Larry Brown looked stunned. He had just been ejected for debating a call by a replacement referee. How could he eject the grand old man of NBA basketball coaching? That was not all. The NBA decided to fine Larry two times for the one game. It must have been a 2 for 1 sale.

Larry Brown refuses to be a puppet for the NBA

So was Larry Brown abusive to the referee? Does a Bear … Well, you get it. Yeah, Larry was abusive. He is always abusive.

It is funny, but watching Larry up close in Detroit, he was often worse than Rasheed Wallace and often jumped in to the fray of things to keep Rasheed from getting the technical. He told Rasheed that his job was to play and mine is to defend you.

So what happened that caused the NBA to fine Larry twice for a total of 60,000 dollars?

This chain of events began at halftime of the Bobcats’ 17-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks, after Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace was charged with a questionable offensive foul.

Brown approached lead official Kevin Scott, who charged him with a technical foul. Things became sufficiently heated that Bobcats point guard Raymond Felton acted as a barrier between Scott and Brown as the two walked off the court.

Then, with about 31/2 minutes left in the third quarter, forward Vladimir Radmanovic was charged with a personal foul and a technical foul, setting Brown off again. He began shouting at Scott, a former college and development-league referee, and Scott responded with a second technical foul, an automatic ejection.

Looking stunned, Brown lingered on the court for several minutes. Finally Scott walked to the scorers table and called for Hawks security to remove Brown from the court. He left at that point.

Brown didn’t speak with reporters immediately after the game. Asked the next day if he deserved to be ejected, he said, “I’m sure I did.”
source

Now this isn’t a problem with Larry Brown. No, far from it. This is a problem with having replacement referees. The NBA has gone overboard to defend the replacement referees so nobody will supposedly notice they are on the court. That is not going to work with Larry Brown. Believe you me; he is as intense a coach as there is in the game. He demands his players play playoff style ball in every minute of every game. Do you think this is going to change Larry’s behavior?

Image: Zuma Press

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Found this by Jamie Samuelsen who blogs for the Free Press in Detroit.

Sheed had two points through the first two and half quarters. He picked up a technical, and then realized that he was the best player in the building. He dominated offensively and shut down Tim Duncan.

I’ve been writing this blog for about a year and I’ve probably spent more time on my inner angst about Wallace than any other topic. I love him and I hate him. The Pistons have to dump him, yet somehow can’t win without him. He’s the best player on the team by far, and the most detrimental at the same time. Yep, that’s our Sheed.

source

Yeah, in Detroit it is all about Rasheed. When he arrived in Detroit, Wallace matched up with the other Wallace, Big Ben, and the two of them started shutting down teams left and right and eventually took home an NBA title.

That was all well and good, but Rasheed has never wanted to be the star and is often reluctant to take over a game. When he is in the mood, he dominates.

Detroit will probably release him at the end of the year for the value of his contract and use it to pursue a younger free agent.

So why do you drop the enigmatic Rasheed? Well, if you have noticed, as the years have crept up on Rasheed, his game is moving further from the basket. Larry Brown was the last coach to get Rasheed to post up on a regular basis and that is a shame, because Rasheed is unstoppable down low.

So instead of complaining about Sheed maybe you should marvel at all the things Rasheed Wallace does well, because the Sheed replacement may not bring what Sheed takes with him.

Photo source Newscom

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Michael Curry will try to right the Piston ship

The NBA is proud to bring a brand new coach to your area. They did it for 8 teams.

Think about that. 8 new coaches.

Ever heard of a brand new coach immediately winning it all? It has probably happened, but not to my knowledge.

Usually you just fired the last coach because the team stunk so bad he could not make them win.

So this year we bring you the 8 trying to make the magic happen.

Michael Curry, Pistons

Curry, 40, was an assistant to last year’s coach, Flip Saunders, who was fired. From 2000 to 2004, Curry was president of the National Basketball Players Association. He’s also a former NBA vice president for basketball operations and played for six teams in an 11-year career.
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Michael is lucky. He inherits a veteran team with a real honest to god chance to win it all. The team knows him. The GM, Joe Dumars, knows him. Heck, the hotdog vendor in section 133 knows him. Michael Curry was a defensive minded team oriented over achiever as a player. He even used to plan out bike trips and movies for when the players were on the road.

But can he coach? Well, he can as an assistant, but can he as the head coach?

Vinny Del Negro, Bulls

Del Negro, who has no coaching experience at any level, follows interim coach Jim Boylan, who replaced Scott Skiles. Del Negro, 42, formerly was assistant general manager for the Phoenix Suns and played for five teams in a 12-year NBA career.

Scotty Skiles and Jim Boylan is a tough act to follow. Vinny has his hands full with that crew in Chicago. Skiles whipped and beat them to play defense and play as a team. Boylan found out they are lacking depth, size, speed, etc. Good Luck!

Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

Club President Pat Riley named Spoelstra, a seven-year assistant, to succeed him. Spoelstra, 37, is the youngest coach in the league.

This guy just has the job on loan until Pat Riley sees a good enough team to take over. Sure doesn’t hurt to have Dwyane Wade and the Matrix auditioning for jobs.

Larry Brown, Charlotte Bobcats

Have witnessed Larry up front with my Pistons and he is an amazing coach and complicated man. He is always chasing after something that is missing in his life. Some think he is looking for his father that left him at young age, not literally, but figuratively.

Larry will put them in half court sets and make them play playoff style basketball. If teams listen, they win, but most young players do not want to play that way. Example: Chauncey Billups was close to a triple double one night and Larry pulled him and said “You don’t have a clue as to how to play point guard for me, do you?” Think about it.

Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks

This one will be fun to watch. The Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki were often shooting before crossing half court and now will be playing half court. Rick was the Piston coach before Larry and he alienated so many people that he had to be fired with a winning record. Chauncey Billups used to say they knew exactly what plays would be run in the last two minutes as Carlisle called all the plays. Rick also does not like to double on defense. Can Dirk defend?

Mike D’Antoni, New York Knicks

Mike has his hands full until the Knicks can clean house and find some D’antoni style players. He needs speed and outside shooting to go along with a pass first dribbling point guard, a la Steve Nash. Mike is a great coach and the players love his style. The ball gets shared and the pace is quick.

Can he play enough defense to win a title though?

Must be Michigan week in the NBA or something

Michael Curry, Detroit Pistons
Larry Brown, former Detroit Pistons coach
Rick Carlisle, former Detroit Pistons coach
Vinny Del Negro replaces Jim Boylan former assistant at Michigan State University
Before Jim Boylan was Scott Skiles former player at Michigan State University
Mike D’Antoni was brought in to replace Isiah Thomas former Detroit Piston
The D’Antoni wanted to trade Zach Randolph former player at Michigan State University
Terry Porter, former Detroit Pistons assistant coach
Scott Skiles, former player at Michigan State University
Scott will work for GM John Hammond and he worked under Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons.

Terry Porter, Phoenix Suns

A hustling guard as a player and an average coach at Milwaukee, Terry will have some talent to work with, but will drastically change the style for the Suns. Terry is a real believer in defense.

Scott Skiles, Milwaukee Bucks

Scott will have some hungry players in Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson. Maybe not enough talent to win, but that has never been an issue with Scott. He just wants you to bring the desire.

Photo source Newscom

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Now if you think of the craziest thing the New York Knicks could do right now, what would it be?

No, dropping out of the NBA is not an option.

How about giving Stephon Marbury a chance to make the team? Yeah, that’s right, Stephon “bad press” Marbury is being given a chance to make the roster.

Stephon Marbury cannot believe the latest Knicks move

Let’s hear what the President Donnie Walsh had to say.

Walsh could be dragging this out to give himself a few more weeks to try to trade Marbury. Or he could be keeping Marbury around to prevent the point guard from making a smooth transition to a new destination (possibly Miami or Boston). Or he could be keeping him in case new point guard Chris Duhon doesn’t shine or gets hurt.

Walsh gave a clue he would still try to trade Marbury if things don’t work out with the Knicks.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Walsh said. “I can’t remember buying out a contract. I’d try to trade him. That isn’t good management if you have to do it.”

source

You know, if you gave the Knicks a gun they would point it at a foot and miss, but the bullet would ricochet and blow off the foot anyway.

Stephon did not get along with his teammates or coaches. What are the Knicks thinking?

On whether his teammates like Marbury, Walsh said: “You might not like the guy but you can work with him.”

And what about Marbury’s pattern of battling coaches such as Larry Brown?

“There’s a history and pattern with Larry, too, and I love Larry,” Walsh said. “I’m not going to say I don’t like him because he got into a public argument with Larry.

Photo source Newscom

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Stephon Marbury may never find his potential

For better or worse and most of the time worse, Stephon Marbury has been the face of the New York Knicks. He was like a plague to both Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. Now the Knicks are prepared to face life without him.

The rumor is that the Miami Heat will go after Stephon. That may be a bad idea even though the Heat need a point guard.

Yes, yes, if Stephon Marbury would mind his ways the backcourt of Marbury and Dwyane Wade would be awesome, but therein lays the problem. Would he mind his ways. Stephon once admitted that he only played for the money.

Miami seems to be the wrong team for that to happen. Where is the leadership? Matrix is unhappy. Beasley if off to a ‘fined for smoking’ start. Wade is off and on injured. Riley is getting old. Just where is the strong leadership?

The Knicks are preparing to put Marbury on waivers by the end of the week, several sources with knowledge of the situation told Newsday. The team must await the go-ahead from Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, however, because it would involve eating another large chunk of money in a buyout, Newsday reported.

Marbury is entering the final year of his contract, worth $21.9 million.
source

Two stories…

Years ago my Detroit Pistons picked up NBA troublemaker Mark Aguirre. It will never work the experts said, but the experts failed to take into account the strong leadership of Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. Aguirre was everything the Pistons wanted and the reward was an NBA title.

Story number two…

One night while playing against my Pistons, Stephon Marbury buried shots from all over the court in the fourth quarter. You know that shot chart they show with the circles that are red for made shots? Stephon had about 10 of them all from different places on the court. It was amazing. Don’t even remember who won.

So that has always had me wondering if Stephon went to a team with strong leadership and could display those kinds of talents, just how good could he be? Just how good could the team he played for be?

We may never know.

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Can nice guy Mike D’Antoni give the New York Knicks the discipline they need?

Image details: New Orleans Hornets v Phoenix Suns served by picapp.com

A tale of two coaching changes and a true mystery as to what is going on.

Donnie Walsh of the Knicks hired Mike D’Antoni to be coach of the Knicks.

Donnie Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks hired Rick Carlisle.

So please explain what is going in here.

Let’s start with D’Antoni, who was fired by the Phoenix Suns.

For New York, this is a mistake.

Wrong coach, wrong time.

The Knicks need toughness.

Discipline.

Accountability.

On his best day on the job, D’Antoni brings none of these elements to Madison Square Garden. Basketball doesn’t need to be fun in New York. It doesn’t need to be entertaining. Most of all, New York wants tough, relentless teams. In the Western Conference, you need to win with style. It sells tickets. It gets people out of warm weather into an arena. This isn’t necessary in New York. It takes the perfect personnel to run, and that isn’t there today, tomorrow – maybe never.

source

Jimmy Dolan and Isiah Thomas left the Knicks with a boatload of big contracts that will keep bad players trapped in New York. Worse yet, they are not in the style of D’Antoni. He likes his teams to run, pass, and shoot quickly. The Knicks just like to ball hog.

Can D’Antoni survive in New York if he starts losing and can’t switch any players?

Rick Carlisle

Coach Carlisle is the type of coach that like to script out the plays. Chauncey Billups once remarked that they knew exactly what they would run in the last two minutes of any game. Carlisle will sometimes call all the plays from the bench. Will the wide open playing Dallas Mavericks be able to even wait for the signals.

Carlisle is also a master of defense. He preaches one on one principles and does not like to double team. Does this mean Dirk Nowitzki will have to play defense?

Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks’ president of basketball operations, said in a statement that Carlisle was “our top choice from the onset.”

“His integrity, exceptional basketball IQ and balanced approach are exactly what we were looking for,” Nelson said. “Rick’s playoff experience and success make him a great fit for our team and its future.”

source

Rick was great with the Pistons at winning with very little in terms of star power, but he eventually wore out his welcome and the Pistons got rid of him and hired Larry Brown.

These are strange hires, even by the good old boys standard.

Can D’Antoni win with selfish players?

Can Carlisle win with offense first players?

Tune into the NBA next year to find out.

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The Detroit Pistons did not just beat the Philadelphia 76ers; they put a beat down on them.

Detroit 105 Philadelphia 88

Rasheed felt the urgency and led the team to a blowout victory.

Rasheed Wallace had the team ready for game two and scored 16 points

Image details: Philadelphia 76ers v Detroit Pistons, Game 2 served by picapp.com

The talk is of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Pistons. One game they are deadly and the next game they are tame. Questions abound. How can this be? They have such a veteran club, shouldn’t there be more consistency? Don’t the Pistons understand the urgency of winning in these games to preserve tired old legs?

Hey, you with all the questions, what is your problem? The Pistons almost seem to need their backs to the wall, so get over it.

“To be a championship team you have to be able to play as the favorite,” coach Flip Saunders said. “It’s easy to play as the underdog or with your backs up against the wall. It’s more difficult to do it the other way.”

Or in Chauncey Billups parlance: “If it ain’t rough, it ain’t right.”

None of the Pistons can explain why they like to make it rough. None have a solution. And for all the good coach-speak about how they want to avoid it, none of them sound all that convincing, probably because it keeps happening.

“It’s been like that ever since I got here,” said Antonio McDyess, who arrived in 2005. “We like it when our backs are against the wall.”

source

Pistons have issues

The Pistons are a perimeter oriented team led by a complex man named Rasheed Wallace and a star player called Mr. Big Shot (Chauncey Billups). For this team to win, they have to play intense defense. It was their style under Rick Carlisle. It was their style under Larry Brown. It is still their style with Flip Saunders and remember Flip was brought in for his offensive coaching tactics. Turns out Flip is a pretty good defensive coach as well.

Rasheed can shut certain players down in the post and even though they no longer have Big Ben Wallace, the young guys Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson, as well as veteran Theo Ratliff, provides more coverage in the post. Meanwhile guard Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince have both been on 1st or 2nd team NBA all defensive teams. Even the shooter, Rip Hamilton, had to learn to be a tough defensive player to stay on the floor in Detroit.

Defense is work and not fun work. You have to be motivated. Philly has certainly motivated the Pistons.

Now Philadelphia won’t go away in this series, because Detroit is so perimeter oriented on offense they tend to go cold now and then. That is when they have to rely on their defense to win.

Detroit seems to be waiting to play the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals of the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons are good enough to beat any team in the West, but may not be able to beat the Celtics to get to the NBA Finals. That series with Boston seems to occupy their thoughts. Philly caught them daydreaming in game one and stole one.

NFL Basketball special comment Detroit will have a hard time keeping their focus until the Boston series. It may cost them a lot of energy along the way, energy they need for that series.

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It had to happen sooner rather than later.

John Hammond has signed on to be the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. John has been right there with Joe Dumars for 7 years. He is ready for his own team.

The Milwaukee Bucks have hired John Hammond as their new general manager, hoping the former Detroit vice president can bring some of the Pistons’ success to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001.

“He is a proven NBA talent who has played an essential role in a winning NBA organization,” Bucks owner Herb Kohl said in a release distributed Friday night during the third quarter a 102-86 loss to Boston that dropped the Bucks to 26-53.

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Oh, the Bucks just don’t realize how lucky they are to get this guy. Having heard him speak numerous times on the Piston pregame show, John worked closely with Joe Dumars to build and keep the Pistons strong. The man knows basketball.

John Hammond will be missed by Coach Flip Saunders and President and GM Joe Dumars

Image details: Detroit Pistons Introduce New Coach Flip Saunders served by picapp.com

John turned down jobs at Toronto and Portland already, just waiting for the right opportunity. Joe Dumars and John can usually be seen sitting together at every game. It seemed like every sentence out of John’s mouth was “Joe and myself have been talking about…”.

You can expect John to assemble a strong team around himself, perhaps stealing some personnel from the Pistons.

As for who will step into Hammond’s spot in Detroit, there’s no talk yet of front-runners — but there are several internal staff members who could become candidates. George David, the director of player personnel, has been with the Pistons for 11 years. Director of basketball administration Jeff Weltman joined the team last summer but has 20 years of NBA experience; he was assistant general manager in Denver for five seasons and spent 13 years with the Los Angeles Clippers.
source

An interesting speculation by ESPN has John letting Coach Larry Krystkowiak go and hiring Rick Carlisle. Coach Carlisle was fired by the Pistons so they could hire Larry Brown. Rick is an excellent coach that preaches individual responsibility and calls all the plays from the bench. He runs a very tight ship, in fact often too tight and upsets many people around him. They could win with Rick, but he would not last long. He would be the coach to put the seriousness back into the franchise.

There will not be much talent to begin with, but Rick Carlisle has never let that stop him before.

Hammond inherits a roster made up of one star – shooting guard Michael Redd – and a smattering of young talent – Mo Williams, Charlie Villenueva, Andrew Bogut and Yi Jianlian and a top-10 lottery pick in June’s draft.

This should be a very interesting hire.

NBA Basketball special comment John will turn things around in Milwaukee, but there is a long ways to go. Will he be given enough time?

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Joe D has all Piston fans smiling

Now the secret of the Pistons can’t be revealed right away joe dumars.

But it has to do largely with one man and all that he joe dumars learned as a player.

Can you guess who he is joe dumars ? He is a former NBA Finals MVP. He is in the Hall of Fame.

Yeah, your are right, it is Joe Dumars. How did you know?

There is a saying around Detroit – Believe in Joe D!

Here is how he did it.

TRADES

Dumars

Blockbuster trades built the 2004 championship team: Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Mike James, Corliss Williamson and Lindsey Hunter were acquired, and Dumars gave up little: Jerome Williams, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Curry, Zeljko Rebraca, Bob Sura and Chucky Atkins.
THUMBS UP

FINDING THE RIGHT COACH

Dumars

Dumars has made the right move at every step of his title-building. Rick Carlisle brought a defensive mentality. Larry Brown helped the team win big games, and Flip Saunders was the best candidate available and added an offensive spark.
THUMBS UP

REGULAR SEASON SUCCESS

Dumars

The Pistons have won 10 division titles — five under Dumars in the front office. Detroit has six straight seasons of 50 or more wins.
THUMBS UP

POSTSEASON SUCCESS

Dumars

The Pistons won a championship in 2004 and have made it to the Eastern Conference finals five consecutive times. Though some think Detroit could have won a second title, it’s hard to ask for more.
THUMBS UP

source

What more could you ask for?

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you believe in Joe D?

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Visit my companion blog on the NFL at Squibkick.com

Isiah looks on in disbelief as the Knicks crumble

How does this guy keep his job?

Oh, this has nothing to do with the harassment suit.

(And how does he get out of any fines on that one?)

Isiah has sunk the Knicks to new depths of despair, but there is more to this story.

Enter James Dolan

The owner of the Knicks may be more of a problem than Isiah. Jim Dolan is the guy that hired Isiah and keeps him on the job. Jim Dolan is the guy that dumped a fortune into the Knicks and keeps dumping.

Didn’t think so. Only Dolan can spend $125 million on a single season’s worth of guards, forwards and centers and a potential $50 million on a single season’s worth of Larry Brown and come away with the priceless blueprint for how to ruin a big-league franchise.

Now some fans are fighting back for this once proud franchise with a petition to oust Jim Dolan. Here is an excerpt:

-Signed Allan Houston to $100 mil contract, when no other team offered him more than $75 (not even)
-Sprewell (the heart of the Knicks at the time) traded for Keith Van Horn
-Traded Ewing (instead of his expiring contract)
-Traded for Steve Francis in exchange of Penny Hardaway’s expiring contract.
-Signed Jerome James to a massive contract
-Signed Clarence Weatherspoon to a less massive contract than James
-Buyouts of Jalen Rose, Shandon Anderson, Maurice Taylor
-The hiring/firing of Larry Brown.
-The sexual harassment charges against MSG and Isiah Thomas

So, if you are a tried and true Knicks fan, you may want to check it out and see what it is all about.

The Squibster neither endorses or approves of anyone losing their job, unless their name has the initials M (att) M (illen), but that is a football GM story.

Tomorrow your intrepid author will delve deeper into why the Knicks are needed in the NBA.

NBA Basketball Fan Question The Knicks are loaded with boneheaded talented players. Will they even make the playoffs?

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