Chauncey Billups took questions from season ticket holders during a conference call yesterday, including one from Need4Sheed’s Natalie. There’s no transcript on Pistons.com just yet, but it’ll likely pop up soon.
Archive for February, 2007
From Chris McCosky’s Burning Questions in the Detroit News:
Q. Watching former Piston Bill Laimbeer playing with Chauncey Billups and Swin Cash on All-Star Saturday, I was wondering where Bill has been this season? He’s not doing the television broadcasts anymore and we haven’t seen him at any home games.
A. Laimbeer, after leading the Shock to their second WNBA title, decided he needed a break and relinquished his television duties. That’s one reason. The other is, Laimbeer was miffed he was not given much consideration for any of the assistant coaching jobs the Pistons had available before the season.
The Pistons hired Terry Porter and Dave Cowens, without even talking to Laimbeer. Laimbeer has aspirations of being a head coach in the NBA, but it is highly unlikely he will get that opportunity with the Pistons.
If he’s right, my prediction that Bill Laimbeer will coach the Pistons if Flip Saunders leaves looks pretty silly.
Standing pat doesn’t hurt Pistons [Detroit News]
Joe Dumars was a guest on Chad Ford’s ESPN podcast “The Daily Dish” on Tuesday. DBB reader (and doctored photo contributor) Tim alerted me to the episode, and if you have 15 minutes to spare, it’s worth a listen (that’s a direct link to the mp3 — if you want to listen, I recommend right-clicking it and saving it to your computer first).
It starts out with talk about the trade deadline (Joe was willing to take a risk, but no other GM’s were), followed by the Chris Webber factor (even Joe didn’t realize it’d work out this well), Ben Wallace’s reception at the Palace (Joe was surprised by the booing), comparing this year’s squad to last year’s team (he thinks this year’s team is in position for more success) and then the real gem: the Flip Saunders/Minnesota question.
The question is asked right around the 9:38 mark, and I’ve done my best to transcribe this portion. I’ve edited out a few superfluous “um’s” and “you know’s”, but this is otherwise verbatim:
Chad Ford: Why do the Minnesota papers keep writing that Flip Saunders is coaching the Gophers next year?
Joe Dumars: Well, I mean, I don’t know. [laughter]
Chad Ford: It’s like every week there’s a story about it.
Joe Dumars: Yeah, every week there’s a story there. And you have to know how we are here in Detroit about stuff like that. OK, if, if, you know, we always say, look, we’re going to be a good team, we’re going to be a good team and we love having Flip here, you know, and he’s done a really good job this year, and you know, at the end of the year that’s his call, what he wants to do. And I haven’t talked to him about it, he hasn’t said a word to me about it, I haven’t said one word to him about it, because it’s not my focus.
But, you know, stuff like that comes up, obviously we’ve gone through something like that before, so, for us here, to be honest with you Chad, I’m telling you, and you know how John and I, John Hammond and I talk all the time, it’s really not a big deal to us. It really isn’t. I mean, we sit there and look at it, and say, “Oh, okay, that’s the Minnesota stuff that’s going on, and, so be it.”
Chad Ford: I’m not sure why you’d want to give up a head coaching job with the Pistons to coach the Gophers, but that’s just me.
Joe Dumars: [laughter]
I’ve listened to this a couple of times and I can’t make up my mind what he really means in his answer. It almost, almost sounds like he’s of the attitude that the Pistons will have a good team with or without Flip Saunders, though that admittedly requires reading between the lines and putting words in his mouth, neither of which is very responsible.
In any case, for such a hot button topic that keeps recurring, I don’t understand at all why Flip Saunders hasn’t talked about it with anybody except the local media. I mentioned on the FanHouse a couple of weeks ago that University of Minnesota’s school president Robert Bruininks told reporters that Saunders is the school’s No. 1 candidate. Saunders countered by saying he hasn’t talked to anyone in the school … but why not just place a quick call and say, “quit talking about me, I’m not interested”?
The St. Paul Pioneer-Press quoted Flip’s wife Debbie (who lives in Minnesota during the season, mind you) as saying, “I don’t ask, and he doesn’t tell” when asked about the rumors. I have a hard time believing it’s never come up, or if that really is the case, I have a hard time understanding it — especially since their son Ryan is currently a junior on the Gophers squad. Continue reading ‘Joe Dumars addresses the Flip Saunders question’
The Orlando media is nervous about a potential first-round matchup with Detroit. But honestly, at the rate they’re going (last night’s game aside), they may not have to worry about the playoffs at all.
Krista Jahnke has some injury updates from today’s practice in her blog:
Forward Rasheed Wallace did not practice; he went to have X rays taken on his left foot. We’re supposed to get word tomorrow on whether there’s anything serious going on, but coach Flip Saunders did not expect that.
Guard Ronald (Flip) Murray was excused from Tuesday’s workout for “personal reasons.” Guard Lindsey Hunter stayed home sick. And Chris Webber decided to get another opinion on his left eye, which has a corneal abrasion and is not looking much better than when he suffered the injury last week.
The Pistons don’t play again until Friday in Miami, so hopefully all of this stuff can get sorted out over the next few days.
Pistons missing some bodies at practice [Detroit Free Press]
Amir Johnson and Will Blalock will be getting a lot of playing time … for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The duo was sent down to Detroit’s NBDL affiliate this past weekend. From the Argus Leader:
According to Skyforce coach Mo McHone, the two will play in tonight’s home game against Fort Worth - they had been scheduled to arrive in time for Sunday’s game - and, depending how soon the Pistons can lock up their playoff position, may remain with Sioux Falls through the end of March. …
As for Sioux Falls’ assignees, the 6-9 Johnson played six games with the club earlier this season, averaging 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks. Having appeared in only four games this season with Detroit, the 19-year-old has reportedly been asking Pistons GM Joe Dumars to be returned to the Skyforce.
The last time, Johnson was sent to Sioux Falls: Pistons vice president John Hammond said on the Pistons’ Web site: “This is a great opportunity for Amir to get playing experience. He’s going to play for a very good coach in Mo McHone, a coach who has won championships at the minor-league level. He’s working on everything here. We can give him everything he needs here, but the only thing we can’t give him is playing time.”
For Blalock, the 6-foot rookie from Iowa State has played in 13 games for Detroit, averaging 1.8 points, 1.3 assists and 1.0 rebounds per game.Veteran guard Lindsey Hunter’s recent return to health and Detroit’s decision not to make a move before this week’s trade deadline prompted the assignment.
“He’s definitely at NBA player,” McHone said of Blalock, like Johnson, a former second-round draft pick. “What I think Will is going to bring to the table is something we really, really need and that’s a straight push the ball, run the offense type of point guard that will allow us to give Frank (Williams) more rest.”
I’m sure Johnson and Blalock are looking forward to the extra playing time (if not flying commercial). We’ll try to keep tabs on their progress while they’re down there.
Skyforce get players from NBA [Argus Leader, via Need4Sheed]
Amir Johnson NBDL profile page [NBA.com]
Darko didn’t do much when he faced the Pistons last week, but he just abused Ben Wallace and the Bulls last night: 14 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. Ben’s line? Three points, eight boards, two blocks.
Forgot to include this in the recap (I do that a lot), but special thanks to DBB reader Tim for the screen grab of yesterday’s announcing crew. I knew we were on to something last May!
DBB reader BigBoyIndo with a brilliant comment:
“You might ask why I get called Skeletor, well the answer is really simple. First, you take a look at my face, I look like Skeletor. Okay, right? I legitimately scare the crap out of kids. And secondly, you have to consider what Joe Crawford saw and that was the fact that I really, really do look like Skeletor.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction the Palace crowd would give Ben Wallace, but it didn’t take long to find out: his introduction by Mason was largely answered with boos. From the view on my couch, there appeared to be just enough people cheering to call it a mixed reaction, but once the ball was tipped the boos quickly drowned out any cheers.
Everyone is talking about Ben’s return — it even elicited a rare NBA column out of Mitch Albom:
When Pistons announcer John Mason asked them to welcome back the “cornerstone” of the recent title team, he never got to “B-B-B-Ben” before the fans went “b-b-b-boooooo.”
And when Chris Webber, the man now standing in Ben’s old spot, put a rebound back with 2.2 seconds left to secure a Detroit win, those same fans roared their approval.
Ears don’t lie.
For what it’s worth, the players say they were surprised by the fans’ reaction:
“I was mystified; I didn’t think people would boo,” said Rasheed Wallace, who saw Wallace get a nice reception at the restaurant they ate at separately Saturday night. “He’s still cool with me.”
“I was surprised that it was as many boos,” Rasheed Wallace said. “I mean, I seen some of the real Pistons fans clapping and stuff. You can’t be mad at the man for what he did. He brought a championship here and gave them all that he’s got during his time here. So to boo him, I felt a little uneasy with that — I’ll say that.”
“I was surprised …” Billups said of the boos. “Even I clapped for him when I heard his name. … But we got fans man, loyal, loyal fans.”
Fortunately for the fans, the drama after the ball was tipped actually managed to live up to the pre-game hype. It was close for most of the first half before the Bulls went on a 13-1 run just before halftime. It got even worse in the third quarter as the Bulls extended their lead to as many as 16 — I don’t think I was alone in worrying that this was going to turn into another blowout like the first one.
Chicago couldn’t miss and Detroit couldn’t hit — and part of the problem was the fact Rasheed Wallace was hobbling on both ends of the court. He turned his ankle in the first quarter and was obviously limited (he finished with six points, going 2-11 from the field).
Enter Jason Maxiell. Over the next 13 minutes, the Baby Eater completely changed the tone of the game, finishing with seven boards and three blocks while effectively policing the “No Layups” rule. What he couldn’t block he still stopped with hard fouls, and he even drew a charge against Ben Wallace, which was the boiling point for the frustrated former Piston. From the Detroit News:
Wallace protested and drew a technical foul.
“I can’t tell you what he said, but that was comedy,” Maxiell said.
Rasheed could have re-entered the game, but Flip Saunders found a combination that worked and he stuck with it. After Maxiell left five minutes into the fourth, the Pistons finished the game with Antonio McDyess and Chris Webber, with the latter scoring the winning shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game.
This game probably could have gone either way, but as you’d expect from a veteran team playing on its home court, the Pistons pulled it out. The Bulls made a good show of it, and rivalry aside it’s hard not to like Chicago’s future. DBB reader Boney made the following comment, and I completely agree:
[I] hope that when/if Detroit ever does fall back to mediocrity (teal era) that it’s the young Bulls they played today that come together and take over the Eastern Conference just like it was back in the Early ’90s…
It’s a lot easier to get behind this team from Chicago than the one-man show in Cleveland or the marketing stars down in Miami. There’s a solid foundation of equally important pieces in place, and anyone who’s cheered for Detroit’s “sum is greater than its parts” success these last several years can appreciate what Chicago is trying to do. Can you imagine how much fun a seven-game series against this team would be? I’m guessing we’ll find out in a couple of months.
Pistons 95, Chicago 93 box score [ESPN]
GameFlow [PopcornMachine.net]
Mitch Albom: Big Ben’s boo-tiful day at the Palace [Detroit Free Press]
Ben: Boos were expected [Detroit Free Press]
NO BULL: Webber’s shot foils Wallace’s return [Detroit News]
Rob Parker: Fans have moved on from Ben [Detroit News]
DBB preview: Settling the score: The Voice of a Bulls fan
Need4Sheed recap: Pistons Pull One Out In Ben Wallace’s Return
You saw Dwight Howard’s silly “Sticker Dunk” during the All-Star break’s slam dunk contest. What you didn’t see — thanks to some extremely poor judging by ‘Nique, MJ, and Dr. J — was Howard’s second round dunks. The guy is amazing.
Latest Comments