Greg Monroe isn’t happy with USA Basketball

Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe didn’t expect to make the 2012 Olympic basketball team. At the very least he expected USA Basketball to pick him for the select team. You know, the team that practices against the national team. After taking a look at the roster and who’s on the team, it left Monroe a little steamed that he wasn’t selected by USA Basketball and will use that slight as motivation for the upcoming season.

The select team features the likes of the New Orleans Hornets Lance Thomas, Boston Celtics center Greg Stiemsma and San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair. All players that Monroe sees himself better than.

“No disrespect to those guys, looking at the Select Team roster, I felt like I should’ve been on there,” Monroe said. “That’s just the confidence I have in myself.”

“I am just a little bit disappointed,” Monroe said. “I think, (although) some people don’t think so, I should’ve at least been invited. All of those guys deserved it.”


Monroe has played on a worse team than some of the players on the roster which overshadows his on court production. His career is trending upward and he is one of the building blocks on a young Pistons team. But the fact that he does play for the Pistons has clouded the selection process.

Monroe says he isn’t bothered by the slight but says he won’t forget this and plans to help improve his team.

“But I’m past that, I’m happy to be here with my teammates,” Monroe said of the Pistons. “I’m not dwelling on it. We have things to do here (in Detroit).”

“Always,” Monroe said. “It always will. I don’t forget anything. Anything. I remember what people said in high school. It’s always motivation.”

Hopefully the Pistons can be the beneficiaries of Monroe’s added motivation.

Detroit Pistons to sign Ukranian big man Vyacheslav Kravtsov

Outside of Ben Wallace and Greg Monroe, the Detroit Pistons have been devoid of quality big men the past two seasons. Team president Joe Dumars is out to change that. The Pistons are stocked at the guard and small forward positions and want to improve their depth at the center and power forward positions.

While the moves haven’t been major and the players are unproven Dumars is set on improving the depth along the front line. With Monroe already on the roster, the Pistons drafted University of Connecticut big man, Andre Drummond with the number 9 pick in the draft. Even though there were questions surrounding Drummond it could prove to be a solid pick. The Pistons were lucky to have what was considered a top five talent fall into their laps for the third straight year.

Looking to add more younger, cheaper talent the Pistons signed Ukranian seven footer Vyacheslav Kravtsov.

Kravtsov, an athletic seven-footer, averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 22 minutes per game last season for BC Donetsk in the Ukrainian league.


Kravtsov, 25, was undrafted in 2009 and played for the Celtics’ summer-league team in 2010. He’s known as a defensive presence, and the Pistons have been familiar with him for some time. Pistons assistant coach Brian Hill was an assistant on the Ukrainian national team last summer.

His Eurobasket.com scouting report lists him as a “phenomenal shot blocker who likes nothing more than contesting absolutely anything on its way up” and that he’s “athletic, strong and can explode in and around the hoop on offense although he’s still trying to find consistency with anything from range.”

Word is that he did have some dominant games against Jonas Valanciunas and Enes Kanter, both of whom were top five lottery picks in 2011. Any basketball fan knows that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

Hopefully this can turn out to be more Mehmet Okur than Darko Milicic.

Austin Daye considers this season a failure

Usually when an NBA player hits his third season you know what kind of player he is. In the case of Detroit Pistons forward Austin Daye, he still remains a mystery. Daye didn’t expect the season to go like this. Sitting on the bench and playing in spot duty. He thought it would be his breakout year and it has been far from it.

“My rookie year I wasn’t expecting a whole lot but I got time here and there,” Daye said. “This year is not what I thought coming into this season. You set goals for yourself and this year is a failure. Not a wasted year but a failure.”

Daye went to play in Russia for two months during the lockout and he admitted that it was a mistake. He lost weight and is just now getting back to his playing weight of 205 from last season. It really didn’t help his game either if you ask me.

Even though Daye has had a lost season, he says don’t question his committment to the game.


“I want to make clear that I’ve been doing my job every day, getting my body right, trying to develop and get better,” Daye said. “No matter what the situation may be, I’m still in the gym every day. I just want to let everyone know even though I’m not playing, I’m still putting forth the effort to do what’s right.”


He’s going to have to put in more work this offseason since the Pistons will be in possession of a high draft pick and might be taking a small forward. For his sake he better hope for more playing time since it’s the equal of garbage time for the Pistons.

Gordon to play for the British in the London Olympics

When the Olympics roll around this summer in London, the British basketball team will have a few familiar faces. NBA players Ben Gordon (Detroit Pistons), Byron Mullens (Charlotte Bobcats), and Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls) will be suiting up for the host team.

British basketball says Deng, Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon and Charlotte Bobcats center Byron Mullens have “confirmed their availability and commitment” to play at the Olympics.


While Deng has played on the British team since 2007, Gordon and Mullens are available for the first time.

Deng and Gordon don’t surprise me, but the addition of Mullens does. I don’t think anyone knew that Mullens had dual citizenship or anything like that.

Pistons might want to follow Oden’s progress

Would it be wise for a team to take a flier on Greg Oden? Only at a minimal cost.

After years of seeing the ghost of Sam Bowie, the Portland Trail Blazers finally ended the Oden era. It was something that had to be done after having Oden face surgery after surgery. The Blazers also decided to throw in the towel on the season and rebuild on the fly, but that’s another story.

My question is, do you give Oden a shot if he gets healthy? Maybe. If I’m in the Detroit Pistons front office it’s something I would keep an eye on. Hear me out before you call me stupid.

Oden will never be completely healthy, but he could still be healthy enough to be a servicable NBA player. Not the dominant force many thought he would be when he was made the number one pick out of Ohio State. I would keep an eye on his progress and if I deemed him to be healthy enough, then sign him to the veteran’s minimum. That way if he’s no good to you, get rid of him, eat his contract and it doesn’t set your franchise back.

Joe Dumars should take a look and see how Oden has progressed after his third microfracture surgery. It couldn’t hurt the Pistons and Oden is still young enough to be a decent NBA player. He is only 24 so I’m sure he’d be willing to give it another try before calling it a career. I’m not saying go out and sign him now. Just see how he progresses and take a shot on his damaged upside.

There is this disclaimer. Oden shouldn’t rush to get back on the court like he has in years past. It always seemed like he was trying to justify his status as the number one pick due to the success of Kevin Durant. If Oden can fully concentrate on rehab, then he might be worth the risk even if he hasn’t played extensively in three years.

It remains to be seen whether Oden, because of his modest salary, is claimed on waivers even though he isn’t expected to be ready to try to resume his career until well into the 2012-13 season.

Pistons Have A Scary Moment

A charter flight en route to Houston, carrying the Detroit Pistons had to make an emergency landing at Hobby Airport. 

A Houston Airport System spokesman says the crew of MD-80 displaying the Pistons team logo reported problems with the hydraulics operating the aircraft’s left-side landing gear and declared an emergency.

Airport spokesman Joshua Agunag says the aircraft with 44 passengers aboard landed without incident at 5:45 p.m. Monday and was able to taxi to a private air terminal, where passengers were let off.

Everyone was reported to be fine, but it’s something that any passenger on a plane never wants to go through.

Villanueva Wants To Prove His Worth

Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva hasn’t had a bunch of playing time this season stemming from his suspension at the beginning of the season and an injury to his right ankle.

Because of these setbacks, Villanueva has only played a total of six minutes the past ten games and the lack of playing time has really started to frustrate the veteran forward.

“It’s frustrating because you get a new start, new coach, new staff, you kind of want to go out there and show what you can do,” Villanueva told the Detroit Free Press. “Then you start off being suspended the first couple of games, and then my ankle. So I really just haven’t had the opportunity to go out there and play. It’s been frustrating.”

“Of course it’s frustrating because I want to be out there and help the team win,” he said. “But my health is not allowing me to do this.”

Now it’s not only important that Villanueva get on the floor for his own career, but Joe Dumars and new head coach Lawrence Frank need to decide together as to whether or not he is worth keeping around. Villanueva has two-years and $16.64 million remaining on his contract with it being very possible that Dumars waives him come July via amnesty.

A trade more than likely isn’t possible due to Villanueva having zero trade value. He has shown flashes before but as a fan I still want to see what he can do. Maybe he can help the Pistons get better or inflate his trade value where thye can unload him and get some younger, cheaper help.  

Pistons Likely To Get Rid Of Hamilton After The Lockout

There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the NBA lockout and the future of some players. What isn’t too surprising is that when or if the lockout ends the Detroit Pistons will resume shopping Richard Hamilton.

This news isn’t a surprise to anyone. Hamilton hasn’t been the same player ever since Chauncey Billups was shipped to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. His production has tailed off, but I attribite that to the Pistons’ decline. Clashing with former coaches Michael Curry and John Kuester didn’t help either. The latter feud landed him an extended role on the bench. Call me what you want but I still feel Hamilton got a raw deal on that one. Of course many of us don’t know what happened behind the scenes. At that point and time I probably would’ve traded Rip for a bobsled.

Some of it is perfromance related, but as I stated before you can tie his lack of production (14.1 points) last season to the team’s all around bad performance. Hamilton did act like a spoiled child who figured since he has one championship under his belt that he should be given more respect. Hamilton lost a lot of respect with Piston fans over the last year.

The reason why he hasn’t been dealt was because of the ridiculous contract extension Hamilton signed right before Billups was shipped out of town. The contract was a deal breaker but according to a report by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press it might not be as troublesome as it once seemed.

He’s owed roughly $21 million over the next two seasons, as the second year is only partially guaranteed. And remember president of basketball operations Joe Dumars has almost traded Hamilton several times when the financial burden was greater.

We’ll have to see what happens when the season resumes and see are the Pistons willing to let go of the remnants of the 2004 championship team.

It’s Time For Full Blown Rebuilding In Pistonland

Now thats it’s been a few weeks since “Beverly Hills Billy”, Tom Gores has taken over control of the Detroit Pistons , it’s time for Joe Dumars and company to get down to business in rebuilding this team. Gores taking over was step one in trying to get the Pistons back to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. The second step was firing coach John Kuester.

Kuester wasn’t a bad guy or a bad coach, he just wasn’t a good fit with this edition of Pistons. He inherited a losing situation and the veterans on the team (namely 2004 holdovers) weren’t showing Kuester any respect.

Now they have to make a good hire at the coaching position. At this point they have listed Lawrence Frank, Kelvin Sampson, Mike Woodson, and Dwane Casey as favorites, even though Casey might be scratched off the list. Personally, I would like to see Woodson or Frank get the job, but that’s not my decision to make. I say that because those are the only proven commodities I really know. If they hire an unproven coach they’ll have to unload some veterans that aren’t cut out for rebuilding. Dumars has shown impatience with coaches so he must be dead on with this hire. Which leads to this.

Get rid of the 2004 holdovers. It’s over, gone and done with. It’s time to get rid of Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince and the only reason I would let Ben Wallace come back is to be a mentor to the younger players. Prince is a free agent so I would let him walk. Unless I knew I could get something for him then I would do a sign and trade and Dumars is so loyal to Prince that he wants him back. I dont know what you can get for Hamilton at this point. He has a bad contract and is on the wrong side of 30 so you won’t get much for him. Maybe Dumars can get the handgun and panty hose and pull off another robbery in trade. Probably won’t happen, so Piston fans don’t start those dream trade scenarios. It’s not gonna happen.  

Draft a point guard. If the Pistons could be lucky enough to have Kemba Walker fall into their laps, take him. I don’t think that’ll happen, but they do need a floor general. The Pistons don’t have a point guard and I’m tired of seeing Rodney Stuckey masquerade as one and Will Bynum come off the bench as a welfare version of Jason Terry. They likely won’t find one in this draft since Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, and Walker will be off the board when it’s their turn at pick number eight. If that is indeed the case go big. There’s been talk of one of the Eurobigs ( Jan Vesely, Bismack Biyombo, or Jonas Valanciunas). All are boom or bust picks but you never know. Biyombo would give you defense and rebounding, something non existent with the current roster. Vesely looks to be the most proven and Valanciunas may have the most upside. If they go there I would also take Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson in the second round if he’s still on the board. Johnson does need to bulk up, but he played in the rugged Big Ten which scores points with me. Oakland’s Keith Benson, Georgia’s Trey Thompkins, and Jeremy Tyler could all be possibilities since the Pistons have two picks in the second round.

No more forays into free agency. The last free agent signings produced Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon. I still like the Gordon signing as I think he wasn’t used properly and had a few injury problems. Villanueva on the other hand, I still don’t like it. He’s allergic to defense and rebounding. And that’s why I named all the possibilties in the second round of next week’s draft. If Charlie V. continues on like this, he’ll find himself chained to the bench. The best hope for him is that he shows enough to be traded. This is far fetched but I’d call Golden State to see if they would take him for Andris Biendris. Won’t happen, but one can dream can’t they.                

Gores has said that Dumars has three years to right the ship, so this year’s draft and coaching choice will be critical in seeing that the ball gets rolling in a positive direction.

Sullinger Says He’s Coming Back To Ohio State

After putting the final nail in my bracket last night, Jared Sullinger is trying to ruin my dream of the Detroit Pistons drafting him. He says he’s coming back to Ohio State next year.

The Big Ten freshman of the year and averaged 17.1 points and 10.0 rebounds and will probably be named to plenty of first team all american lists. Not to mention he’s a possible player of the year candidate. He would be a top 5 NBA draft pick if he came out, maybe top 3. I know I would love to see him in a Detroit Pistons uniform.

After losing to Kentucky in a Sweet 16 matchup, he announced he would be coming back to Columbus.

“I did make a decision and I’m definitely coming back next year,” Sullinger said. “I need to work on a lot of things. I have to come back. I’m coming back to win.”

Whether he follows through on that promise remains to be seen. We’ve seen this one before. Star player says he’s coming back and then changes his mind when those high dollar figures start getting thrown around.

If he does come back he’ll be playing for a young Buckeyes team that will reload with top notch talent once again.

“I’m going to be an Ohio State Buckeye next year,” he said at his post-game press conference following Friday night’s tournament loss to Kentucky as reported by ESPN. “This isn’t why I came here, to come in here and see my seniors in here crying.”



“I came here to win a national championship,” he added. “”I’m a man of my word. I don’t change my word and no one changes it for me. This is what I want.”

With the NBA’s current labor situation in question that would be a good decision. For Ohio State fans they better hope this doesn’t end up like Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s press conference in a few weeks.