Pistons announce TV schedule
Dana Wkiji Detroit News

Detroit will televise 78 Pistons regular-season games and the remaining four will be on national television.

Pistons fans can watch the season opener at Memphis as the team takes on former teammate Allen Iverson.

Other games on the schedule are two against the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers November 17 and December 20, four against the Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic (November 3, November 6, January 31 and February 17), two against LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal and the Cleveland Cavaliers November 25 and March 16.

Pistons announce TV schedule | detnews.com | The Detroit News




On Point
Keith langlois True Blue Pistons

Pistons fans have long memories, and those old enough to put them to good use insist that there’s never been a better point guard, conventional division – meaning everyone this side of Magic Johnson – than Isiah Thomas.

Of all the indignities, real and perceived, administered to the franchise since its relocation from Fort Wayne 52 years ago, nothing burns quite like Michael Jordan’s dismissal of the Bad Boys as “bad for basketball” and the subsequent exclusion from the Dream Team – the toughest roster cut in basketball history – of No. 11.

It was easy to focus blame for the former: Jordan was booed mercilessly at The Palace for the rest of his career and no doubt still would be. It was a little tougher to assign a villain to the latter, though Jordan again absorbed the majority of the onus for infamously, and allegedly, issuing a “him or me” ultimatum to USA Basketball.

But the next link in the blame chain, at least in the minds of Pistons fans, was John Stockton, a Dream Teamer in the spot Pistons fans insist belonged to Isiah. A few months after the 1992 Olympic team was announced and Pistons fans’ jaws hit the floor when Isiah’s name wasn’t called, Karl Malone’s vicious elbow split Thomas’ brow wide and required 40 stitches – apparent retribution for the collective questioning by Pistons Nation of Stockton’s worthiness. (As an aside, if anyone still questioned Thomas’ toughness, it was ended that night, when he bled all over Salt Lake City and still got back in the game.)

So Stockton’s selection of Isiah Thomas to present him for Hall of Fame induction this week took everyone remotely familiar with the background of this story aback, pleasantly so. It was a gutsy move by Stockton being widely hailed, rightly, as a magnanimous gesture that speaks volumes to the regard in which he holds Thomas.

You know what else it was? Equally classy of Thomas in accepting. Isiah Thomas is one of the shrewdest athletes I’ve ever known, but you can remove the “one of” qualifier when the subject swings to competitive athletes. Nobody’s fire burns brighter than Isiah Lord Thomas III’s, and it couldn’t have been easy for logic to trump passion on this score. Isiah has known all along that it wasn’t Stockton who deserved to bear the brunt of the fury from either him or Pistons fans for the Dream Team snub, but Stockton put a face to it, and it’s probably a face that haunted Isiah for a good long while.

PISTONS: On Point




Pistons Mailbag
Keith Langlois True Blue Pistons

Jacob (Denton, Texas): Allen Iverson is going to Memphis and the Pistons play Memphis in their season opener. What do you think that exchange will be like from each side?

Langlois: The fact that it’s the season opener is probably a good thing for the Pistons and Iverson because that will overshadow whatever residuals are still in effect from their unsatisfactory union. I’m sure Iverson’s addition is going to cause an initial stirring of public interest in Memphis. Depending on how he performs in training camp and the preseason, it might have waned already by the time late October rolls around. If Iverson, as he has suggested on Twitter all summer, is truly dedicated to restoring his stature around the league, and if he wins a prominent role in Memphis’ rotation, I suppose the Iverson sidebar to the season-opening lead story will carry a little more weight. I don’t expect it to become much of a distraction to the Pistons, who have eight new faces and a new head coach in the few months since Iverson played his last game as Pistons red, white and blue. I’m skeptical of a Memphis lineup with Iverson, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo being able to forge any consistent cohesion, but, hey, we’ll see what happens.

Josh (Boston): Is Jonas Jerebko the first Swedish NBA player? Also, how much fun would it be to see McDyess and Wallace go head-to-head in the Finals next year? My guess is the Lakers-Cavs is a lot more likely, but either way they’d be some great matchups. Do you have any ridiculously early predictions for the postseason?

Langlois: Jerebko was the first Swede to be drafted and will become the first native-born Swede to play in an NBA game, Josh. There have been a few who played professionally in Sweden before landing in the NBA, but they weren’t Swedish by birth. I’d rather see a McDyess-Ben Wallace matchup, but I’ll presume you meant Rasheed. The Lakers are probably the safest bet to get to the Finals, though I do believe San Antonio has elevated itself into the discussion. I regard Boston as a serious title threat, but I would list the Celtics third behind Cleveland and Orlando simply because of the questions I have on the age of their key players and the questions that Kevin Garnett must answer regarding the viability of his knee.

Jack (Canton, Mich.): I think a Stuckey/Rip backcourt is a bad fit. Stuckey’s a great penetrator, but poor outside shooter. Because of that, defenses pack the paint, which in turn creates a lot of congestion in the areas where Rip likes to run around and take his shots. Gordon is one of the best 3-point shooters in the league and could complement Rip’s game beautifully. What do you think of starting Gordon at point guard next to Rip?

Langlois: Hamilton and Gordon are the team’s two best scorers, hands down, and John Kuester is going to make certain that at least one of them is on the floor at all times, Jack. I think they’ll both be on the floor to end games. Whether that’s a Hamilton-Gordon backcourt or Hamilton at small forward might vary from game to game depending on hot hands and matchups. You can make a case for any number of backcourt combinations. Some would argue that Stuckey and Gordon make an ideal pairing, some would say Hamilton and Bynum are well-suited. Kuester can mix and match and gauge the results. But Stuckey and Hamilton give the Pistons great size in the backcourt and Stuckey, if he gets his game on track as the Pistons fully expect he will, should be able to complement anyone they choose to pair with him.

PISTONS: Pistons Mailbag - Thursday, September 10, 2009





No Longer Coveted, Iverson Says He Remains Motivated
JONATHAN ABRAMS NY Times

“I’m not down,” Iverson said in a conference call to announce his incentive-laden deal with a one-year base salary of about $3 million. “I’m not the player I was at 24. At 24, the gas tank was overflowing. Now, it’s just full.”

The deal allows Iverson to possibly jump-start a stalled career and re-enter free agency next summer after a disappointing season split between the Denver Nuggets and the Detroit Pistons. That and the frustration of this off-season led Iverson to call the coming season “personal.”

The Grizzlies finished last season 29th of 30 N.B.A. teams in attendance. At 24-58, their place in the standings was not much better.
The Grizzlies took the risk of Iverson’s infusion among a young core comprising O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and the second overall draft pick this year, Hasheem Thabeet.

The thought of Iverson as the centerpiece in the franchise’s marketing scheme and not the playbook has crossed his mind. By Thursday afternoon, the homepage of the Grizzlies’ Web site flashed a large picture of a smiling Iverson and a promotion for a season ticket coupled with an Iverson replica jersey.

“I know that they sold me being committed to winning,” Iverson said. “If they were to get me to come here and sell tickets, I wouldn’t know. I thought about that as well, coming in here. The flip side of that is at least we’ll have some people to play in front of.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/sp...11iverson.html




Joe Dumars $20 Million Dollar Summer
NBA Keys LifeOnDumars

Hey guys, this is Steve Kays, here making my Life on Dumars debut. I hope you all enjoy my first piece!

As of late, Pistons President Joe Dumars has received a lot of criticism this past season and offseason for the recent moves he’s made for the Pistons, specifically the use of the $20 million in cap space generated by Allen Iverson’s expiring contract to sign Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Now, it’s fine and all to criticize someone, but you had better have a better plan instead. The critics can’t seem to ever be happy. Let’s say that Chauncey Billups is never traded for Allen Iverson. The Pistons almost assuredly have a much better 2008-2009 season, one that perhaps ends in the Eastern Conference Finals again. But then what? Rasheed Wallace probably still isn’t resigned and Antonio McDyess doesn’t leave as a free agent since he has another year left on his deal. But that’s it. The Pistons can’t change. They’re still old and complacent. Sure, they might pick someone up for the MLE and improve with a draft pick in the 20’s, but that’s it.

Then the critics will say that Dumars should have blown the team up in 2008. You can’t have it both ways. That’s why we’re going to play Devil’s Advocate and assume that Dumars doesn’t sign Gordon and Villanueva right away. What should have he done instead?

There are those that think Dumars should have saved his cap space so he could trade a great player for little to no cost (a la the Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett trades). That’s not the worst idea I’ve heard, but it’s a risky one. But it’s already September and there have been no such lopsided trades for any team so far. If Dumars doesn’t sign Gordon and Villanueva fairly soon then other teams would have. The Cleveland Cavaliers were rumored that they were going to offer Villanueva their MLE ($5+ million contract). If Detroit doesn’t offer more than Villanueva is probably is a Cavalier right now.

http://lifeondumars.com/2009/09/10/j...illion-summer/

__________________
"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

Isiah presenting Stockton. I was never a huge Stockton fan, but I think this is pretty cool....on both their parts.

I'll be able to see all 82 Pistons games (78 of FSD, 4 on ESPN) this year. That's pretty cool, too.

Nice article by Woj about defending Jordan. It's funny, the article's title suggests it is about Jordan, but the article is mostly about Joe-D.
Against Jordan, defense never rested - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

Aah, that kind of defense was a thing of beauty.