Laimbeer Moving on to Greener Pastures?

I wonder if he has an offer already? I mean, his team is trying to defend their championship, and it seems so sudden. He did say he'd been considering it for a while now, but I don't know. Sounds kinda fishy. Anyway. It doesn't look like his next job will be with the Pistons, which is really too bad because that means we're stuck with Tablecloth Suit wearing Michael Curry. I personally think Bill is a very good coach. I remember watching his 'Zone Offense' go to work. I also love what he's done with the Shock, a team that used to be at the bottom of the WNBA totem pole. I'd love to see him as the Pistons' coach - come on, JD, get rid of Coach Tablecloth already; Laimbs has PROVEN he can win, and he's also been able to DEVELOP PLAYERS, something no Piston coach of the last 5 or so years has done or cared to do.

Congrats Lakers!!

2009 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Sounds like music to my ears. I've always been a fan of Kobe and they definitely were the best TEAM this season. Kobe was Finals MVP, but they couldn't have won without Fish, Trevor Ariza or Lamar Odom either. A lot of people aren't happy about the Lakers winning another 'ship for different reasons, but I couldn't be happier, even though I am a Pistons fan now, I always loved the Lakers. Always will, probably. Very good organization with a fantastic track record.

Can't Wait for the Draft - Offseason Post

Because it's all I've got to look forward to now. I feel strange for saying this because it's been a long time since the last time the Pistons' season ended in April instead of late May or June. Of course, I am sort of rooting for the Nuggets because I've always liked that team, and they've got Chauncey now (kinda sucks, that was our PG - he never should've been traded for capspace man Iverson) and I wish him all the best. Seeing Carmelo also reminds me just how much of a bad decision it was to draft Darko - and all because we already had Tayshaun - please, if the Bulls had followed that logic they wouldn't have drafted Derrick Rose because they already had Kirk Hinrich (I like Tay, but I'll probably never forgive him for running away from Lebron like he did on national TV. Just not what Pistons are supposed to do, y'know? Kind of unfair, but...)

Anyway, on to the draft - still over a month away - from what I see, we need a SF, a real PG (we had one but we traded him away and now we've got a pint-sized combo guard - an overhyped one - and a 6'5 2-guard being made to be a PG), and a C. We might also need a more mobile PF with some size. No Tyler Hansborough (sp?) please. 

My wish list includes total pipe dreams, so I won't even mention them - and after that, all that's left are a bunch of PGs/SFs/PFs. So, here they are, in no particular order:

1.) Jeff Teague

2.) Jrue Holiday

3.) Brandon Jennings

4.) Alade Aminu (if his brother were in this draft, he'd be a pipe dream too)

5.) Danny Green

6.) Eric Maynor

7.) Jonny Flynn

8.) Demar DeRozan (might be a pipe dream too)

9.) Wayne Ellington

10.) Blake Griffin (just to be perverse - number 1 overall for sure)

Now, on to the still-current Pistons:

I'd actually be more than willing to part with both Rip and Tayshaun from the core 5. Rip was a whiny bitch for a lot of this season, and the Pistons need a different offensive system - Rip's style of play would never fit in with that or the supposed faster paced offense that would fit the style of all our young players better - from Stuckey on down. 

Tayshaun - well, I just think it's time for a change. LeBron pwns him completely (not that I blame him) but he's just too deliberate and seems to choke quite a bit. Just my opinion.

Sheed and AI are gone - though I would like to keep Sheed - his skillset is hard to replace. Or, he could become the Pistons' big man coach - Dave Cowens has done nothing in that department. 

Dice's situation is more complicated - I'd love to keep him, but he's such a great guy I'd like to see him go and win a 'ship somewhere, since it almost definitely ain't happening with the Pistons. 

I would like to see Jason Maxiell gone as well - he is incredibly inconsistent, and with his size, it's hard to see how he can improve any more - if I'm not mistaken, he's already 26. And his black hole tendencies never appealed to me. That mid-season extension never should have happened.

Stuckey and Bynum are safe - Joe said so himself, so that's a foregone conclusion. 

Arron Afflalo - he's the forgotten man here - it's not immediately clear what the club's plans are for him, but I assume he stays. I'm for keeping him as well.

Amir Johnson - the much-hyped, much-hated one. I still happen to be a big supporter. He's a great hustle guy - like Tyrus Thomas but without the consistent playing time. A lot of fans are giving up on him and want to trade him, but I think he still merits another chance. This last year was very up and down for him, starting then getting benched for Kwame Brown, then getting seemingly random DNP-CDs despite being productive enough outside of foul trouble. His shortcomings are correctible, and from what I hear, he's a willing student. You can't teach speed or height either, so I'm for keeping him over Max - he's still relatively cheap and he's only 21 - the potential far outweighs the risk, imo. 

Oh yes, IF we draft Alade, those two would thrive in a faster offense like Curry says he wants.

Walter Sharpe - who knows with this guy. He never got on the floor, and he's even skinnier than Tayshaun. Not sold on him at all, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Last but not least - Good bye Goldilocks!!

I wish Joe would fire Curry. I wouldn't trust that man with my high school squad. Kinda like a Kurt Rambis - Phil Jackson thing. The Lakers sucked and fell to the lottery under the former and the latter made a playoff team of the same group in the tough Western Conference. Of course, it helps to have a Kobe Bryant, but still.

Almost in the Lottery

Well, the pistons were almost lottery bound. Would've been better to watch the lottery balls than get absolutely destroyed by the cavs in the first round.

The Importance of the Present to the Future

The focus of this post starts and ends with Amir Johnson. As I'm sure everyone knows by now, the Pistons just traded Nazr Mohammed to the Charlotte Bobcats for the two players I shall thereafter refer to as Road Block (Brezec) and Goldilocks (Herrmann).

Obviously, Road Block is a 7-foot stiff who moves like he's mired in mud all the time, and Goldilocks is good for some hustle and a couple of 3-point bombs. I don't have a problem with him, really, my problem starts with Road Block and ends with the following statement from an article I found over on the detnews:

Saunders is hopeful that Brezec can handle the 10-minutes-per-game, fourth
big-man role Mohammed played.

Could it be McCosky, who seems to tend to make his opinions appear as fact, simply assumed this would be the case? Sure. Could it be that Flip really thinks this and we may as well give up on any chance our young, athletic, hard-working 20-year old Power Forward will get any significant (as in non-garbage minutes) playing time this season? Hell yes. There has been a plethora of reasons why Amir hasn't played, the only one of which I consider legit is the preseason ankle injury he suffered. Since then, statements like

"He doesn't talk enough"

or backhanded compliments like

“Amir, a lot of times he looks like he’s going to make a mistake but he winds
up turning the mistake into a great play,”

are followed by veiled criticisms like

“It’s just a matter of him being more consistent. He does a lot of things off
instinct, which is good. He just has to understand more about what we are trying
to do.”

What else does he need to show in order to at least get a chance? He's already shown tremendous energy and hustle, the ability to block shots, etc, as shown here and still our coach thinks a stiff who won't help us get anywhere deserves more time? Is Road Block, a 28-year old scrub who couldn't even stand out on a very bad Bobcats team, going to play before Amir does? Are we going to go the tried-and-true Darko-Delfino route with him, too? Or maybe I'm simply reading too much into things? We'll find out soon enough.

Pistons Season Preview

Seeing as it's preseason now and the regular season's coming up in a few weeks, here's my season preview:

The New Guys:
We all know about #15 pick Rodney Stuckey, #27 pick Arron Afflalo, #57 pick Sammy Mejia and FA signing Jarvis Hayes.
- Stuckey continues to show that he can get to the rim whenever he wants, and the Pistons are going to need that as the season, and more so the playoffs, wear on. Everyone knows Stcukey is solid, but the other first-round pick for the Pistons, Afflalo, has quietly been showing his mettle on the floor, particularly on the defensive end. I think that guy's gonna be solid. Like Stuckey, he's talented, and has tremendous work ethic. The forgotten man is second-round pick Mejia. This is a guy that has a lot of versatility, reminiscent of Tayshaun Prince. He's a 6'7 point-forward who can fill up a stat sheet without drawing much attention to himself. I'm intrigued by what he brings, but he's still on the bubble as far as making the roster, let alone cracking the rotation. Last but not least, Hayes. From the limited action I've been able to observe of him in this preseason, he seems to be a strong, solid player who isn't afraid to take his shots. He had a terrific outing against the short-handed Nuggets, at one point going 4 for 4 from the 3-pt. line, scoring 16 in one quarter. He brings a slightly different look on defense as well. A strong 6'8, he's not a guy someone like, say, Lebron can push around like he can Tay.

The Not-so-new Guys: Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson.
-Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson are expected to play key roles for the Pistons this season, and I won't deny that I think Johnson may be able to eventually make more of an impact than Maxiell will if given enough playing time. Johnson, though, has been sidelined with an ankle injury, but he should be able to give the team a good boost off the bench as soon as he returns.

What's Changed:
The Bench.
After that painful loss to Cleveland in the ECF, Joe Dumars spent the offseason overhauling his bench. Indeed, this bench has gotten a lot younger, has a lot more energy and athleticism, but also a lot less experience, which means that the team will invariably have a few ups and downs as the young players learn and play through mistakes throughout the season. If all goes well, though, this group of bench players could turn out to be just as good as the one that helped the Pistons win the title in 2004.

The Starting Line-up.
Not much has changed here, really, except for the fact that Antonio McDyess is now part of the starting five.

Season Goals:
Nothing's changed here. The team's ultimate goal is the same as its been for the past six years - win the championship.

Regular Season: Flip Saunders and the Pistons came into last season with the goal of developing a bench unit that can come in and rest the starters and not have too much of a drop off. Alas, last year's bench came up way short of that goal, and the starters were once again asked to play heavy minutes, particularly in the playoffs - with disastrous results. The onus is now on Flip Saunders to properly develop THIS group, and it is, to be sure, a much more talented and youthful bunch than the one the team had last year. It remains to be seen if Saunders can accomplish this task.

Predicted Record: 54 - 28

This Could Get Ugly

To be honest, I was starting to get sick of Tim Donaghy - he's a scumbag who used his privilages as a ref to influence the point spreads - and perhaps even the outcomes of NBA games. He is, in the eyes of Stern and other NBA officials, the villain. On the other hand, Donaghy is also a victim. He and his family have been hounded by the media, his past transgressions have been brought to light, and he is apparently being threatened by the mob. Still, it's hard for me to feel much pity for the guy despite all that, and I think Stern is as much to be blame for it as little Timmy is. Why? Because the commish knew the guy was a problem child; he knew he had a gambling problem - so why did he not try to keep the guy on a tighter leash?

The Fallout
Now everyone's favorite ref could potentially shatter the league's integrity and, by relation, David Stern's heavily protected reputation as well. How you ask? Well, word is the guy is planning on giving the FBI the names of up to 2o other referees who have been participating in some form of gambling activity. Of course, none of that is illegal, but Stern is NOT going to be at all happy about that, because he has insisted that Donaghy's case is an isolated one, which it is, in that he was the only one involved in the point-shaving scheme...but NBA referees are not allowed to engage in any form of gambling except the occasional trip to the race tracks in the offseason, which is an exception granted to them by the NBA itself in the refs' CBA. That's a huge transgression, and if proven true, Stern could be forced to let some or all of them go, forcing younger, more inexperienced refs into the fire.

All of this is just idle speculation at the moment, but if there's any truth to these allegations, Stern could find himself in some real deep ****. Worse, it could leave the NBA in the same boat, and I would hate that. Much as fans of NBA teams have indulged in idle talk about random conspiracy theories about Stern and his officiating crews, it would be a real shame if this scandal were to cast even more of its shadow on such a great, well-loved sport, and I continue to hope that Stern will come to his senses and stop ignoring the problems that have maligned the league's reputation and start looking at ways to fix it instead of covering everything up.