Official Game Thread: Pistons at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

I mean, c’mon, Jalen Green, they’ve got a point!

 

Detroit Vs. Somebody!

“I wanted to be the No. 1 pick, but as for the location, I didn’t want to be in Detroit,” Jalen Green told Yahoo! Sports. The newest Lottery addition of the Rockets looked at an NBA town that doesn’t get a ton of sunshine, as it is, and offered up some shade at the city whose team decided picking Cade Cunningham was the way to go.

Many an enterprising prep-school talent dreams nightly of sitting center stage in a ballroom, all decked out in some luxurious fit, as the league commissioner is handed the first card of NBA Draft Night with their name on it. But that’s not the end of the dream. The hope is that a desirous pro town and/or team’s name is on that card, too. If the commish goes, “With the First Pick of the 20whatever NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select…”, some young man awakens in a cold sweat.

The once-proud Pistons weren’t always in the cold-sweat category. The organization had the aura of the 2004 NBA championship trophy, and two other golden orbs, in its background. Green was but a preschooler when the last title was claimed by the Pistons, amid a run of six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. That shine has long since lost its luster, and rather than dwell on the shortcomings of the organization, Mr. Green elected to dwell on the sentiment that, to too many outsiders, Motown’s vibe on its best day has the feel of a Holiday Inn Express lobby.

“I felt a lot more comfortable in Houston. It felt like a real [homey] environment. With Detroit, it felt like I was just going back to the G League bubble, and I just got out of the bubble. That’s pretty much what it was.” Pretty much. Aside from the fact that the average outdoor daily temperature in the Glubble was about 30 degrees warmer.

“In the [Glubble], I didn’t really have anything to do but just stay in the gym. I didn’t have any time to get away for myself. The only time I had to get away for myself was in my apartment. That’s what it felt like in Detroit. I wouldn’t be stepping outside in Detroit. There are not many things you can do in Detroit like that. You’re going to stay in the gym and then go back to your apartment.”

Not since Joakim Noah assailed the tourism board of Cleveland, Ohio has an NBA player savagely singed a town to this level on the Scoville scale. And one that has yet to conduct his first non-semi-pro dribble, at that. Suffice to say, Pearls Were Clutched.

“We don’t want you in Detroit!” So sayeth the great Darren McCarty, four-time champion with the Detroit… Red Wings, of the NHL. The goon hung around town and beat up people long enough to hoist four Stanley Cups. “You’re a clown.” Green’s undiplomatic broadside, “shows to me… you need a leader on the court and off the court in Cade Cunningham. This was the right pick.”

The Red Wings, like the Pistons, Tigers and, if you choose to go back to the Roaring Fifties, the Lions, are also well removed from past glories. In a town that was quantitatively estimated to be North America’s undisputed “Capital of Bad Sports” by fivethirtyeight, whoever would be the name attached to the Pistons’ reward for going 20-62 last season was bound to be overburdened with superstar-solution expectations.

We’ll never know if a clandestine trip to The Shoe Show in H-Town was enough to sell Green on that city’s quality-of-living. But the decision to go in on Detroit as some dystopian backdrop for RoboCop films, rather than settle for more pleasant mumbo-jumbo like declaring his Rockets as, “the perfect fit,” was the height of pettiness, from a kid that was supposed to be skipping the college craze to get himself groomed for moments like this.

Besides, Jalen… where do you suppose your name comes from?

Jeanne Rose was in a metro Detroit hospital in 1973, when she chose to merge the names of her estranged baby daddy, James and her brother, Len, to craft a name to call her new son. At that point, you could count the number of living Americans named “Jalen”, on two hands, and boys in particular on one.

The Wall Street Journal, in 2017, noted the surge in children named Jalen, or homonyms to that effect, began in the 1990s, when the baggy-shortsed Jalen Rose and his freshmen cohorts became all the rage in college basketball. The WSJ went so far as to research Social Security Administration data, discovering a “peak” of sorts when Mr. Rose became the NBA’s Most Improved Player and played a prominent role for the Pacers in the 2000 Finals.

But for the creative inkling of one Detroit-area woman, we could be looking at Mortimer Green going three picks ahead of Berkeley Suggs, with a lanky Dookie kid named Ajax Johnson coming off the Draft board not terribly long thereafter.

Detroit is going to have to wait a bit longer for the debut of Cunningham, who sprained his ankle in training camp. Their plum pick will miss tonight’s affair in Atlanta against the Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Detroit), and at least the next couple of contests. As long as he’s upright for the first official meeting since Summer League versus Green, in Houston on November 10, Michiganders find no reason to rush.

Neither does the club. “We made the decision to bring [Cade] back gradually,” said Pistons coach Dwane Casey to the Detroit News, “where he’d get some time with the G-League team, practice with them, and get some reps with them.” In the meantime, in between time, it’s next Piston up, and Cade’s absence has Casey turning to guard Frank Jackson to spackle the starting lineup next to second-year Frenchman Killian Hayes in the backcourt.

The Pistons (0-2) have had modest outings from their frontcourt in the early going, namely 2020’s veteran breakout Jerami Grant, and six-feet-high-and-rising youngsters Saddiq Bey (20 points, 14 D-Rebs in last game) and Isaac “Beef Stew” Stewart (10.0 RPG). But Hayes has struggled to score or create for others (1.0 PPG, 2.5 APG in two losses against the Bulls), and neither of Jackson nor sixth-man Cory Joseph have fared much better.

That made it easy for their new-look division-rivals to neutralize the Piston offense (NBA-low 42.4 eFG%, 85.9 O-Rating), most recently in Sunday’s 97-82 loss in Chicago (5-for-28 on threes) to kickstart a three-game road swing that concludes on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Over in Joakim’s favorite town, the major league baseball team is renaming itself, inspired by the guardianship the Cavaliers’ veterans Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love displayed against Trae Young and John Collins of the Hawks (1-1) on Saturday evening. Collins’ foul trouble and Bogdan Bogdanovic’s demureness greased the skids for the visitors during the 101-95 defeat, the Hawks waylaid by referee non-calls and struggles to make good on rebounds amid the Cavs’ 53-28 mid-game run.

Much is made of the benefits of having a purportedly “deep” NBA roster, but one of the side effects for coaches like Nate McMillan is the increased susceptibility for criticism when his rotations and lineups get questionably juggled. The continued absence of forward Danilo Gallinari (questionable, sore shoulder), who could have helped with the rebounding and shooting deficits on Saturday, has pressed Solomon Hill into more action than is ideal for anyone. Perhaps, a young Jalen on the Hawks’ bench can be more effective cutting his teeth instead.

Also DNP’d in that game was Lou Williams, who was a healthy scratch in Cleveland but could have been useful as a veteran offensive spark to help Young offset the perky Rubio. Atlanta should have a decided edge in backcourt options ahead of today’s match, and it should bear fruit in the form of superior penetration and open three-point makes than they showed on the road this past weekend.

The advantage for Atlanta conceivably widens if Detroit’s Grant (questionable, infected elbow) cannot give it a go. The Pistons are firing on all cylinders so far with defensive rebounding (80.0 D-Reb%), but paint-abdication schemes from the Bulls’ coach Billy Donovan may be more of an explanatory factor. Keeping Hayes a jump-shooter who occasionally takes wild shots on drives, making Bey and Josh Jackson put the ball on the floor more than they’d like, and boxing out properly versus Stewart, Fabio Olynyk, and Luka Garza, ought to be enough to help the Hawks have a leg up and keep it kicking for 48 minutes.

Whether the Detroit-Houston NBA “rivalry” he fostered ever gains legs, Jalen Green will look back upon his error in underestimating The 313 in short order, once he matures. “Chalk it up to me being a bad boy,” he’ll say. “Hmmm… Bad Boys. Yo, I just thought up a cool team nickname for my Rockets! We ain’t! Goin’ nowhere!”

 

Go Bravos! And Let’s Go Hawks! For The A!

~lw3

[JeffS17]

10 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Jeanne Rose was in a metro Detroit hospital in 1973, when she chose to merge the names of her estranged baby daddy, James and her brother, Len, to craft a name to call her new son.

lol

[NBASupes]

12 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

lol

Jalen dad was the 1st overall pick of the Pistons back in the day. 

I can't wait for this game. We need redemption v. DET from last year early season game. 

[terrell]

Blowout or bust tonight if we are who we think we are...................................

 

[Dnice]

 

 

24 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

lol

I'm reminded of LeeJohn, Tracy Morgan's character in First Sunday... lol

 

[NBASupes]

Hunter is out. I would like to see us start Kevin and Bogi together. Hopefully Gallo is back so him and Cam can be a 1/2 tandem off the bench. 

Trae/Wright

Bogi/Lou

Kevin/Cam

JC/Gallo

Capela/Dieng

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

and, if you choose to go back to the Roaring Fifties, the Lions,

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Isaac “Beef Stew” Stewart

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Not since Joakim Noah assailed the tourism board of Cleveland,

Smoove and Milwaukee lol.

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Over in Joakim’s favorite town,

Joakim to the Cavs Smoove to the Bucks 

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

demureness

Vocab lesson included:

Definitions of demureness. the trait of behaving with reserve and decorum. type of: modesty, reserve. formality and propriety of manner. the affectation of being demure in a provocative way.

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Fabio Olynyk,

 

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Go Bravos!

Yes sirrrrt! Awesome as usual lw3! it!

Hawks by 12+ tonight. 
 

Go Hawks!

[sturt]

 

Has to be Cam, no?

 

And. Gallo out... and who's in at 2nd PF is a question mark

Doesn't it have to be the first round pick?

[GameTime]

 

[JeffS17]

Hunter seemed like our best player for part of last year but I'm afraid it's looking more and more like his knee issues might be here to stay.  I know meniscus surgery isn't straight forward and it sounds like he's got permanent tendonitis in his knee now.  I feel bad for the kid -- just start killing it last year and he's been dealing with this knee for a while.  I hope he can keep rehabbing and get it to 100%.

[Sothron]

Can someone send me a link to watch tonight's game? I have Direct TV stream and they are still having blackout issues which means even though I pay to watch the Hawks through them due to their technical issues I can't watch the Hawks. It is infuriating.

[JeffS17]

20 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

Has to be Cam, no?

 

And. Gallo out... and who's in at 2nd PF is a question mark

Doesn't it have to be the first round pick?

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, JeffS17 said:

Hunter seemed like our best player for part of last year but I'm afraid it's looking more and more like his knee issues might be here to stay.  I know meniscus surgery isn't straight forward and it sounds like he's got permanent tendonitis in his knee now.  I feel bad for the kid -- just start killing it last year and he's been dealing with this knee for a while.  I hope he can keep rehabbing and get it to 100%.

He has an illness. Nothing to do with his knees

[lethalweapon3]

Je-ra-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do!

~lw3

[ATLHawks3]

Jalen has to be the guy that gets some minutes tonight right? Especially with Gallo and Dre out.

[Dnice]

 

 Hunter is out already?... goodness gracious, here we go again.

[Dnice]

Ok thanks for the clear up, supes.

[lethalweapon3]

"Bob here lost his hat at Starbucks, so now I'm down one pet rabbit."

~dwan3

 

[lethalweapon3]

Do-ti-la-so-fa-mi-ra-Je! 

~lw3

[Final_quest]

Solo, Mr. Utility.  We can’t keep him off the court.