Trade Rumors

Man, there's some serious shit flying around, what with Kobe and KG's name floating out there. I've read rumors of both of them going to Beantown and one unlikely piece of speculation that Kobe could maybe end up in the Motor. Which leads me to this question, how would you feel if Kobe were traded to your team?

Before the rape allegation, I didn't like the beef but I didn't hate him. Ever since he skated after all but copping to the charge, I've resented the fact that the media let up on him and essentially worked to rehab his image. So I've disliked him more than any player in the game over the last period, to the extent that I even avoided picking him in Moonball once or twice, even when he was the obvious choice.

He's really damn good though, isn't he? And unstoppable forces tend to look good in blue and red. How would some of the haters who are partial to the Celtics feel about him going to Boston?

One final thought--it would be good for the league if Kobe and KG headed east. Might even things up a bit.

Congratulations

Seriously, to Cleveland, the better team in the Eastern Conference finals by far. Even the games the Pistons won I thought they got lucky. LeBron was fantastic and the other guys good enough. Daniel Gibson, again, wow.

Among many things, I wish the Pistons hadn't melted down so far in the 4th quarter so that I could bring up in good faith the fact that the Cavs shot 46 free throws, without getting fouled down the stretch. But even more equitable calls wouldn't have made a difference last night.

So, for me, the question is what becomes of this Pistons team. Even before the series, the future wasn't on their side and now that's even more true. Cleveland will only be better next year and the same with Chicago. The sad thing is that, even as good of a GM as Joe D. is, there won't be any easy fixes. Talk of Z-Bo, I don't know...

Taking a page out of one of the Detroit papers, I'll submit these final grades to the Pistons players for their last series.

Chauncey Billups: D-

He played his worst playoff basketball as a Piston. When he was scoring, he was not getting others involved. Abysmal turnover to assist ratio, no clutch play, weak leadership. Before the series, I couldn't imagine being ambivalent about his return to Detroit, now I'm wondering whether he'll be worth the money. He's still an above average point guard in the L, but he took a big hit in this series.

Richard Hamilton: B+

The only player who had a peak performance in a game in the series. The shot wasn't there every night, but he came to play in the final game, unlike any of his teammates and singlehandedly kept them in a couple of games. He also had some decent moments on defense.

Tayshaun Prince: F

What the hell happened to Tay? He regressed further than I would have thought possible. You all know he's been my favorite player over this run because he does a little bit of everything. Well, in this series, he did a lot of nothing. He failed to slow LBJ down much at all, so no trademark defense and his offense--holy suckitude. I still love ya, Tay, but man, you were terrible in this series.

Rasheed Wallace: D+

It's important not to forget how good he was in the first two games that the Pistons won in Detroit. However, he had a couple of essential no-shows in Cleveland. And then, while he played with fire, his blowup on Saturday night was embarrassing. You could almost feel this run ending with that tantrum. No apologies for Sheed this time, you blew it.

Chris Webber: D+

He gave it what he had, he just doesn't have enough anymore. He bounced back from a terrible game 4 to play all right in the last two, but he was slow, terrible on d, and devoid of power. I feel bad for him, ultimately. I hope he retires--he could probably find work next year, but it would be beneath him and he would cause trouble for it. I'm surprisingly dispassionate about this.

The Bench: D

Aside from McDyess and one great game from Maxiell, they were very bad.

Coach: F

It's not fair to pin it all on Flip, far from it. But he's such an uninspiring guy on the bench. I swear, whenever they showed him on the screen, my confidence waned. And his substitution patterns--what the fuck? Starting the 4th quarter with your season on the line and you go with a backcourt of Lindsay Hunter and Flip Murray? What? Then Cleveland goes on a mini-run, you call a timeout and then send them back out there?!! And the run continues and your season is over. I can't really blame Lindsay and Flip Murray, as Saunders hadn't given them enough burn in the series to get any kind of rhythm. Either ride your horses all the way or commit to getting your bench guys in, but switching up at that point and then not pulling them when it was clear it wasn't working?

The players have been bears from day one for Flip and he seems like a nice guy with a decent mind for the game. But I can't see him winning in a big way. Bring in Bill Laimbeer and be done with it.

So it's obviously frustrating, but I should acknowledge that this team rose quicker and went further than I imagined they would five years ago. There was that transcendent championship that I will always cherish and many other great moments. They've been good enough to want them to be better than they are, or at least as good as they thought they were. Alas, they weren't, and now it seems, as quickly as it arrived, the era of Piston championship aspirations is over.

Arggghh

So I know you all probably don't care, but I still have a team in this thing and it's been a frustrating experience this whole series. As much as I have loved this team over the current run, it's enervating to watch them play underneath their abilities when they think they are supposed to win. A few observations:

-Who cloned Chauncey Billups but left out the clutch gene? And where's the floor game? The lessons of Larry Brown? C'mon Mr. Big Shot, your free agent meter is running and you are coming up short. 22 turnovers and 16 assists in 4 games--who is that guy running my team?

-Daniel Gibson--a nice player, who knew? How can you not like his confidence? We'll see how he does back in the Motor. And I hate to say it, but 12 free throws?

-Maybe this has been covered before, but what's the deal with the Drew Gooden neck patch? What a dumbass.

-A less than stellar performance from Sheed, he has to be better.

-LeBron, wow. He sank some crazy shots tonight and was the man. I hate to think that he's arriving at the Pistons expense.

-And lastly, I predicted the Pistons run would end with a CWebb failure, but I guess I thought it would be a little more dramatic. I still think the Pistons will win the series (though I am by no means confident) but CWebb is moving (sort of) around the court with a Trident in his back. He is d-u-n, wow. He's somehow making Z look quick. The regular season resurgence was a ruse, Flip should give his minutes to Mad Max, and maybe bring him off the bench when Chauncey gets a rest and let the offense run through the high post. But that's pretty much all he has left. An ultimately unfulfilled career for a great talent.

Bye Bye Bulls, Bye Bye Ben

An image from a better time for the other Mr. Wallace. I'm sure he'll find ways to spend his couple extra million dollars over the next few weeks, while he watches his former team and now masters vie for a championship.

Still, I have to hand it to the Bulls--they didn't lie down and die like I thought they would, after the Pistons tore their heart out in game 3. And the Pistons lack of focus is disturbing--they should have finished this series off a while ago.

Still, you take the wins when and where you can get them. This makes five straight conference finals; even with a watered down East, that's a major accomplishment in itself. A golden age of sorts, particularly if they can keep on rolling this year and get revenge on the Spurs in the Finals.
But first, LeBron, who scares me. He's tortured the Pistons the last couple of years.