By Deven Khrucell (aka Pimp Scwalla)

When the Detroit Pistons go on the clock June 25th, it’ll be anybody’s guess who Joe Dumars might draft at number 15 and even more of a mystery is what position. One thing’s for sure, with the current state of the Detroit Pistons, he had better choose carefully.

The Piston’s main concern right now is trying to pick up impact players from the free agent market or by trading for them. Most of the big name free agents are big men like; Bosh, Okur, Boozer, etc… Players like those won’t come cheap. In order to make this possible, there’s a good chance they will lose Rip Hamilton and/or Tayshaun Prince.

The draft pick that I see fitting best in this mix is Louisville Cardinal, Terrence Williams. Williams is a lock-down defender with plenty of explosiveness and is able to knock down three point shots when needed. I also like the fact that he is a four year guy who can guard both the two and the three.

While Williams won’t quickly replace Rip or Tay, drafting a guy like Williams could help soften the blow of losing one or two of Detroit’s cornerstone players. His versatility makes it easy to slide him into either the shooting guard or the small forward position. He also gives the Pistons some leverage when decide which players are going to be here in the future.

Many believe Rodney Stuckey is a better fit at shooting guard and the Piston’s should draft a point guard. That definitely makes sense, but let’s look at the whole picture. Drafting and working with another young point guard (at this point) will be too daunting and could be disastrous for an inexperienced Michael Curry. Besides that, we still don’t know for sure that Rodney’s late season woes were because of the position he plays or the fact that being a great NBA point guard can’t be achieved over night.

Either way we look at it, in order for Detroit to get better, it’s going to cost them at the shooting guard or small forward position–leaving a big hole in the line-up. Why not fill in that hole with someone that can play both - it just makes sense.

What do you think?

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here.

Its time to go after my Favorite Player Again… Hawks looking to Trade Josh Smith.

A great 2nd Round Pick for the Pistons: Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks.

Mr. 4th Quarter aka Please Sign This Man. Agent: Turkogle Will Opt Out

Kobe Bryant Could Earn 30 Million Dollars in the NBA!

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New Episode is Out!

Who’s Your Pistons Draft Pick?

Got a question for Pistonscast.com? Send it to John W. Davis. And for Pistonscast news and updates follow John on Twitter.

What’s Going on World?

You know it was only a matter of time. Pistons 2009 Free Agency Discussion.

The first episode of Free Agent analysis is here.

I’m ready for it.

Let’s Comment it out! Who do you want the Pistons to sign in the offseason?

Peace,

John W. Davis

Got a question for Pistonscast.com? Send it to John W. Davis. And for Pistonscast news and updates follow John on Twitter.

Episode 111: Possible Pistons 2009 Free Agents.

On the note of the Pistons-Cavaliers series — Rasheed is right. It’s all entertainment. The refs call NOTHING on the Cavaliers I.E. LeBron and his teammates traveling, LeBron and his teammates committing obvious fouls…

Delonte West OBVIOUSLY goaltending Rodney Stuckey’s shot — should’ve been an And 1, and he misses one free throw on the two shots he gets.

Cleveland committing offensive goaltends (tipping the ball in while it’s above the cylinder).

And don’t even get me started on the moron from Brazil.

Okay, I’ll get started.

He gets into EVERYONE’S face, TAUNTS everyone, yet the PISTONS get called for technical fouls, and the flopper (who repeatedly is flopping in this series) gets away with all the crap and is smiling about it.

Amir wasn’t going to take the idiot getting into his face - so he pushes him away.

TECHNICAL FOUL - #25, AMIR JOHNSON

He PUSHES Kwame…

TECHNICAL FOUL - #38, KWAME BROWN

Rasheed gets a tech from the bench, all the while the Cavs players are screaming at the referees at every foul they call.

“Hey, REF!!! Didn’t you go over Stern’s plans!? You call that on THEM for TOUCHING me, not ME for BULLDOZING them. Got it now? Okay, okay, I know you have to try to make the game LOOK fair, but you’ve already had us shoot 50 more free throws than them, so what’s the difference?”

Peace,

Ryan

Pistonscast.com

Got a question for Pistonscast.com? Send it to John W. Davis. And for Pistonscast news and updates follow John on Twitter.

What’s Going On World?

John W. Davis here.

As Pistonscast celebrates its 100th episode… I just wanted to share with you a quick montage of Pistonscast.

Here’s the full version of Episode 100.

Pistonscast has been around since November 2007 but it just seems like yesterday we celebrated Episode 50.

Anyway enjoy the Video Montage.

SHOUTOUT TO MATT IN THE AU FOR THE PHOTOS!!!!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.twitter.com/johnwdavis

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here.  Ranking Will Bynum as the 13 Most Important Piston might be low to some people because Will Bynum is in line to be the Pistons third PG and partially fill that little Lindsey Hunter role.  I actually like the number 13 for Bynum.  My birthday is August 13th, so naturally 13 is my favorite number.

WILL BYNUM CAN LITERALLY JUMP OUT OF THE GYM!

Anyway, I see this season as an opportunity for Bynum to prove he should really be a Number 2 point guard.  If you know anything about Will Bynum you know that he has Chicago street creed just like another former Piston Isiah Thomas.  This bodes well for Bynum because Chi-town PG’s are known to really fill it up!

SEND IT IN LIL’ FELLA!

I see Bynum as the 2008-09 version of Mike James but a much better athlete and that’s a really good thing.  You can’t teach athleticism and that trait can translate into a pesky above average defender.  Bynum looked good in Summer League playing tenacious water bug defense.  From his Chi-town, University of Arizona, Georgia Tech, NBDL and Macabi Tel Aviv days, he has proven on every level that he can really fill it up.

MAYBE WE SHOULD PUT HIM AT CENTER!  THAT BLOCK COULD REPLACE BEN WALLACE FINALLY!

One more thing in Bynum’s corner is Michael Curry’s involvement as upper league management for the NBDL a few years ago.  Bynum was the NBDL Rookie of the Year during his stint.  Curry values the NBDL and knows what Bynum can do.  Joe D knows what he can do as well.  It’s just a matter of time that Piston fans know what he can do as well.

Enjoy this Will Bynum You Tube Mix Tape!  The man has hops (and overall game)!

Peace,

John W. Davis

I THINK WE JUST GOT A FREE AGENT STEAL!

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This post was written back on September 3rd, 2008.  I remember Bynum from his college days at Arizona and Georgia Tech.  The guy was little but man could he shoot and score.  When he was signed to the Pistons, we still had Chauncey Billups and Rodney Stuckey was coming off the bench so I saw Will Bynum as the 3rd Point Guard on our team.  Well he has clearly exceeded all of my expectations but honestly he has always had all the tools.

“It’s really not me,” Bynum said as he deflected credit after the game. “It’s my teammates and the coaching staff. I don’t deserve all the credit. It’s pretty much them, those guys out there setting the screens and the coaching staff believing in me.”

I like his mindset and I love his game.  Maybe Bynum is THE ANSWER to our bench prayers!

*Need 4 Sheed Catch Phrase of the Day: Bynumite!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.twitter.com/johnwdavis

What’s Going on Pistonscast Posse?

John W. Davis here. This is an exclusive text message I received from the Detroit Pistons this afternoon.

“The Pistons announced today that Allen Iverson will miss the next 2 weeks due to a sore back. For more details, visit pistons.com.”

*UPDATE:

Allen Iverson to Miss Two Weeks with Sore Back

The Detroit Pistons announced today that guard Allen Iverson will miss the next two weeks due to a sore back at the request of doctors at Georgetown University. Iverson’s condition was evaluated at Georgetown today and it was recommended that he suspend basketball related activities for two weeks. He will not travel with the team to prevent stress on his back and will be re-evaluated again by the doctors at Georgetown following the conclusion of the two-week period.

The doctors at Georgetown University have been in contact with the Pistons’ medical staff and Iverson will begin treatment for his sore back upon his return to Detroit on Thursday.

Read more at Pistons.com

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What happens now?

Have we seen the last of Allen Iverson?

Is his back really hurt?

Who knows… but I want to hear your opinion.

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

by Steve Kays

Hey Pistonscast Posse,

PART 1

It’s the end of an era of Detroit Basketball. The Pistons that everyone knew and loved are changing. The “Bad Boys 2” of 2002-2009 will soon be a distant memory. But I’ve enjoyed the ride. It’s hard to remain competitive in the NBA for several years at a time, unless you’re the San Antonio Spurs. But the Detroit Pistons have had an awesome run. Think about it: 6 straight years of Eastern Conference Finals, 7 straight 50-win seasons, 2 NBA Finals, and 1 championship. That is a truly incredible run by essentially the same core of players, none of whom would be considered “superstars.”

But let’s look at the current contenders and see how they were just a few seasons ago.

L.A. Lakers: Missed playoffs in 2005; eliminated in first round in 2006 and 2007.
Boston Celtics: Eliminated in first round in 2004 and 2005; missed playoffs in 2006 and 2007.
Orlando Magic: Eliminated in first round in 2003; missed playoffs in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Missed playoffs in 2003, 2004, 2005; eliminated in second round in 2006 and 2008.

There is a common theme among all these contenders: They were all really bad before they got really good. Cleveland and Orlando both won draft lotteries, drafting LeBron James and Dwight Howard, respectively. L.A. drafted Andrew Bynum from the lottery and basically stole Pau Gasol from Memphis. Boston traded away several young players that they selected from all the lotteries they had been in and turned them into Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

The Pistons didn’t build their mini-dynasty on one single dominant player. And maybe that was their mistake.

It’s been said that Pistons General Manager Joe Dumars messed up in the 2003 Draft when he selected Darko Milicic over such players as Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony. And it seems that he’s admitting he was wrong as he’s going to try this summer to acquire a dominant big man, like Bosh, Carlos Boozer, or David Lee. One thing that’s for sure is that this current season wouldn’t be this bad if Bosh were starting for Detroit.

I recently read about two other areas that really cost the Pistons. One was Larry Brown. The Pistons just haven’t been the same since Brown was relieved of his coaching duties. It doesn’t really matter whose fault it was, but it’s clear that no other coach has had the same effect on the players, nor have they gotten the same results out of them.

The other area was that of Ben Wallace. Now, Dumars was right in not re-signing Wallace to an overinflated contract. That’s not the issue. It was that he never replaced what Wallace brought, which was a tough, intimidating defensive paint presence at the center position. Dumars has tried though with a variety of players: Nazr Mohammad, Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace. None have worked out as a successor to Ben Wallace, even though the stats say that the Pistons have been just fine defensively without him.

Now if the Pistons miss the playoffs this year or get eliminated in the second or even first round, then that shouldn’t be a great shock to their fans. You can’t play into late May every single year. It’s just not possible. Ask the Lakers. After winning three straight titles from 2000-2002, the Lakers were either eliminated in the first round (2006, 2007), second round (2003), or missed the playoffs entirely (2005). Yes, I know that they did make it back to the Finals in 2004 and 2008 (losing both), but the point still stands. It just goes to show that it’s incredibly difficult to remain competitive when you’re drafting in the lower 20’s every NBA Draft.

If the Pistons have just one bad transition year, it won’t be the end of the world. As great as the core of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Ben Wallace were, it could only go so far. This same group lost from 2005 to 2008, with the last two losses coming without Ben Wallace as he took a 4-year, $60 million contract offer from Chicago. Now, Joe Dumars got a lot of flak about it at the time, but Ben Wallace circa 2006-2010 is in no way worth $60 million. If Dumars had re-signed him then, he would have been severely restrained by his huge contract and probably wouldn’t have been able to re-sign Billups the next year.

PART 2
There’s been a great outcry against the Pistons management and General Manager Joe Dumars ever since the trade for Iverson which sent Billups to Denver. No one doubts Billups’s greatness at the point guard position, but let’s imagine for a second that Dumars would’ve kept the same core together for this current season. Fast forward to May, and what do you have? Another playoff exit in the conference finals, maybe even in the second round. And then you would have fans and the media blasting Dumars, saying how he should have blown it up last year. You can’t have both. That core has failed 4 straight times at this point. It was time for a change. And Dumars has made the kind of trade that will keep the Pistons competitive. He remembers all too well back in the early ‘90s when the Bad Boys disintegrated. He remembers all those ugly years in those teal uniforms. He won’t have another 10-year period of non-competing Pistons teams.

This was a great trade, make no mistake about it. It’s going to be a win-win either way. It was either that Allen Iverson would provided the scoring punch that the Pistons had lacked in the playoffs the past few springs or that his huge expiring contract would be used to totally reshape the team on the fly. Now, it’s becoming painfully obvious that Iverson just doesn’t fit in with the Pistons as they are a dismal 27-28 as of this writing. Maybe it’s that Iverson’s not being used the right way. Maybe Billups’ leadership was undervalued. Whatever the reason is, the point is that the Pistons stand a real chance of missing the playoffs altogether. So it looks like Iverson’s contract is much more important than his on-court play.

The Detroit Pistons team didn’t blow their chances to win a title this year with the Iverson-Billups trade; they blew their title dreams in 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2006 the Pistons were the #1 seed in the entire playoffs but still lost in six games to the Miami Heat. In 2007 Detroit was up two games to none on Cleveland when they let the Cavaliers win 4 straight games. And in 2008 the Pistons had an opportunity to take control of the series against the Celtics but dropped Games 3 and 6 at home in devastating fashion.

Why keep putting effort into a losing product? Why are people so against change when clearly that team roster wasn’t getting it done? Before the Iverson trade, I didn’t have a lot of faith that the Pistons would finally make it back to the Finals. Boston was still dominant, Cleveland had greatly improved, and Orlando gained experience. As previously said, Detroit already blew its many chances with the old core. After the Iverson trade I thought that it might be enough to get over the hump. While that seems like a far-fetched idea at this point, Dumars is preemptively trying to rebuild the Pistons on the fly to compete with these teams.

As for getting rid of Billups, there’s a saying that goes: “Getting rid of a star one year too early, is better than one year too late.” And it’s true. Had the Pistons decided to keep the core together, it’s unlikely that they would have been able to acquire such a large expiring contract that would enable them to totally remake the team. If Detroit acquires Chris Bosh this summer, then it was a great trade. But you can’t get Bosh unless you trade Billups.

It’s been a disappointing season to be sure. It looks pretty bleak right now. Fans need to realize that this is a rebuilding team. It may not be as evident as it is in Minnesota and Memphis after they traded their franchise players (Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol), but it is what it is. Most of the core is gone or will soon be. Billups is gone, Ben Wallace is gone, Rasheed will soon be gone, as will the recently-acquired Iverson. Even steadfast Antonio McDyess has recently talked about possibility leaving after this season.

There is a glimmer of hope however. And it’s that the Pistons are in a position to improve. It’s not like they’re locked into this current underachieving roster for the next several years. They have several draft picks, young players, and expiring contracts, all of which can be used to change this team for the better. You can expect that the Pistons will be the busiest team in the NBA come summertime. And I fully anticipate this team to look dramatically different for the better come fall.

Peace,

Steve Kays

www.pistonscast.com

What’s Going on World?

How are you feeling about our Detroit Pistons?

We all know they are talented, but talent alone can only take you so far.  

-Defense wins championships. But to win a championship, you must first win games.

–To win games, you must win specific quarters.

—To win specific quarters, you must win offensive and more importantly defensive possessions.

—-Aggressiveness is the key right now because it just seems our opponents just want it more.  

It’s been a great run for the Pistons 2K Dynasty.  

*Is this end, or only the beginning of a great 2009 season?

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

What’s Going on Pistonscast Posse?

Times are hard. It’s a recession out there. People don’t have jobs. People don’t have retirement funds. People simple don’t have.

*Is it starting to seem that the Pistons might not have it this year?

*Why does Tayshaun Prince struggle against Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics?

*Is Rodney Stuckey going to be the player that Pistonscast knows he can be?

*Have you ever heard of Bruce Leroy? LOL

You know what to do!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com