05/06

Oh boy, I called the Frank Thomas homer in the 13th inning just minutes ago. No witnesses though, except the dog. Man do dogs have bad gas. Though maybe the Tigers will come back while I'm finishing this.

Heck, I'm stuck on the game now. The bases are loaded, wonderful. The White Sox just walked Nook to set up the double play with 1 out. Shelton has impressed me. I say he's the replacement for Dmitri in a year or two.

Polanco, it's up to you buddy.

Well darn, just darn, the Tigers just can't do it. Their decent, but not playoff worthy. Indians are much better, yep, I said it. White Sox are wicked, especially with Thomas hitting his dingers, along with their other reliable hitters and their very solid pitching staff. Solid is an understatement. Some team from Minnesota is also in the AL central, there not bad either. If the Tigers get 5 games over the .500 mark, then I'll start thinking playoffs, until then I'll just keep it realistic.


I was bummed after Thursday night's Game 7 of the Finals. But I'm not going to blame the refs, or blame coach Brown, or the players who played well all year. I don't blame anyone for this. I give it up to the Spurs. They played the better 12 minutes when it counted and it showed. Duncan stepped up and the team proved it's straight up the best team in the league. But barely, just a tad. I would bet that this will not be the last time these 2 teams meet in the Finals in the near future.

One stat I can't quite come to grip with is the 3-8 fg shooting from Billups. Gee, he's our 4th quarter guy! I would rather Billups have been 3-18 than 3-8. You got to shoot to score.

I will say, if Larry "I'm Stubborn" Brown coaches the Piston's next year, he's has got to develop a bench. The guys have been playing since October and there going to wear down. A 7 man rotation was ignorant on Brown's part. I'm not saying Darko deserved minutes throughout the year, but guys such as Delfino, Dupree and Arroyo are quality guys, Brown just didn't give them a chance. But, the Pistons showed how good their core guys are. 1 12 minute stretch though, that will stick with them.

However, I hope Brown the best at the Mayo clinic. I like him very much as a person and somewhat as a coach. He does know how to improve a team. He's done it everywhere he's been. But not getting the young ones good experience puts the future in doubt.

No Flip, please Laimbeer or McMillan. What has Flip really done? He had Garnett, but he could never mesh the other talented but difficult personalities together and make it work, which is really a lot of what NBA coaching is about. Brown made it work.

The draft was cool, right? Nah, unless your like me and read up on the 30 -40 players that are high schoolers or Euros. If you didn't, then god bless you, because the names you are expecting to see are not popping up. Instead Roko blah and Andray rah are being picked and you have no idea.

These highschoolers and early entry guys are receiving bad info on their draft status. I'm guessing their were at least 60 guys guaranteed to be picked in the first round by an agent or somebody and the players bought in. Nobody leaves early from college or never (HS), to be picked in the 2nd round or not get drafted at all! There are too many guys who made that mistake and will pay for it, too many to mention. But a nice living overseas earning 6 figures is not all bad. But I know they were not dreaming of playing for AC Bologna.

Boy am I glad for the 19 year old age limit. I'm optimistic the NBA will focus more on the NBDL and sort of work something out that could be like a farm system that baseball has. Definitely not each team having their own minor league team, but just being able to send a player down to the NBDL for a length of time that might not be able to crack the rotation with the big boys and then be able to bring him back up whenever they want to because they still have the rights to him. I think the NBA is moving in a positive direction and I'm a monster of a fan, so I'm pumped.

Maxiell was a safe choice. He's an effort guy who has some offense. He's nasty. He will likely end up has a more active Corliss Williamson if this guy pans out. If he totally freaks, hey, another Big Ben with more offense would be quite welcome here. I'm being optimistic.

Amir is an athlete. Well see where his game takes him. NBDL time would be great for him. Then the Pistons can have him on the roster ready to contribute in 2-3 years. Joe D is not stupid, Alex Acker must have been impressive, Joe must of wanted him to be in his possession because there will be hosts of guys being signed to summer league teams as free agents in the coming days and weeks. And of all of the masses left, Joe chose Acker.
Keep in mind,
Jawad Williams, Deng Gai, Gigli, John Gilchrist, Rawle Marshall, Chuck Hayes, Randolph Morris, Alan Anderson- there's so many others as I stated earlier, just too many.

I really feel for the guys who played four years in college like Anderson, Hayes, Williams and Marshall- the new draft rules will help guys like this starting in next years draft. Unfornately, a year too late, actually, years to late. But hey, some of these high schoolers will turn out to be sensational.

"An that's all I got to say bout that." - Forrest in Forrest Gump