Chris McCosky of the Detroit News offers some final thoughts on the Tuesday's All-Time Team ceremony in his blog, including a not-so-flattering depiction of John Salley:
This guy has become an insufferable jerk. I am not kidding. The guy shouldn't even have been on the all-time team, in my judgment. Nobody has ever gotten more (popularity, championship rings, movie and TV deals) with less talent. Eddie Miles should have been on the team, not him. Shoot, Antonio McDyess should have been on the team instead of him. Terry Mills, Curtis Rowe -- Zelly Rebraca (OK, I went too far) -- anybody but Salley.
So, there we are before the game, talking to the players as they walk through. Everybody, from Dave Bing to Bob Lanier to Chuck Daly -- I mean, legit Hall-of-Fame stars -- stop to talk to us media types. They are cordial, happy to do so. In comes Salley with the biggest entourage of anybody. He literally travels with his own TV crew. Captain Pretentious. It's absurd. We ask politely if we can talk to him for a second. He doesn't even break stride, "Nope." Well, at least he gave unlimited access to his own crew. He's like a walking reality TV show that nobody wants to watch but him. I hope the Pistons never retire his number. If they did, it would devalue all those others who's jerseys justifiably hang in the rafters.
Not to worry: if No. 22 is ever floating above the court, I'm sure it'll be because of Tayshaun Prince, not Spider. But even if Salley is as arrogant as he's made out to be, I don't think 99.9% of the fans actually care, especially considering Salley seemed to be at ease smiling and cracking wise with his former teammates throughout the ceremony. More than anything, seeing all of those guys together on the court one more time gave me goosebumps -- I would have been bummed had Salley, who's always had an over-sized personality, been left out.
Update: Not to be left out, Terry Foster is ripping former players in his blog, too:
Rodman was a noticeable no show during the Pistons 50th anniversary celebration before Tuesday's game against the New York Knicks. The Pistons floated out that Rodman missed two flights. They floated out at the Palace that he was sick.
I am not buying any of that. Rodman missed those flights on purpose. He was a no show because he wanted to be a no show. If he was sick, he was sick of the Pistons.
Rodman is a flake. He is flighty, but he still holds resentment with the organization and former teammate Vinnie Johnson. He holds grudges and does not let go.
It did not surprise me he did not show.
Foster follows with a story about Rodman's last days in Detroit, though I wish he explained the Vinnie Johnson back story. In any case, yeah, Rodman may be a flake, but that would have been true even if he showed up.
If there really were reasons beyond the stated excuses for his absence, I'm guessing it had more to do with Rodman being the same old emotionally fragile guy that he used to be in Detroit. He's created a convincing facade of being a living, breathing circus act, and if I had to guess, I'd say he was probably intimidated being around a bunch of old teammates who could see right through his act. But that's enough armchair psychology for today ...