Archive for August, 2006

Coach Laimbeer is in the Finals

Published by Matt Watson on August 29, 2006 in From the news. 3 Comments

With the Detroit Shock advancing to the WNBA Finals, there are a slew of Bill Laimbeer articles floating around the internet. My favorite so far is from Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star:

Someday, sooner rather than later, he would love to make the jump to the NBA. There was talk last season when Isiah Thomas interviewed him — a fallback in case Larry Brown didn’t take the job. He would rather not talk about that now, not with his team chasing a title, but he’s not going to insult anybody’s intelligence by suggesting he’s not interested.

The question is, will the NBA be ready for Laimbeer? He’s an oversized personality who would be moving to a league filled with oversized personalities — and bank accounts and egos to match.

“With the ladies, I can ride them a little more, challenge them, yell at them,” he said after his Shock beat the Fever 68-56 in Game 1 on Thursday night. “On the men’s side, they don’t take too kindly to that. You’ve got to be a lot more subdued. Even if you want to go ballistic and lose your brain, you can’t, because the players will shut down. It’s more of a stomach problem in the NBA than it is here.”

So why, he was asked, does he still dream of coaching in the NBA?

He shot his interrogator the kind of you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look most often reserved for erring referees.

“A lot more zeroes,” he said. “A lot more zeroes at the end of the paycheck.”

You’ve got to love the guy’s honesty, at least. Don’t you?

You certainly do.

In case you’re more interested in Laimbeer’s current quest to lead Detroit to another WNBA title, ESPN has a couple of good articles by Graham Hayes and Nancy Lieberman.

On a sidenote, the fact you’re reading this right is proof that I survived the bachelor party in New Orleans. Yes, there’s a lot of reconstruction still needed in other parts of the city and the surrounding communities, but Bourbon Street and the French Quarter proved to be the ultimate guys’ weekend destination (and this is from a guy who went to Vegas twice last year).

Is Laimbeer elbowing his way into NBA? [Indianapolis Star]

Yet another “quick note”

Published by Ian Cameron on August 25, 2006 in Site Announcements. 6 Comments

Posting will be scarce this weekend due to Matt’s bachelor party in New Orleans. Yes, I am here and, yes, he is alright (so far). When (if) we return safely, you can expect updates on the latest happenings in Pistondom to resume per usual.

–Ian

Quick note

Published by Matt Watson on August 24, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Site Announcements. 0 Comments

Our hosting company has had some difficulty keeping their servers operational — we apologize for the random bouts of downtime and overall slowness the past few days.

Delfino vs. Darko

Published by Matt Watson on August 24, 2006 in Around the Internets and From the news. 1 Comment

It’s Serbia-Montenegro vs. Argentina; Darko Milicic vs. Carlos Delfino; “Former Piston” vs. “Maybe Wants to be a Former Piston.” Who wins?

Serbia-Montenegro, the tournament’s defending champion, took a 66-61 advantage into the final period but couldn’t hold the lead.

Carlos Delfino of the Detroit Pistons hit back-to-back 3 pointers to tie the game 74-74 with six minutes left.

Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs gave Argentina (5-0) an 80-77 lead on a pair of free throws with 1 minute left.

After a Juan Sanchez free throw, Igor Rakocevic scored a layup to make it 81-79 but Ruben Wolkowyski hit a pair from the foul line in the final seconds to seal the win for the Olympic champions.

Rakocevic led Serbia-Montenegro with 25 points. Darko Milicic of the Orlando Magic added 24.

Darko also grabbed 12 boards. Manu led the way for Argentina with 22 points, but Delfino was second with 14 in just 18 minutes, going 4-5 from three-point land while chipping in a pair of assists and four boards.

Argentina 83, Serbia-Montenegro 79 box score [FIBA.com]
Game Recap [AP]

Terry Porter (finally) named assistant coach

Published by Matt Watson on August 23, 2006 in From the news. 0 Comments

After months of rumors, the Pistons finally announced today that Terry Porter would be joining Flip Saunders’ staff as an assistant coach. From Pistons.com:

“We are pleased to add Terry Porter to our coaching staff,” said Dumars. “Terry was a fierce competitor during his playing days and he has excelled as both a head coach and assistant coach in this league. We feel his experience is a good fit for our team.”

Porter enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Pistons after serving as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (2003-05). He led the Bucks to a 41-41 record in his first season (2003-04) and a first-round playoff berth. During his two seasons as head coach, the Bucks compiled a record of 71-93 and a 50-32 mark when playing at the Bradley Center.

“I’m excited about the opportunity that Joe Dumars and Flip Saunders have given me,” said Porter. “The Pistons are a championship organization and I look forward to working with the players and coaching staff.”

The Bucks fired Porter with a year left on his contract, and he spent much of the last year being linked to an effort to by the Portland Trailblazers.

Much like Ron Harper, Porter is a guy who was still playing in the NBA not too long ago. I have to imagine that counts for something with the players — Dumars insisted back in June that the team would add someone who could command immediate respect. Unlike Harper, though, Porter has head coaching experience to fall back upon. Looks like a solid pickup for Detroit.

Terry Porter Named Assistant Coach [Pistons.com]

Previously on DBB:
Dumars on replacing Lowe and developing Delfino
Terry Porter: potential NBA owner or assistant coach?

Current and former Pistons at the World Championships

Published by Matt Watson on August 22, 2006 in Around the Internets, Former Pistons and From the news. 1 Comment

It’s been a little quiet around these parts, but what else could bring DBB out of its summer slumber than a Carlos Delfino update? He’s currently playing for Argentina in the World Championships in Japan, seeing action at shooting guard and small forward while backing up Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni. As it works out, the Pistons are able to keep close tabs on Delfino’s progress — Tony Ronzone, the Pistons director of basketball operations and international scouting extraordinaire, has been able to watch Delfino play while serving as an advance scout for Team USA. From the Free Press:

With the reigning Olympic gold medalists, Delfino will be a key player in the rotation backing up shooting guard Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs) and small forward Andres Nocioni (Chicago Bulls), an upcoming star and a player who established himself as a tough-minded scorer last season.

“It’s going to be the same situation for us,” Hammond said. “He’ll play behind a good, established two guard and a good established small forward. The key for him will be to be ready. The minutes are available; he just has to take advantage.”

On Saturday, Delfino scored four points and grabbed three rebounds as Argentina beat France, 80-70, in its opening Group A game. Argentina faces Venezuela on Monday.

In the exhibition games, the Argentine team didn’t fare as well as expected.

It suffered large defeats to the Serbian and Montenegro team and South Korea. But Delfino has done well; he scored 16 points in the South Korea defeat.

I’m not sure how often these stats are updated, but you can follow Delfino’s performance by checking out his FIBA player profile page.

Check out the individual scoring leaders for the tournament while you’re at it — I know it’s only been two games, but good ol’ Carlos Arroyo is pacing everyone with 26 ppg.

Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a DBB post if we didn’t take a wistful look in Darko Milicic’s direction every chance we have. From the AP:

SENDAI, Japan — Darko Milicic scored 20 points to lead defending champion Serbia and Montenegro to a 104-57 victory over Lebanon on Monday, its first win in the FIBA world championships.

Milicic, of the Orlando Magic, shot 8-of-11 from the field, and Marko Marinovic added 14 points for Serbia-Montenegro, which lost its first two games of the tournament to France and Nigeria.

I found the following highlight on YouTube — it’s not from Monday’s game (it’s a “friendly match” from earlier this summer), but if you close your eyes and listen to the announcer, it may as well be:

In case you’re wondering, he also has an outside shot.

Let’s recap: a Carlos Delfino update, a Tony Ronzone mention and a yearning for Darko Milicic — I just completed the DBB triathlon!

World games serve as tune-up for Delfino [Detroit Free Press]
Official site [FIBA 2006 World Championships]
Darko Milicic with the Slam [YouTube]

Bloggers in the spotlight

Published by Matt Watson on August 15, 2006 in Around the Internets. 9 Comments

Sports Illustrated’s Kelly Dwyer is talking to NBA bloggers about the upcoming season. So far this past week he’s had some pretty interesting Q&A’s with Blogabull’s Matt Bernhardt, Sactown Royalty’s Tom Ziller, True Hoop’s (and avid Blazers fan) Henry Abbot, and RaptorBlog’s Scott Carefoot.

I read all four and I suggest you do the same, especially if you’re like me and thirsting for more NBA content. I’m not just saying this to set the stage for when the Detroit edition appears — there are a lot of really talented writers out producing quality coverage for blogs, and it’s always nice to see when the national media puts them in lights.

Isiah Thomas to introduce Joe Dumars

Published by Matt Watson on August 15, 2006 in From the news. 0 Comments

We’re a couple of days late on this one, but it’s definitely noteworthy: Joe Dumars has chosen Isiah Thomas to introduce him at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. From the Free Press:

It’s an obvious choice, sure, but who else could Dumars pick besides Isiah Thomas, his old Pistons backcourt running mate? The two combined to form one of the best backcourts in NBA history.

Only those previously enshrined can introduce new members. Thomas, now the coach and president of the New York Knicks, went into the Hall in 2000. The two won two titles together as members of the Bad Boys teams in 1989 and 1990.

Thomas wasn’t necessarily the only choice — Chuck Daly, anyone? Or maybe Dave Bing? — but he’s certainly the most obvious one. Zeke hasn’t done much to enhance his image since retiring as a player, but his speech should result in some good P.R., as Mike Kahn from FOX Sports notes:

Once again, Dumars is proving to be one of the brightest and classiest guys in sport. There never really was much grumbling when the two were backcourt mates in the 1980’s and ’90’s with the World Champion Pistons. But people were constantly looking for it. Although Thomas was also more outgoing and tended to be politically incorrect at inopportune times, Dumars was always right on the path — cleaning up whatever mess was made.

Incredibly enough, nearly 20 years later, here he is again for his buddy. Thomas, mired in a harassment suit with a former Knicks employee, along with the mess that was the hiring and firing of coach Larry Brown after the Knicks’ abysmal 23-59 record last season, he needed support from somebody among the NBA elite. And he got it from Dumars — who continues to grow toward one day being worthy of any job he would like in the NBA, perhaps even commissioner. Some people have to be taught the difference between right and wrong. Dumars instinctively knows the right thing to do every circumstance.

The Hall of Fame ceremonies take place in Springfield, Massachusets on September 8-9. I’m not entirely sure how easy it will be to watch the speeches on television, but I have to imagine between ESPN, NBA TV and NBA.com, it won’t be too hard to check them out.

Isiah will introduce Dumars at induction [Detroit Free Press]
Ten things we’ve learned in the NBA [FOX Sports]

Previously on DBB:
Quotes about Joe Dumars
Report: Joe Dumars is a Hall of Famer

Michael Curry is moving up

Published by Matt Watson on August 10, 2006 in Alley-Oops, Former Pistons and From the news. 1 Comment

Remember how the Pistons used to keep Michael Curry around just for his leadership abilities? Looks like they were for real: the NBA just named Curry the league’s vice president of basketball operations. (Thanks to Farlane for sending me tip.)

A sidebar experiment

Published by Matt Watson on August 10, 2006 in Site Announcements. 0 Comments

As all of us know, there hasn’t been much brewing in NBA news, especially when it comes to the Pistons. The rest of the Detroit sports scene is alive and kicking, though, especially when it comes to the Tigers and their meteoric rise in the standings.

To get my daily Tigers fix, I’ve made reading Mack Avenue Tigers part of my daily routine — it’s a Tigers blog written by Kurt Mensching, a sports journalist by trade (and DBB reader by coincidence). I added a link to Mack Avenue Tigers on the sidebar a while back, but since Kurt is currently blowing DBB’s doors off when it comes to producing relevant and compelling Detroit sports content, I figured I’d take it one step further.

With his permission, I incorporated his latest headlines into my sidebar. The way I figure, there’s a lot of crossover between Pistons fans and Tigers fans, and even I will admit that reading about the best team in the majors is a bit more exciting than reading about a third-string center getting Tasered.

As I write this, the Tigers headlines can be found on the front page at the bottom of the sidebar — you’ll need to scroll all the way down past the latest comments, advertisements and sidebar links to find them. It’s definitely not the most useful spot for it, so Ian and I will probably be playing around with things over the next few days until we settle on something better. But look for it, and if you see something interesting, head on over to Mack Avenue to read the whole post.

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