My latest is up at Hoopsworld. For lack of better ideas, I took a close look at the upcoming schedule. All of you probably know by now the Pistons have a brutal start to the season with eight of the first 10 games on the road, but the flip side is a relatively cushy schedule down the stretch :
March
15 games (nine home, six road)The Pistons wrap up their western road trip on March 1 against the Clippers, which marks the end of their long-distance traveling. From that point on, the only time they’ll travel west of Detroit to play an opponent will be during a one-game road trip to Minnesota on April 1.
April features five of nine at home before the playoffs. Also, I found this quite odd: the Pistons play the Cavaliers once during the first four and a half months of the season and then three times in the final six weeks. You’d think an Eastern Conference Final re-match would be something of a marquee match-up highlighted earlier in the season, but apparently that’s not the case.
Anyways, as you can tell from the admittedly uninspired topic idea, the season can’t come soon enough for me. Let’s get a list going in the comments: what are you excited about seeing this year? It can be absolutely anything.
I know you said this was “for lack of better ideas,” but it was actually fun to look at the season that way.
To answer the question…I’m excited about seeing more of Amir Johnson (maybe another video, maybe more playing time, either way).
I’m most excited about Stuckey, more playing time for Johnson, and the general influx of young blood. And the hopes that the old blood will get their asses in gear.
Well in any given season there’s always a million little questions going in but it seems pretty clear (at least to me) that the big question is “Is Amir really the deal?”…. and frankly we’ll probably know that question in 20 games. I’m firmly in the “I Believe” camp but that might be because I think the Pistons desperately NEED him to step up. As much as I have hope for the rookies, Amir has been “the other shoe waiting to drop” for two whole seasons now…I’ve heard the sizzle Joe now serve the steak
Fwiw Matt, I too though the article was fine… It’s Sept 6th and nobody’s been arrested in a 4AM nightclub incident in a month. What were you supposed to talk about? Even the ESPN guys have been reduced to trying to convince me this year’s Tournament of the America’s team is as good as the Dream Team. You’re doing fine
Also because I’ve been too mad to bother for a almost a week now:
Up 1-0 in the WNBA Finals… I’m VERY EXCITED to see the Shock win another title. D-Town up yo!
Sorry for the triple post but something DID actually occur to me as something I’m excited to see how it all shakes out:
Assuming Flip doesn’t suddenly turn into Doc Rivers and go to 11 man rotations it’s probably safe to say we’re looking at about 9 key roles to be filled. Starting PG, SG, SF, PF and C seem pretty much resolved (though C is still mysterious, nobody official has actually SAID it’s Nazi’s job to lose). After that assuming we’re looking at the traditional roles filled on good basketball teams we’ll need: The sixth man (ie the guy good enough to start but doesn’t, the guy who comes in fresh and can take over), a sharp shooter off the bench, a defensive specialist to come in when we’re up but tiring or losing ground (see Lindsey Hunter 2004 squad) and a solid rotation big.
Who fills those four roles? It’s easy enough to declar Dyees the sixth man but does he REALLY fill that role? He’s great off the bench but I don’t know if he can take control of the game the way a true championship 6th man should. Regarding the defensive stopper role, if Affalo was drafted to do that why is Lindsey Hunter on the squad? If Hunter still fills that role then is there a future here for Affalo who by most regards is a defensive player rather than shooter? Does Meija have any shot whatsoever at the sharpshooter off the bench role? Why was Jarvis Hayes aquired when he doesn’t seem suited to any of those 4 roles?
I don’t have the answers to these kinds of questions and I doubt anyone will until the opener the way Joe is so tight lipped. However I think it’d be pretty interesting to see someone else’s analysis of how it’ll all shake out. The fact is we all know who’s going to start game one at 4/5 positions, the REAL intrigue is how much time, for what purpose and who will get that time off the bench.
I’m excited to see Nazr redeem himself.
I’m excited to see the Nuggets live up to their potential and knock the Mavericks out of the top 3 in the West.
I’m excited to watch LeBron drag his JV team through a 44 win season… And lose a tiebreaker for the 8th spot as a result.
I’m excited to see if Stuckey, Johnson and Maxiell can do what we have been hoping they can do.
I’m excited to watch the Lions start 4-3, and inspire some hope in our souls, then watch that hope dangle and wriggle like the “meat rabbits” in Roger & Me.
Let’s get on with the season and eat some babies already.
Kevin S.,
Good call on the redemption of Nazr, I hope Flip actually gives him a bit of a chance before completely writing him off.
I’m looking forward to Tayshaun more than anything. I think this is his year to take another big step forward in his career. I want to see him become a legitimate all-star candidate and I think he can get close to that this year.
I’m looking forward to seeing if a “second unit” develops. It’s exciting to follow a team and have the B team spark a run.
PG - Stuckey
SG - Afflalo
SF - Hayes
PF - Amir Johnson
PF - Maxiell
I want to see that lineup come in when the Pistons are down 15 in the third Q in some road game during the grind of the season and bring the team all the way back with stifling defense . If this team has that in them then they can go all the way.
I want to see if Maxiel and Amir earn themselves a duo nickname.
Wiping the smile off Cleveland’s smutty face.
I’m excited to see Baby Eater Thunder Dunk over Lebron…with an and 1 (yeah right like Lebron gets called for fouls).
Im WAITING IMPATIENTLY to see someone swat Daniel Gibson’s supposely open shot to the back of the arena!
STUCKEY AND AMIR! nuff said
Pat hunt,
Good call! What would be some good duo nicknames for those two though…
I think if Maxiell ever starts a band it should be called “Jason Maxiell and the Baby-eaters”
Sorry…thats all I could come up with.
I think we’ll have to see their particular energy to know what kind of monicker they deserve. Maybe they’ll have a kind of yin-yang style, one hard and one soft. With the talent pool shaping up, we might be putting together a whole crew of Young Guns. I haven’t seen enough of Johnson to know what to expect, but I’m sure looking forward to seeing some more.
Amir.
Anything that isn’t Wolverines football…. seriously… anything…
How about Spartee Football?
2-0!
You realize for the first time in my life I’m finding it impossible to look down on an MSU fan. Also, this ISN’T making me chew my own fingers off because I’m too busy being worried that the Lions will surpass the Wolverines win total on the season for the first time since Barry was around….
If losing to Ap State wasn’t a fireable offence, letting TEAM FREAKING NIKE hang a 39-7 as$ beating on us in a game we A) had to win and B) Had the better offensive personel is… Lloyd Carr has got to go. Not next year, right freaking now.
As for the Spartans, good luck to be honest. We’re so awful right now I’m pretty sure we’re going to finish with a losing record. SOMEONE has to win the big 10 and as much as it pains me to say this, I hate Wisconsin, Penn State and Ohio State MORE than I hate the Sparties…. so basically unless Northwestern or Perdue are going to rise up and give us all a feel good story for the season, sure why not MSU? It’s not like I care anymore this year… I can’t, if I still cared I’d have blown something up by now.
(PS, sorry Matt, I’ll try to avoid any more Wolverines discussion… this is just a very traumatic time for me…)
PG4L, way to just glaze over the Indiana Hoosiers there. If winning in honor of our beloved, late coach Terry Hoeppner, who died of brain cancer in the offseason (and by all indications, the guy was one of the genuine good ones continuing to hype the program amid his sickness) isn’t a feel good story, feel good stories don’t exist then. 2-0 right now and we don’t have to play OSU this year :). If you’re going to mention Northwestern and Purdue, I must respond to you with, *ahem* Go Big Red.
And when it comes to pro football, Michiganders should have only one team they have expectations for … their fantasy team. But truthfully, seems like Kitna (I’m a fan) and the defense are holding it down for the first half.
LB, omission noted and yes it would be a wonderful story. I think I mostly said Perdue and NW because I can remember them actually winning the Big 10 in my lifetime…
As for the Lions, do not be fooled… remember being 3-1 a couple of seasons back and just having come off sacking Mike Vick 7 times and winning? Of course not, that’s because said season finished just like all the others in the Millen era…
Lions just need to not to get over confident and build on momentum…if they can do this i THINK we might have a pretty decent season this year
PG4L,
I remember when they started off 3-1. They actually started off 4-2 with their 4th win coming over the Giants where Harrington had arguably one of the best games of his career throwing 18-22 with three wide open dropped passes, and 2 TDs.
When it comes to die-hard Lions fans, you never forget.
Much love and be strong brother, I had my heart broken too many times to call myself a “die hard” fan anymore. I used to be able to debate the merits of all three Lion’s QBs who couldn’t start (see Pete, Rodney, Ware, Andre and Kramer, Erik), and I too drank the cool-aide on the Scott Mitchell experience and tried to convince myself he had game and Perriman/Morton weren’t flashes in the pan and I tried REALLY hard to keep up with the Joey Harrington era but at some point I just came to realize that the team hadn’t had a pro level QB in like… my lifetime. I mean even sheer random good luck should have factored in sooner or later right?
I guess I just lost interest so I never gave the Kitna/Marz/Mariwhotheheckisthat era much of a chance. Plus no offence but these guys are a LONG LONG LONG way away from the kind of standards set by Barry and Herman and a host of others, even when those teams weren’t that GOOD and never WON they were rarely “pathetic”. I like Kitna he seems tough, but it’s gonna take alot more than faith based predictions of 10 wins to make me truely care again. I’ll settle for wining our home games in the Division and getting 7 wins… I really will, but I’m not watching the Cleveland Lions and I’m not giving the Ford Family a dime until they prove they care at ALL about the product on the feild rather than just putting a$$es in the seats. It’s not that I don’t love the Lions anymore, it’s that I’m starting to feel like a complete sucker every time I believe they’ll get better.
That having been said I was impressed with what I saw and yeah I did watch most of the game. Johnson looked like everything Charles Rogers was supposed to be and a little David Boston pre-injuries/steriod abuse thrown in. I was really suprised that Bell was able to carve up their D for 87 yards but really game 1 is a crapshoot. For all we know Oakland is going to be HORRIBLE this year. Plus didn’t it scare you just one bit when Josh “I’ve never actually played well in games but I look amazing on tape” McNown locked in and started ripping the Lions up there?
Honestly I want to believe, I do… I just can’t, and a sloppy win over the worst team in football last year starting almost an entirely new offence in it’s first game just isn’t enough yet.
PS, to keep this post on Topic… I’m fairly certain that by the time the Pistons have finished their brutal opening stretch the Lions will have played enough real teams (ie lost enough games) to ensure the ONLY sport I watch this winter is Pistons Basketball. Well I might catch a Red Wings game or two but only if they promise me Hasek will be interviewed… the guy is a complete NUT and I love hearing the crap he says in between periods.