Pistons must interrupt drama, leaks and chaos to play basketball against Jazz
Essentials
Teams: Utah Jazz at Detroit Pistons
Date: Feb. 26, 2011
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Television: Fox Sports Detroit Plus
Records
Pistons: 21-39
Jazz: 32-27
Probable starters
Pistons:
- ??????????
Jazz:
- Devin Harris
- C.J. Miles
- Andrei Kirilenko
- Paul Millsap
- Al Jefferson
Las Vegas projection
Spread: Pistons +4.5
Over/under: 193
Score: Jazz win, 98.75-94.25
One thing to watch
1. Drama
I’m eschewing the usual three-things-to-watch format, because, let’s be honest, you care about this game for only one reason. What will happen with the seven players who missed all or part of yesterday’s shootaround?
So, I’ll leave you with a question: which Pistons do you want to play today? Just the same six as yesterday? Austin Daye and Rodney Stuckey, too? Everybody?
Pregame Reading
- Matt Moore provides his take on the Pistons mess.
- K. Malphurs analyzes the new-look Jazz.
- A fun look back at Bill Simmons’ 2004 trade-value column.
Posted in Game Preview • 10 Comments
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Feb 26, 2011 • 6:57 pm
by Michael
Start with the same six and go as long as you can with them. The whole thing is really confusing though, because Villanueva is included in those six although he had that re-tweet which criticized Kuester earlier in the week. Also, from the various articles I have read, I really cannot tell what is going on, who had legitimate reasons for missing, who “faked-sick”, and who just doesn’t care at all. Going forward, it will be hard for me to cheer for any of those guys.
In 2011-2012, I would love to see a Pistons team with Bynum, Monroe, Gordon, Jerebko and maybe Daye. I hope these guys will all be gone: Stuckey, Wallace, Hamilton, Prince and Wilcox. I was really enjoying having McGrady around, but if he was involved in the “boycott”, then I say show him the door too.
Feb 26, 2011 • 9:26 pm
by detroitpcb
Let’s have another column from Hayes about how Rodney Stuckey is such a terrible player.
and how great Will Bynum is.
Feb 27, 2011 • 7:47 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Because one game undoes a three-year body of work. It’s just that easy!
Feb 26, 2011 • 10:06 pm
by detroitpcb
and how inconsistent Austin Daye is at the end of games
Feb 27, 2011 • 7:48 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Right. He’s not inconsistent at all. In fact, he’s been fantastic in every fourth quarter he’s ever played.
Feb 26, 2011 • 10:10 pm
by detroitpcb
Milsap is a very very nice player. if Utah ever would listen to offers for him, i would have to make one. He is very smooth and athletic for how powerful he is and he has a nice stroke out to 14 feet.
Feb 27, 2011 • 7:50 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Wow captain obvious. “I tells ya, this Paul Milsap kid who everyone has known is good for like four years now is a PLAYER.”
He’s a hard worker, really productive and signed below market value. Why would Utah trade him when they have the less productive and higher paid Al Jefferson and Memo Okur on the roster? Utah might shed salary, but those other two would be shopped way harder than Milsap.
Feb 26, 2011 • 10:38 pm
by Jeremy
I didn’t see this game but all three of Daye, Stuckey, and Bynum have nice box score lines.
It’s perhaps worth noting that Bynum has the best +/- on the team by far for this game. Stuckey has the worst and Daye tied for second worst with Monroe (who also has a nice line – what happened in this game?)
Feb 26, 2011 • 10:47 pm
by Fennis
@detroit pcb
couldn’t agree more.
and would the media stop building stories on a single anonymous source? whatever happened to the journalist principles of checking with a second source and getting comments from the accused before going to print. sports journalism is a joke. i mean, this story, based on the thinnest of information, made it all the way to the huffington post simply because the julian assange of nba basketball reporting, adrian wojo-whatever at yahoo, went on yet another anti-player tirade. there is a lot of information finally coming to light that contradicts the info from the anonymous source which lead to a knee-jerk smear of seven players and the franchise that we all love for that matter. that’s not to say the new exculpatory information is true, but damn, it’s just as true as the b-s that’s been flying around the net the past 48 hours. the media and the fans LOVE to crap on players and their character at the drop of a hat. how about waiting 48 hours (and for information from credible sources) before jumping on that soap box?
Feb 27, 2011 • 7:53 pm
by Patrick Hayes
This story wasn’t based on a single anonymous source. It was based on many, many anonymous sources.
I enjoy when people who know ZERO about sports journalism comment on the state of sports journalism. Go read Vince Ellis’s latest column about how the story developed. When has Ellis or Goodwill or any of the local guys been over the top unfair to this team? In fact, they’ve occasionally been too soft on them. This story was reported very fairly locally, and yeah, Woj at Yahoo is known for his over-the-top narratives, but he also breaks a ton of news.
If sports reporters didn’t use anonymous sources there would be no sports reporting. Lamenting it is tired. It’s here and it’s not going anywhere. Instead of lumping everything in as “the sad state of reporting” or whatever you want to label it, why not judge each reporter individually based on their accuracy and fairness?