Jason Maxiell taking it to the rack

Coach Michael Curry and the Detroit Pistons have their first victory on the books and Curry played a lot of the young guys. This is the new look Pistons.

Joe Dumars, the masterful GM, is mixing up a new brew for Halloween and many of the future Piston pieces are involved.

You will see Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson, and Arron Afflalo playing lots of minutes. It is a massive youth movement after failing to move any of the veteran players in the off season.

The Pistons will be the same, only different.

But Jason Maxiell remained a crucial piece of the pie and they were not sure he would be around.

Jason Maxiell will be a restricted free agent

Maxiell has a game that belongs down on the paint, but he is a couple of inches short, much like Ben Wallace was as a Piston. So how do you resign a guy that other teams want, but will probably never be a starter except under almost perfect team conditions?

In other words, Jason has the long arms, aggressiveness, and perfect shot blocking ability that you want, but the lack of pure size makes him more of a situational player. He can star, but not consistently star.

You don’t want to lose him, but you can’t over pay him. That is the key.

Well, unlike Ben Wallace, they did not lose Jason Maxiell.

Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell accepted a contract offer today and will not become a restricted free agent following the season. The deal is for $20 million over four years.

The deadline for him to reach an agreement was today.

Maxiell, 25, was a first-round pick out of Cincinnati in 2005 and has averaged six points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his career.

source

Jason Maxiell will remain a Piston for 4 more years.
Photo source Newscom

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Chauncey prefers to shoot not dunk

The Detroit Pistons won their ninth game in a row and did it in impressive fashion destroying the Milwaukee Bucks 114 to 69.

The Pistons suddenly aren’t content with simply beating teams; they are humiliating them. Here what was reported in the papers.

They made the Milwaukee Bucks look like a D-League team Monday, ending 2007 with a 114-69 romp before the 200th straight sellout crowd at The Palace.

“You get into a certain part of the season where things are getting comfortable for you and you just want to continue to ride that wave,” Tayshaun Prince said. “That’s what’s going on right now.” source

The Pistons ended up December 15 – 2. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Detroit!

As stated before, it is the young guys that are helping Detroit seem like a rejuvenated team.

Also reminiscent of that championship run is the way the Pistons’ bench is contributing. Jarvis Hayes contributed 14 points off the bench. He, Jason Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo helped the Pistons spread the lead in the second quarter and led the Pistons to a 28-12 advantage in the fourth.

“These are young guys and when they get into the game they are really taking advantage of their minutes,” Billups said. “They are so aggressive and so hungry when they get their chance. I’ve been calling them the Zoo Crew because they are like some caged animals when they get out there. I love watching them play.”

Chauncey dunks

In a wild move in the game, Chauncey Billups took a long pass from McDyess and dunked the ball. Chauncey rarely ever dunks. It seems Afflalo had been bragging about his vertical leap and Chauncey had to show him he could dunk. So far Afflalo has no dunks in the NBA.

Rip Hamilton could not resist commenting on the dunk.

“That dunk was so old-school,” said a non-impressed Hamilton. “He should have gotten a technical foul for hanging on the rim. But he said to me, ‘I had to let all the cameras get their snapshots in so everybody can see I can still dunk.’ “

The Pistons are winning and having fun. What could be better!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Billups dunk again this season?

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Tayshaun Prince from stopper to scorer

Joe D wants Tayshaun to become a scorer. Joe wants it to be Tay’s team.

The Pistons solid line up has grown a little old in the tooth. Joe D had a plan. He always has a plan.

If you watch the moves Joe makes for the Pistons, you will see that his sight is always towards making them better down the road. There are no quick fixes.

His formula worked as Tayshaun had 34 in the first game. Even Chauncey was pushing him.

“I told him before the game, ‘You’ve got to go, man, you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,’ ” said Chauncey Billups, who shot 5-for-14 from the field and 9-for-10 from the line, finishing with 19 points and 11 assists. “He was awesome. He’s capable of doing that a lot.” source

But there is more to the Pistons than just deciding a different starter will score the most points.

The new Pistons are going to rely heavily on their youthful bench. It is time for Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Jarvis Hayes, Arron Afflalo, Nazr Mohammed, and Richard Stuckey to play big time minutes.

Oh, did your intrepid author forget to mention Flip Murray? He led the team in scoring in the next victory.

Put it this way, Wally Pipp’s name came up after the game and when Chauncey Billups was asked if Richard Hamilton would be able to get his starting job back, he just smiled and said, “I don’t know, man, I don’t know. We are 2-0 without him.”

They are joking, of course, but for the second straight night without leading scorer Hamilton, the Pistons won impressively on the road, beating the Orlando Magic, 116-92. source

So what happened to the old guys?

It is not like Rasheed, Rip, Chauncey, and McDyess are suddenly going to quit scoring or head to the bench, it is more like making the team more powerful, more relentless. All of these young players bring a certain strength into the game that improves the chances of the Pistons winning.

The last few years the Pistons have looked very tired in the playoffs and kind of slow to react.

This year with all the youth seeing the hardwood, the Pistons are faster, younger, and more energetic than in a long time.

So look out Eastern Conference, the Pistons are back and deeper than ever.

And Tay shall lead them back to the top!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the young guys see enough minutes on the Pistons?

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