Ordinarily, a game against the Knicks wouldn’t be one to get excited about this late in the season. But if you’re a Pistons fan, you owe it to yourself to get in front of a TV at 7pm and tune into TV20 for the unveiling of the All-Time Team. From Pistons.com:
Hosted by play-by-play announcer George Blaha, the pregame ceremony will reflect on the careers of the greatest players, coaches and general managers in franchise history from 1957-58 through 2007-08. Members of the selected All-Time Team will be on-hand for the ceremony that will include highlight footage and memories of these special players and great teams. Honorees expected to be in attendance include Dave Bing, Bob Lanier, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, Vinnie Johnson, former head coach Chuck Daly, the franchise leader in coaching victories, and former general manager Jack McCloskey.
The Free Press has more details:
The team expects 25 of the honorees to be at the Palace. Three of the 32 are deceased: Dave DeBusschere, Jimmy Walker and George Yardley. And four — Adrian Dantley, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse and Ben Wallace — are playing or coaching elsewhere.
Pistons president Tom Wilson, who was on the nine-member selection panel, said about 20 of the players had at least seven votes and were shoo-ins. The rest came down to debate.
“When you have 25 or 30 guys, there are always going to be people saying, ‘What about so-and-so — he’s my favorite player?’ Or ‘Why did this guy make it?’ ” Wilson said. “It’s inescapable…. But what we came up with is a good cross section of players from the past and the present.”
So basically, it’s going to be a who’s who of Pistons history tonight, all in the same building for the first time since, well, ever. The ball tips at 8pm, the TV special starts at 7 and the on-court ceremony should kick-off around 7:30. I’ll be there for HOOPSWORLD — you can leave your thoughts on the game, ceremony, who got snubbed from the all-time team and who doesn’t belong in the comments.
I’ll be at the game tonight. Aside from Isiah, who these days strikes me as a little creepy, it’ll be really cool to see the old faces.
And for those of you wondering, according to League Pass’s website, the broadcast they’re airing tonight is MSG’s (Boo!). Go figure. I feel like Detroit clubs are the Rodney Dangerfield of sports. We gets no respect!
I would like to vote for Otis Thorpe. That is all
I wonder if Chauncey will be included?
how could leaguepass be that stupid? bah!
Is it bad I’m getting a wee bit choked up?
sweet– so we get to listen to Clyde Frazier masturbate his vocabulary while our team plays. I swear to god if I hear him say “ubiquity” once, I’m going to put my foot inside of the TV.
Yep, League Pass is MSG, F that!!
At least NBA TV played the introductions of Tripucka to Zeke. Sad to see Mr. Davidson in a wheelchair. Wish he’d been able to make the Hall of Fame press conference.
No MSG is showing a little of the ceremony, nice.
Yeah, I was bummed to see that we were getting the MSG feed on League Pass. Give credit to MSG, though. They showed the introductions of the notables, Dave Bing, Chuck Daily, and the Bad Boys. They showed Zeke’s speech. So kudos to MSG, it was very cool to get to see even a little bit of it way out here in the East.
It’s sort of hard to believe that the broadcast is on MSG. The Pistons are going to forfeit the 1st half in protest! Non-violent resistance is resurrected in Detroit and a new era of Small-Market Rights is ushered in. And unlike the 60’s, I’m here to see it and participate.
What do we want? Blaha!
When do we want it? Now!
I’m watching this from a Vietnamese cafe in Orange County CA, where the servers are scantily dressed import car model types. At least it makes this 48 minutes of garbage time/cocktail hour go faster.
I wonder how much those leather jackets go for on ebay.
I’m checking the next flight south to SoCal from PDX to check out these “import car model types!!”
Is there a lid on the basket? Seriously, how many shots seem to have gone all the way in and back out again? It’s not like we’re getting bad looks or anything. They’re just not falling. Defense, however, is another matter.
I hope the Pistons realize that the teams out west continue to win and home court, should we reach the finals, hasn’t been set. I love to see the Zoo Crew, but damn, a win is pretty important, I think.
That there is some horrible, horrible shooting. but at least hermann got a bucket!
hello to the portland folks
Glad Buddha made the cut. I loved his game.
Hello to the rest of the West Coast Pistons Enclave. It’s still a little weird to be watching games this early, but my bedtime gets earlier and earlier, so it’s sort of an advantage.
Hello other PDX peeps. Let’s hope we can put up more than 11 in the 3rd and 4th.
Where are all the “we’re out in the second round!” pistons fans? We’re down by 20+ at the half, i thought this was when they come to comment about the sky falling. strange.
way to show some pride on such a special night….
er. uh. hrmm.
I see we pack it up and play the bench for the rest of this one. And bring the real effort against Philly, Toronto and Washington.
I agree QD– I wanted to see bench burn, but this way!
make that “not this way”.
at least new orleans is losing too.
the quintessential garbage time player enters: nate robinson, everyone. jersey-pop in t-minus 5, 4, 3….
this is too pathetic to watch. good night.
Yeah, crossword puzzle is more interesting at this point. Maybe I’ll watch an episode of Ax Men, you know, bond with my Oregon kin…
still refusing to pay attention….
(can the kids really pull this off?)
Wow. What a comeback.
Collins traveled on that shot.
wow. an ounce of effort in the first half would have helped.
Balkman makes Ben Wallace look like Mark Price.
A wonderfully rubbish ending to a completely rubbish hellish day. Mutha*ucker.
Nice game by Amir 14 and 8 in about 25 minutes.
He finally got to touch the ball on offense.
I couldn’t believe it.
The local tv 20 feed . . . tears to the eyes. All those greats, all at once, all in the same place. Rest in peace, DeBusschere, Yardley, and Walker.
I’m glad Isiah and the old guard talked to the team. I’m also glad Isiah addressed the audience at the ceremony tonight. It goes beyond being talked about in the same sentence as Boston. It goes directly upon being better than Boston. There remains work to do.
Beating Boston. What it’s about . . . that’s clearly something Isiah does hold best authority . . . both in experience, and the gravity. The elders needed to impress upon the current team just what that is.
I’m still thinkin’ about the local 20 interview with Isiah, post game . . . I felt lifeblood in Isiah. Obviously, that’s not usually the case.
Isiah. He was our Jordan. Nobody can ever tell me Allen Iverson this, that, or anything. Isiah would kill him. There’s Magic, there’s Isiah, there’s Robertson, there’s Stockton, and there’s Frazier. SGs? Nah, there’s Jordan, Bryant, West, Gervin, and Drexler. Then you talk about Dumars. You talk about AI as an afterthought.
Hey Maxiell . . . I want to see you do “pullin’ the chair.” Mahorn had a great bag of tricks. Rasheed’s IQ . . . an encyclopedia of b-ball. All you kids, keep fighting. Stuckey’s learning from Chauncey. Keep learning, young guns. You guys will need the tricks. Do it right.
McCosky described Grant Hill’s “disconnect” with the fans . . . he’s right. There may have been mediocre management and squads, but there was clearly not love for Hill here like he was loved abroad. McCosky was surprised. He shouldn’t be. You can’t fool a roughneck town.
Ben Wallace . . . you broke our hearts. *MWAH*
Amir, Maxiell, Stuckey, Afflalo, and the rest of the kids are in the image and likeness of the Bad Boys. All those guys saw what Detroit’s family is. Chauncey said it. Continue, uphold.
Joe’s the architect. Davidson’s not getting younger. Trader Jack McCloskey still loves us. Daddy Rich Daly is still here for us. Blaha still counts those babies and the fouls. This team has wings. Tradition. They must do something great . . . and do it today. Tomorrow is now. This is our time.
QD - “Balkman makes Ben Wallace look like Mark Price.” Too funny!
Checked the box score and what do I see? Amir lead the team in scoring. Free Amir!!!
Well said Sauce.
Isiah will ALWAYS have a place in D-Town… we loved him flaws and all, just like Laimbeer, Mahorn, Sheed, etc… Grant was too polished, too reserved, too controlled, too distant for Detroiters. We care. We need to know you care, as a player, too.
grant hill was/is a dukie. you don’t need to go much further than that.
JD, the only further I’d go is to at least suggest that not all players from Duke are rotten.
Shane Battier might have fit into Detroit’s system. He’s all about defense, so there’s a start.
Then there’s the Bad Boys ‘90 champion, Gerald Henderson. He went to Virginia Commonwealth, but his son, Gerald Jr., went to Duke. He was the cat that busted T-Hands’s nose.
The day that happened, I thought of his dad. And the Bad Boys. And I smiled.