2006 in From the news and Transactions. 1 Comment

A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive reports on his blog that Tony Delk, recently released by the Atlanta Hawks, will become the newest Piston sometime tomorrow morning. Delk joins the team as a second point guard option off the bench behind Lindsey Hunter. Blakely:

Obviously, Delk isn’t going to be a player that’s going to make a major impact on this team. But his presence shows that Joe D, to his credit, continues to cover all the bases in case things don’t go as planned.

And Delk, to his credit, understands he’s walking into a situation where minutes are not going to be there early on, and they may not come at all.

But a chance to win a title, at this stage of his career, was obviously an opportunity he felt was too good to pass up.

Delk has never shown much ability to distribute the ball. (He’s averaged as many dimes during his career as Sheed.) But hey, he can score…kinda. (For his career, he’s a 40% shooter, 34% from three.)

It will be interesting to see if Delk’s arrival means the departure of Alex Acker. With the Pistons’ roster set for the playoff run, Acker may be a candidate to join Amir Johnson with the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBDL.

It is rumored that the Pistons beat out the Jazz, Heat, Suns, and Lakers for Delk’s services.

A. Sherrod Blakely’s blog [MLive]
Tony Delk’s career stats [Databasebasketball.com]

No laughing in basketball

Published by Matt Watson on February 28, 2006 in From the news and Sheed said it. 3 Comments

If you haven’t already heard about it, Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas earned a technical last night after throwing Rasheed Wallace to the floor, perhaps in retaliation for Sheed splitting open Z’s skull the day before. How did Sheed react to the play? He laughed it off, which somehow earned him a technical foul, as well. (Need 4 Sheed has the video.)

Rasheed talked about it after the game:

“No laughing in basketball, it’s a serious sport or you’re going to get thrown out,” Wallace said, with a sarcastic lilt. “When you’re on top, all people are going to do is bring you down. That’s pretty much all I can say about that. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, all the techs, like three, four, five a game, all we do is win.

“That’s the ultimate spit in the face right there. They want to see the downfall, but we can’t let them.”

The Pistons are appealing Sheed’s latest tech, and with any luck, it will be repealed. As things stand today, Sheed has 15 techs, but Flip Saunders alluded the other day that a couple of those might have been repealed by the league.

Technically, this is a trend [Detroit News]

Pistons sweep up Cavaliers in spite of an inspired performance by Damon Jones

Published by Ian Cameron on February 28, 2006 in Games. 8 Comments

The Pistons beat King James and the Cavs last night, 84-72, at Quicken Home Loans Arena. The “wine and gold”–as the Cavs are referred to by their announcers (thank you, NBA League Pass)–answered my questions about their toughness by playing the Pistons close for three quarters. Zydrunas Ilgauskas even exacted a bit of revenge for Sheed’s skull-cracking, knocking him to the floor with a hard foul in the first half (which sent the Cavs’ broadcasters’ hearts all aflutter). But, alas, in true championship form, the Pistons clamped down in the fourth and drained the Cavs of their will to live. The Boys in Blue dominated the fourth, 20-9, to take home their second W versus the Cavs in 36 hours.

There’s plenty of praise to pass around for this one: Chauncey with another double double (15 points, 12 dimes); Sheed with 24, going 4 of 8 from three; Ben with 12 boards and limiting himself to three (failed) shot attempts. But there’s one man who stood out amongst his peers to define the divide between the Pistons and Cavs. That man…is Damon Jones.

Damon Jones displays a consistency only dreamt of by most NBA fans. While we lament over Sheed going 1-13 one night and 8-17 another, Cavs fans know every night exactly what to expect from “the monster that Shaq created.” Kenny Smith of TNT–who already had a history with Jones–used these exact words to describe Damon Jones during the All-Star slam dunk contest, who had somehow scored courtside seats for the contest in order to show off his new Tomato-red suit. We will forever be in debt to you, Kenny.

Case in point: Sunday afternoon saw Damon drop an energetic zero on the Pistons, while dishing out three dimes and grabbing two boards in 23 minutes. Breathtaking, really. Then last night at “tha Q” (you’d shorten your arena’s name too if it were named after a dot com), Damon again hung a big O on the Pistons, while doling out a single dime and snatching four boards in 22 minutes. The man is automatic!

No, that's about three fingers too many, Damon.

Now I know there has been a lot of “hate” on here recently, but allow me one more rant. Simply put, Damon Jones pisses me off. The trash-talking, the flash without substance, and especially that little three-finger salute he throws up after every three–its enfuriating. My contention is that, with Jones, the Heat could have run away with the “most-hated” title in our recent poll. I’m not alone in this; aside from Kenny Smith’s documented dislike, Jones is also one of the most hated players in blogosphere (see here, or here, or here). And I’m sure we all had a good laugh when Chauncey started throwing three fingers back Jones’ way against the Heat in the playoffs last year.

But for all his annoying antics, it is important to distinguish Jones from guys like Bruce Bowen and Andres Nocioni, who irritate while making their teams better. Jones, and his combined 45 minutes of nothing against the Pistons, does nothing to make the Cavs better. The old playground adage is this: “put up or shut up.” Damon Jones does neither.

Pistons 84, Cavs 72 box score [ESPN]
Damon Jones/TNT drama [Hoopsvibe]
Bulls blogger hates Damon Jones [True Hoop]
Just stopping by [The Off-Color Commentator]
Damon Jones Misses 100% of the Shots He Doesn’t Take [Can’t Stop the Bleeding]

Does the mainstream media steal from blogs?

Published by Matt Watson on February 28, 2006 in The Media. 8 Comments

First, a warning: this is not a Pistons post. It’s not even an NBA post, and now that I think about it, it’s not really even a sports post. It’s a post about blogs and the mainstream media, how unfortunately there’s still an indelible line drawn between the two and how the only time that line is crossed is when someone thinks no one is looking. Continue or ignore at your own whim.

Just a few years ago, ESPN.com was the first site that I went to whenever I went online. Now, the first thing I do is fire up my RSS newsreader. I have about 30-40 feeds in there, but invariably the first ones I check out are True Hoop, YAYsports! and Deadspin, in that order. Sometimes I eventually make my way over to ESPN or SI.com, but it’s not nearly the daily occurence as it once was.

So it happened Monday afternoon that I was checking out Deadspin when I spotted this item, the fourth link down from their daily Leftovers post:

Is Sports Illustrated stealing from hockey bloggers? [Buffalo’s Best Blog]

Continue reading ‘Does the mainstream media steal from blogs?’

LeBron versus the Pistons

Published by Matt Watson on February 27, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Around the Internets. 0 Comments

FOXSports.com’s Charley Rosen analyzed Detroit’s win over Cleveland on Sunday in his latest article. It’s not your average game recap — instead, it’s a technical article that takes a very close look at LeBron James’ game. A good read to prepare for tonight’s rematch in Cleveland.

It’s official: Detroit fans hate the Pacers!

Published by Matt Watson on February 27, 2006 in Polls. 4 Comments

A few days ago, we asked “Which current Pistons rival do you dislike the most?” One hundred and fifty people participated, with exactly 30% of the vote choosing the Pacers and 27% choosing the Heat.

The Spurs (20%) were a distant third, followed by the Nets (15%), Lakers (5%) and Kings (4%). I’m not too surprised by the vote — we just don’t play enough meaningful games against the Lakers to really get riled up anymore, but I figured a few more people would hold a grudge against the Kings for acquiring Ron Artest as well as their video antics from earlier in the year.

Amir Johnson heads to Fayetteville

Published by Matt Watson on February 27, 2006 in Transactions. 1 Comment

With the Pistons embarking on a week-long road trip, they’ve decided to dispatch 18-year-old rookie Amir Johnson to the Fayetteville Patriots, their NBDL affiliate. From the sounds of things, he’ll be back when the Pistons come home, but either way it’ll give us an excuse to check out some NBDL box scores the next couple of days. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to play, and if that’s the case, I won’t be surprised if he actually puts up some numbers. Why do I sound so confident? Because this is a league in which Mateen Cleaves can put up 35-point, nine-assist nights.

Using math to predict the MVP

Published by Matt Watson on February 27, 2006 in Around the Internets. 1 Comment

In an effort to scientifically predict the winner of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, Michael Wilczynski, a guest writer for 82games.com, examined 20 years of historical data to see what past winners had in common.

It’s an interesting task, because he’s not just trying to deduce which players objectively turned in the best statistical seasons; rather, he’s trying to get inside of the heads of the voters to find out what aspects about a player’s individual and team performance convinces them that a player is MVP worthy.

After examining the data, he calcuated a very complex formula which takes into consideration a player’s overall statistical performance, his improvement from the previous season and his team’s improvement from the previous season, as well as some “bonus” categories such as whether he leads the league in a key offensive category (scoring, rebounding or assists) and where his team finishes in the conference.

Am I losing you? Well, hold tight, because this is where it gets interesting: With his formula in hand, he applied it to the past couple of decades and correctly identified the past 20 winners of the MVP award.

So the big question becomes, using this year’s numbers, who’s leading the race? I don’t want to spoil the surprise — *cough*Big Shot*cough* — so head over to 82games — *ahem*Smooth*cough* — and see for yourself.

Predicting the NBA’s Most Valuable Player [82games.com]

Will there be any fight in the Cavs tonight?

Published by Ian Cameron on February 27, 2006 in From the news and Sheed said it. 2 Comments

A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive gives the rundown of the skull crackin’ that went on early in Sunday’s beatdown of the Cavs, with Sheed nearly decapitating Zydrunas Ilgauskas (resulting in 5 stitches for big Z).

“I thought that Rasheed got a little upset and hit him on purpose,” [Cavs coach Mike] Brown said. “It didn’t look like from my vantage point, that he went for the ball.”

Said Ilgauskas: “I think he (Rasheed) was frustrated because I caught him with an elbow and then he hit me back. Just have to let the officials handle it.”

Wallace acknowledged the elbow by Ilgauskas bothered him.

“I know I’m not gonna start by cracking a cat in the skull if I didn’t get elbowed first,” he said.

You might think getting whacked in the head intentionally would motivate the Cavs to put up a fight. But unable to match the intensity of the Boys in Blue throughout, Cleveland simply buckled under pressure. That doesn’t bode well for their chances in tonight’s matchup, as the two teams head down to Cleveland to finish their back-to-back. The Pistons will surely be ready to remedy their last trip to Quicken Home Loans Arena [catchy name, guys], which ended 2005 on a sour note. In addition, the last time Bron Bron played at home–a 102-94 loss to the ‘Zards last Friday–he was booed by his own fans. Guess the honeymoon has ended, huh?

Wallace leads the way, teammates follow, in win against Cavs [MLive]

Weekend wrap; Pistons pound Bulls and Cavaliers

Published by Ian Cameron on February 26, 2006 in Games. 9 Comments

Seein’ Red

Perhaps we should have listed the Chicago Bulls on our recent poll of the most hated Piston rivals. Or perhaps not, since the Bulls–after turning some heads last season by making the playoffs for the first time in the post-Jordan era–have returned to sub-mediocrity and are nowhere near deserving of “rival” status. But if the image of Kirk Hinrich shoving Rip in the chest stokes your Chi-town disdain, check out the comments of Bulls coach Scott Skiles after the Pistons’ 95-87 win.

“They literally complain about every call all night long,” Skiles said. “They are having a great year doing it. I’m not sure what that says.”

You and I both know that the Pistons have a tendency to complain to the officials–a lot. But to be called out by Scott Skiles? Skiles was a whiner during his playing days and is just as much of a brat now that he’s on the Bulls’ bench. Don’t worry–the irony of Scotty’s comments was not lost on the Pistons. Coach Flip had this to say in today’s Detroit News:

“Besides,” Saunders added, “the complaining (Friday) started with Scott Skiles. As soon as his team fell behind by 10 points, he was halfway out onto the court screaming after every call. He saw another 30-point loss possibly brewing and he changed the entire complexion of the game.”

The chippy play combined with a barrage of personal and technical fouls masked horrendous shooting nights for both Sheed and Chauncey, who were a combined 5-27 from the field, including 1-15 from three. But as is typical of these Pistons, both found other ways to factor into the Bulls’ demise (Rasheed with 10 boards; Chauncey with 12 dimes).

One last thought on this one–the Bulls have themselves a player in Andres Nocioni. Judging by how much I hate the guy (and right now, two days after the game, I’m still hoping he gets hit by a bus), he must be doing something right from the Chicago fan’s perspective.

Save some for tomorrow, guys

I doubt I’d have believed it had anyone told me on Friday that the Bulls game would be the more competitive, intriguing game of the weekend. But it was. The Cavs came into town this afternoon with none of the fire that the Bulls displayed on Friday night, and the Pistons walked away with an easily obtained 90-78 win in their first of two in two nights against Cleveland. And as always–as Big Ben goes, so do the Pistons. And Ben was at his best today, blocking five shots, grabbing 19 boards, and stealing 4 to go with his 11 points. He even had a couple of his patented air-ball midrange jumpers, which phased Ben not.

“I at least want to make the other guys guard me,” he said. “I know that when I’m getting involved on offense, it gives me more confidence and energy.”

Hey, whatever works. Ben’s elevated play as of late should put the Pistons back atop most power polls. And they’ve now won 7 of 8 just in time for a tough four game road trip in the next six days.

As for the Cavs, Lebron had another statistically impressive, completely impact-free game. And let’s just say that Damon Jones–aka “the monster that Shaq created” [we thank you for that one, Kenny Smith]– should be receiving a nice little bonus from Lindsey Hunter in the mail after this game. Jones, by scoring zero points in 23 minutes and doing nothing to justify his enormous ego, continues to be the only point guard in the league who makes Lindsey look offensively proficient. It was good to see Flip change up the gameplan mid-stream today, calling upon Rip to initiate the offense in the fourth while Lindsey was in the game. [For the record, I give Lindsey credit for being a dogged defender and an asset in the trap, but I still feel that Carlos Arroyo’s offense will be missed.]

Pistons 95, Bulls 87 recap [ESPN]
Pistons 95, Bulls 87 box score [ESPN]
Cleveland pays a call, and it will be desparate [Detroit News]

Pistons 90, Cavs 78 box score [ESPN]
Pistons 90, Cavs 78 recap [ESPN]

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