Detroit Pistons's Detroit Pistons friend's fan blogs

Here we are at the second week of the NFL playoffs again, which brings up the same question every year.  Is it better for teams that have clinched first-round byes and playoff seeds to rest their players at the end of the regular season, or play them to keep on a roll going into the playoffs?  Lets look at both sides of the issue.

The reason why most NFL teams decide to rest their players is simple; players cannot get hurt when they are on the sidelines.  They worry that their "star" players might get twisted knees, turf toes, concussions, or any of the myriad of unfortunately common NFL injuries.  Its the same reason most teams do not play those same players during most of the pre-season.  Seems like a simple enough approach, but lost in that explanation is the other primary benefit of resting your starters.  Their backups get real-time game experience.  Any player has the same chance of getting hurt during the playoffs as he does during any other game of the season.  If your top quarterback goes down early in game one of the playoffs, the more reps his backup has not just in practice but against live opponents the better off your team will be.  The only time to give those second-string quarterbacks, third-string running backs, fifth receivers, etc that experience without jeopardizing your playoff position is to play them while resting your starters at the end of the regular season.  Your team will be better prepared if the unthinkable happens during the most crucial game of the year.

Continue reading "Rest vs Rust in the NFL"

Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart will leave Stanford for the prospects of the upcoming NFL Draft.  He had one year of remaining eligibility due to an injury-shortened 2007.  Many Stanford fans had hoped he might return to play one last year with outstanding freshman quarterback Andrew Luck, possibly building on the success the team had this past season.  Although his decision might not be the most popular, it was the right one for him to make for several reasons.

Gerhart will have his degree in management science and engineering prior to the next college season.  Although some students will stay on campus and enroll in a graduate program to complete their athletic eligibility, very few of them have NFL potential.  Unless he plans to complete a master's program he would essentially be taking garbage classes and wasting his time just to fulfill the NCAA 'Amateur' status.  The college atmosphere might be fun and games, but he would still have to go to class and make some effort or risk NCAA sanctions.  If he truly did want to pursue higher education, there will be plenty of time for that after his body is no longer in peak condition.

Continue reading "Gerhart Decision for the NFL the Right One"

I'll make this post short and straight forward. Eleven losses in a row. Will that be tweleve? Then thirteen? Who knows. I think all Pistons fans are experiencing the same feeling of disappointment and frustration. It's really unfortunate that the Pistons have such talented players who just can't get the chemistry right. With the many injuries from the start of the season to the new roster and coach, there is adjustment to be made. We all knew it wouldn't be easy, but I'm not sure anybody expected it to be this difficult. This season seems to be a trial and error experiment, mostly error. It's painful to see the Pistons constantly losing this season, game after game. People have been telling me that I need to pick a new team, but I will stay a Pistons fan, regardless of how horrible this se

Continue reading "And Another One..."

The Detroit Pistons are in preliminary trade talks with the Minnesota Timber wolves. Players include; Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Jason Maxiell, and draft pick from Detroit. Al Jefferson along with Brian Cardinal and Mark Blounts expiring contracts from Minnesota. More to come...

Continue reading "Pistons trade rumor"

For starters, welcome back Rip Hamilton! With an impressive 18 points this game against the Golden State Warriors, Rip made sure his return was not overseen. Although Rip was the talk of the game, Rodney Stuckey was the point leader with an impressive 29 points this game.

Rodney Stuckey has proven that he is not a rookie anymore. He is much more consistent in his shot and now has found a place as a leader of the team. This team has definitely changed since winning the 2004 Finals, but it's a great way to start over. Stuckey has found his place and so have Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon. The three rookies all had playing time this game and showed that they have potential. Jonas Jerebko had a few amazing plays, shots and assists, and Austin Daye showed his confidence as he took a chance when he scored tonight. Jerebko and Daye are shining, but Dajuan Summers seems to be left behind. It's a question whether his lack of playing time is due to his lack of skill or adjustment to the NBA, but Jerebko and Daye are taking the spotlight.

Continue reading "Welcome Back Rip!"

Today, after receiving a pair of free tickets to the Pistons/Nuggets game at the Palace, I had a few reactions.

 

My first one was, “Hell Yeah! Free Pistons Tickets!”

 

The second one was, “Have I seen Carmelo Anthony in person?” I had to think about it, but nope, I’ve never seen ‘Melo play.

 

The fact is, I haven’t seen a lot of the best players in the game play.

 

When I was younger, I went to a ton of Pistons games, and I saw most if not all of the best players of the 90’s play in person.

 

But when you spend a good portion of the 2000’s in college, and the rest of it fresh out of college still looking for that high paying job that the $30,000 piece of paper you just received tells you that you deserve, it becomes a little tougher financially to squeeze in a whole lot of Piston games.

Continue reading "Three Year Bucket List"

Tim Donaghy, the referee who spent 15 months in a federal prison for his role in a betting scandal that rocked the NBA, is out of prison and looking to make a splash once again.

 

The NBA did a phenomenal job sweeping the whole Donaghy scandal under the rug as best they could when the revelations were made public that he had ties to organized crime and that he may or may not have affected the outcomes of NBA games.

 

Beyond the initial outrage, little was mentioned of Tim Donaghy and his potentially crippling claims that he bet on NBA games that he was officiating. The NBA public relations department did a great job of painting Donaghy as a “rouge” employee and assuring the public that this was a very isolated incident.

 

I believe that the NBA even had a hand in getting Donaghy’s sentencing hearing pushed back from April (which would have happened during the first week of the NBA playoffs, a terrible time to remind people that there once was a referee that bet on game) to later in the summer when the NBA season was over.

Continue reading "An End to the Tim Donaghy Scandal (Hopefully)"

There's no need for a clever title for this one. This isn't exactly 100% relevant to the Pistons, but I felt the need to post a few reason why Ron Artest has the reputation he has.

1. The Pistons brawl was already a reason to hate Artest, but the fact that he admitted in an interview that he still holds a grudge and wants to fight brings him to an ultimate low.

“I see Ben, I’m on my guard now. I’m always in the mood to fight him. … I’ll get suspended 10 games, 15 games (because) I’ll just fight him right there. It won’t go into the stands.”

2.  Regardless of who it is, it is not responisble for a professional sports player to be intoxicated during a game, practice, or anything related to his career. Artest admits to his habit and acts as if it weren't a big deal.

Continue reading "Who does Ron Artest think he is?"

www.sporcle.com is awesome. It’s a great place to waste time.

If you’ve never heard of it, basically it is a website that gives you the topic to a list of people, places, or things, and you have a certain amount on time to guess all the answers in the list. 

They have a lot of pop culture quizzes, and some pretty good sports ones as well.

Today, I stumbled across the list of the 80 players to play in an NBA all-star game in the 2000’s. Here’s a link to it. 

I got 55 of the 80. I drew a complete blank on two obvious ones, spent way too much time on them, and didn’t finish in time. I’m pretty disappointed with my score.

How many can you get right in 8 minutes?

Continue reading "Sporcle.com is awesome"

A few days ago I posted a blog listing the best scorers in the NBA today that have yet to have a 50-point scoring game.

While researching that post, I had an even more interesting idea for a post.

It’s a list of guys who, unbelievably, had a 50-point game in their career.

Since I was using www.basketball-reference.com to research the list, we’re only going back to the 1986-87 season. It’s far enough back in time to make some of the guys on the list obscure, but not far enough back to where you won’t remember them.

In no order, here are some of the more random players to score 50 points in an NBA game over the past 24 seasons.

Vernon Maxwell

Before Ron Artest and the “Malice at the Palace”, there was Vernon Maxwell running into the stands and punching a fan. While “Mad Max” will be remembered most for that, he also finds himself in elite company as one of only 60 players to score 50 or more points in a game since the start of the 1986-87 season.

Continue reading "That Guy Scored 50??"