| | |
| |||||||
| Forums | Home | Register | FAQ | Members List | Calendar | Mark Forums Read |
| Detroit Pistons General Discussion Most anything Pistons related, use the forums below for specific topics. |
 |
| | LinkBack | Thread Tools |
09-09-2009, 08:39 AM
| ||||
| ||||
| PF Piston Pieces 09/09/09 Ben Gordon wants to show his 'overall game' with Pistons Ted Kulfan Detroit News "Starting, or coming off the bench? Ben Gordon isn't sure yet what Pistons coach John Kuester envision for the high-scoring guard. But Gordon is ready for either role. "A lot of that comes from the coach. I learned that early. It's going to be the coach's decision at the end of the day," Gordon told hoopshype.com. "I've been on teams where I led the team in scoring, but I was coming off the bench. I've been on teams where I started. It's just whatever makes the team better and the coach feels is more helpful for the team." Known as a scorer -- he has averaged 18.5 points over five NBA seasons in Chicago -- Gordon is optimistic he'll be able to display more of his all-around game with the Pistons. "In Detroit, what I'm expecting is to show my overall game a little bit more," Gordon said. "Not just be somebody who can score, but also one who can make plays for his teammates and make them better." With training camp opening in three weeks, the Pistons aren't generating the type of buzz around the NBA they have in previous years, despite signing Gordon and Charlie Villanueva as free agents over the summer. Gordon said the Pistons are rebuilding. "If you look at the team all the way back to 2004, when they won the championship, every year since the team has been competitive," Gordon said. "Last season, they took a dip. Joe Dumars realized there were some changes that needed to be made. He kept some of the guys of the team that helped win the championship, but all the while it was time to get some new blood and get ready for another run." Ben Gordon wants to show his 'overall game' with Pistons | detnews.com | The Detroit News Pistons Mailbag Keith Langlois True Blue Pistons "Matthew (Sarasota, Fla.): Do you think that if it were solely up to Joe Dumars, that he would choose to run the Pistons for a long time? Has the retooling effort seemed to revitalize him? Langlois: I don’t think there’s any question that he’s come to truly enjoy the challenges of running the Pistons, Matthew. When he took the job nine years ago, I got the sense that it wasn’t something he necessarily had hungered to try. In fact, he had steeped himself in the minutiae of running his own business for the last few years of his playing career and had launched his own successful auto-supply business, which he continued to operate until the last few years before divesting. I don’t know that I’d characterize this summer as revitalizing him, though I think the prospect of change and the acts of initiating it are marked by moments of exhilaration (and frustration and any number of other emotions). Even in the years when the Pistons have a relatively stable core, the process of attempting to improve the team and position it for long-term success is ongoing, and staying on top of that is in itself a challenge and, it follows, revitalizing to those who thrive on challenges. Tomas (Stockholm, Sweden): I’ve noticed a couple of things that fans seem to be pretty much in agreement on regarding the upcoming season: Jerebko isn’t very highly regarded and will be the rookie least likely to get minutes, and the Pistons will be worse than ever. Considering Jerebko was the best defender on his Italian team, always guarding the opponent’s top scorer, how come that quality never seems to be taken into account? Jerebko could become someone like Shane Battier – 100 percent loyal, 100 percent team player, 100 percent defensive intensity and score a few points along the way. What do you think? Langlois: Not sure of the sources that led to your impressions of the expectations for Jonas Jerebko, Tomas, but it probably isn’t based on anything more than the fact he was chosen third behind Austin Daye and DaJuan Summers. Which one plays more than the others this season might not say as much about their futures as it does about which player’s skill set best complements the team’s roster as a whole. As for the Battier comparison, he’s a truly unique player. If Jerebko can even approach Battier’s defensive impact, the Pistons will have themselves a true steal. Robert (Bowling Green, Ohio): Do you feel we really have anything to look forward to this season? I’m a die-hard Pistons fans, but it really doesn’t seem like we got much better and all the teams in the East did. Do you think this way or am I looking at the glass half full with the Pistons this year? Langlois: Going into each season since winning the 2004 title, the Pistons and their fans legitimately thought of themselves as title contenders. I’m not sure that’s a realistic stance to take into this season, with eight new faces on a roster with an average age of 25. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to spark anticipation, Robert. Can Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva take steps to put them on track for All-Star consideration? Will Rodney Stuckey emerge as a top-10 point guard? Will the three ’09 draft choices stamp themselves as future rotation staples? Will John Kuester establish himself as a coach who can balance strategy with the ability to handle players? Can Will Bynum pick up where he left off last season? Will Chris Wilcox flourish in the first winning environment he’ll have experienced? If all or most of those questions come back positive, then this will have been an overwhelmingly successful season even if it doesn’t result in an especially long playoff run." PISTONS: Pistons Mailbag - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 Around the Association: 2009-2010 Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bad Boys R Dizzle Golden State of Mind "One could easily argue that the Detroit Pistons had one of the busiest offseasons. They're making more moves than Ford Motors! Actually, I take that back...I shouldn't make jokes about the dying American car industry... With two of the most expensive free agents added to the Pistons roster this year, are they going to be able to break into the top 5 in the East? Woooooowwwww. That's some crazy ish for Joe Dumars to be pulling in a city that can barely take care of its own people. I know, I shouldn't rag on Detroit and its financial problems, but I feel a sort of connection to the city now - more on that later." Around the Association: 2009-2010 Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bad%Boys - Golden State Of Mind NBA Star Inspires Youngsters In Mukono Charles Mutabi The New Vision "JASON Maxiell, power forward for NBA club Detroit Pistons, and former WNBA all-star Nykesha Sales yesterday conducted a basketball clinic at Uganda Christian University Mukono for 280 primary and secondary school children. The American pair, whose two-day visit was organised by the U.S. Mission in Uganda and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, took the exuberant kids through the basics of passing and dribbling before giving them certificates at the end. Jason said: “It’s been great coming out here and learning about the spirit of the kids.” His counterpart added: “The kids seemed very excited about basketball and hopefully they are going to be the ambassadors of the sport in future.” Maxiell and Sales will put on another clinic for a fresh group of school kids and will also meet with various local basketball officials today at YMCA." Iverson's last Chance In Memphis? John Denton Hoopsworld "You wonder if A.I. finally gets it now? Gets that his many selfish and destructive acts through the years are catching up with him? Understands that no teams that truly matter want him anywhere near their locker rooms? Gets the fact that this is almost certainly his last chance in the NBA? And let's be brutally frank here: Memphis' dalliance with Iverson amounts to little more than hiring the bearded lady to attract paying customers. Memphis is among the worst franchises in the NBA – both on the floor and at the box office, and their mission in lieu of winning games is trying to make Fed Ex Forum noisier than a public library. And for years Iverson has been one of those must-see type of players. The way he's scored over, around and through bigger defenders has been jaw-dropping. For years, his level of fitness and incredible stamina were unmatched in the NBA. He was just as blindingly fast in the fourth quarter as he was in the first, and just as relentless on those daring drives to the hoop. But at 34 years old, those days are long past now. Teams don't lean on Iverson the way they once did – setting picks for him, rebounding for him and basically watching him average 27 points a game over his career. They don't lean on him anymore because he simply isn't that player any longer and he most certainly isn't a dependable player. He wore out his welcome in Philadelphia and was shipped out of town. He bogged down a talented Denver roster with his unwillingness to conform to George Karl's offense. The Iverson effect was never more noticeable than last season when the Nuggets promptly took off and hit their potential with A.I. out of town and Chauncey Billups running the controls." Why Denis Leary Has Trouble Keeping His Pants On During Celtics Games Rolling Stone "I can get pretty creative with my cursing during a game. I curse at a 52-year-old level but I’m like a 12 year old. I go up to the screen and give it the finger, I go up to the screen and point at the faces that I hate. In the old days there was a rule that was called the ‘dick on rule.’ Myself, Collin Quinn, Lenny Clarke and [David Letterman’s] Eddie Brill, we are all the same age. We would watch Celtics games, Bruin games, Red Sox games, but particularly the Celtics at that time in the ’80s. But the ‘dick on rule’ was if the Celtics were playing the Detroit Pistons, whenever Bill Laimbeer’s face was shown in close-up, somebody had to run up the screen and pull their dick out and put it into his face. And by the way, this was done so often that we’d all be eating sandwiches and a guy would run up and do it and we’d just go, ‘Oh, nice job.’ And occasionally a guy’s girlfriend would be around or some outsider, and they would go ‘What are you doing?’ and we’d go, ‘Oh this is the dick on rule, you didn’t know about that?’ " Ben Gordon knows Pistons are in 'rebuilding stage' Kirkland Crawford Freep "Gordon has been known as one of the league's best sixth men. Does he expect to do the same in a Pistons uniform? "A lot of that comes from the coach. ... In Detroit, what I’m expecting is to show my overall game a little bit more. Not just be somebody who can score, but also one who can make plays for his teammates and make them better. That’s something I’m looking forward to," he said. Gordon also talks about a documentary one of his friends is producing about the new Pistons' life." Pistons blog: Ben Gordon knows Pistons are in 'rebuilding stage' | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com- Without Question, It’s Charlotte or Bust Doobie Okon Slamonline "Where are you, Allen? Where you been? What do you want? Where are you going? Come back to me, Allen. Come back to us. Come back to it, Mr. Iverson. The me refers to…well, me. ‘Me’ being Doobie Okon, a lifelong Philadelphian and thus, quite naturally, a lifelong Philadelphia 76ers fan. ‘Me’ being this lifelong fanatic whose number one sports icon has always been ‘The Answer’, Allen Iverson. Me, who only wants to see his idol succeed in what he shines at, the game of basketball, no matter what city is fortunate enough to have him. The us refers to those of us fans who still recognize the greatness in what Iverson has done on the court in the past. Those of us that still revel in the excitement of what the little guy used to be and what he meant to the game. The us refers to those of us that still want to see more, because we believe we can see more. The it is the greatness. The speed. The scoring. The steals. The crossovers. The drives. The clutch. The emotion. The leadership. The arena hysteria. The greatness. Today, the NBA, a league Allen Iverson used to dominate on the court with his moves and off the court with his popularity and marketing, sees its former star sitting on the outskirts as a free agent with a very limited list of teams even slightly interested. Memphis is interested, according to the team, and AI’s Twitter feed. And trust me, Memphis is not the answer. Use this article for future reference, Allen, if you indeed choose to join the everlasting mediocrity that is the Grizzlies. Do sports networks really care, though? Does the public seem interested anymore? No. A few years ago, ESPN would probably be on its hands and knees following Ivy’s journey through free agency. But now, barely nothing. It’s sad and confusing." SLAM ONLINE | » Without Question, It’s Charlotte or Bust
__________________ "Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, knowing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about." Dangerfield    |
|
09-11-2009, 02:09 PM
| ||||
| ||||
| Re: PF Piston Pieces 09/09/09 Quote:
|
