Posts tagged ‘ESPN’

ESPN DAILY DIME:  Pistons Facts

Consider this:

1. Detroit has lost 17 of 22 games, including 10 of 12 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, generally considered one of the best home courts in the NBA.

2. The Pistons are now 2-9 in February, with one game to go (in Orlando). In the last four February’s combined, the Pistons lost just eight games, going 38-8 overall.

3. It’s been seven years since the Pistons didn’t reach the Eastern Conference Finals.

4. It’s been eight years since the Pistons had a losing record for the season.

5. It’s been eight years since the Pistons didn’t win 50 games in the regular season.

6. Before this week, they hadn’t had a seven-game losing streak since 2003.

7. Their last eight-game losing streak was in the 1994-95 season.

8. Their last nine-game losing streak came as part of a 14-game losing streak in 1994 (spanning two seasons).

9. Detroit has had only five losing seasons in the past 25 seasons.

10. The Pistons’ three NBA titles in the past 20 seasons puts them in the NBA’s fantastic four during those two decades, with the Bulls (six titles), the Spurs (four titles) and the Lakers (three titles).

11. Overall, the Pistons have been the third-best team of the past six seasons, according to Marc Stein’s cumulative Power Rankings. This week, they fell to No. 21 on Stein’s ledger (before their most recent two losses) and now are No. 23 on John Hollinger’s automated Power Rankings.

12. As of Thursday morning, the Pistons had only a 42.8 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to the Hollinger Playoff Odds. They had been above 50 percent until Tuesday’s loss to Miami.

13. So far, the Pistons’ early-season trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson has backfired. (The trade was motivated in part by a desire to clear salary.) When Iverson joined the team, the Pistons were 4-0 (1.000). Since then, they’ve gone 23-29 (.442).

14. The Pistons have lost the last six times they’ve been led in scoring by Iverson, who, incidentally, stands fifth on the NBA’s all-time leaderboard for points per game.

15. Rodney Stuckey, Billups’ replacement, has slumped miserably, failing to reach 20 points in each of the last 19 games, after scoring 20 or more in six of his previous 13 games. Meanwhile, Billups has led the resurgent Nuggets to third place in the West, after many expected them before the trade to miss the playoffs altogether this season.

16. Before the season, the last Pistons coach with a losing record was the immortal George Irvine.

17. Detroit has fired three coaches since starting its remarkable run of six straight trips to the East finals.

18. Those three coaches are Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown, and Flip Saunders, who have now coached exactly 3,400 NBA games combined, winning 1,935 and losing 1,465 (.569) — including a combined 384-190 record (.669) with the Pistons.

19. The current coach, Michael Curry, spent just one season as an NBA assistant, in Detroit, before taking over. His career record is 27-29 (.482).

20. The NBA’s sportsmanship award winner each season is given the Joe Dumars trophy, named for the Pistons’ universally admired president of basketball operations. And yet, the Pistons are perpetually among the league’s most petulant teams, routinely among the leaders in technical fouls and poor sportsmanship, with Rasheed Wallace the worst offender. Counting this season, Sheed has led the NBA in technical fouls in seven seasons, and has been in the top five in technical fouls in 12 of his 14 seasons. For his career, he has 293 technical fouls.

21. On Wed., the Pistons seemed poised to end their losing streak, leading the Hornets early in the fourth quarter, but Wallace suffered the kind of meltdown that’s punctuated his career. With the game tied 71-71, Wallace gave up an offensive rebound to Hornets reserve forward Sean Marks, allowing New Orleans to score the basket that put them ahead to stay in a game they would win by just three points. After the Marks play, Wallace complained demonstratively to get technical foul No. 15, and shortly thereafter angrily knocked a towel from a Hornets ball boy’s hand into the crowd for technical foul No. 16. He followed that by throwing a towel in the direction of his coach, Michael Curry, who had just seconds before removed him from the game. All of this raises the possibility that Wallace will face what would probably be the NBA’s first-ever triple suspension — the automatic suspension for his 16th technical foul of the season, a league suspension for knocking a towel into the crowd and a team suspension for his actions toward his coach. Or might the Pistons just release him now, with only 26 games remaining on his contract? In any case, Sheed’s tenure in Detroit, which began in spectacular fashion in 2004 with an NBA title (remember his championship belt?), is reaching an ignominious end.

22. Richard Hamilton has the lowest scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (2.9 rpg) numbers of his career, not counting his rookie season, when he played just 19 minutes a game.

23. After the game, Hamilton complained about his demotion to the bench, and his role as Iverson’s understudy for the past 16 games. “I’ve said I’m happy to come off the bench as long as we’re winning,” Hamilton said. “But we’re losing. We’re now 4-12 with me coming the bench. Something’s got to change.” The Pistons are 17-16 with Hamilton starting.

24. In hopes of winning a title with the Pistons, Antonio McDyess forfeited almost $9 million in guaranteed salary this season and next to get free of his contract with the Nuggets after he was included in the Billups-Iverson trade.

25. Curry vowed to develop the Pistons’ young players, but the process hasn’t been a smooth one. In addition to Stuckey’s slump mentioned above, and the 8.1 PER of Arron Afflalo, there is the case of Jason Maxiell: Though he’s one of Detroit’s more productive players, Maxiell’s minutes have dropped this season from 21.6 to 16.3 per game. (Actually, Curry is not the first Detroit coach in recent years to show reluctance to disturb his lineup of veterans, as the careers of Mehmet Okur, Darko Milicic, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Delfino and Amir Johnson have shown.)

26. Detroit was once Where Reclamation Projects Happen: Think Billups, Hamilton, Wallace and Wallace. The Pistons tried it to apply their Midas touch to this season’s major free-agent signee,Kwame Brown, with disastrous results. Brown has started 19 games for the Pistons, but has played only 27 minutes in the last month and has a PER of 10.6, nearly a career low.

27. The Pistons’ streak of consecutive home sellouts, which began in Jan. 2004 and stood as the NBA’s high at the time, ended on Feb. 4 at 259 consecutive games.

28. The date for Pistons loss No. 29 in the previous six seasons (including the postseason):

2003: April 6
2004: April 21
2005: April 29
2006: Eliminated from playoffs with 26 total losses
2007: April 15
2008: May 28

29. Despite it all, the Pistons aren’t dead yet. If the playoffs started today, they would get their chance to knock off the defending NBA champions in the first round.

Courtesy of ESPN.com

Walter Sharpe interviewed on Pistonscast.com

Posted by Dave Dial July 29, 2008 17:01PM

What’s going on World? John W. Davis here. Just wanted to share some new pictures with you. Walt Sharpe’s first time in his Pistons blue and red with white trip.

OH YEAH!!! Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!

Thanks to Nate for the email!

Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!

Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!

Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!

Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!

Check us out on ESPN!  TOP STORIES NUMBER 8 WALTER SHARPE INTERVIEWED!!!