A Detroit Pistons blog
Here’s the scoop on what time Saturday’s game will start, courtesy of the Freep:
- The Pistons will host the Bulls on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on TNT if the Utah-Houston AND Dallas-Golden State series reach Game 7.
- The Pistons will host the Bulls on Saturday at 7 p.m. on TNT if one of those Western Conference series goes to Game 7.
- The Pistons will host the Bulls on Saturday at 8 p.m. on TNT if there is NO Game 7 in either Western Conference series.
It’s a topic Ian and I have debated with each other as far back as last year: could Grant Hill finish his career in Detroit? He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and after banking plenty of coin over his career it’s possible that he’d accept less money to play for a contender. Michael Rosenberg suggests it’d be a win-win situation for both parties if Hill did return:
Hill provides everything Dumars would want: a backup small forward, another ballhandler, someone who can defend three positions and a guy who gives Flip Saunders offensive flexibility. Saunders would trust Hill immediately. Even at the peak of his career, Hill was an unselfish player. He would fit in perfectly here.
Plus, it’s always been obvious that Hill is concerned with getting as many people to like him as possible, so returning to the team he once abandoned would help win back an entire city. (OK, I’m reaching, that’s probably not too important to him).
But here’s the thing: the last thing this current group of Pistons needs is to get older, especially at the expense of developing young players. Carlos Delfino will be entering the final year of his contract next season, and bringing Hill into the picture would reduce his playing time tremendously, giving him absolutely no incentive to want to re-sign with the Pistons. The same goes for Alex Acker, whom many expect to return from Europe to sign with the Pistons this summer, as well as any other draft pick this June.
It’s what happened with Darko Milicic and Antonio McDyess: yes, McDyess worked out well for the Pistons, but the “win now” approach didn’t end up winning anything, and McDyess’ arrival stunted Darko’s development to the point that he’s just now starting to break out.
Hill has obvious skills, but he’ll also be 35 at the start of the 2007-08 season and the Magic had a difficult time relying on his availability this year, especially in back-to-back situations. Coming off the bench would reduce some of the wear and tear, but his health will always be a concern. It’s nice for nostalgia’s sake, but Dumars should take a pass.
Grant Hill would be a perfect fit for Pistons next season [Detroit Free Press]
Pistons.com takes a look at the start of the Pistons-Bulls rivalry with their first ever postseason meeting in 1974.
Courtesy of Andres Nocioni, we have our first bulletin board material of the series:
“We are going to win. We are going to win, of course,” Nocioni said flatly Tuesday at the Berto Center. “I believe we can win. We are going to play seven games, and we are going to win (Game 7) in Detroit. It will be nice. Nice.”
Nocioni is an easy guy to dislike: he does his best to annoy the opposition, and he’s just good enough to do it on both sides of the floor. If he grew four inches, he might be a modern-day Bill Laimbeer, complete with a deadly three-point shot, dangerous elbows and a penchant for flopping. Update: Antonio McDyess on Nocioni:
“He flops a lot. He just annoys you. He gets in front of you in the post and puts his body on you all the time. He does all kinds of things to annoy you. You just have to be patient and stay in the game.”
Even so, I’m having a hard time taking offense here — it’s relatively tame as trash talk goes. And besides, does anyone really care what the Most Posterized Player in the NBA has to say?
Nocioni’s swagger intact [Daily Southtown, via Empty the Bench]
OK, first things first: the powers that be have decided that the Pistons and Bulls will officially renew their playoff rivalry this Saturday in Detroit. Game 2 will be on Monday, and both games will be televised by TNT. What times will the games start? Um … yeah, nobody knows that quite yet. I’m guessing they want to figure out how the rest of the series play out to see if there’s a more glamorous matchup they can give top-billing. (Jerks.)
There’s obviously a lot of excitement building for this series — Monday’s open thread is rife with intelligent analysis and banter — so I’m going to do my best to catch you up on some of the good stuff I’ve seen around these here internets, starting with an interesting analysis (hardcore nuts-and-bolts style) on FoxSports describing how to defend a couple of offensive sets used by the Pistons and Bulls. (Both of these links were swiped from Blog-a-Bull.)
First, a look at Detroit’s offense:
But now that Detroit has a best-of-seven date with the Chicago Bulls, let’s take a look at how one Eastern Conference scout would defend the Pistons’ popular “horns” set.
“By horns, we mean a post player lining up at each elbow, usually with two shooters spacing the floor at each wing or corner and a one-guard front,” the scout said. “There are several different options a team like the Pistons can run off of this because the wings can shoot and both post players are good passers as well as shooters.
“The key to defending horns, which generally begins with a brush screen by one post for the point guard, is for the defender guarding the screener to maintain contact with the screener while showing to slow down the ballhandler. If the defensive post player loses contact, the screener can slip to the basket; because of the alignment, the backside is empty.”
That means there’s nobody to rotate over and deal with the post player slipping the screen.
“Some teams attempt to have the opposite post defender drop to the middle on the slip screen,” the scout said, “but that leaves you vulnerable for a pass to either (Chris) Webber or (Rasheed) Wallace who can eat up that shot.”
And now, how will Detroit stop Chicago’s “drive and kick?”
In addition to specific sets run for Gordon and Deng, the biggest challenge defined by the Chicago offense is the drive-and-kick option.
“All three of those guys can shoot along with (Andres) Nocioni,” said one Eastern Conference scout, “and the guards can take guys off the dribble, making gap help a risky proposition.”
Explanation: gap help refers to a defender sliding over to help a teammate who’s about to be beaten off the dribble by Gordon, for example. If the help defender is guarding Deng, an open jumper (that figures to go in) could be the result.
“Here’s my recommendation,” said the scout. “Almost never leave Gordon or Hinrich or Deng to help on the drive. With (Ben) Wallace and (Ty) Thomas on the floor, the key is making the guys guarding them aware of penetration. That means your bigs must be the primary helpers because Wallace and Thomas, especially Wallace, aren’t threats to make that mid-range shot. P.J. (Brown) can make it, but his release is a bit slow and he’s not looking at threes like the perimeter guys.”
How about a caveat?
“Well, if you leave Wallace or Thomas to stop dribble penetration and nobody rotates to them, either one will dive to the rim for a pass and dunk. I’d rather live with that risk, though, than watch Gordon, Hinrich and Deng shoot open threes.”
Like Matt B. from Blog-a-Bull points out, I love reading about this type of stuff because it’s head and shoulders above my regular knowledge of the game. I do my best to recognize players moving without the ball, how they’re setting up, how the flow of the offense works, but I’m miles away from understanding the game at such a detailed level. I’d love to watch a game with a coach or a scout and have him explain all of this in real-time, or at the very least, sit in on a video session and learn how to properly “watch tape” and scout opponents.
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