I AM FREE!!!!

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis.  We all know Amir Johnson is not perfect.  He is a young player that needs to play to his strengths of rebounding, blocking, and shooting a high field goal percentage.  Don’t ask him to do everything.  Don’t ask him to be an All-Star right out of the gates.

Okay, I’m done just check this mess out.  Props to the Det News for exposing this.

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Somewhere there is a former Pistons assistant coach who ought to be checking his vital signs. Two years ago, the assistant on Flip Saunders’ coaching staff looked at Amir Johnson clanking one ugly-looking jumper after another during warmups and said, “As long as I am alive, Amir Johnson will never be in an NBA rotation.”

Well sir, don’t look now. Johnson will not only be in the rotation for tonight’s opener against the Pacers, he will be the starting power forward for a Pistons team that again is expected to contend for the Eastern Conference title.

“Who said that? Damn,” Johnson said. “That’s OK. That just gives me fuel. Whoever the doubters are, man, I am going to prove everybody wrong.”

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Check out the link to the full story here:Det News Article on Amir

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

Hello? Is that you on the line John W. Davis?

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here.  Rip is back in the news.  I wonder is that beard gone yet. Anyway, Rip says he is happy now but last year he became frustrated with former head coach Flip Saunders.  (Did You?)

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CHECK OUT THIS EXCERPT FROM THE DETROIT NEWS:

Pistons’ Hamilton is a happy camper

AUBURN HILLS — For most of last season, Richard Hamilton was not his usual self. He was moody off the court — at least with the media — and at times couldn’t contain his frustration on it, which was evidenced by his career-high 15 technical fouls.

There was speculation he was distracted by the birth of his son, which happened right before the season-opener. That, he says, wasn’t it.

“I had a son, which was one of the greatest times of my life,” Hamilton said Wednesday. “That was not a disappointment. Nothing off the court was a disappointment.”

“I was disappointed at the way Flip (Saunders) did things, that was the frustrating thing about it,” he said.

Hamilton wouldn’t get into specifics, but his major point of contention with Saunders was that he didn’t hold all players accountable for their actions.

“Players like to be challenged and they want discipline, even when they fight at times,” coach Michael Curry said. “Rip was frustrated because he didn’t feel that everybody was being held accountable. Our goal as a coaching staff this year is to do a better job holding everybody accountable every day.”

Hamilton has been a happy camper thus far and is eager to turn the page on last season.

“I don’t want to talk about (Saunders), either,” he said. “It’s a new season and I am glad MC is the coach. You can’t look to the past. I am glad to move on and focus on the season ahead of us.”

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If Rip is happy then I am happy too.  Rip is not a player to make excuse so early in the season I think having his child was an issue.  As the season progressed I believe Flip became an issue.  Richard Hamilton should be the focal point of the outside game and that surely was not the case last season.

All the players keep saying Flip let them slide.  They keep saying that no one was accountable and that Michael Curry will be the coach to do it.

The more they say it, the more I believe them.

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

Hi Pistonscast,

I thought you would find the following post to be a conversation starter. Yes, I think the numbers indicate that Flip Saunders is a better coach than people believe.

Maybe Flip Saunders is a Good Coach

Dave

P.S. And yes, Chauncey is still better than Isiah.

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

PRAISE THE LORD!

Our prayers have finally been answered.  It’s official Flip Saunders is gone.   We had to expect this move.  I mean come on he’s Flip Saunders.  3 Eastern Conference Finals and nothing to show for it.  That’s not progression.  He has been a sitting duck since 2007.

We all knew Joe Dumars was not going to sit and twiddle his thumbs. (Check the link for all his past major GM moves)  This move is only the beginning.   Please believe that some of our players will not be back for the 2008-2009 season.

Thank god Larry Brown is coaching Charlotte or he would be a leading canidate for the job.  As much as I hate on Larry for leaving us, he was effective.  1 Championship and 1 Loss in the Championship in Game 7.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

Right now my Money is on either Michael Curry or Bill Laimbeer.

Tune into Episode 53 to find out who we think will be the better coach for the Detroit Pistons.

-John  (This almost makes up for losing in the ECF… but not quite)

Stay tuned!

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”