PistonsNationBlog.com - Detroit Pistons News & Views

{DET 101 / SAC 89} It’s pretty well known that if Rip is in a groove he’ll look to heat up the nets and that’s exactly what he did last night.  Rip led the all scoring with 30 on 60% shooting.  Rip was particularly big time when the Pistons made a big third quarter push.  Rip’s 14  helped the Pistons lead swell to 30 at one point in the third.

After all the problems with injuries this season Rip is fianlly getting into a good scoring groove.  Over the Pistons last four Rip is averaging slightly over 30 points per on 55% shooting.  Rip’s offense is helping the Pistons as a whole and Rodney Stuckey in particular.  Rodney is picking up on Rip’s tendencies and it’s really helped Stuck’s floor game.

Stuckey finished the night with 13 points on 6-11 shooting to go with team highs in assists (7), rebounds (8), and +/- of +34.

While Hamilton has never really had a problem being aggressive I was pleasantly surprised by the other 2004 championship hold over, Tayshaun.  Normally Tayshuan just lets the game come to him but last night he asserted himself onto the Kings early on scoring the Pistons first three buckets, and ten points in the opening quarter.  Prince finished with 22 on 11/17 shooting.  Tay, always well rounded, also had 4 assists, 4 boards, and two steals, and a block.

“We couldn’t stop Prince or Hamilton,” Kings coach Paul Westphal said. “We never really stopped their shooters from shooting the ball well. We didn’t do enough about it and couldn’t overcome their good performances.” – DetNews

The one thing that was kind of disturbing was the bench letting the Kings back into the game in the fourth.  The Kings shrunk the lead down to 12 I believe at one point so the starters didn’t get all the rest they had earned.  It’s pretty telling when the starters averaged a +22.4 +/-, whereas Chris Wilcox was the only bench player with a positive +/-…yes, there was 12 minutes worth of Chris Wilcox sightings.

Jonas Jerebko (6 pts, 6 rbs) turned his ankle late in the third quarter but returned to the game in the fourth.  JJ finished up with 22 minutes of his characteristic hard work.   Double J is averaging 27.1 minutes per game which is the most for a Pistons’ rookie since Grant Hill averaged 38.3 during the 1994-95 season.

Tyreke Evans scored 28 points for the Kings to go along with a career high 13 assists.

The Pistons are now 6-4 in February, and with just one win in their next three, they’ll guarantee a winning month for the first time since … December 2008. (via FCP)

GAME NOTES: The Pistons shot the ball well, 58.4% as a matter of fact … Rip went 5-5 from the FT line bringing his consecutive make total to 51 … Seems like the Pistons should have had more than 16 assists … Pistons shot 14% from the free throw line in the first half … Detroit leads the league in offensive rebounding at 13.1 per game … Villanueva and Gordon with 11 each … This loss was the 23rd in 27 games for the Kings … Kwame DNP CD … Spencer Hawes benched for criticizing Westphal …

The news broke kind of late last night so to catch up to speed it appears as if the Chucky’s coming to town on a non-guaranteed training camp invite, not a guaranteed regular season roster spot.

Chucky, at 35,  would have to be pretty spectacular in camp to earn a spot on the regular season roster and negate that flexibility that Joe likes to have with an open roster spot.  My thoughts run along the same lines as Packey’s in the comments of his String Music article:

“they are bringing in the vet who can help the young guys during camp and work their ass off – get them better, make them work harder. Then cut the cord at the end of camp.”

The Pistons first extended the camp invite to Bobby Jackson, but BoJax turned it down because he’s seeking guaranteed money.  (good find DBB)

A few PN skull points on Chucky Atkins:

• PNb a Tweetstradamus? When the new broke on Tuesday that Minnesota waived Chucky, we sent a Tweet to Chucky’s Twitter account (that no longer exists?) for him to get at Joe about that vet PG he was looking for.  Eerie.  Well, not really, but Twitter FTW.
• Remember back in 2006 when Chucky was waived by the Wizards?  He got an offer pretty early from Memphis -whom he eventually signed with- but he was held out hope for awhile that the Pistons would make room for his services.
• Many of us already know that Chucky was packaged with Ben Wallace from Orlando in exchange for Grant Hill back in ‘00, but Atkins has a couple other interesting Piston trade ties. In ‘04 the Pistons sent Chucky to Boston as a part of  the 3-team deal that landed us Rasheed Wallace.  In ‘05, as a member of the Lakers, Chucky was packaged with Caron Butler to the Wizards in exchange for Kwame Brown.

Chris picks his all-time Pistons starting 5, plus his 6th man.

What’s your all-time Pistons team?

Sling for sympathy, everything else FTW!

• It’s Automotion audition time.  A new arm-sling fetish is born.
• The Pistons have signed all three of their draft pick, as well as 2008 second-round pick DERON WASHINGTON. Joe & Co. plans to sign at least one more player using the veteran’s minimum.  A lot of the Pistons Nation hopes that guy is BEN WALLACE.
• The job as JOHN KUESTER’S lead assistant is BRIAN  HILL’S for the taking, he just needs to, well, take it.
• Fran Blinebury of NBA.com ranks the Pistons acquisition of  BEN GORDON as the 5th best free agent move of the summer (RASHEED to Boston is ranked #1, McDYESS is #2)
• He’s officially a Piston now and after playing for some of the league’s cellar dwellers over his 7 year career CHRIS WILCOX is excited about playing for a franchise that is committed to winning.
• DaJUAN SUMMERS makes HoopsWorld’s Steve Klyer’s All-Summer League 1st Team.  AUSTIN DAYE gets an honorable mention.
• MARQUISE GRAY of MichSt and the Pistons Summer League team is likely headed to Europe to ball.
• Former 2-time Piston THEO RATLIFF has signed with the San Antonio Spurs.  In other ‘old’ former Piston press clippings LINDSEY HUNTER re-signed with Chicago.
• They’re celebrating the best of the worst Pistons over at It’s Just Sports.  In at #8 is BILL CURLEY.  CURLEY can best be described as that guy who looked kinda like Nick Carter. #7 is KENNY “The Jet” SMITH whom I’ve still yet to see photographic proof of him in a Pistons uni
• JASON MAXIELL (+ a 1st rounder) for Glen Davis, Gabe Pruitt and J.R. Giddens was rejected for two main reasons says Dan Feldman of PistonPowered.  1) Baby Eater > Big Baby 2) It’d give the Pistons too many players.
• Understanding the significance of your semi-ironic GRANT HILL jersey
• WILL BYNUM gives an interview to Need4Sheed. “The Thrill” has been good to us bloggers.
• CARLOS DELFINO will most likely stay in Russia because the Raptors are only offering him $4 mill a year
• It’s summer, so who wants to comb their hair?  Here’s the Pistons’ solution; check out Lids.com



• After you start following PN on Twitter you have to support your Tweetroit© Pistons DaJUAN SUMMERS, CHARLIE VILLANUEVA, & AUSTIN DAYE
• Something we’re missing? Send along the link

Allan Houston tweeted this earlier today:

“Back in Detroit visiting fam. People give the D bad name, but I love it. It’s where I got started and met wifey!”

I wish he would have loved it enough to stay back instead of bolting for the Big Apple in ‘96. Man, he and G-Hill would have been devastating!  Maybe he seen those incoming teal numbers the ‘Stonz were about to rock and just wanted no part of that?

This kind of snippet is really more of a Press Clippings kind of thing, but it seemed intersting enough and I got to make a teal joke so all’s well.  Oh, and if you want some mini PN then you should be following the site’s 140 or less character exploits via Twitter!

I'm gettin' married! Yeeeeah Boyyyy

So many links, so little time…

• Terry Foster has a good write up on new Pistons coach John Kuester in the Detroit News.  By now we al know about his George Washington U. team that went 1-27 back in 1988-1989, but did you know that according to Joe D. Kuester “ran everything” while he was an assistant under Larry Brown in 2004?  We also learned that Kuester will come prepared.
• The Pistons continue to come up in Boozer trade rumors, but ESPN says they’re not interested:
  

  sources with knowledge of Detroit’s thinking insisted again Friday that the Pistons will not join the trade bidding for the Team USA power forward because they think Tayshaun Prince and newly signed Charlie Villanueva will complement each other better than Boozer and Villanueva would.

• Allen Iverson opens up and gets choked up while in front of a group of students while discussing his scholarship program.
• Charlie Villanueva and Chris Bosh are having some kind of contest to see who can get 50,000 followers on Twitter first.  The loser has to do something embarrassing on YouTube.  So basically it’s a win for fans either way.
• Jonas Jerebko’s to do list: Get clearance from FIBA to play in the Vegas Summer League. Check.  Tear it up in first scrimmage. Check.
• Rip Hamilton will be doing the chicken dance this weekend, i.e. – he’s getting married.  Congrats!
• Rumor out of Denver is that Arron Afflalo & Walter Sharpe may be on their way to the Nuggets to clear more cap space for another big.  Since we lost out on Brandon Bass they now say Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis is next on the list.  Please Joe, for the love of  Tripucka LOOK ELSEWHERE!
• Grant Hill’s gonna stay in Phoenix.  Jerry Stackhouse went to Memphis as part of the 4 team Shawn Marion deal.
• SI’s Ian Thompson thinks the Pistons are no longer the Beast in the East, but sees Detroit Basketball moving in the right direction.  But the blog No Guts, No Glory counts Joe Dumars amongst the 3 worst GM’s in the league.
• DaJuan Summers Tweets: “why do reporters always ask me am I a 3 or 4” to which he answers: “I play ball dude.. leave it at that“.  Then he goes out and balls in the Pistons first summer league game scoring 24 with 7 boards.  Thanks to grantiscool we know we can catch summer league games here
• Yeah Wallace Family, we get it.  Rasheed signed with the Boston Celtics.  Very subtle.
  
• Something we’re missing? e-mail or hit us with the link on Twitter.

As much as I hoped Rasheed Wallace would go out west it’s not going to happen.  Rasheed is going green but not in the sense he’s helping the planet.  Actually he’s making the planet worse by crossing over to the dark side and signing a two-year deal with the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics pulled out all the stops when their campaign to sign free agent forward Rasheed Wallace started last week. And the tactics paid off as Wallace committed to sign with the Celtics, a league source said yesterday.

Wallace is expected to receive a two-year deal at the midlevel exception (approximately $5.6 million to $5.8 million). -Boston Globe

Rasheed wanting $8 mill a year or he’d retire turned out to be not true.  J. Gamble of SLAM doesn’t have the best track record so far with his rumors.

If you thought the Celtics talked a lot of smack the past two seasons, then just you wait and see the colorfulness Rasheed will add to the mix.  I’d like to formally call the headline “Boston T Party” for when Rasheed is nearing the one game automatic suspension mark for excessive technical fouls.

Times they are a changin’.  It’s kind of sad that just Rip and Prince are the only remaining members of the ‘04 core.  I miss my Interplanetary Pistons.

“Once [Wallace] had a chance to reflect on everything, and realizing what his objectives are, he just decided this was the best fit for him, all the way around,’’ said Bill Strickland, Wallace’s agent. “He has always wanted to be on a team that plays with a team effort, and Boston won the championship with a team like that. Boston has three potential Hall of Famers – Rasheed has played with a lot of talent, but not with a concentration of talent like this.

Two things I’d like to address from this quote from Rasheed’s agent:

#1)  Plays with team effort = Sheed does not want to be the man.  One reason we struggled this past season is because Michael Curry was leaning too much on Rasheed to be a leader and a beast down low.  That’s just not Sheed.  He prefers to chill out beyond the arc and let the game come to him.

#2)  I’d beg to differ about Rasheed not playing with an equaled amount of talent as he’ll be playing with in Boston.  Weren’t they calling our starter the “Best Five Alive” a couple seasons back?  Not only that if you look at the Portland teams he played on in the late 90’s early 00’s you’d see a rosters absolutely stacked with talented ball players.  So that sentence was kind of like salt in the wound, for me at least.

Props to Natalie from Need4Sheed for letting her loyalties be known.  I too am thankful all the Rasheed memories.  There’s no doubt that his acquisition from Atlanta — facilitated by Boston’s ironically enough — put us over the hump in 2004.  But That was then, this is now (big shout out to S.E. Hinton).  You’re now the enemy Mr. Roscoe Wallace.  You’ve done done it now.

No more being ashamed of their love

ALSO SEE: Celtics pursuing another former Piston all-star, Grant Hill [FanHouse]