Pistons Related Links: A look at the Dallas Mavericks and Stan Van Gundy's political corner

Fox Sports Mavericks-Pistons preview:

First, DeMarcus Cousins handled Dallas down low. Then, Kenneth Faried and DeAndre Jordan dominated with 20-20 performances.

The Mavericks' problems containing big men are surfacing at the wrong time as they cling to a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and if those issues persist against Andre Drummond, they could be staring down a season-worst fourth consecutive defeat.

Shout out to Mr. Reggie Bullock --

The Pistons are hoping rookie Stanley Johnson, who will miss his seventh straight because of a right shoulder sprain, can return at some point during the trip. Reggie Bullock wasn't factoring into Van Gundy's rotation prior to Johnson's injury, but he's averaged 9.7 points while shooting 58.8 percent in extended minutes with Johnson out.

"To sit for 45, 50 games, not playing, and then play pretty well (is tough)," Van Gundy said. "You have to give guys a lot of credit."

David Lee makes himself at home with Dallas Mavericks -- Fort Worth Star Telegram

In seven games with Dallas so far, Lee has averages of nearly 13 and 9 in 19.6 minutes per game. I guess that means a lot less outside launching from dear Charlie V going forward.

"We sold him on the opportunity here and I really believe he could be at least a 20-minute a game player," Carlisle said. "We need him and he's helped us."

Carlisle, though, wouldn't go as far as to say Lee would replace Zaza Pachulia as the Mavs' starting center. Because Lee is 6-foot-9 and 245 pounds, Carlisle knows the Mavs need Pachulia's 6-11, 275-pound frame in the middle to battle some of the NBA's beefier players.

Dirk Nowitzki set to join Kareem, Malone, Duncan, and Havlicek on another career scoring milestone -- Dallas News

Everybody knows that 1,000 points in a season for Nowitzki has been an afterthought throughout his career. But this will be his 16th season with at least 1,000 points. That will tie him with John Havlicek for fourth on the list of most 1,000-point seasons.

The people ahead of them? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 19, Karl Malone with 18 and Tim Duncan with 17.

The Mavericks' future revolves around Justin Anderson -- Mavs Moneyball

Well, yikes. Justin Anderson seems to have potential to be a solid rotational player in the league, maybe a starter -- but while I watched some games of his while he was a junior at Virginia, I don't have too much to go on here either way. But my feeling tells me circumstances are looking on the dire side out there in Dallas if their future may seriously revolve around Justin Anderson in some fairly major way. Any Dallas fans (or Anderson savvy people)  who may read this, feel free to call me out on how wrong I may be.

Here's an excerpt from Moneyball:

But even looking at the bigger picture, not giving Anderson that time on the floor could put a huge strain on Dallas' plan for the future. ESPN Dallas' Tim MacMahon noted a legitimate possibility of the Mavericks losing Parsons to his hometown Orlando Magic this summer once he opts out of the final year of his three-year, $46 million deal. It would be a shocker to see Parsons leaving, but as our own Tim Cato pointed out, if the relationship between Carlisle and Parsons reaches a tipping point, Parsons could be gone this summer.

That, in turn, means the new starting small forward is young buck Justin Anderson. (For those of you saying "Kevin Durant": please stop.)

All in all, these Pistons and Mavericks have similar records now, yet for the future they are headed in different directions. And even now, amid a 3-game losing streak, the Mavericks' players and fans are 'irritated', as this post clearly shows.

Enough Mavericks chatter? OK. Now SVG on politics!

Pistons' SVG not amused by political theatrics, 'I want somebody who knows what the hell's going on' -- MLive

"I follow politics pretty closely," Van Gundy said. "Other than the nights that we have played, I've caught the debates on both sides. I follow the news daily. Entertained? I don't know. I don't really watch political debates to be entertained. In fact, what other people are entertained by I'm probably repulsed by.

Van Gundy is probably a no-nonsense guy in a lot of aspects of his life, so it's not surprising to find out that he's seemingly concerned, or as he says, 'repulsed', by America's political campaign clown show as of late.

This whole outside movement, to me, I want an insider. I want somebody who knows what the hell's going on.

"That would be like me, I've got to get my back operated on and I say, 'You know, I want somebody who thinks outside the box. Get me an outsider.' I don't want somebody who has actually (never) operated on a back before. It doesn't even make sense to me. Then again, I come at this differently than most people.

Heat's robo-rebounding has fueled push in standings -- Sun-Sentinel

According to Elias Sports Bureau, with his 13 rebounds in Sunday's victory, Whiteside became the first reserve to reach double digits in rebounds in nine consecutive games off the bench since Dennis Rodman did it in 1993-94 with the San Antonio Spurs.

I remember the chatter a couple months ago from several DBB readers about the Heat's general mediocrity and the stance that Detroit was in a better situation this season. Heat are still mediocre, obviously, but lackluster as they may be at times, they still have vets like Deng, Dragic, not to mention Wade. It would be lovely for the Heat to end up 3rd and the Pistons 6th -- that IS a match-up that has "upset" written all over it.

And when Whiteside enters, it raises the pressure on the glass exponentially for the opposition. Over the past 10 games, only Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond is averaging more rebounds than Whiteside's 15.2 per game, with Whiteside second in the league in defensive rebounding over that span and fifth in offensive rebounding.

~~

Can Will Detroit put together another strong effort against a playoff caliber team? Enjoy the game!