“The league announced that Detroit Pistons forward Austin Daye will be suspended for the season opener after a skirmish on Wednesday between him and Milwaukee’s Carlos Delfino.

According the the league, Daye is being suspended for striking Delfino in the face and Delfino, a former Pistons draft pick, is being suspended one game for retaliating.” Via MLive

Let’s hope DaJuan Summers doesn’t follow the rest of the Rookies. Who needs Laimbeer and Mahorn….we have our own Bad Boys now.

Now there is more….. Our guru Dave Dial gives us the juice.

“Moves like that(signing players like Washington to guaranteed contracts) are often made when one team has to send back a certain amount of money back in a trade. For example, if Detroit is $4 million under the cap after signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva and were to get involved with the Hornets in a trade for Tyson Chandler, the Pistons would have to send back a certain amount of salaries in order to make it work.

Chandler makes $12.2 million dollars, and the Pistons might be $4 million under the cap so a straight salary dump couldn’t work. Stay tuned…

{Update: I’ve been informed that there is a 30 day waiting period when you sign a second-round pick before that player can be traded.}”

Detroit Bad Boys adds even more….suggesting Rip could be on his way out.

Now with the quickness in which this is all happening a girls’ head is spinning. I can’t even sleep without waking up to some rumors or possible trades.  I have been locked to Twitter for the past few days to send out the info as quickly as I get it no matter where I am, so do some following.

• A beautiful day in Michigan, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and Orlando took down Cleveland at home.
• Terrance Williams works out with Detroit and Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys interviews the possible Piston.
• Our good friend Matt Dery of WXYT is reporting that the Pistons are working out Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo.
• How many Mock Drafts can you really read? SI thinks Detroit will use their #15 pick to snatch Ohio State Center B.J. Mullens. All for a big man, but is Mullens proven after just one year in college?
• Possibly a PG with the pick?
• I wouldn’t mind TY Lawson.
• Will Rodney Stuckey have a breakout season?
• I’m so close it hurts.
• I need Pistons fans help with this one! I got an email from an Old Schooler like myself who needed a hand with some Bad Boys Pistons trivia. “There is a song from back in the day when the bad boys won the 89-90.  It is not One Mission, but it was a Rap song that had Laimbeer, Thomas, Mahorn’s name in it.” Now I remember the song vaguely but for the life of me I couldn’t tell you who did it or what the name of it was. Here is where you guys help us out if you can.  It’s going to bother me until we get the answer!
• Don’t forget about the Kimmel Show Friday night…someone has to win the limited edition EMINEM shirt.
• FYI, I added a feature in the comment section of the site. You can now directly reply to a specific comment in the section and it will appear right below it.
• Great YouTube Tribute to Daddy Rich.

A small snippet from Slam made quite a splash and as we know the “close personal friend” route can never be confirmed.

“SLAM contributor J. Gamble [making his debut with us next issue] hears from a close personal friend of Rasheed Wallace’s that unless Sheed gets $8 million to play next year, he’s going to retire. If that’s true, we’ve probably seen the last of Sheed in the NBA.”

It was a buzz on local sports radio yesterday as well as chatter I heard from Sheed fans via email. I’m with Detroit Bad Boys on this one, if 8 million is the true price tag you have seen the last of Sheed in a Pistons uniform (although I didn’t see him coming back either way).

Dave Dial with his expertise of the Salary Cap over at MLive also weighs in:

“As for the $8 million dollar price tag, that will be tough for Rasheed to get next season. The Mid-Level Exception was set at $5.585 million for the 2008-2009 season and is expected to decrease next season. So teams that are over the salary cap can’t offer Rasheed the $8 million he wants, even if they wanted to pay him that much.

There will only be a handful of teams that have cap space this summer. OKC, Memphis, Portland, Detroit, Atlanta and Minnesota will all have significant monies under the salary cap.

I think you can rule out Portland and Detroit, for obvious reasons. I doubt Rasheed would want to spend his last year or two playing for Memphis, OKC or Minnesota. The losing and having no chance at winning a Title would get to him too much. That would leave only Atlanta, which would only have the cap space required if they renounce Mike Bibby and let Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia walk.

Which leads back to Rasheed deciding to just retire, or maybe the Pistons would include Wallace in a sign and trade deal with a team that is over the cap. The Spurs, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Bobcats and Celtics have all been rumored to be interested in Wallace. If Rasheed wants a one or two year deal at $8 million per year, it probably wouldn’t scare off all of those teams. With the summer fast approaching, we will know for sure if this rumor is true or not.”

• Chris McCosky of The Detroit News tells a take of a locker room divided and chemistry issues. And it looks like as each day passes and the losses mount things are getting worse.
• Detroit Bad Boys makes you really think about the position Allen Iverson has been put in amongst other things that are going wrong in the D. “Everyone talks about how Curry has been put into a difficult situation, but Iverson’s situation is 10 times worse. Not only is he a future Hall of Famer forced to swallow his pride, he’s also had to do it while auditioning for a contract. Before being traded, he figured to be one of next summer’s most highly-sought after free agents. Now, can you even picture a team giving him the full mid-level exception? He’s due a $15 million pay-cut in a few months”
• “My confidence is at an all-time high, honestly, because I still feel good about the guys I play with and our coaching staff.” Iverson still has hope.
• Tayshaun on the other hand is no so happy “It’s frustrating for every single individual, especially for guys like (Richard Hamilton), Rasheed (Wallace) and myself, who have had the success we’ve had here,”
• Is Rasheed unhappy with Michael Curry?
• Our friends from Austria are still in Detroit and having a good time. They actually saw a Detroit team win last night. No The Pistons didn’t play….they went to The Red Wings game.
• I heart Hooper just a little more. He’s doing his best to take out Cavs fans!

]]> http://need4sheed.com/2009/02/around-the-way-111.html/feed 26 http://need4sheed.com/2009/01/around-the-way-110.html http://need4sheed.com/2009/01/around-the-way-110.html#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:25:36 +0000 Natalie Sitto http://need4sheed.com/?p=3212

The Michael Curry Edition:

All is a buzz (not like it hasn’t been here for quite some time) about Michael Curry.

• Chris McCosky thinks Curry is over coaching and it’s hard to disagree with him.
• DBB’s and some of his readers make a point that MC was put in a really tough spot, but doesn’t think he deserves a free pass.
• I essentially said the same thing the other day when Jim Kushlan invited me to talk Pistons for his show The Benchwarmers. They asked me to grad MC’s job as a coach….I gave him a D and I thought that was being nice. I did also state all the reasons why he was pretty much set up for failure with everything that has happened this season. Doesn’t mean Larry Brown isn’t looking that bad either right now though.
• Like it or not, the Pistons really are running out of time to salvage this mess.
• John Hollinger of ESPN may have the answer: “If there’s good news for the Pistons, it’s that some of the answers appear to be available in-house. By benching Kwame, promoting Maxiell and reducing Johnson’s role, the Pistons could start a very effective Wallace-Maxiell combo, bring McDyess in off the pine and then use Johnson in a bench energizer role where his high-wire act can thrive and the fouls aren’t as big a problem.”
• Midseason grades don’t look that good, nor should they.
• The not so reliable Trade Rumor.
• 18 in the Power rankings. The cruel reality….The Bobcats are a spot above us.
• Should Joe Dumars take ALL the blame?
• I mentioned the other day that I was the guest of Matt Watson and his readers for DBB’s Suite Night. What I didn’t tell you is that one of the winners, Garrett Elliot is top notch Wedding Photographer so the pictures he took were fantastic. He even got a couple of me trying to look important and doing my best Joe Dumars impression. But what’s even better….was his T-Shirt. I don’t think I need to explain what it means either. If that doesn’t make you smile on a day you found out the Bobcats are better than the Pistons…..I don’t know what will.
• And then there is this…(Thanks to TJ for making sure I didn’t miss this) I saw it at the Palace and was waiting for it to appear. It’s also over at Detroit flavored TWOI.

Key Points:

• Give a hand to Rip Hamilton for making the move to the bench even if he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.  Rip sat courtside on his stationary bike to keep warm during the first quarter.  He had a rough time getting used to his new role, scoring 7 on 3-for-9 shooting in 21 minutes on the floor.  Three of his misses game from behind the three point line, but he stayed in the action picking up 4 assists.  Had the game been closer in the fourth Rip would had played more minutes.
• Rip on coming off the bench (audio) via The Detroit News.
• Rip has had a difficult time since his partner in crime was traded so a move to the bench is just another obstacle he needs to deal with. Time people.
• The Fluidics noticed something I didn’t last night (probably because I was busy talking to a good friend). “About Rip though. He didn’t do his pre-game antics in the corridor with the team, punching their chests. When they ran out of the tunnel, Rip was nowhere to be seen, he was the last to the court, walked out by himself.”
• Sure we made mincemeat out of a bad Raptors team, but we have to look at the bright side of things. We were losing to teams like the Thunder, so this is a welcome change no matter who it was.
• Nice start to the new lineup change, but lets see if the Pistons can transition to a new beginning.
• Jason Maxiell started the show in the first quarter throwing down dunks like he was playing nerf basketball in the basement of his mother’s house when he was 10. The man should never put up a DNP, but we have said that plenty of times before.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit

• Jason put up a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards with 2 blocked shots in 24 minutes on the floor. The highlights were plentiful and babies were in danger.
• Amir Johnson, who started the game, scored just 2 points, grabbing 5 boards and a blocked shot in 21 minutes. Mark my words, he going to fit into his new role just fine. Give him time.
• A less than quiet night from Rasheed Wallace who went 1-for-6 with 3 points, 2 boards and a blocked shot in 24 minutes.
• Finally Tayshaun Prince is back to where he belongs….his position.  To commemorate the occasion, he led the Pistons with 24 points on 11-for-16 shooting in 32 minutes on the floor.  When he’s where he’s supposed to be things happen.

Photo/Getty Images

• The Tayriffic Highlights.
• Five Pistons in double figures.
• Detroit shot 50% from the floor and 80% from the line.
• 37 points for the Pistons bench who really haven’t put up those kind of numbers save a couple of times this season.  Most of that was due to playing time so you really can’t fault them much for that.
• “We’re just a more balanced team,” coach Michael Curry said of the starting lineup of Prince, Amir Johnson, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey. “So when you have a quarter when you don’t play great basketball in that first quarter, you can go to the bench and be really good.” Via The Detroit Free Press
• It was nice to see the Pistons finish a game in convincing fashion.  Someone tell me the last time they did that.  It was especially nice after starting the game down 10 to 2 to Toronto.
• Poor Jason…. He has a big game and just when he’s getting some face time with Matt Dery, Rasheed Wallace strikes.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit

• A surprisingly quiet 17 points and 7 assists for Rodney Stuckey.
• FSN Highlights by the quarter.
• Rebound war won convincingly 40-28.
• Not much from Allen Iverson who scored just 11 on 3-for-9 shooting. He did however have 6 assists in his 38 minutes.
• Rip or AI are both upset, trust me. AI isn’t getting the number of shots he’s used to and Rip has got to be pulling his hair out coming off the bench. I just hope if this translates into wins they will be able to deal with it better. You would think so at least.
• I was lucky enough to get invited to the game by Matt from DBB.  It was actually his suite night, so meeting his readers and enjoying this win made last night that much better.  Thanks Matt!

Detroit Bad Boys Style….

DBB has so much content you need to read it to have it’s own Around The Way before tip!

• Dumars almost traded Tayshaun for Stephen Jackson.
• Rejecting NBA Storylines.
• Breaking down who on Flip’s Staff didn’t believe in Amir.

“(The team has) expressed that he is a major contributor to their success,” Maxiell’s agent, Richard Katz, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “What we differ about on, is what that is worth.”

Detroit was offering Maxiell a three-year deal worth $15 million, with a team option for a fourth season.

“He loves it in Detroit, and is very comfortable,” Katz said. “We’ll just have to see how all this plays out.”

“I’m not really thinking about (contracts),”Maxiell  said. “I’m just going to play this thing out, and go from there.” Via A. Sherrod Blakley at MLive.

I happen to share the opinion of Matt at DBB.

“I think Detroit’s offer is fair, and considering Max has never proven himself as a full-time starter, I don’t think there’s much risk in another team throwing the full mid-level at him. That said, there’s nothing wrong holding out for another guaranteed year or two.”