An Analysis Of Centers

What we really need right now is a good center. We do not have one on our team. The problem is that most teams also have the same dilemna. I have been mulling over several trades in my head and it is very difficult to find a quality starting center that a team would even consider trading at all. I am not ripping on Sheed. I just don't think he is a center, or a great post player. To begin, here are centers I would like to have starting for the Pistons, or players who think could develop into good starting centers. There are several borderline players that are hybrid 4-5's, and I don't consider them all centers. For instance, Nene Hilario is a center, but Emeka Okafor is not. Anyways...

Kendrick Perkins

Nene Hilario

Andris Biedrins

Yao Ming

Marcus Camby

Chris Kaman

DeAndre Jordan

Pau Gasol

Andrew Bynum

Marc Gasol

Brook Lopez

Tyson Chandler

Dwight Howard

Sam Dalembert

Shaquille O'Neal

Robin Lopez

Greg Oden

Spencer Hawes

Brad Miller

Kosta Koufos

Javale McGee

Now we need to start putting these guys into categories. First, we have the untouchables, or guys viewed as franchise players. You call a G.M. and mention that you want to trade for them, you will get hung up on.

Yao Ming

Dwight

Next are the guys on good teams that aren't in trading mode right now

Kendrick Perkins

Nene Hilario

Pau Gasol

Andrew Bynum

Tyson Chandler

Shaquille O'Neal

Then there are the guys who teams won't trade because they just got drafted or are young cornerstones

Andrew Bynum

Marc Gasol

Brook Lopez

Robin Lopez

Greg Oden
Spencer Hawes

Javale McGee

Who does that leave us with:

Andris Biedrins

Marcus Camby

Chris Kaman

DeAndre Jordan

Sam Dalembert

Brad Miller
Kosta Koufos

I would love Camby, Dalembert, or Biedrins, but I really don't think they are very available either. I think we should start bugging Clippers about Chris Kaman. He would provide an interior presence we haven't had since Ben Wallace left. Miller could also be a good player, but only for a few more years, and he isn't that great in the post. Jordan and Koufos are two guys who I think have good futures in the NBA.

Game 39 Preview

PG: Chris Paul used to have problems with Chauncey Billups, too bad he's gone now

Advantage: Hornets

SG: It was funny listening to Jeff Van Gundy talk about how good of a shooter Butler is. Then the other announcer said that he was going to regret that comment, and JVG shut up. Iverson better score tonight, or we lose

Advantage: Pistons

SF: Another awkward matchup for Rip. Rip doesn't like standing still, but Peja kind of just sits behind the arc. This will be interesting

Advantage: Hornets

PF: As long as West doesn't stay in the post all night, Prince shouldn't have a problem. West is good, but Prince is better

Advantage: Pistons

C: Tyson is gonna have a big night on the boards. I don't know who has the muscle to stop him down low

Advantage: Draw

Overall: Hopefully, the loss to the Cavaliers destroyed the Hornets confidence. Otherwise we have no chance. What we need is Iverson to start playing good basketball. If that happens tonight, we win. If he has another 4-13 shooting night we are screwed. I sadly don't think we will win this game.

The collapse is official

We have now lost 4 in a row. In this streak we have been beat by Charlotte, Indiana, and last night, Oklahoma City. I think we have to forget small ball. If Rip doesn't want to come off the bench, then screw him. Trade him for a center. Change needs to come.

Last night, we played the one of the worst teams in the League, the Thunder, and lost by 10 points. Even with Tayshaun playing defense on him for most of the game, Durant somehow still scored 32 points. We actually shot a higher percentage as a team than the Thunder, but small ball is the reason why we lost. We got outrebounded 52-35. Perennial All-Stars Desmond Mason, Jeff Green, and Chris Wilcox combined for 36 rebounds. If we had a real center, maybe Sheed, Prince, and Rip could all play there natural positions, but we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, so we continue to lose.

Other things of note:

• As pictured above, I now consider Russell Westbrook second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He only shot 2-10, but he leaves an impact in so many different ways
• Rodney Stuckey killed us last night, shooting 1-10, for 3 points
• Tayshaun Prince played well as usual. Seing as how he is the only Piston consistently playing well, I think he should have top choice of what position he wants to play. He is not a PF
• Rip scored 18 points on 9-19 shooting
• If you were paying attention you noticed that I was wrong with my starters in the prediction for this game. Nick Collison did not play, so Nenad Krstic took his place.

Game 38 Preview

PG: Stuckey has played well, but we keep losing. Westbrook plays good D. This will be close

Advantage: Pistons

SG: AI is tiny compared to Mason, but all Mason can do is dunk. Sorry Thunder

Advantage: Pistons

SF: Hopefully this isn't the actual matchup tonight. If we don't slide Prince over to d-up, this could be disastrous. I don't know who Rip is going to defend

Advantage: Thunder

PF: Prince definitely will be able to score on Green, without question. But if he has to follow the Durantula around all night, that might wear him down.

Advantage: Pistons

C: Rasheed just better lay off the 3 pointers. He took way too many against Indiana.

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: There are very few teams that look better than us on paper. But that is it. We don't play with intensity, and we aren't upset about this losing streak. We need to get fired up to play tonight. If we don't come out with energy in the first half, they will beat us, like they just beat the Jazz. I don't see us winning tonight, but I hope they prove me wrong again.

There's troube at the Palace...

This article on HoopsWorld has the scoop. Apparently, several players are not happy with their new roles. The only name the article mentions is Rip, because he doesn't like sharing time with AI. Hopefully, this will lead to some shaking up in the locker room, because we are playing pretty flat right now.

Power Rankings 2009: #2

1. Boston (LW 2): They get the #1 spot, but this isn't solid. They just came off of a slump
2. San Antonio (LW 3): They move up by beating the Lakers. Try and beat em'.
3. L.A. Lakers (LW 1): I'm still not sold on their post guys. I need to see more
4. Cleveland (LW 4): The LeBrons stay still. They are currently on a 3 game win streak
5. Orlando (LW 5): Don't let them warm up from downtown. The Kings know what I'm talking about
6. Phoenix (LW 9): Quietly gelling together and winning lots o' games
7. New Orleans (LW 6): You are gonna lose respect anytime you lose to the Knicks
8. Atlanta (LW 7): At this point, still an enigma. Have lost 5 of 7 this year
9. Portland (LW Unranked): Have been up and down so far this month. The Blade's return should help out big time
10. Denver: (LW Unranked): They move into this spot, but only because the Rockets and Pistons are stinking it up

Make It Stop!

Seriously, I am done predicting easy wins for the Pistons. I'm just done. We can't make anything easy. You know who beat us last night? (We lost 110 -106 in OT if you must know.) We got beat by a Pterodactyl. What? Here just look

You can't deny the resemblance. I dont know how we lost sight of this guy in OT, especially because of the fact that HIS SHNOZ IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, Mr. Troy Murphy had 18 points and 13 rebounds. He had two dagger 3 balls in OT. Danny Granger was also part of our problem. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds. He played solid defense too, holding Rip to 4-13 shooting for 9 points. T.J. Ford did not start, but was dynamite off the bench, scoring 23 points and dropping 6 dimes. He also grabbed which 4 rebounds, which is unacceptable. Sheed couldn't find his shot. It only became worse in overtime, where he decided to get trigger happy from downtown. And now we have an L.

Stuckey did the best he could to keep us in the game, but he disappears too often. He did score a game high 30 points though. He also grabbed 9 rebounds and had 6 assists. Iverson played well too, finally making almost half of his shots (9-19) en route to 23 points.

One thing really struck me last night. The Pacers have the whitest basketball team in America. Secretly, they are eyeing up Kirk Hinrich, who has been on the trading block. After that, they are one quick trade away from a Don Haskins-esque accomplishment. They could roll out the first NBA all white (and non-foreign) starting lineup seen in many- a -year. Hinrich and Miller at guard, Dunleavy and Murphy, and Jeff Foster in the post. Ahhhhhh, they would be terrible

Other things of note:

• Arron Afflalo continues to play well in the minutes he is given. He scored 10 points in 15 minutes last night
• We only played 8 players last night. I have no idea why
• We took 25 3-pointers last night. Who do we think we are, the Orlando Magic. Rasheed attempted 11.
• We only made 11-19 free throws

Game 37 Preview

PG: I have no clue why T.J. Ford is hurt. My guess is that he is nursing some sort of injury, as always. Jack should not be starting...anywhere

Advantage: Pistons

SG: Stuckey played very well last night. Graham can't stop it from happening again

Advantage: Pistons

SF: Rip is undersized at the 3, and Granger is gonna take advantage of that tonight. I expect Granger to score at least 20

Advantage: Pacers

PF: I don't care what numbers Troy Murphy, he still can't escape the fact that he is Troy Murphy. Tayshaun will be back scoring again tonight

Advantage: Pistons

C: Roy Hibbert can't hang with Sheed for very long. I expect Jeff Foster to get more minutes here. Either way, they still suck.

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: Looking at the starting lineup, the Pacers roster looks like the Bobcats J.V. squad, with the obvious exception of Granger. As long as he doesn't go off for 40, this should be an easy win. But the Pistons keep proving me wrong

What is going on?

Not to hate on the Bobcats, but there is no freakin way that we should have lost this game.

We blew a 7 point lead with three minutes left in the game. We had the ball in a tie game with under 10 seconds left. Then Sheed decided he wanted to mess around with Emeka and got called for an offensive foul (after already being T'ed up earlier in the game.) The game ended with the picture above, Felton's clutch jumper. It left .7 seconds on the clock for us, and we got off a decent shot, but it didn't fall. Felton was the man last night, contrary to my predictions, and wound up with an excellent statline, 9-15 shooting for 23 points, 6 boards, and 9 assists. Gerald Wallace had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, and Emeka didn't have the great of stats ( 13 pts, 8 rebs, 5 TOs), he did an excellent job of getting under Rasheed's skin, which was our undoing. The Pistons player of the game was definitely Rodney Stuckey. He went 8-11 for 22 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists

Other things of note

• Rip was back and in our small starting lineup where he plays the 3. He shot 4-12 for 10 points
• Iverson finally made over a third of his shots, barely. He shot 5-12 for 13 points
• We had only 6 bench points. Charlotte had 13
• My boy, Adam Morrison, only got 3 minutes of court time, and didn't score. Sigh

Up next: Tonight at Indiana

Game 36 Preview

PG: Felton is a dynamic playmaker, but D.J. Augustin is the better passer. I would rather see him against Iverson, but he has a strained abdominal muscle and his status is unknown to me. Iverson shouldn't have much trouble shooting tonight, hopefully

Advantage: Pistons

SG: Raja Bell is a crafty defender. I like Stuckey to get off to a hot start, but struggle down the stretch. However, Bell isn't really an offensive threat, other than an occasional three. Rip may play tonight, but I am not sure if he will be inserted into the starting lineup

Advantage: Pistons

SF: Prince struggled against the Jazz. Home cooking is what he needs to get back on track. However, G-Force is an exceptionally, athletic player. This will be the funnest matchup to watch tonight

Advantage: Draw

PF: Amir Johnson doesn't have as much savy as Diaw. This will be a close one, but Diaw will wear Amir down

Advantage: Bobcats

C: Emeka is putting up solid stats, but Sheed is back tonight, and ready to go. Emeka is stronger than Sheed, but we will see what happens when Sheed steps out near the perimeter

Overall: We just have to keep the shooters like Bell, Morrison, and Carroll in check and we should be good. I think the team is relieved to be back at the Palace, and shouldn't have too much trouble getting the W tonight.

Rookies vs. Sophs, Part Tuno

Rookies: Captain Derrick Rose

PG: Derrick Rose-He may not be as good at putting up points as O.J. Mayo, but I would pick him as captain anyday. He makes his teammates better, except for maybe Joakim Noah. He is averaging 17 points, 4 boards, and 6 assists

SG: O.J. Mayo-Almost scoring 20 points per game. He is the most explosive scorer of the group, but I still don't like the guy

SF: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute- Wow, this draft sucked for small forwards. I ain't hating on LRMaM though. He is probably the best defensive player on the Bucks, and is better than Joe Alexander

PF:Kevin Love- Sorry B-Easy, you need to rebound more. The T-Wolves are hating the trade right now, but Love is probably the better value. He's grabbing around 8 rebounds per.

C: Brook Lopez-Finally, the Nets have a decent big man. No, Nenad Krstic didn't count. Brook is averaging 10 pts, 8 rbs, and 2 blks per game. He is not a bust

Bench:

D.J. Augustin- This draft is so much better at the PG posistion than last year's. Augustin should be starting over Felton, but Larry Brown is a crazy coot

Russell Westbrook-14 pts, 4 rbs, 5 asts per game. He also plays pretty solid defense, like most UCLA players. I think him, Durant, and Green can be a big 3 for the Thunder in the future

Michael Beasley- Wasn't he supposed to be a double-double machine. Where did the rebounds go? He hasn't lived up to the hype, but he is still playing decently

Jason Thompson-Where is Rider college even at? He was a big surprise being picked by the Kings so high, but he is looking good down low, scoring 9 points and 7 boards per game

Marc Gasol-I accidentally put him on the sophs squad, but he just started this year. He is bigger, stronger, and more scruffy than his brother

Eric Gordon-He torched the Pistons when we played him. He's been doing that since high school, but now his team sucks

Mario Chalmers-As long as he stays away from Darrell Arthur, he should be fine. The guard deprived Heat appreciate his 10 points and 5 dimes nightly

Just Missed the Cut: George Hill

Rookies vs. Sophs, Part Uno

Since I have picked the players to represent each conference in the 2009 All-Star Game, why not pick the stars of tommorrow who should be in the Rookies vs. Sophomores game. So without further ado....

Sophomores- Captain Kevin Durant

PG: Ramon Sessions-You might be thinking...who? He may be the Midwest's best kept secret. Off the bench, he is averaging 11 pts, 3 rebs, and 5 asts. Not bad for the 56th pick

SG:Rodney Stuckey-Yeah! Even though this may be bias, he was the best player in the conference a week ago. 14 pts, 3 rebs, and 5 asts, and a ton of energy to start each game

SF: Kevin Durant-He is their captain, even if he didn't win R.O.Y. He is scoring almost 24 points per game right now and finally starting to rebound, grabbing 6 boards. Even though the team is in the pits, everybody in OKC loves him

PF: Al Horford-He could be the co-captain. By far, the strongest post player drafted in 2007. He is currently putting up about 11 and 9 each night, and that's all the Hawks have needed.

C: Spencer Hawes- He was drafted purely on potential. Now it doesn't look like a bad choice. Maybe he can be Kevin Martin's partner in crime for years to come

Bench:

Aaron Brooks-Oddly, the second best point guard so far that comes out of this draft class. He has been important to the success of the Rockets, especially when Rafer is unreliable....which is like all the time

Wilson Chandler-You know, if the Knicks didn't make stupid trades and sign scrubs to huge contracts (yeah you, Jerome James), they might have a good team. Chandler was a good pick, and is now scoring about 15 points per. Is he the next Boris Diaw?

Al Thornton-Who needs Elton Brand. Wait, the Clippers suck now? Apparently they still do. But it is no fault of Thornton. He cashing in on Baron's dimes, scoring almost 17 per

Luis Scola-No, he wasn't drafted in 07, but he did start playing then. 12 points, 8 rebounds, and generally keeping the Rockets above water when all their stars are hurt isn't bad for this guy. At times, he looks like the best player on the team

Yi Jianlian-He is still a bit of a dissapointment, but he is scoring in double digits now. There weren't a bunch of good big men in this draft

Jeff Green-Do fans still wish they had Ray Allen instead? Probably. Will they complain about 16 points a game? No

Thaddeus Young-Last year he was a big part of the Sixers playoff surge. He's still playin well this year, but the Sixers are just chillin

Just missed the cut: Nick Young

Tomorrow: Rookies

Nickname time!

For those of you unfamiliar with Slam Magazine, it is probably the best periodical devoted to basketball on the planet. Around a year ago, they began asking their readers to give nicknames to players lacking them in a section called "Whats my name?" Around this site, I will be using said nicknames, so here they are to avoid future confusion.

Zaza Pachulia- Zadidas

Paul Millsap- The Paperboy

Josh Howard- J-5

Jermaine O'Neal- The Other

LaMarcus Aldridge- L.A. The Rugged Man

Deron Williams- The Ice Pick

Gerald Wallace- G-Force

Brandon Roy- The Blade

Elton Brand- TNT aka "Twenty N' Ten"

Louis Williams- The Surgeon

Mike Miller- Millermatic

Rashard Lewis- The Big Deal

Joe Johnson- The Quiet Storm

David West- The Da-best

Andris Biedrins- Quills

DeShawn Stevenson- Ink

Sean Williams- SWAT

Each month this list will grow, if Slam keeps doing their thing anyway. My personal favorites on this list are G-Force, Quills, The Paperboy, and TNT, before he went to Philadelphia.

A classic Slam cover featuring AI

Don't forget about Mehmet!

Utah 99, Detroit 82

One night after a big win over a former player, we let Mehmet Okur get the best of us. He had 22 points in what I predicted to be an uneven matchup between him and Kwame. With the exception of Stuckey, everybody struggled shooting as the team shot .359%. Two notables were Iverson, who shot 4-13, and Tayshaun who shot 2-10. If Tayshaun is off, we probably don't have a chance. The only way we could have won was with defense. So much for that....the Jazz shot over 53%. Oddly, Deron Williams struggled though, shooting 3-12. He did have 9 assists though. Ronnie Brewer looked good for the Jazz. He had 16 points on 6-9 shooting. In all honesty, I did not watch this game. FSN decided the Red Wings were more important. Maybe it was for the best though...Jerry Sloan was involved.

Other things of note:

• We have not beat Utah since March of 2005
• Maxiell looked decent, scoring 11
• Kirilenko had a great game off the bench, scoring 11 pts, grabbing 7 boards, and dropping 7 dimes
• "The Paperboy" Paul Millsap's double-double streak was snapped at 19 games
• Ohio State rookie Kosta Koufos had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes

Next Game: Tuesday vs. Charlotte