Scott Skiles ramblings

It is time for your intrepid author to keep you updated on all the trivial, ..er, important happenings in the NBA. How about that really important Piston vs. Bucks game?

Scott Skiles is suspended for the game.

Skiles will miss the Bucks’ road game at Detroit on Friday, and Jim Boylan will serve as the team’s coach.

Skiles was whistled for two quick technical fouls by referee Sean Wright with 29.7 seconds left in the first quarter on Wednesday. The Bucks coach went out on the floor to dispute a non-call after Hakim Warrick went to the basket and scored. Skiles wanted a foul called on Wizards center Brendan Haywood.

An angry Skiles was hit with a technical by Wright, then quickly was whistled for a second technical foul and an automatic ejection.

The NBA said in a statement Friday that Skiles was suspended for one game without pay “for his actions directed at a game official and for not leaving the court in a timely manner.”
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Why does your intrepid author want you to know about Scott Skiles exhibiting a temper? Isn’t that like Tiger looking at a blonde girl that is not his wife? Ohh, cheap shot there, my apologies. No, it was interesting because Jim Boylan coached as an assistant for Tom Izzo who coached as an assistant for Jud Heathcote, both at Michigan State University. Scott Skiles played at MSU for Jud, while Tom was the assistant coach. Also, starting guard Charlie Bell played for Tom Izzo.

Scott Skiles with one of his best friends

And if that is not remarkable enough, then how about this, your intrepid author, NBAObsessed himself, went to MSU during the Magic Johnson years and was at the MSU victory over Wofford tonight. Yes, the mighty Wofford Terriers.

Skiles suspension is symbolic as MSU is going through a series of suspensions on their football team right now and Scott got in a lot of trouble at MSU, mostly for drinking.

Charlie Villanueva

In a return to Milwaukee, Charlie Villanueva had to send out tweet.

Villanueva did not play in the Pistons’ 92-85 loss in Chicago on Wednesday after suffering a broken nose in a game Sunday against Atlanta.

But Villanueva sent out a tweet a few hours ago that said, “Watch for the mask man in tonight game against the Bucks.”

Villanueva will have to wear a mask to protect the injury, which he sustained on a play in the fourth quarter of the Pistons’ 94-88 victory over the Hawks. He was fouled by Atlanta’s Zaza Pachulia and as Villanueva fell to the floor he collided with teammate Ben Wallace.
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Image: Zuma Press

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Just listen to Tayshaun Prince tell it like it is concerning the next season for the Detroit Pistons. He claims they will have plenty of firepower from the top to the bottom of the lineup.

On how the new pieces will fit: “As a coach, the more firepower you have, they say the more problems you have. But I’m pretty sure he’ll love that problem. … With Ben (Gordon), his ability to score the ball at will, almost, will be helpful to us. And Charlie (Villanueva), being able to play inside-out, will cause some problems, being able to put him in pick-and-rolls. We’ll definitely have a lot of firepower on the perimeter.
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The real key was picking up Ben Gordon. Most of my friends just don’t seem to understand how valuable Ben can be to that team. Over the years of watching teams go into the playoffs one thing has become very clear. The level of defense in the playoffs is way greater than the level of defense during the regular season.

Ben Gordon and Rip Hamilton will have the same jersey now!

You will see players that can score at will during the season and can’t get their normal shot off in the playoffs. This is where Ben Gordon can pay dividends. He can get off his normal shot in the playoffs and be a dependable high scorer. If you look at the Pistons roster, Rip Hamilton has that ability and has proven it. Charlie Villanueva will also be expected to produce in that manner, so the Pistons could have as many as 3 playoff type scorers on the team.

Now they have to get into the playoffs.
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The Detroit Pistons are the Joe Dumars Pistons and Joe Dumars has kept the Pistons at the top of the heap for a long time, until last year and the Allan Iverson cap clearing deal led to an eighth place finish and quick sweep by Cleveland in the playoffs.

Next year will be different, because Joe Dumars wanted it to be different. He already had traded Chauncey Billups for Allan Iverson, and then he released Iverson. Rasheed Wallace signed with Boston and had very little left in the tank. Antonio McDyess signed with San Antonio to clear more cap money for youth. In a final blow, Coach Curry was let go to convince free agents to sign with Detroit.

Rodney Stuckey will have a new cast for support

Joe struck quick with the long shooting Ben Gordon and multi talented Charlie Villanueva. Rodney Stuckey, the future star at point guard was already there.

If this was everything, Piston fans would have been hopeful, but disappointed. More is expected of Joe Dumars and more there was. The draft came and the Pistons were rewarded richly.

With their three selections the Pistons invested in Austin Daye, DaJuan Summers, and Jonas Jerebko. At the time it was thought of as a solid draft for the Pistons, but after summer league it was evident that it was even better than that.

Daye was a curious pick for the Pistons because he’s so undeveloped physically and really struggled during pre draft workouts. Everyone realized what the Pistons saw in him though after he averaged 17 points and eight rebounds in Las Vegas. Daye was by far one of the best players at the camp and what’s most intriguing is the fact that he’s so far away from maximizing his potential. Come three years from now it would be no surprise if Daye is one of the top ten players from the class, but he’s probably only going to help in spurts during his rookie year.

Summers on the other hand looked ready to contribute now and his coaches said as much. He’s got a lot more strength than Daye does at this point and just as much versatility. Rather than settling for the long ball like he did at Georgetown Summers was aggressive, always looking to attack. When it was all said and done in Vegas he was thought to be the biggest surprise and an absolute steal for the Pistons.
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Watch out, the Pistons are on the rise and may surprise!

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Twitter has taken over. Forget about MySpace, Facebook, I-tunes, or any of that other old fashioned stuff. We all tweet now. Yeah, what are you doing right now?

Charlie Villanueva has used twitter to spill the beans. He is now a Piston. The negotiating is done and Wednesday the contracts will be signed. He will be joining Ben Gordon as one of the new high priced free agents.

Charlie Villenueva tweets and rebounds

Villanueva is already a famous tweeter. This happened while he played with the Chicago Bulls.

Villanueva created a stir last season when he posted a message during halftime of a game with the Bucks on Twitter and got a stern lecture from Bucks coach Scott Skiles, who thought it gave the impression that Villanueva wasn’t focused.

Thanks to the publicity, the list of followers who subscribed to Villanueva’s Twitter feed quadrupled in just over 24 hours, going from about 1,600 subscribers to nearly 7,000. On Monday night, he had nearly 40,000 followers.
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Ahh, the modern world. You can’t beat it.

Image: Zuma Press

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Post from: NBA Obsessed