PistonsBlog

Keith Langlois finished up his positional analysis series with a look at the small forward spot.  There’s little doubt who the starter will be in Tayshaun Prince, but after him, things thin out considerably.  Jarvis Hayes should start the season at the primary backup, but even then we’re not 100% sure what to expect from him.

Keith Langlois continued his positional analysis with part four of a five part series.  This time he looks at the power forward spot, which is anchored by Rasheed Wallace.  Love him or hate him, how Rasheed goes, the Pistons usually follows and while every player makes it impact, it always seem like the Pistons fate is positive correlated to how well Rasheed performs on that given day.

In a very interesting story, Chris McCosky takes a look at Flip Saunders chances of doing something no Pistons coach has done since Chuck Daly, as well as taking a look at his new staff and his relationship with Rasheed Wallace. 

Training camp opens on October 2, which is now less then two weeks away.  And the first exhibitiion game is less then three weeks away.  Basketball is almost here folks.

Today is Rasheed Wallace’s birthday and as you’d expect, Need4Sheed has a fitting tribute for him.

A lot was expected from Greg Oden this year.  As the number one overall pick, he would have been one of the cogs that helped the Blazers back to respectability.  Of course nobody expected the Trailblazers to contend, especially in the Western Conference so the injury may have a silver lining.  It wasn’t that long ago that David Robinson went down with a knee injury that resulted in a horrible season for the San Antonio Spurs.  Of course they ended up drafting Tim Duncan the next year because they had a such a good draft pick and he’s helped push the team to three NBA Championships.

So if you’re the Trailblazers, if Oden was going to go down for a season with a knee injury, this is the probably the one I’d choose.  Now they should get another top five pick to complement Oden going forward and that could potentially push the Trailblazers into a situation where they can contend again.

Antonio McDyess has been an effective weapon off the bench for the Pistons but as Chris McCoskey reports, it appears that Chris Webber won’t be signed and Nazr Mohammed was just plain ineffective last year.  That means we could see McDyess in the starting lineup at power forward when the season starts. 

It’s an interesting move on a couple of different levels.  On the on hand, McDyess probably is the best player for the spot.  The problem is definitely his durability.  With him coming off the bench, McDyess has been able to play every game the last two years, but he’s done it while averaging just over 20 minutes a game.  As a starter, he’ll be expected to go longer then that and you wonder how much it affect his productivity.

It has been a pretty quiet offseason for the Pistons with respect to free agency. The only major roster move has been the addition of Jarvis Hayes, the 6-7 veteran small forward from Washington. I think this is a good move by Joe D. While he isn’t the greatest defender, he is very athletic and can provide a good scoring spark off the bench which is something that the Pistons have been lacking the previous 2 seasons.

Hayes career average is 10.8 PPG/3.4 RPG/1.3APG.

There’s no doubt Amir Johnson has loads of potential.  The problem is that, at least to date, we haven’t seen it.  In an interesting profile, Sean Deveney at Sporting News ponders whether Amir Johnson is worth the three year, $12 million deal the Pistons gave him.

Keith Langlois kicked off his Pistons positional analysis with a look at the options that the Pistons will have at point guard heading into the season.  Of course Chauncey Billips tops the list but the development of rookie Rodney Stuckey could be a huge X factor this season.  Flip Murray and Lindsey Hunter round out the analysis.

One of my favorite baseball sites is Baseball Prospectus.  That’s why I got really excited when I saw this.  For now, Basketball Prospectus will just cover college basketball but the key word in there was “initially.”  If their basketball analysis is going to be as good as their baseball analysis, this is going to be one cool site.

The Pistons developmental team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, recently picked up ten players in the NBA D-League Expansion Draft.  Jeremy Richardson was their first round pick and he’ll come over from the Miami Heat to lead the Mad Ants this season.   You can check out who picked up who in the expansion draft here.  The Mad Ants season kicked off in late November.

Welcome to Pistonsblog.  Here you’ll find two friend’s analysis on the Detroit Pistons as well as a look back at the rich history of the team.  As it stands, we’re now exactly one month away from the first Pistons preseason game so there’s going to be a lot to talk about soon.  So hopefully you’ll stop by often and check things out.

For now, be sure to check out this solid column by Keith Langlois.  He talks about whether the Pistons should stand pat or whether the Pistons should get aggresive and swing a trade.  Good stuff and he also examines what the Pistons have heading into the season.  Also, be sure to stop by one of my favorite blogs, Detroit Bad Boys.  He takes a look at the Pistons upcoming schedule.