Looks like our buddy Sammy Mejia has landed on his feet after being waived by the Pistons last week. He’s not all that far away either. Sammy will join Cheik Samb down in Ft. Wayne, IN on the Pistons D-Leahue affiliate. Smooth move by Sammy’s agent Andy Miller working out that agreement with the Ants.

Via A. Sherrod Blakely at mLive:

Mejia still a Piston? Although the Detroit Pistons waived Sammy Mejia earlier this week, he is still a Piston — sort of.

Mejia will play for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Mad Ants, the NBA’s Development League affiliate to the Pistons.

“He’s so close to being in the NBA, we felt this was the best situation for him,” said his agent, Andy Miller, who added that they also considered some offers to play overseas.

Miller said an agreement between Mejia and the Mad Ants was agreed upon before the Pistons drafting Mejia with the No. 57 pick of last June’s NBA draft.

“So as far as Fort Wayne is concerned, their coaches had been preparing to go into the season with Sammy, regardless of what happened with Detroit,” Miller said. “They had a role already carved out for him.”

[box score] The Pistons were down a starter with the Rip Hamilton celebrating the birth of a baby girl, but Tayshaun picked up the production for his teammate. Tayshaun was in attack mode all night. He flashed the assertiveness that Pistons’ fans know he’s capable of.

The game plan was just to be aggressive,” Prince said. “With Rip out, I knew I had to be more assertive and look for my shot.

Tayshaun scored a career high 34 points. He shot 13/23 (55%), the 23 shots were one shy of tying his career high. The Palace Prince also matched a career high with 12 boards.

Chauncey Billups controlled tempo for the Pistons notching a 19 point, 11 assist double-double.

Arron Afflalo held his own starting in the place of Rip Hamilton. The UCLA rookie gave the Pistons 14 solid minutes. Charles Barkley commented that he really liked Dumars’ selection of Afflalo saying that reminded him a lot of Dumars and that A2 was a good fit for the Pistons.

The Pistons center by commitee was a success in this first game. Shaq was double teamed early and often to the tune of zero first half points. O’Neal ended up with 9 points for the game, add that to Alonzo’s point total and you get 12 total points from the Heat centers.

The Pistons also played good on ball defense forcing 17 turnovers, 11 of them off steals.

GAME NOTES:

• Reggie Miller cracks me up! When “the block” was brought up he contested that Tayshuan fouled him and it was goal tending. I didn’t like Reggie the Pacer, but Reggie the broadcaster is pretty good.
• The Pistons only shot 38.8% from the field
• Rasheed scored 11 (2/4 3ptrs), grabbed 8 boards along with a pair of blocks and steals
• Jarvis Hayes gave the Pistons 10 points off the bench to go with 5 boards and 4 steals in 26 minutes
• Dice had an off night, 4 pts & 4 rbs. He may still have to adjust to starting
• Pretty Ricky was the primary only scoring option for the Heat. He ended up with 23
• American Airlines Arena looked pretty empty going into the 4th quarter


GAME QUOTES:

Billups on Tay’s performance:

“I told Tayshaun, ‘You’ve got to step it up today.’ He was awesome. Tayshaun has been doing that a lot. I know I talked to him a lot in the preseason about him being more aggressive. He is just a tough matchup. He does so many things out there.”

Shaq on what went wrong for the Heat:

“We took a lot of jump shots, way too many jump shots,” O’Neal said. “I’d like more than six shots if we’re going to win, especially until Dwyane comes back.”


More recaps:

• Pistons.com
• Detroit News: Prince leads Pistons to opening win
• SporTech.info: The Heat is off
• Miami Herald: Even the Heat let us down
  

Welcome to YouTube Friday for November 2nd. This week we go old school with a Converse Weapons commercial. Back in the 80’s everyone not named Michael Jordan wore Cons. This commercial for the “Weapon” features a who’s who of basketball’s golden era. Isiah Thomas, Mark Aguirre (as a Mav), Magic Johnson and and co. do what seems to be a “Rappers Delight” parody. It gets real uncomfortable when good ‘ol boy Larry Joe’s verse comes up.

Roll film…