Walter Sharpe wants to steal Amir Johnson's Shoes

Via Detroit Bad Boys, here's a funny little breakdown of the Piston's roster this season. Learn such exciting things as:

• Jason Maxiell plays the trumpet!
  
• If Cheik Samb were not playing basketball he'd be working with his father and brother in "export-import fishing businesses."
  
• Rodney Stuckey is good at "dancing, eating and sleeping"

I'm really trying to get myself excited again about basketball, but I don't know how many times I can take the Pistons' recurring Eastern Conference Finals losses before I decide I need a year off from the team or something. It's pretty hard to believe that this team, as constructed, will be able to win the championship, but there are two things that have me optimistic:

• There's a very good chance that Joe D. will finally pull the trigger on a trade before the trade deadline this year. I don't blame him for not doing a "fifty cents on the dollar" trade this offseason, but it seems clear that the team as it doesn't quite have what it takes. There is, however, very good reason to believe that this winter they'll be some disgruntled star on a bad team that will pretty much force them to trade him. It happens almost every year, and the last time Dumars capitalized on it, it netted the team Rasheed Wallace.
  
• There really is a lot of good, young talent on the team. Jason Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey, and Amir Johnson in particular make the season worth watching even if you don't think the Pistons have what it takes this year. Stuckey in particular (i.e. "the poor man's Dwyane Wade) seems ready for a great second year as the go-to 3rd guard off the bench.
• Although the top-half of the roster may be aging, there really does seem to be a good foundation forming that can begin to take their place. The fact that Amir Johnson is now in the starting lineup gives me hope that Michael Curry is actually willing to play these young guys, too.
  

Maxiell!

Okay, I'm really kind of insanely busy right now catching up with work after spending a days hanging out with my mom in the city and then sitting around basically doing nothing at all for a few pseudo-vacationish days this long weekend.

But, that being said, have you seen Jason Maxiell's block of Kevin Garnett in last night's game? It was sick. And kind of unbelievable considering that he's about 8 inches shorter than Garnett. And, thus, this makes it too good not to share...

Rodney Stuckey

In order to pay tribute to Rodney Stuckey's fantastic job filling in for an injured Chauncey Billups in game 5, and in order to prove that I know how to import things on to this blog, here is a handy widget (seriously, you've got to love that word, right?) to keep track of Stuckey's progress as the Pistons move on to the Eastern Conference Finals to face either Cleveland (Lebron=Terrifying) or Boston (Garnett=Terrifying, Doc Rivers=Not so much).




I mean, c'mon, how much longer could you have expected to wait before I threw in some sort of Pistons-related post?

A Salute to Forgotten Pistons

Head on over to the Pistons official website to see a very entertaining list of their various "All-Time" teams (thanks to Detroit Bad Boys for the heads-up). It was a bizarre pleasure to be reintroduced to Ratko Varda (a member of the "Ron Behangen All-Stars" for players that only made it into one game) and Bison Dele (a member of the "All-Teal" team from the ill-fated teams and uniforms of the mid-90's) among others. If you're a Pistons fan, it's a must read.

Quick sidenote: when did "official" websites get so good? Basically everything on the NBA's official website is solid, while the Major League Baseball website is an excellent place to go for radio and game-tracking. Am I crazy or were these terrible places to go for any information at all just a few years back?

The NBA Season Begins

NBA Basketball, the most exciting, most intense, most athletic, and most wonderfully flawed sport in all the land is back! Hooray!

There's something about all the troubles and scandals that actually brings me closer to the game; I'm like a child who's a little too protective of their troubled parent. I don't really care about the Tim Donaghy ref scandal (though I really hope it was isolated), and I don't really care about all the will-Kobe-get-traded? drama, either. What I do care about is this:

• Gilbert Arenas acting insane (and draining some cold-blooded shots against the coaches and teams on his ever-expanding "enemies list"). I don't know that I've ever screamed more while watching a game than I did during their overtime slugfest against the Suns right around Christmastime last year. As Kobe Bryant famously said of Gilbert: "he has no conscience." Plus, he's probably the most entertaining player in the NBA since Charles Barkley retired. Also, make sure to check out his blog if you get a chance.

• The Phoenix Suns. Listen, even if you can't get around the fact that they don't play D, there's no denying the aesthetic pleasures of watching them play basketball. They are the quickest team, have one of the most crazy-athletic athletes in any sport in Amare Stoudemire, and feature the incredible point guard play of Steve Nash. While we can talk about whether they are built for the playoffs in the spring, they make the 82 game regular season infinitely more interesting.
• The rejuvenated East. Even if we all agree that the West is still the stronger conference, the East is, if nothing else, a heck of a lot more interesting this year. With Kevin Garnett in Boston, Dwyane Wade hopefully back and healthy soon, and Lebron doing his thing in Cleveland, there are more big stars in the East than there have been in a long time. Factor in the Pistons and Bulls as well, and there is a lot more basketball worthy of our attention on the Eastern Time Zone this time around.
• Reading Free Darko and Bill Simmons. Although they approach the NBA from often very different perspectives, not to mention writing styles, they both write about the NBA with incredible passion and depth. Every time they talk about basketball it reinforces why I call it my favorite sport.
  
• Finally, the Detroit Pistons. Ah, the Pistons, my favorite team in any sport. This summer wasn't quite as bad as the last, where I couldn't even talk about basketball for six months as I recovered from their playoff flame-out against the Miami Heat (this after I actually predicted they would go undefeated in the playoffs. I'm always a little too quick to cross the line from confident to arrogant). Last year my expectations were lower, so I was able to recover from another disappointing season a little faster. Still, this season feels different. How can I not be excited about thier youth movement? Who doesn't look forward to rooting for Jason Maxiell's thunderous dunking this year?Also, don't forget about other young players like Rodney Stuckey and Amir Johnson! Or my favorite player, Chauncey Billups! The Pistons have been old and getting older for so long that I forgot how much fun it was to watch your team undergo a youth movement. For once, I can actually see the future of the Pistons, and it seems pretty bright. Hope always springs eternal in the world of sports...

The Inevitable Detroit Sports Post

A glimpse into my sports-obsessed world:

During the spring of 2005, I was given a Chauncey Billups bobblehead by an old friend. This bobblehead, a promotional tie-in for the wonderful Detroit Pistons point guard (and my favorite player in any sport), became the unofficial mascot for the Pistons playoff run that year.

 Every game, I would lovingly take him out of the box and place him at the center of whatever table I was at in the bar. Then, as the game progressed, I would either rub or kiss his bald, ceramic head, depending on how much luck the Pistons needed. You never know, after all, when your team migh need some good "karma," or "juju," or whatever else you want to call it. Everybody else would do the same to "Lil' Chauncey," and as the Pistons won and won that year, the bobblehead went from amusing novelty to absolute must-have item for every game. This went on until the eve of the last game of the year (game 7 of the NBA Finals)...

The night before the final game, while walking home from the bar, I decided to take the Chauncey doll out of his case. I just wanted to get a look at him, maybe rub or kiss his head a little to wish him good luck for the game the next day. Unfortunately, being (to this day) so clumsy I can barely walk, I tripped over my own feet and the Chauncey doll flew out of my hand and crashed onto the pavement! 

It was ruined: like an execution-style hit, his head and feet had been lopped off while his torso stayed intact. Distraught, I attempted to piece together the ruined doll, but it was too far gone. The Pistons, of  course, went on to lose the game. 

Do I believe, despite how complete absurd and irrational (and idiotic) it is, that I played some small part in costing the Pistons a championship? Yes, sadly, I do.