MARK MANGINO        

Stan Van Gundy

On Episode 49, a discussion prompted by the following email got us on the subject or who looks worse Mark Mangino or Stan Van Gundy.

Waddup Pistonscast?

Alright. I have another scenario, but it’s a little different. Now, as we all see, Stan Van Gundy and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are not exactly the best looking basketball icons out there. Who would you rather look like, and why?

Thanks, Nathan

Okay so you have seen the pictures.  Deven and I think Mark Mangino is much worse but Stan Van Gundy is a horrible dresser so its really a toss up. 

As always give us a call (313) 769-3287 or shoot us an email with you feelings or just post a comment below.

-John 

That’s the thing about any sport. You are bound to get hurt. You are bound to get nicked up. An injury is your bodies way of telling you I want to take a break. Your body is saying “I am going to hurt myself to force you to take that break”.

Tune into Episode 48, where we break down what the Pistons should do if Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince or Rasheed Wallace get injured. KNOCK ON WOOD!

Quick Summary:

-Chauncey Billups should be replaced by Rodney Stuckey and backed up by Lindsey Hunter and maybe even a little Juan Dixon. We also feel Tayshaun should get alot of the ball handling and play making duties.

-Richard Hamilton should be replaced by Arron Afflalo. We love his defensive and we believe in his jumper even if he doesn’t.

-Tayshaun Prince is a hard guy to replace. He does everything for the Pistons. We think that in general Jarvis Hayes should replace him but it all depends on the matchup. Sometimes Arron Afflalo should start to bring that defensive intensity. Even Walter Hermann should get a chance every once in a while.

-Rasheed Wallace we feel he should be replaced by Theo Ratliff. We love defense and so do you. So why shouldn’t one of the best shot blockers in NBA History start in place of Rasheed Wallace. If Sheed is out expect big minutes for Jason Maxiell, Antonio McDyess and even Amir Johnson the VALLEY BOY!!! You know we love you Amir.

We feel the Pistons can win with only 3 out of their Big 4. We even feel that any 2 of our top 4 players can hang with any tandem in the league.

What do you think? Hit us up on the comment section below!

DETROIT BASKETBALL!!!

-John

Now… now… now, I know Chauncey will come back soon. SO DON’T WORRY! But let’s imagine that his hammy was just a little too tender to return this season. Can Rodney Stuckey step up to the Plate? Could the young thunder cat accept the challenge and fill the shoes of the great “C-Billz” carving out his own niche with the Detroit Pistons? Or will his inexperience cause him to succumb to the pressure?

Those are some good questions, right?

Post your comments below and let us know what you think? Or give us a call at (313) 769-3287 and leave an audio comment!

Deven

Listen to how humble he is!  This interview was from towards the end of the season when Stuckey was the Player of the Game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Hey Pistonscast,

I was listening to your show when you were discussing Jannero Pargo.

Pargo was a very bad player this past year. In fact, he is clearly holding the Hornets back. I wrote this back in December:
Reviewing the Southwest Division

And let me add this for Deven… the stats tells us that Dikembe Mutombo has been great the past two seasons.

David J. Berri
Associate Professor of Economics
California State University-Bakersfield
dberri.wordpress.com

Great Pistons teams such as the 88 through 90, ‘04 and 05′ teams have been tough, gritty, hardworking, no superstar type teams who thrive as the underdog.  They shocked the world back in ‘04. The Pistons; A team of so called journeymen and misfits, destroyed the star studded Lakers; The team with at least 4 Hall of Fame players.  People were saying Detroit would get swept, annihilated, killed.

Well the journeymen responded.  Outplaying the Lakers in 5 games, they did not trash talk and act big headed.  Instead they used adversity they faced as motivation.

I knew the Pistons would not win in ‘05.  Players thought they have arrived and expected to win.  There was no real motivation.

Fast forward to ‘08 and you have an interesting situation.  The Pistons are not expected to win, maybe not even expected to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.  I love it.

Everyone is thinking about Boston and Los Angeles.  People know that Spurs won’t go away either.  Nobody is talking about the Pistons in the sense of “they are going to win”.  So Detroit are underdogs once again and I think with some fine tuning the Pistons could get back rolling and beating so called “better” teams.

But, the fine tuning is the problem. Back in ‘04, Detroit had Larry Brown.

A great coach who knew how to motivate; He constantly reminded the team they were 8 point underdogs, how the Lakers had many superstars, how Phil Jackson was going to outsmart them.  Players responded. Period. It worked, you can’t argue that.

In 2008, we are stuck with a coach who is about as inspiring as a wet towel.

He is doing quite the opposite to what Brown did.  He tells his players how great they are, and not to go all out in the regular season because we’ll have a tough Eastern Conference Finals.

Sorry Flip, you have taken away everything Detroit stands for.  Heart, hustle, emotion, teamwork, dedication and DEFENSE.  With the way Flip is coaching, I don’t think we are sure to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

What inspired me to write this was:

1. Me hating on Flip to my friends.

2. A discussion in Sports Studies class we had about Self-Motivation.

Can the players self-motivate?  I sure hope so, it’s the only way they will win.   Because you know Flip can’t do it.  If you think about it, there is no greater time to be motivated as a player.

Everyone is ignoring, dismissing and writing you off.  Everyone is saying your too old or too young.  People are hating on your coach (myself included).

If the players realize this and use it as motivation, then true Motor City basketball will return; Hard, tough, gritty, un-selfish, team orientated defensive basketball.  That coupled with great ball movement and offensive rebounding from the bench and were good to go against anybody.

If they players can do this at the right time and not just turn it up for 1 out of every 2 games.  If they play consistently, look out for Detroit to do some real damage in the Playoffs.

And Fire Flip!

Conor Faulkner

Sheffield, England “Steel City”