- Chris Silva of the Detroit Free Press says Rip Hamilton will be ready by the opener:
The Pistons have been cautious with Hamilton’s return, and for good reason. Asked how many practices he would need to get up to speed, Hamilton deadpanned, “One.”
Coach Flip Saunders was asked the same question. “One,” he said. “But he’ll practice this week at some point.”
- Gilbert Arenas is not impressed by the Pistons, putting them third behind the Cavs and Bulls in this preview from SLAM. Of course, it’s hard to take his opinion seriously considering he kept getting Ben Wallace, Chris Webber and Rasheed Wallace confused. He also doesn’t seem all that impressed by Amir Johnson, though that’s probably because (like most NBA players) he’s never seen him play in person. That should change tonight; the Pistons host the Wizards, and Amir will probably play big minutes.
- The Pistons visited Children’s Hospital on Monday, and Natalie from Need4Sheed was invited to come along. Her account of the day is touching, showing a side of the players that you just don’t hear about all that often:
Now let me just say that Nazr had such a presence and way about him with the kids that I was pleasantly surprised. He not only made each child feel at ease, but he had them opening up to him like they had known him for years. He led the kids through each page of the book posing questions to them about who their hero’s were, who they admired and what were good qualities to have. When they were to reluctant to answer, he did it first, and then they followed. It was like he was born to do it.
I’ll say this: although I’ve only interacted with Nazr a handful of times (and never in that type of setting), Natalie’s description doesn’t surprise me at all.
- It’s fluff, but interesting fluff: Joanne Gerstner talked to the rookies about how they’re adjusting off the court. Guys like Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo have the usual problems (figuring out where they’re going to live, having to cook for themselves), but Cheikh Samb also has to worry about taking English classes and drivers education, not to mention dealing with immigration so his wife can move to the states.
- I haven’t played fantasy hoops in several years but I’m getting the itch — anyone up for a DBB reader league? When/where/how can be figured out later, I’m just gaging interest …
Update: DBB reader Brandon sent in a worthy late addition: ESPN’s Chad Ford previews the Pistons. It seems to be about a week old, but it’s new to me, and it’s noteworthy because it’s the one and only time I’ve seen anyone in the national media predict the Pistons to win the title this year:
Gil’s a funny guy. I mean I absolutely ADORE the “everyman” approach he takes to life in general, it’s refreshing and the guy is genuinely funny. Reading his blog usually just makes me FEEL good. Otoh that same attitude is what keeps him from being a real leader on the court and actualizing his talent. Either way I’m not sure I’m sweating the predictions of a guy who spends more time playing Halo 3 than watching basketball… just sayin.
I would join a DBB fantasy league. I belong to some random Yahoo leagues (I play as a fun way to learn about the league) and it’s super simple to sign up and to have a draft. Yahoo has a live draft feature with chat and allows 12 teams per league. And it’s free.
I would play fantasy with DBB.
I would definitely be down for some fantasy hoops!
Count me in for the fantasy league. Knowing the readers of this blog, sustaining interest shouldn’t be a problem.
Considering Aaron Gray has played himself into the discussion for starting along side Ben Wallace, I’m not overly worried about the Bulls until they trade for Kobe or a real big man.
I’m in on the fantasy league too.
I’d be in for a league, Matt. Also, I wonder if Gil’s picking the Cavs with or without Andy and Sasha on the team. Without those 2, i think they’re behind the Bucks in the divison.
I’d be down with a DBB fantasy league, although I’m in one already. I call dibs on Amir! Ha!
@Garrett: Calling dibs on Amir would be like my friend who took, making a joke luckily, Nocioni with the #2 pick. Which allowed me to say “Hello Shawn Marion, thank you for the most fantasy points of any player in the league.” To which he replied “You’re welcome man, at least someone appreciates me.”
A Yahoo fantasy league would be sweet.
ya im down for ANOTHER fantasy team..lol
also, if anyone is interested in joining an extra Fantasy league, the group im apart of needs a couple more people…let me know if you are interested.
I think it’s almost mandatory that DBB have a team, and I would like to join it!
I’d be in for fantasy league too
I’m new to DBB and have never play any fantasy sports but I’d love to be in your league. I live in Virginia and bought League Pass just for the Pistons so a fantasy team would help encourage me to keep a closer eye on all those games I can watch now.
*I’m super excited to see Amir play 30+ minutes tonight
A possibility: Matt, contact some of your buddies at the other blogs and start a league with reps from them. DBB would have a team, Need4Sheed would have a team, etc. I don’t know if you would make the picks or if we would nominate a representative from the DBB readership, but it might be interesting.
I’d love to be in the DBB league. I am in two already, one as commissioner, but hell- why not! Sign me up!
If there is an open space in a leauge, I would be thrilled to participate.
On a side-note. Seems like Minnesota is having a fire sale. ‘Toine Walker for Ricky Davis and Marc Blount. That’s pretty weak. Say what you will about Davis’ attitude but Riles just got over on McHale.
I think you see a walker buy out deal pretty soon. Simien was looking to crack the rotation this season (not saying much with the heat roster), and Doleac is an expiring contract (with simien). I’m surprised that howard wasn’t shipped yet. Also, not too hard to get one over on McHale, it would seem.
Yes to the Reader League.
i am wicked interested in doing some fantasy hoops as well with my dbb brethren if there’s space. i’ve only been doing football the past few years and have missed fantasy basketball.
that’s an interesting trade, but i think i like minnesota’s side if they’re dumping malcontents like davis and blount for expiring contracts, including a young guy who has everything to play for like simien, and a future first rounder. i’ve never worried about ricky davis being on an opposing team in my career as a basketball fan. he always finds a way to a) do something stupid, b) underperform, c) not play defense or d) do something really stupid.
I wanna play… please. I promise I won’t win.
We have FSN Plus and I didn’t realize it. My TV guide says its the shopping channel but the games on it. Check here for your cable provider. http://msn.foxsports.com/id/6447224
I might join a dbb fantasy league.
And is flip saunders trying to make me angry already? Why isn’t Amir playing!?!? He’s healthy and needs to play. There’s 5:39 left in the 2nd quarter and he hasn’t played at all. Watch after I hit submit Amir will be in… atleast he better be
lol and amir is in. He should have been in earlier anyways
McDyess looks stressed out there. Stuckey and Nazr looked good so far.
Our bench has been keeping up with their starters, nice to see.
JMax grabbin’ them defensive boards! This is very good indeed.
Let’s hope Rodney’s okay…
What happened? I’m in DC - we don’t have it on TV.
Looked like Stuckey jammed his finger and Prince also had his calf/ankle wrapped up.
No torn ACLs, though, right? I’m in nightmare world until I hear these guys are ok. This has been a rough preseason…
Stuckey broke his left hand.
That sucks bad.
shit, just heard the news from blaha as well…
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
fuck.
nuff said.
okay, not enough. i hold personally responsible every member of the media who wrote a story this preseason about how few injuries the Pistons have sustained over the last five years. it’s enough to make ya believe in jinxes.
it was easy to accept small injuries in the preseason because it’s, well, the preseason. but a broken hand is going to keep stuckey out 4-6 weeks and he was facing a steep learning curve as it was. for all the talent he demonstrated, the important thing was to log heavy minutes so that he acquired judgment and better decision-making.
i went from skeptical about stuckey to totally sold on him during the last three weeks, and now he’s done for awhile. well, “if it ain’t rough, it ain’t right…”
Broken hand!?!?!!? No. Please tell me you guys are just playing a cruel joke on me. Please?
theres a link on nba.com saying stuckey broke his hand???!! any news on this, the link wasn’t working for me
That sucks about Stuckey but it’s probably the best time for something bad like that to happen. Afflalo gets more of a chance and Stuckey gets to get his feet wet in the NBA travelling with the team but not playing, not the worst thing in the world for a kid from Eastern Washington.
If Hayes or Tay can play ANY credible SG this is not going to have much of a long-term effect and may have some positive secondary consequences (Afflalo gets some run, the team has to focus on taking care of the basketball a bit more as a team).
But get well soon Stuckey! I broke my hand playing high school soccer (the hand, not a finger) and if it’s not a bad break it heals up fine.
kelser said he was out 6 weeks with a compound fracture in his hand. and i’m fairly certain compound means bone breaking through skin, and since it seemed evident that that wasn’t the case with stuckey, i’m hoping (nay praying) that it’s more like 3-4. so he’d only miss the first 3 weeks of the regular season at max.
this of course is a complete and utter unsubstantiated, unprofessional, biased prognosis. reminded me of darko breaking his hand in game 4 of the 2004 finals. just the hand-breaking part in meaningless playing time. not the talent or promise of the player involved.
jarvis hayes has a ridiculously sweet and quick shot. reminds me of korver in philly.
and i don’t know where the suggestion box is exactly, but i think the team might be better off starting maxiell instead of mcdyess. especially the way he’s rebounding defensively. mcdyess and sheed looked a little slow on the glass at the beginning. dyess is more comfortable off the bench. i wish they hadn’t proclaimed dyess the starter without letting things play out in camp first.
and WHO was that dude in nazr mohammad’s jersey? fantastic.
At least it was his left hand, shouldn’t be as bad as breaking his shooting hand.
jackdutch - I agree that it’s almost definitely not a compound fracture. You are correct when you say a compound fracture means the bone protrudes through the skin. MLive.com has the following:
“Stuckey said he wasn’t sure how the injury happened, but it is believed that his left (non-shooting) hand got caught in the jersey of one of the Wizards players.
“My fingers just went the wrong way, and here it is,” said Stuckey, nodding his head toward his heavily taped left hand.”
If my bones starting protruding through my skin I think I’d remember the moment it happened. It’s possible that Nessler meant ‘complex’ fracture which means the bone shattered into several pieces.
Note: Below are two websites that has all the terminology of breaks:
http://membrane.com/aona/longbone/fracture.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_fracture#Types_of_Bone_Fractures
i heard it was broke in 3 different spots…sounds exactly what Darko had, but its probably not as severe.
Jackdutch, I agree- that guy wearing number 13 was HUNGRY tonight. He was a pest to the Wizards front court– blocking, stealing, knocking the ball out of bounds on attempted rebound after attempted rebound by washington. Offensively, he seemed to always be in the right place– tipping shots, correcting air-balls, licking the offensive glass. Tonight, I got excited as hell about Nazr…
He seemed CONFIDENT. I want to see more of that.
…
I agree about starting Max over McDyess. I am pretty confident that if Maxiell can control his foul trouble, he’ll end up our starting 4 soon enough (and he’ll get a bonus slot on my fantasy team)
…
Let’s hope that Kander is working his voodoo as we speak. Hell, to speed up the process, I’ll slaughter a few chickens and dance in their blood just to see Stuckey get back on the floor. Sure, afflalo and hayes can help fill the hole that we lose without Rodney… But damn- seeing a guy wearing a Pistons uniform and mercilessly driving to the hole in heavy traffic? Priceless… Get well soon, brother.
Also, I wonder if this injury effects Mejia’s roster chances over Dupree… If anything, we may see Hunter on the hardwood in the first month or so.
Well, Flip Murray survives another round.
poopy poop.
It’s nice to have Flip Murray there for an injured or back-up Rip but as a point guard he’s sub-par. He holds on to the ball way to long and just bounces around the three point line. Not a good distributor. Suit up Lindsay… and stay away from your wifes diet pills!
flipper– i am not a murray fan either- however when he was running our bench squad, i felt he did a decent job last night (as the box score suggests as well). when he was in the two spot starting next to chauncey, i questioned his shots– he felt like a black hole. But watching him with our bench last night was encouraging…
Oh yeah, def. got Maxiell on my fantasy team. I mean, my team IS called ‘the baby eaters’