Things are slow here at DBB because things are crazy here at Watson, Inc. But you’re used to this by now, huh? Here are some links to peruse at work while pretending you didn’t mentally check out for the weekend at lunch yesterday:
- As you may have heard, Natalie from Need4Sheed held a contest recently in which she invited several of her readers to watch a game from the Pistons.com suite, complete with a pre-game tour and chance to watch the team warm up on the floor. That game was Wednesday against the Heat, and judging from the pictures it looks like an awesome time.
As I alluded to on Wednesday, a DBB night is in the works for next month — details will follow soon, I promise. In the meantime, kudos to the Pistons for reaching out to us — there aren’t a lot of franchises (in any sport, really) who embrace bloggers like this.
- Wednesday’s game was the backdrop to the Shaq-for-Marion trade being officially announced. I was at the game for HOOPSWORLD and among the scrum of reporters hounding Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade for their reactions:
Like Riley, Wade seemed disappointed in losing O’Neal but also understands why the deal happened. “Of course, more than anything, Shaq is a friend, like family to a lot of us, especially to me. So we’re going to miss him for what he brought us as a person,” he said. “As a teammate, what he brought to our team, my four years here it’s been unbelievable, so we thank him for it. But on the other end, this is a business at the end of the day. And both teams made decisions they thought was best for both teams.”
“I think no one’s bitter on either end,” he added. “I think Phoenix is happy, I think Miami is happy with the trade, and I think Shawn and Shaq are happy. I love Shaq and our relationship will not stop, we’re just not playing [together] anymore. We had a great four years.”
- Charles Barkley gets all the credit, but Ernie Johnson is the glue that makes TNT’s Inside the NBA so great. J.E. Skeets of Ball Don’t Lie blog (I’m still getting used to typing that) interviewed EJ earlier this week. Consider it mandatory reading for fans of the show.
- Rip Hamilton has eyes only for Kobe Bryant in the three-point shootout:
“The greatest thing about it is they put Kobe in the three-point contest and he can’t shoot better than me. He never could beat me in a shoot-out, ever, so this is my opportunity to let him know he can’t shoot better than me.”
Trouble is, Kobe is thinking about skipping the All-Star Game and Tramp Ball Contest weekend due to a pinkie injury. Yes, a pinkie injury.
- Gilbert Arenas on the dangers of shaving, um, down there.
- PistonsNation caught up with former Piston Will Blalock, who returned from a stint overseas and is now suiting up in the D-League.
Thank you, Matt, for this glorious collection of time-wasting links. My productivity at work has gone down accordingly…
Matt, In case the pistons orginization really wantes to make that bloggers embrace a big one, I’d love to get a ticket (as in a plane ticket) to come see the game
I think Kobe will be there. He can’t let Rip trash him like that and then be a no-show.
Even when Arenas isn’t playing, he’s still one of the most entertaining guys in the league.
matt or anyone: What are the chances of obtaining Josh Smith from Atlanta Hawks by just using Hayes, Hermann, Flip or/and Brezec as a trade? The trade deadline is getting close, is there any deal going on that Joe is working on?
The chances of that are extremely low. Josh Smith is pretty damn good with the potential to get even better, and is a pretty big part of what Atlanta’s doing. Hayes and Herrmann aren’t upgrades over Smith, and Flip’s an SG through and through. I couldn’t see Atlanta wanting Brezec and/or Herrmann (if you want to consider him a true big man), since they already have a couple of quality bigs floundering down there (Pachulia and the now-completely-out-of-the-rotation Shelden Williams). If they can’t find reasonable playing time for those two, I don’t think they’d feel Brezec and Herrmann will give them whatever the hell it is they think they need. None of these guys are really back-to-the-basket bigs.
Ohad…
Now, now - if they’re gonna embrace that might, it should be a free flight on Roundball One!
Matt…
Looking forward to the deal - hopefully I can make it in for this game!
Steve,
Oooooh yeah, sav me a seat next to sheed!
Other studio shows could learn a thing or two or fifteen by watching NBA on TNT. Easily the best studio show out there IMO. I’ll actually record the games just to watch the pre-half-postgame shows. The only other studio show I occasionally watch is NFL on FOX with Bradshaw and Co., the rest of them I just fast-forward through.