PistonsNationBlog.com - Detroit Pistons News & Views

Thank God it’s YouTube Friday! I sometimes forget what a bad mamma jamma Grant Hill was while he was here.  I guess it’s because for better or worse he’s the player I most associate with the ‘Horse Power’ era of Pistons Basketball.  Well, let this mix serve as a reminder to all of us.

(pssst @ 1:47 G-Hill crosses MJ over something scantless circa 1994)

I’m a sucker for vintage Pistons photos.  Check out these two awesome candid shots that have surfaced recently.

(click images to enlarge)

The photo on the left came from an Isiah Thomas fan Facebook page and had the caption: “Isiah Thomas Salsomaggiore Terme (Italy) NBA Camp Luglio 1987”

The classic shot on the right was posted yesterday on The Blowtorch.

Enjoy your weekend Pistons’ fans and Go Wings!

While we wait for something to break we here at PN have compiled and sorted a list of the top 22 Pistons commercials.

There were three criteria a vid had to possess to be part of the list:

1. The clip has to be advertising or promoting something
2. Has to be available on YouTube.  The Isiah Thomas Detroit Edison “look up” PSA would have been #1 if it were found.  There was also that Ben Wallace shape shifting afro commercial for Ford that didn’t seem to be available.
3. The subject had to be a member of the Pistons team or organization at the time the commercial was made.  So that glorious Dennis Rodman Japanese tire spot had to regretfully be omitted.

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Aside for the sports caster calling Lambs “Dollar Bill” — seriously, no one called him Dollar Bill — this video is an absolute must for PN viewing.

This video is from when when Bill hung ‘em up early in the 1993 season.  Basically this vid has all the best Laimbeer footage.  Lambs and Isiah fighting in practice (rare), then teammate Olden Polynice calling Lambs an asshole, all the brawls, Chuck Daly busting out with “irascible” to describe Billy, plus great excerpts from Laimbeer’s retirement presser.  Gotta love the Bill Cosby sweater.

“There’s no doubt that I wear the black hat.  Somebody has to play that role.  It fell upon my shoulders, I can handle it, no problem.”

There’s being a lot made of LeBron’s failure to congratulate the Orlando Magic after they eliminated his highly favored Cavs team.  The Kingsy’s display of poor sportsmanship is drawing a lot of comparisons to the walkout staged by the Pistons after being swept out of the playoffs by the Bulls in 1991.

Now I don’t want to excuse the Bad Boys actions at all.  I wish it never happened personally.  But I want to draw some separation between LBjer’s  explanation that that he’s a “winner” and “competitor” and couldn’t find it within himself to shake hands and the reasoning behind the Bad Boy’s refusal to knuckle under Jordan’s Bulls.

There’s a big difference in my opinion.

“OK, on the count of 3 say karma’s a bitch” Pic: TheLakersNation.com

In the past the Pistons had always honored the tradition of the on-court congratulations at the end of tough series.  They did it year after year with Boston despite all the bad blood.  They did it after a gut-wrenching and controversial 7 game NBA Finals series with the Lakers in ‘88. Whether they accepted the defeat or not the paid their respects to the advancing team.

Much like the Celtics knew in ‘88, the Pistons probably knew they could no longer hold the Bulls down.  It was Chicago’s time.  After three straight years of playoff exits at the hands of the Pistons the Bulls were finally ready to take Detroit’s place as the Eastern Conference’s representatives.

If was a tough season for the Pistons.  Age and injuries were catching up to them. All they had left going into that series was pride and that wasn’t going to matador the Bulls.  MJ and his supporting cast was matured, battled-tested and ready to wear the belts.

The problem was that the Bulls had a little brother complex that they wouldn’t let go of.  Instead of saying the right things they set out on a smear campaign that disrespected the Pistons and their legacy.

It’s no secret that the Bad Boys played rough, but it was always within the frame work of the rules of the day.   The “Jordan Rules” made you earn your points.  They were as much psychological as they were physical.

Instead of accepting the challenge the Bulls whined and cried that the Pistons played too rough and even went as far to suggest that their championships weren’t legit.  The politicking won out.  Instead of a competitive series it was a whistle fest.

So the walk-out wasn’t due to a culmination of what transpired on the court, it was a result of what was said off of it.  It wasn’t a spur of the moment thing.  Isiah, Billy Lambs, and the rest knew they were going to do this to show the Bulls what they thought of their disrespect.  Basically, take the torch and shove it up your ass.

It’s said that the walk-out played apart in Isiah being left off the ‘92 Dream Team.  The irony is that walking out did more to tarnish the Bad Boys legacy than the Bulls contempt for their style of play ever could.

After the jump video of the last 6 minutes of game 4 of the ‘91 ECF. (more…)

It’s double feature video day over here at PN. Saw this over at Need4Sheed and couldn’t resist reposting it.  “Pump It Up Pistons” is off the video Pure Pistons that was the official video of the Pistons 1990 NBA Championship.

There was another rap song I seem to recall from the same time.  If I’m correct it was called “Piston Power”.  I faintly remember a lyric that went something like

I-I-Isiah’s out there again,
leading Detroit’s bad men,
Dumars at the top of the key,
He shoots, scores, another 3

Then the chorus went P-I-S-T-O-N Power. It was a take off the song from the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie “Turtle Power” by Partners in Kryme.  It was quite popular (it made it to #13 on the Billboard chart).  This ringing a bell to anybody??

Great vid.  Tearing up, not really, but still.

Chaunceyness is next to Godliness!

• Last night Chauncey helped the Nuggets dispense of the Mavs in 5 games.  Denver is going to the franchise’s 3rd conference finals, first since 1985.  Mr. Big Shot had a big game going for 28p / 12a / 7r.  This will be Chauncey’s 7th straight conference finals, becoming only the 5th player (Magic Johnson, Michael Cooper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis) to do that since 1970.  We’re behind you all the way Smooth!  –By the way, if you haven’t read this ESPN OTL article clear some time (it’s long) and get after it.
• Chauncey was named to the All-NBA 3rd team.  No Piston received an All-NBA vote, nor should they have.
• Did you tune into that Nuggs/Mavs series?  Got pretty heated yo.  Do you like the movie Dazed and Confused?  You like shit that’s funny? Well then alright, alright, alright.  Peep this hilarious Tirico Suave mash-up.
• The Bad Boys came together to pay thier final respects to Chuck Daly.  Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, Bill Laimbeer and former Piston coach and Daly assistant Rick Carlisle served as pallbearers.  David Stern, Michael Curry, and John Salley were also among the 100’s who turned out to say good-bye to Daddy Rich.



• “It’s not a good day,” said Laimbeer, his eyes reddened. “But it’s also a day of celebration because everybody got up and spoke about what a great man Chuck was. And they were right.” (Via DetNews)
• Where’s Dennis Rodman?  Apparently he and his crew have been playing dine’n'ditch down in Miami.  Weak sauce Dennis, weak sauce.
• Take a look at this awesome vid of Chuck Daly huddles from NBA.com
• The Washington Post’s Michael Lee implores the blog Bullets Forever on what the Wizards should do if they’re not to end up with any of the top three ping pong balls:
  

  One hypothetical trade I particularly like is swapping the fourth pick, Mike James’ expiring contract and Nick Young for Hamilton/Prince and the 15th pick. Detroit could then draft Harden to replace Rip, for example, and the Wizards could upgrade their wing by adding an ace catch-and-shoot player like Hamilton or a premier perimeter defender like Prince.

  Dave Dial doesn’t see many upsides for the Pistons with that proposed scenario.  He believes that James Harden replacing Rip would be a lateral move at best.  Since I don’t know much about Harden I’ll take Dial’s word for it, plus I’m a big Rip guy.  If you’re wondering the NBA Draft Lottery is Tuesday, May 19th.

• There’s a new Pistons blog on the block called Life on Dumars. Welcome aboard! LOD is part of the FanSided blog network.  They’ve already succeeded in having the coolest name for a Pistons blog, but they didn’t stop there.  They’ve got a good write up debating the merits of Rodney Stuckey as a viable star point guard in the league.
• Very good and candid Isiah Thomas interview (audio) from the Dan Patrick show.  They cover everything from Chuck Daly, Isiah’s Knick failures, his new position with FIU, Zeke’s sleeping pill scare, comparing Rodman to Artest and Kareem Abdul-Jabber as an underrated great.
• ESPN SportsNation does a Q&A with Arron Afflalo.  What did the astute SportsNation crowd want to know from ‘Flo??…who’s better Kobe or LeBron!? Good grief.
• A couple of goodies via DBB via brgulker: McDyess is the Pistons MVP and the Great Taydini preforms his disappearing act in playoff elimination series
• A little something on former Piston (1993-94) Pete Chilcut. About. Damn. Time.  Petey was one Chill dude. (purely speculation)
• Dave Bing was officially sworn in as Detroit mayor.  If he can turn this city around I believe he’ll have a good shot at supplanting Chandler as the most popular of the Bing boys. H/T String Music
• OT: If you make phat bank then you’re bound to be photographed swimming with smoking hot topless chicks even if you do look like a smelly wet hippy like Joakim Noah.  But, other than that I can’t hate on’em.

Lance Blanks.  There’s a name from the past I happened upon while scanning some of Marc Stein’s NBA commentary on ESPN.  Not only is he alive, but he’s one of Danny Ferry’s top guy in Cleveland and has been mentioned as a top candidate for the Timberwolves vacant GM position.

For those in Pistons Nation that are a year or two younger here’s a little on Blanks.  The Pistons drafted the 6′4″ guard out of the Universtiy of Texas with the 26th overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft.  Coming off back-to-back NBA titles the Pistons were in need of some youth in the backcourt behind Isiah, Joe, and Vinnie.  I don’t remember much about Blanks as the dude only averaged 5.0 mpg in his two seasons with the Pistons.  The one thing I do recall is that he was fast.  I remember reading in the Free Press that during training camp he’d surplanted Isiah as the fastest guy on the team, a title Zeke pretty much held his whole career to that point.

The Pistons traded Blanks to Minnesota along with Brad Sellers for Mark Randall and Gerald Glass on 11/15/92.  Blanks played one season for the T-Wolves and was then out of the league.

A look at Lance’s wiki page reveals that before joining the Cavs front office he was with the Spurs from 1999-05 with duties ranging from scouting to television analyst.

Wow.  Don’t you just love the offseason?

While the Pistons are down in Miami to draw their regular season to a close a new game is just starting for team great Isiah Thomas.

It was announced at his press conference down in Miami that Isiah Thomas will donate his salary (said to be around $200-$300k) back to Florida International University for the first year to coach their basketball team stating that he “didn’t come here for the money“.  Surely not, he’s still owed around $12 million for the final two years of his New York Knick contract.  What it is about for Zeke is getting back to being involved with basketball and restoring his reputation.

Like I mentioned before, I’m pulling for Isiah.  I’m just hoping his FIU kids learn a little more from Zeke than he did from Bobby Knight.

…While on the subject of the Pistons all-time leading scorer I was shocked to find out (via InGameNow) that I didn’t know Isiah, along with a who’s who of early 90’s athletes, had a cameo in M.C. Hammer’s 1991 video for “2 Legit 2 Quit”.  How this got past me I don’t know.  Isiah was my idol and I was definitely bumping Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em in my Walkman.  Hell, me and two friends lip-synced and did the running-man to this very song for our 5th grade talent show (which is something I pray, oh yeah I pray- praaaay */chorus*, that that vid never finds it’s way to YouTube).

3:53 mark

I remember there was a picture in the Free Press of Isiah on stage with Hammer at his Detroit concert in the summer of 1990.  Remember, the Pistons used Hammer’s first big hit “U Can’t Touch This” as the theme to their championship that year.  I’m pretty sure you can find some pretty dope Pistons / Hammer Time swag on eBay.

Got a late start today, but I wanted to get something up so we’re not looking outdated, so here’s an outdated classic Pistons clip.  John Salley blocking MJ in the ‘89 ECF.  Staying with that theme check out this interesting blog post on how the Pistons have been foiled by rule changes implemented to increase scoring.

While we’re on the subject of Pistons/Bulls; Rasheed (calf) and Iverson (back) will again be out.  Mike Curry doesn’t want to rule out Rip, but says it’s unlikely he’ll play tomorrow night in Chicago. (DetNews).  Also, Allen Iverson tells mlive that being asked to come off the bench and sitting out with an injured back have nothing in common but bad timing.

Instead of recapping another crap performance by our beloved Pistons I’d like to share a this gem I found while going through some old boxes of mine.

It’s a newspaper clipping of a Pizza Hut advertisement from 1991 when the Pistons were hoping for a championship trilogy.

Left to right: Scott Hastings, James “Buddah” Edwards, “Big Daddy Rich” Chuck Daly, The Worm, & Wayne “Tree” Rollins

Apparently Joe and Isiah preferred Domino’s

Found this over at Pistonsforum.  Looks like an body spray endorsement deal to me.

And here’s something L.L. Cool Tay related, on Rip’s struggles:

“One thing we have to do better is to keep running Rip off screens and continue to get him shots he likes to get him going,” Prince said. “I kind of put that on myself. I’ve been here. I’ve played with Rip the longest. And by me running that point position, I know what he likes. I can do a better job of helping him out.” - Det News

Um, ya think?  So far Rip’s offense has been neutralized by adding AI to the mix because they’re not running him off the screens.  The thing that worries me though is a Vinnie/A.D. style collision if Rip and Iverson aren’t cognizant of each other out there.

(Photo: Detroit Free Press)

Being that this is the 20th anniversary of the 1988-89 Bad Boys team that won the franchise’s first NBA title why not have the current Pistons wear the Bad Boys throwbacks?

We’ve worn the lightning bolt jerseys of the late 70’s and the 1957-58 mockups last season paying homage to 50 seasons of Detroit Basketball.  So why haven’t we done something for the jerseys that actually started the Pistons’ winning tradition?

In those jerseys we’ve retired four numbers, made three consecutive trips to the Finals (resulting back-to-back NBA crowns), two HOF enshrinements, not to mention Kelly Tripucka’s mullet.  Respect.

Our current jerseys are nice, but I still think the Bad Boy threads are the best.  I prefer “Pistons” across the chest of the road unis as opposed to Detroit.  I know they Pistons represent the city but they play no where near it.  I’m even fond of the  screen printed block letters/numbers.  It just looks classic.

So, am I the only one who feels this way? Or are there others out there in Pistons Nation that would love to see these rocked on Hardwood Classic Nights? (the Bad Boy warm-ups would be sweet too, but I don’t want to push it).

Hot Rod recently gave a short interview while in Flint, MI with the Pistons Tip-Off Tour in which he proclaimed the Pistons will be back to playing “Bad Boys” Defense: “I’ll tell you one thing, our defense and defensive standpoint, things are going to be a lot different. We’re gonna be picking up full court, trying to get back to our old ways of playing Bad Boys defense. That’s something to look forward to this coming year.”

Love Stuck.  Love the moxie.  I believe the Pistons will be better defensively under Mike Curry, but perhaps Stuckey might want to stay late in the film room and break out some old Bad Boys’ game tape.   That kind of defense is a thing of the past in today’s NBA.  Hard nose D is now rewarded with suspensions.  Besides that I really don’t think the Pistons have the personnel to play that physical D.

Guys like Stuckey and Afflalo should be able to put more pressure on ball handlers coming up the court which is something Curry has said he wants more of.  I’d also like to see the tough interior defense that we were known for just a few years ago make a come back.

Anyone else getting antsy for this thing to start?

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