Watching the Thunder and Clippers game and Steven Adams

[cool breeze]

I hope some of you watched the Thunder in this last close out game. The Thunder players are extremely athletic and smart. But Steven Adams is amazing for a big guy who is only 20 years old. Right now today, Adams is light years ahead of our two big men, Drummond and Monroe in terms of foot work and all the fundamentals of the game which does by the way include boxing out. Boxing out and lack of the correct foot work is a real problem that our two young bigs have to overcome. Adams is in fantastic physical condition. I never caught him resting. He was always in motion setting picks or being physical in the paint like Laimbeer of old. How in hell did the Thunder management steal this guy? Hats off to that smart management team. I expect that Stan Van Gundy will be doing the same thing in coming years. We need smarter players who love to out work opponents. He will make sure he signs fundamentally sound players like Adams in the future. 

One last comment about that game. Kevin Durant is a true super star. He doesn't need the officials helping him out. I think that Labron is also a superstar but something smells with the officiating in every Heat game since he arrived in Miami. He fouls a lot and is never in foul trouble. He made a clear four at the end of the last game that was ignored which would have tied the game if the victim had a chance to shoot the foul shots. Nobody seems to want to talk about that foul.

[Oracle]

Let's pray that Stan can keep the visits of his idiot brother to a minimum!

[Oracle]

Deron Williams wants out of Brooklyn, should Pistons want in?

Oh BTW, please don't let DX & Wise see this stuff  

[Oracle]

[cool breeze]

Tom Gores might become a great owner and now with Zeke getting a piece of ownership crazy thinks may happen in a good way. This hire of Stan Van Gundy was outstanding by Mr. Gores. Way to go! I have faith and hope for our Pistons again with this kind of leadership. I will not question the decisions make by Stan and will only support whatever he may think is best for the team. This guy is interested in the details and does work hard to find the right path to take. My feeling in the past has been the opposite. I believe that Joe Dumars was not in tune with the process of work as a GM of the present day. Everything relating to trades and draft picks over the years point to his staff being outsmarted and lazy. There is no question that Stan Van Gundy is above all else a work dog. He loves basketball and likes this new challenge which might be the hardest thing he has ever done. I will really be interested in finding out who his assistant coaches are going to be. Success depends on the assistants as much as anything because they are in charge of the details of day to day operations at many levels. Go Pistons!

[cool breeze]

He seemed to quickly get in over this head with player relations, eg. with Sheed, but he did a lot of good things.  His coaching with the Pistons should probably be ranked a bit higher than it generally is.  As I remember, you've pointed out that he did some good things on D, mixing in some zone.

But then he lost it quickly with Washington.

Just a week or so ago I heard speculation that he might combine his Minnesota front office duties with coaching.

Sparma I believe that Flip was an excellent coach with the Pistons. He had to be fired according to Dumars logic because he would have raised the roof with the thought of trading Billups for Iverson. Good point bringing in the Sheed and Flip conflict. This leads me again to wonder about Sheed's effect on the team as a coach this past year. Was he a trouble maker back stabbing Mo Cheeks or did he support Cheeks? Was he a good teacher relating to defense when working with Monroe and Drummond. I was for his hiring thinking that Rasheed would transform inept defenders into real two way NBA basketball players. That didn't happen. Will he be on the staff next season? Can a head coach trust him? I didn't like his behavior as a player relating to his war with the officials. Hurting his team with all the technicals didn't seem to bother him. I still feel that Rasheed never reached his potential as an elite basketball player. I will never forget his mental blunder against the Spurs with that out of bounds play. I wonder if he thinks about it. The previous season he was an outstanding player who had a lot to do with Detroit winning that championship. I won't forget that either.

[Phil-Good]

I like the fact that nobody was laughing too much. The room was tense, Gores look serious, Van Gundy is very intense and believes in rebuilding the Culture and going hard every night on the court.

I like the fact that Van Gundy is not shy about telling everybody that Monroe and Drummonds are the key players and he will build the team and system around these two, elite big men.     

He says he going to bring in help to deal with agents, draft, free agents, trades, paper work, salary cap, and all the stuff.

I also like that Jennings and Josh Smith were talked about like trade bait in my OPINION!!!

This man has his eyes wide open about this current roster and I expect to see trades very soon.

[WTF]

Stephen was making his normal excuses for CP3 and then Zeke said "I beat Magic, Bird, Kareem and Jordan"

I hope Chris Paul was listening because the Clipper have the better team but something is telling me they're going down tonight. Real Superstars Win Titles is what Zeke was saying CP3

[WTF]

He seemed to quickly get in over this head with player relations, eg. with Sheed, but he did a lot of good things.  His coaching with the Pistons should probably be ranked a bit higher than it generally is.  As I remember, you've pointed out that he did some good things on D, mixing in some zone.

But then he lost it quickly with Washington.

Just a week or so ago I heard speculation that he might combine his Minnesota front office duties with coaching.

Quietly deep down I wanted to Flip to come back here in the role SVG has with the team now. Flip was just as good coaching defense as he was with coaching offense.

[Sparma]

He seemed to quickly get in over this head with player relations, eg. with Sheed, but he did a lot of good things. His coaching with the Pistons should probably be ranked a bit higher than it generally is. As I remember, you've pointed out that he did some good things on D, mixing in some zone.

But then he lost it quickly with Washington.

Just a week or so ago I heard speculation that he might combine his Minnesota front office duties with coaching.

[WTF]

Just like the way Caldwell of the Lions came in!

They did their homework on the team and had a clear vision of where they want to go... Impressive!

While the dig at Joe about accumulation of talent is a bit unfair considering the ultimatum he was given, the dig about the way Joe ran everything is right on... Joe was a mess in that respect!

I too feel very excited about the future, but mainly because SVG is the best coach we've had since Larry Brown, I rate him just a bit better than Flip Saunders, but Flip was a really good coach as well!

SVG certainly didn't sound like the guy most media nuts been describing the past few days.

Oracle I think the dig was fair because that ultimatum came after he drafted Greg, Knight and Andre and the talent grabbing had no structure to it. IMO it was proven with the trading of Knight. First Greg was the Chosen One to be Franchise Player, then Knight was crowned the Chosen One, and now it's Andre as the Chosen One.

I guess Gores heard me win I said they needed to follow suit of the Lions and I think they did that with the hire of SVG, but let see what happens over the summer. GO PISTONS I'm starting to feel good about this hire as well   

[Oracle]

Just like the way Caldwell of the Lions came in!

They did their homework on the team and had a clear vision of where they want to go... Impressive!

While the dig at Joe about accumulation of talent is a bit unfair considering the ultimatum he was given, the dig about the way Joe ran everything is right on... Joe was a mess in that respect!

I too feel very excited about the future, but mainly because SVG is the best coach we've had since Larry Brown, I rate him just a bit better than Flip Saunders, but Flip was a really good coach as well!

[Sparma]

Also impressed by Gores (to my surprise, because I've been a critic of several of his moves).

Both Tom and Stan focused on the structure, on synergy, on the importance of harmony at various levels. [Also sounds like a bit of a criticism of the Dumars days, when players, coaches, front office were often not on the same page.]

Stan refused to be lured into saying something stupid, eg, on the three big guys. He praised Monroe highly ("great, great value"; "elite big man"). I was impressed that he'd already had a "lengthly talk with David Falk", Monroe's agent.

Concerning the sticky point of the three bigs ("three great assets") he foresaw them playing together in situations, but also raised the importance of spacing, to optimize their (AD, GM, JS's) skills.

Stan focused on the importance of building a team, not just accumulating talent (another dig at Joe?). He managed to convey the importance of process, but also the importance of quick results.

Stan came in with a detailed plan, but also made clear the importance of working within the existing realities.

He showed a lot of passion, but also finesse, and a sense of clear purpose.

He conveyed that it's a fresh start for everyone, but if there are those who don't fit, changes will be made.

I'm now excited about the new regime, even though it took me a bit to warm up to it. He's off to the great start. Now let's see if the results can match the words. And if we can stave off being unlucky on May 20.

[WTF]

Are on as well

[WTF]

Are on as well

[WTF]

If you haven't seen it this morning Zeke is on the discussion panel for almost the entire segment. I miss some of it but what I caught was good. Stephen A kind of mention something about Zeke having or being offer potential partial ownership of the Pistons. Zeke also knocks down CP3 superstar bubble as well and Magic tweet Zeke during the show.

[Oracle]

I'm so tired of hearing about Michelle Sam and his gayness already.  Please enough already with this sh!t that has nothing to do with the game of football and the NFL.   OMG I don't care if he's doing a series of interviews with Oprah why is ESPN talking about it?  Because the ownership and management of ABC, Disney and ESPN are gay themselves and will cram this sh!t down our throats for as long as they can.  

Quietly I hoping his ass get rocked his first day on the field and every time after until he quits.  I'm still pissed about the cake kiss and bitch crying all over the TV.

Yeah, and they'll keep cramming it down our throats hoping we'll turn gay at some point!

I had a teacher in elementary school that when we were bad, would say...

"What kind of world would this world be, if everyone was just like me"

It was designed to teach us that being bad or evil would be terrible if everyone behaved that way, and we wouldn't like it!

Well, if everyone was gay, there wouldn't be a world for us with no children!

So while I can understand giving people with defects, and it's CLEARLY a defect, respect. There is absolutely no rationale, IMO, to be celebrating that defect!

[Murph]

I'm so tired of hearing about Michelle Sam and his gayness already.  Please enough already with this sh!t that has nothing to do with the game of football and the NFL.   OMG I don't care if he's doing a series of interviews with Oprah why is ESPN talking about it?  Because the ownership and management of ABC, Disney and ESPN are gay themselves and will cram this sh!t down our throats for as long as they can.  

Quietly I hoping his ass get rocked his first day on the field and every time after until he quits.  I'm still pissed about the cake kiss and bitch crying all over the TV.

I gotta agree.  Two days ago I'd never hear of this guy.  Now, every time I turn on ESPN, I have to watch a continuous loop of this guy playing tonsil hockey with his best butt buddy.  (Sorry if I offended any butt buddies out there.)

[WTF]

"I've been reading all the articles both nationally and local and I'm not putting much stock in a lot of them largely in part because they're stuck on how SVG coached in Orlando and seem to forgot how he coached in Miami. SVG took both these very different team to the NBA finals using two very different schemes offensively."

SVG did not take the Miami Heat to the Finals, even though he had two of the top 50 players in NBA history...Shaq and Wade.  

In 2005, Stan's Heat lost in the EC Finals 4 games to 3,  to some mid-market team with no real super stars...can anyone remember who?    

Oops that team be the Pistons but I could have sworn SVG took the Heat as well. My Bad   Either way he coached with 2 different styles and if he didn't run into that bad ass team in 2005 he would have made the finals   

[WTF]

I'm so tired of hearing about Michelle Sam and his gayness already. Please enough already with this sh!t that has nothing to do with the game of football and the NFL. OMG I don't care if he's doing a series of interviews with Oprah why is ESPN talking about it? Because the ownership and management of ABC, Disney and ESPN are gay themselves and will cram this sh!t down our throats for as long as they can.

Quietly I hoping his ass get rocked his first day on the field and every time after until he quits. I'm still pissed about the cake kiss and bitch crying all over the TV.

[Murph]

"I've been reading all the articles both nationally and local and I'm not putting much stock in a lot of them largely in part because they're stuck on how SVG coached in Orlando and seem to forgot how he coached in Miami. SVG took both these very different team to the NBA finals using two very different schemes offensively."

SVG did not take the Miami Heat to the Finals, even though he had two of the top 50 players in NBA history...Shaq and Wade.

In 2005, Stan's Heat lost in the EC Finals 4 games to 3, to some mid-market team with no real super stars...can anyone remember who?   

[WTF]

"The report leaves out another reason the Drummond-Monroe pairing didn’t work: the signing of Josh Smith, who was forced to play out of position at small forward. - Oracle

Because it's the least likely reason for that pairing not working and at one point of the season the Josh and Andre pairing was the more effective pairing on both offense and defense. Not sure if you remember those reports on this or not but I'll try to find them again.

I've been reading all the articles both nationally and local and I'm not putting much stock in a lot of them largely in part because they're stuck on how SVG coached in Orlando and seem to forgot how he coached in Miami. SVG took both these very different team to the NBA finals using two very different schemes offensively.

Honestly I don't know what's going to happen this is why I waiting on pins and needle for the draft and FA period. I'm not over-blowing a phone call because SVG was suppose to call Moose it common sense, and SVG is not going to say he isn't a fan of Moose so why a big deal is made out of it is just silly for the media to bring up.

I do know that SVG has options of going in the direction he did in Miami using Monroe like he did Shaq, or Orlando using Drummond as he did with D-Ho and he also could find some happy medium. Time will tell soon enough. I've be incline to drop all things Joe Dumars because him being fired represents change so basically everyone gets an opportunity to rewrite themselves (the entire roster, management, ownership) everyone is getting a do over.

Right now I think Gores got off to a great start because he go and GM and Coach at a bargain price in hiring SVG as both Coach and President. Yes an unproven front office guy but a top tier coach all for 7 million a season.

[cool breeze]

Singler - SVG will LOVE Singler, BUT the love affair may not last if Singler can't develop a consistent midrange or 3 point game! Singler looked good on a team of dummies that can't shoot, the jury is out if he'll fit in with better mates.

Bynum - Why waste ink, his freelance calling his own number won't fly at all!

Drummond - He'll get a pass on his putrid defense, but it will have to get better

Monroe & Josh - TBD

KCP - Likely won't be starting, and will get the rookie treatment until he gets better! Ditto Mitchell & Siva.

Loyer - He goes back to being a towel waving troll on the bench!

 Oracle I believe that Loyer is a good coach and will help Van Gundy this coming year. Sure he reversed Mo Cheeks decision to place Bynum in moth balls on the bench but you can be sure that he was told to play Will Bynum after Cheeks was fired. What is good now is that none of the childish players will even think about calling the owner when they are taken out of the rotation. Loyer seems to work well individually with young players. He spent a lot of time with Singler this year even when he became head coach. Loyer is a valuable assistant coach in my opinion. However, I can't say the same thing about Rasheed Wallace. Was Rasheed an agitator or did he help bring peace in the locker room? Did Rasheed make our big men better defenders? I always felt that Rasheed Wallace never reached his potential as a player because his mind held him back. He was never a role model for young players when he was actually playing the game. Maybe now he realizes that he didn't get the best out of himself and now wants to help other players and tell them where he went wrong on and off the court. Who knows but it will be interesting to see if Van Gundy decides to keep Wallace around the team next season. 

I think that Stan will love what Singler brings to the team. He is the most complete player and will look better with like minded players he can play with. His outside shooting showed improvement and he did develop a mid range game as the season came to a close. 

One thing sticks with me after watching all of the games last season. There was a marked difference in the way the Pistons played in the last two weeks. Smith didn't play at all. Monroe and Drummond played well together. Siva was part of the rotation and looked like a leader. Did Stan Van Gundy watch those games. Did those games give him hope that there are at least some players on this team who want to play the game the right way? It is obvious that a player like Brandon Jennings would have a tough time playing basketball in the playoffs against a team like Miami who all look like body builders. If Jennings cannot be traded, maybe look for him to be a situational player next year unless he somehow learns how to play defense this summer.

[cool breeze]

From the guy that said SVG will not resign Monroe (Sean Deveney)... "Multiple league executives said that New Orleans, where Monroe is from, would be on his list, and it is easy to imagine a pairing of Monroe with young star big man Anthony Davis."
This doesn't sound like a writer just trying to sell more mags.

Monroe played his best game of the season in New Orleans this season. He had energy that he never showed us fans on both ends of the court. This was a good observation Mercury.

[cool breeze]

The same old games are being played by the NBA front office. Where San Antonio clearly won the series between the Blazers, their is mystery surrounding how Miami beat the Nets. How was it that Labron went to the foul line 16 or 17 times in that game. Almost every time he was allegedly fouled, Miami was struggling on the offensive end. At least 3 fouls called on Pierce were not fouls especially the 5th foul which forced him to go to the bench when the Nets were on a nice run. Then when Labron hit the hand of Pierce which caused the ball to go out of bounds with 6 seconds left, the officials made no call. Instead they huddled to look at the replay. Knowing that all the television cameras would be showing the clear foul by Labron, they had to give the possession to the Nets. This game left a bad taste in my mouth as have most every series involving the Heat over the past 4 years. There is special consideration for Labron James. He seldom is called for a foul and always seems to  get calls that are questionable. The Shaq rules still apply. Dwight Howard is another special player identified by the NBA front office. Nothing has changed after David Stern retired. We now have another David Stern in Mr. Silver. Does any fan ever ask how those two men were hired in the first place? The Heat players look like body builders. Dwayne Wade gets away with murder on defense and what ever happened to the flop rule. Wade flops every time he shoots the basketball. 

I now have to temper my excitement with Stan Van Gundy coming aboard with the Piston organization. The NBA is not basketball. The NBA is entertainment much like the Harlem Globetrotters playing against the Washington Generals with the exception of an freak moment when real basketball teams like the Bad Boys rule the game for a few years. To beat the Heat a team must play near perfect basketball where that team is playing against 8 men when you include the refs. This last game where the Heat move on leaves me feeling dirty where you feel the need to take a shower after watching that game.

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