Posts tagged ‘Steve Kays’

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

Hey guys.

Here’s Part II on A Few Thoughts on the Detroit Pistons. Click here for Part I.

The fact that Allen Iverson is a Piston still hasn’t really sunk in for me. Now I don’t know if he makes the Pistons necessarily better, but he definitely makes them different. If he can make the Pistons less predictable offensively in the playoffs, then he will have done his job.

However Iverson’s tenure in Detroit goes, this trade can’t be fully judged until the summer of 2010. Everyone knows that the cap space that the Pistons gained with this trade was a major reason for it. If the Pistons are able to acquire Chris Bosh, LeBron James, or another premier player, then this trade will have been a success. As for Denver’s end of the trade, you already know how I feel about that in my previous posts found here and here.

I honestly don’t like the Detroit Pistons chances of winning the NBA title this year. Then again in December 2003, who would have said that the Pistons would have won the title that following spring? I’m guessing no one. Most would have said that the Pacers, Spurs, Timberwolves, Lakers, or Kings were going to win the championship that year.

So maybe the Pistons need to be considered the underdogs. But with each passing day it seems more and more likely that the title will be won by the Celtics, Lakers, or Cavaliers. Now I’m not counting out the Pistons by any means. Remember that the Pistons are basically in training camp with Iverson since he was acquired during the season.

Also recall that Antonio McDyess, who was included in that trade, was resigned by the Pistons this week. I’m not claiming that time and McDyess are the answers to this team’s problem, but McDyess’s return does affect several things.

It allows Rodney Stuckey to more effectively lead the second unit and to slash and penetrate better since opposing teams will have to respect McDyess’s jumpshot. It also allows Rasheed Wallace to player fewer minutes as he won’t have to burden being the only big man with above average defense and a reliable jumper. And it also takes the burden off Kwame Brown, Jason Maxiell, and Amir Johnson as they won’t be counted on to score consistently or do anything else outside of their expertise.

So maybe time and McDyess will be all the Pistons need, but I sincerely doubt it. However, if the Pistons continue to struggle, even with more time and McDyess, there might be another trade in the near future or at the very least lineup changes.

I don’t think LeBron James becomes a Detroit Piston anytime soon, but it’s definitely a possibility. If he really wants to play for multiple championships then he has to consider Detroit. In 2010 the Pistons’ likely roster will look as follows: Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell, and Amir Johnson.

That’s not a bad lineup already. Throw in a LeBron or a Bosh and you can start talking about a serious championship run. I do think that the Pistons will have a great chance to acquire either Carlos Boozer or Chris Bosh. Either way, from now until July 2010 is going to be a very interesting and exciting time in the NBA.

In summary, this season for the Pistons is exciting and new, but also frustrating sometimes. Nothing is guaranteed anymore but maybe that’s a good thing. In the past the Pistons would fall apart in the conference finals of the playoffs. Now I don’t know if even that’s going to happen as they might lose in the second round or even the first round. But they might also make it to the finals and win a championship.

The trade for Iverson is hopefully a positive thing for this season and for future seasons. It should make Detroit a less predictable team in the playoffs and also allow the Pistons to sign or trade for a major free agent of 2010 (or 2009), such as LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, or Carlos Boozer. I don’t know what the future holds but I’m excited and optimistic.

Go Pistons!

-Steve Kays

www.pistonscast.com

So I hate the Boston Celtics. Yes, you all know that I’m a Pistons fan, but even if I wasn’t I would still not like the Celtics. Why, you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked as I’ve made a list.

1. They’ve beaten the Pistons 8 out of 11 games the past season and this season combined (including the Eastern Conference Finals).

2. That the Pistons have been very good the last 7 years and have just one championship to show for it while the Celtics have been good for just 1 year and have the same number of championships.

3. They act like babies and thugs. For further proof just look at the technical foul leaders this season. Boston leads the league by a wide margin. They have 39 technical fouls, which is 14 more than the next team, Phoenix. Kendrick “I’m a bigger baby than Big Baby Davis” Perkins leads the NBA with 9 techs in 19 games, the same number he had all last season. Boston has 3 players in the top 11 in technical fouls. Ouch.

4. It seems that not a day goes by without some mention of a Celtic doing something ridiculously stupid. Literally off the top of my head I can think of several: KG taunting Jose Calderon, KG “slapping” Andrew Bogut, Paul Pierce flashing gang signs at the Atlanta Hawks during the playoffs.

5. The Celtics’ arrogance. I was recently watching a game in which the Celtics were up by 20+ points. Perkins received a pass down low in the paint and he dunked it home. So naturally he celebrated and started to jaw and stuff. Thankfully he got hit with a tech. Another example is when they beat Minnesota by one point at the buzzer and KG celebrated like he won the title as he was jersey-popping, etc. KG, you barely beat a truly awful team. Wowsers.

6. The media love they get. It sickens me. The Pistons and Spurs have been dominant for the better part of this decade and yet the media has covered the Celtics more in the past year and a half.

7. The fact that they acquired KG in a “trade” with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Seriously, the T-wolves had several better deals than the one Boston offered. Just the fact that the Minnesota’s GM Kevin McHale and Boston’s GM Danny Ainge used to be Celtics teammates is enough to make me vomit.

8. The fact that the message seems to be that you have to be bad (2007 Celtics) in order to be good later (2008 Celtics).

9. That the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery essentially gave the Celtics Ray Allen and KG. If Boston would have won the lottery, or even gotten the second pick, then whey would have taken another young player (Greg Oden or Kevin Durant). But they got the 5th pick which set off a series of events that led to the 2008 NBA title.

10. That KG wasn’t suspended in the playoffs for pushing a referee during a skirmish, even though he definitely should have been.

11. That Tony “I broke my leg dunking because I’m a moron” Allen and Eddie “I can’t do anything at all (especially dribble) but shoot” House trashtalk all the time even though they both suck. Seriously, all House does is shoot and he thinks he’s a god at it. Newsflash to House: You’re open so much because opponents are guarding KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen.

12. That Rajon Rando thinks he’s sweet even though he has no jumpshot and couldn’t hit a 3 pointer to save his life.

13. That Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown jumped on the Boston bandwagon late in the season (playing only some 17 regular season games) and played less than 14 minutes per game in the playoffs, and yet they both still got their rings. And that Cassell acts like he’s been a Celtics for life because of it.

So hopefully you can see now why I hate the Celtics. If Boston wins the championship this year I will probably swear off NBA basketball for life. Okay, not really, but you get my point.

-Steve Kays

stevekays.blogspot.com

*Check Steve out at http://stevekays.blogspot.com

-Steve is a Die-hard Pistons fan who is a faithful listener of Pistonscast

————————

ESPN recently polled 18 of their NBA experts and asked them a variety of questions regarding this upcoming NBA season.

Three of the questions included “Who will win the Central Division?”, “Who will win the Eastern Conference?”, and “Who will win the NBA title?”

Who will win the Central Division?
For the first question the Detroit Pistons received 11 out of 18 votes. Cleveland (7 votes) was the only other team receiving consideration. That’s a relief, as the so called “experts” have been picking against the Pistons for several years now. And all the Detroit Pistons do every single year is win 50+ games, win the Central Division, and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. So it’s nice to know that the “experts” are actually saying that Detroit will be the best team in the Central Division. As for the Cavs, I’m still not sold on them this year because of their lack of frontcourt help (Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauska), not to mention their backcourt talent. And all the other teams won’t be nearly as good as the Cavs or Pistons, so they’re not even worth mentioning.

Who will win the Eastern Conference?
For the second question the Detroit Pistons received 2 out of 18 votes. Both Boston (13) and Cleveland (3) received more votes than they did. This I have a problem with.

Out of these three teams, Detroit appears the best to make it to the Finals.

Considering Boston lost James Posey (who is overrated but was still very important to the Celtics) and P.J. Brown (a veteran player who came up big during crunch time) and did not replace them, it could be said that Boston won’t be as good this year as last season. Sure, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins will probably get better as will the rest of the young guys, but this team only goes as far as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen take it. All three are another year older, less hungry, and almost certainly won’t remain as healthy as last season.

Cleveland is improved from last year with the addition of Mo Williams. LeBron James only figures to get better. However, their lack of frontcourt depth is concerning. They have Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauska starting, both of whom are old, past their prime, and very prone to injury. And the only other big man is Anderson Varejao. I’d be worried too. It also remains to be seen if Mo Williams will be the answer Cleveland has been looking for at point guard.

Detroit on the other hand returns all of their key players. They also added Kwame Brown, among other players. Brown won’t be expected to put up huge stats like he was in Washington when he was the #1 overall pick. But he is a 26 year old with a big body who is above average on defense. Those kind of players typically don’t come cheap (see Diop, DeSagana). You know what the starters are going to give you already. The Pistons are also giving Rodney Stuckey more playing time this year. This kid is going to be a superstar in this league. When the second unit, consisting of Stuckey, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell, and Walter Hermann comes in, they’re going to outplay most teams’ first units. Bottom line is that this is the deepest Detroit has been in a long time. Both Cleveland and Boston aren’t as deep or talented.

And if LeBron or one of the Boston’s Big Three goes down with an injury, then there goes their title chances. If a key player on the Pistons goes down, there’s someone there to step up in their place.

Who will win the NBA title?
The Pistons received a grand total of 0 out of 18 votes. Once again, no one is giving Detroit a chance. If the Pistons make it to the Finals I will like their chances regardless of who they’re playing. So I’m going to go through each team that received consideration and explain why the Pistons are better or just as good.

The Los Angeles Lakers received 7 votes. The Pistons beat them one out of two times last seasons. That one loss came when the Pistons were without both Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace. So this one is a tossup.

The Boston Celtics received 5 votes. The Pistons only beat them once out of three times last season, although in one of those games Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored 20 points. That’s not going to happen again. And as I already mentioned, the Celtics won’t be as hungry, talented, lucky, or as healthy.

The Houston Rockets received 2 votes. The Pistons beat the Rockets one out of two times last year. However, in that loss the Pistons barely played their bench, which is much improved from a year ago. It also remains to be seen if the Rockets can ever stay healthy. Tracy McGrady has already been injured and the season hasn’t even started yet. Yao is probably going to miss 20+ games due to some various foot/leg injury. And Ron Artest’s impact is unknown at this point. Will he be a complementary third option who’s able to lock down opposing players? Or will he ruin the chemistry and try to beat up fans in the stands?

The New Orleans Hornets received 2 votes. The Pistons beat the Hornets two out of two times last year. Both wins came by at least 15 poitnts. And the Hornets still failed to acquire any frontcourt help for Tyson Chandler and David West.

The Spurs received 2 votes. The Pistons beat the Spurs two out of two times last year. Manu Ginobili, last year’s leading scorer, will be out for at least two months with an injury to start the season. Combine that with an aging roster and a lastluster bench and it makes for an odd-numbered year that the Spurs don’t win the title.

Overall
My point is that the Detroit Pistons never receive the respect they deserve and it appears this season will be no different. All of the teams predicted to win the title have either added a new player, lost a key player to injury, or failed to address a key position. All of these things will affect a team’s chemistry and how they perform on the court. Detroit has arguably the best starting five in the NBA, which is only enhanced by Amir Johnson and his athletic ability and intangibles. Detroit is also the deepest we’ve seen in year. And if things start off bad this season, then Joe Dumars has very attractive trading pieces in Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace.

Overall, I fully expect the Pistons to win the NBA Championship this year even if none of the experts agree with me.
This post used information from ESPN’s 2008-2009 NBA Preview.

————————

Check Steve out at http://stevekays.blogspot.com