Comments on: Vince Ellis stands up for good journalism

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:02:52 +0000

I see your point, but there was a redemptive factor in that both did mess up and miss a practice. It certainly appears that is was just a coincidence that they messed up and missed a practice on a day when others were planning to boycott.

As far as Ben, I think it's possible he was a part of this. But I tend to be more forgiving of him because, unlike Prince and Hamilton who have been malcontents and played with questionable effort at times the last two seasons, Wallace has played his heart out. If he was involved, he's still wrong for doing it. But I don't view him as part of the problem in the locker room.

By: Fennis

Fennis — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:43:06 +0000

I respect Ellis as a journalist, but the rampant speculation even after his clarifying article shows that no one knows exactly what went down. For instance, why would Daye and Stuckey rush to the stadium and catch the end of practice if they had joined the alleged protest? Daye said the he’s thankful to Q for playing time and both said there was a mix-up with the practice time. Yet we’re still talking about the two of them “redeeming themselves.”

I’m not saying that Ellis wasn’t true to his sources, but we don’t know the sources, their motives, or their credibility. Sure, Ellis has a duty to report what his sources tell him. But that doesn’t mean that he or we have to act as though we know exactly what happened. gordonbrown is right — there are many facts that contradict the “protest” story. df and ph are also right to say that there is circumstantial evidence in support of the initial report. Is anyone willing to acknowledge that we don’t know who was protesting and who wasn’t, and that we may never know? And that it may be wrong to draw sensational conclusions and condemn a man whose brother is on his death bed?! I mean, can we have a shred of decency and remove Ben from the conversation? We’re fans, but we’re also human beings. How would any of you feel if someone placed a microscope on your professional behavior in the 24 hours leading up to your brother’s death? It’s really sickening to read some of these posts.

By: BIG MARV

BIG MARV — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:28:55 +0000

Thats true and on top of that Wallace brother has been seriously ill for a min now and he did come to the game friday. True its sad that his brother died in the middle of all of this crazy termoil–but I still think ben was part of the “sit-out” there is no way that kuester would have sat him down friday If he knew it was a true family issue. Then on top of that it didnt make wallace look good by him being on tape with the other guys on the bench friday night laughing at kuester while he was being ejected from the game. Imma have to roll with the coach on this one, but my thoughts and prayers goes out to Ben’s family.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:28:34 +0000

David:

Everyone who reported on this mentioned in their articles that Wallace had an ongoing family issue that, at the time, the nature of which was not revealed.

As Vince Ellis wrote in his column, why was Wallace, who is healthy, held out of that game and sitting on the bench Friday if the team truly believed he didn't purposely boycott that practice.

Certainly everyone has sympathies for his loss. But that doesn't make their reporting of what happened Friday inaccurate.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:21:23 +0000

David, why should anyone apologize to Ben Wallace? It’s sad that his brother died, without a doubt. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t boycott Friday’s shootaround.

By: David

David — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:13:03 +0000

See – I make mistakes too – revenue is how it should be spelled!!!!

By: David

David — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:10:00 +0000

We continue to place blame on Joe Dumars…It’s time for us Piston fans to man up!!! As we know basketball is really about making revenew and putting bodies in the stands. Joe saw the likes of Lebron, Kobe, Wade ect… and what the media constantly stated about Detroit. Even when we were contenders the media hated our style, type of play, lack of a standout superstar ect. The fans drank the kool-aid and it forced Joe-D to make moves … like trading a Billups for AI. I’ve watched these boards for years and most of you wanted Billups gone so we could get younger. Well here we are. We have a whole lot of young talent, but we’re not winners anymore. Fans it’s time to swallow the pill, we let commentators that hate our team anyway – tell us what we need (San Antonio didn’t drink that same Kool-Aid). We drank it – Joe reacted and here we are. Kobe’s, Lebron’s, Howard’s they are rare – we had a team, a good one with a good leader. I think our drive for a Superstar helped kill this Team. We need to accept our faults as well.

By: David

David — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:00:18 +0000

I have yet to see any reporter, coach or sports commentator make a public apology to Ben Wallace. This is an even bigger problem than the “boycott” to me. We want our entertainment and blah blah blah. These people have families also and things do happen. Ben if you happen to read this I apologies for the people that don’t have the nerve to. You and your family are in me and my family’s prayers.

By: todd vanbrocklin

todd vanbrocklin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:08:33 +0000

The sad thing is these are great nba players. They could have easily made the playoffs and then some. Kuester stinks

By: gordbrown

gordbrown — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:05:18 +0000

A couple of things. First it speaks well of Kuester that he kept it quiet. Second, I hope that Hamilton was benched for the right reason, that is he was costing the team games (and he was) and not because he was profane with Kuester but actually I think that was the case (Hamilton actually given a chance to play after the incident if reports are to be believed). Perhaps the Pistons kept it quiet so that there may be chance for a trade of some sort (although that might have been foolish as most people in the league probably knew the details long before us poor paying customers). Nevertheless the fact it came out after the trading deadline and after Hamilton’s bad decision on Thursday is not very likely coincidental.