First to the good news, the Pistons whoop up on Washington and go 4-4 in the Preseason, not really nothing to be all excited about but I’d be pissed if we went 0-8 like Miami, that’s just shameful. And Washington pretty much played their rotation throughout so it was good to see Detroit be able to hold them off. Rasheed looked good shooting but man rebounding may be a problem this season. Maxiell gets up high but lately he’s been having problems bringing it down cleanly, he has to learn how to go up and bring it down strong. He did have 10 rebounds last night but 9 of them were on the offensive glass, now he has to start getting them on the other end too.

 Now, on to Stuckey. I have no idea what actually happen, I was sitting on the opposite end right behind the backboard like 3 rows up from the court and really didn’t see what had happened but Matt Dery reported he was fighting through a screen and his hand got caught or something. At first look I thought it was just jammed fingers or whatever but I guess he ended up breaking it. We do still have Flip and Lindsey over there on the bench but this still hurts, I was so excited about seeing him start off the season. I’m guessing he’ll be out like 3-4 weeks or something but hopefully he’s back by end of November early December. He was balling yesterday too, he looked very confident and it has to be a huge blow to have this setback.

Some other notes from last night…

• I still don’t know why people hate on Flip Murray, people calling him a ballhog now? The dude had 8 dimes last night, if there’s an ballhog on the team its defintely Maxiell who’s like a blackhole, once you give it up don’t ever expect to get it back from him. Its about time Detroit fans start embracing Flip, and I hope with Stuckey being out he gets a chance to get some pretty good playing time and start to prove some doubters wrong.
• Jarvis Hayes is fitting in so far just like I imagined. He’s a great shooter and he seems to have his confidence back which is great. He’s not only shooting the rock well but he’s doing other little things too, rebounding, playing defense, just being great energy out there on the court. Defintely a great pick up by Joe D but once he hits a little shooting slump I expect fans to turn on him as well just like they did on Mo and Flip.
• Amir Johnson at first didn’t look really good but towards the end of the game in there with the subs he looked very comfortable and made some great plays. The only question is can he bring that to the regular rotation against regular rotation guys. I’m not sure he’s big enough to play the 4 yet and he’s not quick enough to play the 3 so it’ll be interesting to see how he fits in this season. Still not worth $4m but maybe he’ll prove me wrong.
• Nazr Mohammed looked pretty good in limited minutes, 11 minutes 4 points and 3 boards.
• Afflalo looked very comfortable and I thought looked solid again but he has to work on that ballhandling, three turnovers last night and a few more which could have been turnovers but he recovered the ball. We can’t have another Rip Hamilton out there so take care of the ball!

 With all of that being said the regular season opens up next Thursday at Miami. With an entire week of before the opener that should give time for guys like Rip to rest them ankles and get ready for what will be a tough first part of the season with 8 of their first 10 games on the road. Read the rest of this entry »

Pistons went off on a two game road trip to Texas to play the Mavericks and Spurs and didn’t really play well in either games. Both were blowouts as Detroit didn’t shoot well from the field in either games and didn’t really play that great of defense either as both Dallas and San Antonio put up 100+.

 It is only Preseason though so no panic, I’m more worried about everyone staying healthy.

• Rookie Guard Arron Afflalo has been very impressive so far, some people forget that he was an first round pick and so far he’s proving he’s worth that first round selection. He lead the team in scoring with 20 points Saturday Night. I love that he plays great Defense too, he could fit in the Pistons rotation nicely throughout the first half of the season.
• Pistons won’t be trading for J.R. Smith, Joe D is too worried about his troubles off the court and all of that bull to bring him in. Sucks because I thought he’d be a good fit here but I guess if Afflalo can continue to play like he is we won’t need Smith.
• Ronald Murray is proving that he can still score in this league and I don’t think there’s ever been doubt that he couldn’t but the question is can he do it consistently off the bench in about 20 or so minutes per night, if that.
• Amir Johnson still has not played yet, hopefully he’ll suit up Wednesday, I just can’t wait to see how great he’s going to be….
• Niether Dupree or Mejia played that good in the two road games in Texas, if it was up to me Dupree would be waived pretty soon.

 Preseason almost over, one more game Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards and then all the focus on the season opener at Miami. I don’t think either Wade or O’neal will play on the Opener, both always seem to be so injured during the first part of the season but hey, 1-0 to start the season would make me happy so I can careless.

(3-2) Detroit Pistons @ (2-3) Dallas Mavericks

8:30pm TV20 Detroit

 The Pistons head off to Texas for an back to back against the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. Expect Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Antonio Mcdyess to each sit out one game out of the two as Flip tries to keep the starters healthy and fresh and give younger guys an chance to make an impact. Guard Richard Hamilton and Center Nazr Mohammed are both listed as questionable for tonight’s game and Amir Johnson is listed as day to day still with his ankle sprain. I expect niether of them to play, at least not tonight.

  Tomorrow’s game in San Antonio is not on tv so if you’re in the Detroit area listen up on 1130. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of talk going around the league right now that the Lakers are indeed ready to ship off Kobe which has many fans around the league hoping that maybe somehow, someway he ends up on their team. I’ve been on a few Pistons forums and even Pistons fans are talking about the idea of shipping a few starters out for Kobe. Well, let me tell you something, it WON’T happen anytime soon.

 Kobe is a great player but first he wouldn’t fit this system here. Joe D has worked so hard to not make his team just an one man team and bringing in Bryant would do just that, make the Pistons a one man team. To get Kobe from LA I’m sure Detroit would have to package some type of major deal like Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell, and some more but even still I wouldn’t think LA would accept that. Kobe puts butts in seats, none of those players named earlier will do that alone. Rasheed Wallace maybe but haha, no.

  The idea of shipping off Billups, Hamilton, and some other guys wouldn’t work either, I mean why would they want a 31 year old point guard and a 29 year old shooting guard if they’re going to rebuild? If they do indeed ship off Bryant it will defintely be because they’re rebuilding and you don’t rebuild with old veterans. Bottom line don’t expect Bryant to be wearing an Pistons uniform anytime soon. I’d go as far to say he’ll never wear a Pistons uniform. Now, him going to Chicago may be a possibility but if you asked me Kobe will be a Lakers at the end of the season and all of this drama will once start again once they’re knocked out in the first round.

 I can’t say I blame Kobe though, I mean you turn down a chance to get Jason Kidd or Jermaine O’neal and you don’t because you don’t want to give up Andrew Bynum??? No offense to Bynum but this Lakers team isn’t the youngest ever, they have to be focusing on winning now and not later and one of those deals would have defintely gave LA a chance to win something now but nope, they turned down major talent for potential. As Kobe said, “Ship his ass out”, now that’s what I would have done.

  All I know is Andrew Bynum better be something really special……

The Denver Nuggets pretty much sat their entire rotation but still it was an pretty impressive showing from the Stones. Billups and Hamilton both sat out the game, Rip with the left ankle sprain and Billups just for rest and the remainder of the starters played no more than 12 minutes.

The entire night belonged to the reserves as Maxiell led the group with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Ronald Murray and Rodney Stuckey both started in place of Billups and Hamilton and neither disappointed as Murray went for 21 points and Stuckey for 17. Arron Afflalo scored in 14 points, Hayes 13 points, Samb 8 points 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, Dupree 6 points, and Mejia 4 points and 7 rebounds.

Looks to me like the Pistons will very a strong bench this season with Murray, Stuckey, Hunter, Hayes, Johnson, Maxiell, Mohammed, and even Afflalo. The last time they had a bench this good was in 2004 and we all know what happened that season. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

President of Basketball Operations announced Monday that the Pistons have waived 6′3 guard Gerald Fitch. Fitch was a long shot to make the roster but still I would have liked to see him a little bit more in the Preseason, from what I’ve heard he was a little impressive during practices and the team’s Open Practice Scrimmage so I was looking forward to seeing him suit up but never got the chance. He did play in one Preseason game though, that was against his former team the Miami Heat in which he scored 1 point in 3 minutes.

The roster now stands at 16 which has to be cut down to 15 by the mandatory cut down date which I believe is October 26th.