Archive → December, 2010
Did Richard Hamilton get traded, is he faking or his stomach really upset?
Here’s what we know: Richard Hamilton isn’t playing against the Hornets today. Other than that, I can only speculate.
Before the game, Chris Iott reported Hamilton has an upset stomach. I didn’t think much of it until I read the following Twitter exchange between Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News and Natalie Sitto of Need4Sheed:
@Need4Sheed_com Stuckey’s injury is legit…I saw his foot today…now the other one….
@vgoodwill so Rips isnit..
@Need4Sheed_com I’m not going there….
I don’t know whether Goodwill meant to imply there’s more this situation than meets the eye, but I certainly inferred it.
Is Hamilton faking because he’s not starting? The Pistons have seen that game before.
Has Hamilton been traded, or is he close to being traded? It makes sense to not jeopardize a deal by risking an injury to Hamilton.
Is Hamilton really sick? The simplest explanations are usually best, and that’s the simplest explanation here.
Where is Hamilton right now?
For the record, whether Hamilton is on the bench – and he wasn’t in the first quarter, according to Iott – doesn’t impact my thoughts on this. Any of the aforementioned three scenarios are possible no matter where Hamilton is.
Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva – UPDATE: and Tracy McGrady for Rodney Stuckey – will start for Detroit Pistons against New Orleans Hornets
Essentials
Teams: Detroit Pistons vs. New Orleans Hornets
Date: Dec. 19, 2010
Time: 6 p.m.
Television: Fox Sports Detroit Plus
Records
Pistons: 8-19
Hornets: 16-10
Probable starters
Pistons:
Hornets:
- Chris Paul
- Marco Belinelli
- Trevor Ariza
- David West
- Emeka Okafor
Las Vegas projection
Spread: Pistons +4.5
Over/under: 184.5
Score: Hornets win, 94.5-90
Three things to watch
1. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva starting
John Kuester said the starting lineup would be a game-time decision today, according to Chris Iott. I don’t think Iott is blindly guessing when he says Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva will start.
This is the move everyone has been clamoring for – and part of what Patrick called for Friday. I think it’s time, too. Obviously we’ll be keeping a close eye on those two. Is Villanueva the missing piece for the starting lineup? Will Gordon look like himself again?
I’m also extremely curious how Richard Hamilton will take the news.
UPDATE: Tracy McGrady will also start in place of an injured Rodney Stuckey, according to Keith Langlois. And it turns out Hamilton is sick, according to Iott.
2. Pride?
Do the Pistons have any pride? The way they played against the Clippers on Friday and the Hornets 11 days ago suggests no. They have to know what fans think of them after that Clippers loss, and they couldn’t have forgotten about the Hornets loss already.
3. Hornets’ focus
Speaking of pride, Michael McNamara of Hornets247.com alerted me to an interesting trend.
The Hornets are just 1-3 on Sundays. Although two of those losses came to the Spurs, neither was close. The Hornets’ loss to the 76ers wasn’t close, either. And New Orleans’ win came by just four points over the Kings.
As Pistons fans should know, Sunday losses might not be a coincidence.
Pregame Reading
- I answered a few of Michael McNamara’s questions for the Hornets247.com game preview.
- TrueHoop Network bloggers analyze the Magic’s trades with the Suns and Wizards.
My mea culpa for Friday’s Joe Dumars post
Before posting Friday about Joe Dumars’ seemingly conflicting statements on the Pistons’ trade possibilities, I listened to each audio clip several times, trying to consider another way he could have meant what he said. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fine one, and I posted some regrettable things, notably questioning Dumars’ trustworthiness.
I’ve been wrong with other things here, but this is my biggest foot-in-the-mouth moment.
I still think there’s a good chance Dumars misrepresented the state of negotiations in order to appease fans, but I don’t know that. Because of I don’t know his intent, I went way, way too far in my criticism.
I still think listening to the audio of both interviews, the tone was extremely different.
When Matt Dery asked whether a deal was close, Dumars brought up negotiations with two teams and, I inferred they were promising because the GM said he’d take the offer to his owner and coach. Justin Rogers had a similar interpretation, saying Dumars’ comments “gave fans a reason to remain hopeful.”
When Keith Langlois asked Dumars whether there is anything, Dumars quickly and succinctly said no. Unfortunately, the audio on Pistons.com has been taken down, but I invite anyone who heard the audio on before it was taken down to comment with their interpretation.
I think hearing the quotes makes my point stronger, and I said as much immediately after posting.
But that doesn’t make my main point, that Dumars had deliberately misled fans to appease them, OK. There are too many variables – what Dumars meant in his statement to Dery, what Langlois meant with with his final question, how Dumars interpreted Langlois’ final question – for me to know for certain.
I think we can all agree Dumars meant no trade is imminent, and that’s disappointing. But anything other than that, I’ll leave to your own interpretation.
I’m sorry, Joe.
The Pistons starting lineup scores 29 points in home loss to Clippers
How dare the Pistons ruin Military Night like this? The team honors veterans before the game, and then subjects them to watching THAT?
The Pistons starters scored 29 points and shot a combined 11-for-25 in a 109-88 loss to the Clippers Friday. They just narrowly edged the previous season-low for the starting five of 31 points against Miami Dec. 1.
I mean, I don’t think I really need to break down what went wrong. So instead, I’ll let Twitter handle tonight’s recap:
From Ben Gulker: “The CLIPPERS are shooting 60% against us. Wow. Wow. Wow.”
From Steve Kays: “Stuckey and Rip w/ less combined PTs than Ryan Gomes. #Pistons”
From Dave Hogg: “The Clippers have given up at least 100 points in every road game this season. Pistons haven’t broken 70 yet.”
From Vince Ellis: “This might top Raptors loss. #Pistons.”
From Mateen Cleaves: “Blake Griffin just did a 360 and 1 it was crazy. Wait until you see highlights the young boy is sick”
From Austin Daye: “Mom tacos best food on the planet”
That about sums things up. And Austin Daye‘s dinner sounds delicious.
Is there no end to this?
I’ve been about as positive as it gets when it comes to the Pistons, and maintaining this site kind of requires that I keep watching. But damn. How do you follow up your absolute best performance of the season with the absolute worst, against what many considered the worst team in the league? At home? (Seriously … go back and click that link and read Feldman’s headline. “Reproducible.” Haha. He was so naive back then, two days ago.)
But here are a few things, based on this game, that I would like to see over the next few games. I don’t think these things would help the team win. I do think these things are worth trying because they’d be mildly interesting, which is about all the Pistons can hope for right now. Here goes:
• Drastically reduced roles for Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Nothing personal, guys. Great memories. They still play pretty good some nights, too. But it’s time. There’s no future here, and seeing Prince and Hamilton go out on a nightly basis is just a sad reminder of how far the team has fallen since they were key components of a contender. I don’t dislike either player. They’ve both made innumerable contributions to Detroit basketball, and both still deserve to play and, hopefully, get moved to contending teams to jumpstart careers that have stagnated. I feel bad for Prince, in particular, who is in an unworkable situation at just 29-years-old and in a contract year. As the Pistons primary offensive option most nights, he’s set up to fail. That’s not what his value is as a NBA player, and ultimately, he’s going to fall short in that role.
• Drastically bigger roles for Ben Gordon and Daye. As convinced as I now am that Prince and Hamilton must be moved for their sake and the team’s sake, I’m equally unconvinced that Gordon or Daye are long-term pieces. Frankly, neither player has done enough in limited minutes to justify primary roles on the team. But either guy could be a future piece. Now is the time to find out. I would like to see Gordon start and Daye get good minutes backing up the two and three spots every night. It’s audition time. If Gordon is as good as he’s being paid to be, prove it. If Daye has the upside certain commenters at PistonPowered who shall remain nameless think he has, prove it.
• Tracy McGrady as the focal point of the offense. I’ve already laid out the case in-depth. But this is the Cliffs Notes version: McGrady has occasionally looked like the old McGrady. He’s occasionally looked like a very competent veteran role player. Occasionally, he just looks really old. The point is, I don’t know what he is. The Pistons need to find out what they have, whether or not he can be the primary option on a team and do it efficiently still, whether they want to try and pick up something for him in a trade or whether he’s worth signing to another deal if others are traded. Ready or not, it’s time.
• Will Bynum should get a chance to be the team’s primary point guard. I don’t know what you do with Rodney Stuckey, frankly. Play him backup minutes at all three perimeter spots. Trade him. DNP-CD. Whatever. It’s not that he’s having a bad season. In fact, he’s having his best season. It’s just that his best season is still not good enough to lead a good team and still not good enough to invest a major long-term extension in this offseason. Bynum is signed to a reasonable deal for a backup point guard, he’s appeared healthier over the last couple weeks and he’s stated on numerous occasions that he wants to be a starting point guard. Maybe he’s not. But let him try. There’s no harm in it right now.
These aren’t things that are likely to happen. But John Kuester has tried several subtle lineup changes that have largely yielded the same results. The next step might have to be something more drastic.
Greg Monroe’s next test as a starter hopefully includes not getting dunked on by Blake Griffin
Essentials
Teams: Detroit Pistons vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Date: Dec. 17, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Television: Fox Sports Detroit Plus
Records
Pistons: 8-18
Clippers: 5-21
Probable starters
Pistons:
Clippers:
- Baron Davis
- Eric Gordon
- Ryan Gomes
- Blake Griffin
- DeAndre Jordan
Las Vegas projection
Spread: Pistons -2.5
Over/under: 191
Score: Pistons win, 96.75-94.25
Three things to watch
1. Greg Monroe gets a crack at Blake Griffin
The first time the Pistons played the Clippers, Griffin had a great game, scoring 18 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. The Clips out-rebounded the Pistons 49-34 in that game, although Detroit managed to hold on and win in overtime. Monroe only played 6 minutes. Now, Monroe will be making his second straight start and will hopefully keep the Pistons more competitive on the glass.
2. Baron Davis is safe here
For those who missed the latest example of why Clippers owner Donald Sterling is possibly the worst person associated with the NBA, multiple outlets reported last week that he’s been heckling Baron Davis from his courtside seats in L.A. as Davis tries to recover from an injury that caused him to miss several weeks this season. Davis is no saint. He’s notoriously had issues staying in shape throughout his career, and he’s paid handsomely. But in any confrontation between Donald Sterling and another human being, Sterling is always going to be the sleazeball. At least Davis doesn’t have to deal with that on the road.
3. Will the lineup combos work another game?
The Pistons have a chance to win two straight games for only the third time this season. Whether they do or not largely depends on whether the changes to the rotation that took hold against Atlanta prove to be more than a flash in the pan. The Clippers are struggling as bad as any team in the NBA, and at home, this has to be a win the Pistons come away with.
Pregame Reading
- This isn’t Pistons related, but Mike Tillery, one of the best sports writers in the biz, asked me to participate in an interesting roundtable on LeBron James and the Heat this week. It’s well worth a read, full of perspectives from writers who try to think about sports issues from more than just the traditional angles. Check it out if you have time.
- If you’re brushing up on your pro basketball skills and think you can play, SLAM introduces a site that can connect you with an agent.
- Ben Gulker steps in to assist Joe Dumars in answering some of Keith Lanlois’ questions.
- ClipperBlog discusses what’s going on with the team’s backcourt.
New (probably never meant to be heard) audio shows Joe Dumars intentionally overstated the Detroit Pistons’ chances of making a trade
The audio for the final installment of Pistons.com beat writer Keith Langlois’ interview with Joe Dumars (UPDATE: the clip has been removed) is up (hat tip: nuetes in the comments), and it’s a strong indictment of Joe Dumars’ trustworthiness.
To quickly get you up to speed, here’s what Joe Dumars told Matt Dery on Tuesday:
Two conversations I had with teams today, and they say, “You know what? Uh, that might work for us, but, you know, got to go and talk to the owner, got to go and talk to my head coach, and I’ll get back to you. So, you know, am I close? I hope so. I hope so.
I wrote in that first post I hoped Dumars wasn’t merely trying to appease fans. He was.
After Langlois thanked Dumars for the interview, the recording continued:
Langlois: Let me ask you some background stuff here. Um, I saw with Matt Dery, you said you were, you had some conversations, is there any players I should be…
Dumars: I talked to Matt after. I said, “Matt, you’ve got everybody asking me like, ‘You’ve got something imminent?’ ” What he asked me, you know, I’m, like, “Yeah, I’m talking, Matt, but you know, but am I close? I don’t know. Teams say, ‘Hey, you know, we kind of like that, you know.’ ”
Langlois: So there’s nothing?
Dumars: No, there’s nothing.
I understand that people in sports aren’t always truthful with the media. But that doesn’t mean I approve. Who would it have harmed to say no deal was close? When you intentionally deceive, you run the risk of getting caught. Today, Dumars got caught.
I’m disappointed in you, Joe.
Tracy McGrady is ready to play 30 minutes if the Pistons need him to
In the “good news for my shaky hypothesis” department, Tracy McGrady told Vince Ellis of the Free Press that he can physically handle a bigger role if the Pistons need him to play more:
After Thursday’s practice, McGrady simply said “yes” when asked if he felt able to play 30 minutes.
But he added: “Coach’s got his hands full … trying to play me 30 minutes. We got so many guys at the same position.”
With Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon and Tayshaun Prince, minutes are tough.
“Physically, I’m fine,” McGrady said. “I think I’ve recovered from my surgery. I think it’s more so mentally; really, it’s just going back to what I used to be and what I used to do on the basketball court, and all that stuff is starting to come back to me.”
Tweet-troit: Greg Monroe is becoming quite the prolific Twitter user
There are a handful of NBA players who are very entertaining to follow on Twitter. Pistons rookie Greg Monroe is quickly becoming one of them.
First, he shows he’s a man of principles when it comes to Twitter etiquette:
RT @Cwright_4 its funny how ppl tweet but dont respond to texts lol < son I hate that. Its disrespectful on the low. Lol
He’s also not a fan of these shoes. I can’t say I blame him.
#random but if any girl eva have on the them nike/jordan heels from facebook, idk what i would do, but they def would lose my respect!
It’s good to see Monroe is a student of classic comedies:
Cosby show! I haven’t seen this in foreva.
#question yall like tichina arnold more as Pam on martin or chris momma? She hilarious as both.
Monroe made a trip to the mall this week. And was rewarded handsomely:
The workers at Mrs. Fields gave me a free slice of cookie cake. #ftw
He also took a moment to celebrate a milestone with his fans:
everybody take a shot. we celebratin my 3,000th tweet in #clubtwitter lol
Joe Dumars wants to trade just as much as you want him to trade
Joe Dumars, in the latest installment of his chat with Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:
KL: Do you feel more of an urgency to try to do something because of the 8-18 start?
JD: Absolutely. You feel more of an urgency when you see gaps in your team. Even before we started off 8-18, we talked about the gaps we needed to fill. I knew going in we had holes to fill and then when you get off to a rough start, it magnifies it even more. You stay on that phone anyway, regardless of your position, but when you’re struggling, you look even more. You may even double up or triple up on your phone calls, trying to fill those holes.
Detroit Pistons fall to 25th in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings
Chad Ford and John Hollinger have released their latest Future Power Rankings, and the Pistons fell from No. 22 to No. 25:
The hard times that have befallen the city of Detroit continue to hammer the Pistons’ front door as they continue to slide in our rankings. The days of hardcore fans filling the Palace are gone. The Bad Boys are taking on a completely different (and unwanted) connotation. Given yet another rough start to the season, it’s pretty hard to be confident in the future of the franchise.
The team is still up for sale, with no clear resolution coming anytime soon. The team lacks a legitimate star. They’re bogged down by bad contracts on their books for the next few seasons. And the roster lacks any proven long-term options in the middle.
The two bright spots for the Pistons have been Rodney Stuckey, who is having the best season of his young career, and rookie Greg Monroe, who has shown a few glimmers of progress after a very slow start.
But there isn’t much help on the way for the young duo, as Joe Dumars‘ hands are tied a bit until the team is sold. If the Pistons are going to do anything in the next few years, they’ll need to get Richard Hamilton off the books, make a trade-deadline deal that gives them value for Tayshaun Prince and develop a couple of their prospects. That’s a lot of ifs for a team that was a lock to play deep into the playoffs for the past decade.
