Hooped Up

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city’s South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.  Below are the rest of the NBA draft results.

Round 1 NBA Draft Results

Second round results after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Team USA is official and here are the members selected by the USA basketball comitee.

Carmelo Anthony
Carlos Boozer
Chris Bosh
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Jason Kidd
Chris Paul
Tayshaun Prince
Michael Redd
Dwayne Wade
Deron Williams

This is an awesome squad but, who is going to take a back seat to who and who leads this team?

The Pistons really want Carmelo but, why not take Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby if it’s on the table?

The Pistons recently offered Billups and Tayshaun Prince for Anthony, but the Nuggets weren’t interested. Denver countered with an offer of Allen Iverson or a package with Marcus Camby, but the Pistons are only interested in Anthony.

Detroit Free Press

Tracy McGrady just can’t win a playoff series and the West is getting tougher.  If  McGrady moved to the East and played with a veteran club that could finish top three in the East, things could be looking up for T-Mac. Enter Detroit.

Billups and Prince could elevate Houston in the West next year. And the Pistons would start Stuckey, Hamilton, McGrady, Wallace and McDyess. That lineup could contend for a title.

McGrady has pouted on occasion and coasted at other times. But he has two years left on his contract. The Pistons could figure that McGrady would play hard in year one because he is on a new team, and then play hard in year two because he would be playing for a new contract.

Detroit Free Press

Mr. Big Shot looks will not be joining the US Olympic squad this summer as he has withdrawn his name from consideration.

Billups, an All-Star point guard for the Detroit Pistons, might’ve had a hard time making the team anyway with guards such as Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Deron Williams available for the roster.

Last year, Billups played for the U.S. team that was led by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony during an unbeaten run in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

AP

Being an assistant for the Detroit Pistons apparently pays off more the being a head coach. As Michael Curry was named the Pistons next head coach.  This was the second hiring of a former Piston assistant today as Terry Porter was also named coach of the Phoenix Suns.

Read the rest of this entry »

If the Pistons pull off this trade without completely ripping the team apart it would give Carmelo Anthony and the Detroit Pistons new life.  But who would the Pistons give up?

It’s no secret NBA front-office executives have tried to measure if the Nuggets might actually be willing to part ways with the 24-year-old Anthony, despite assurances to his agent that Denver is not actively shopping the high-scoring forward on the trade market. Look for the Pistons, who fell just short of reaching the NBA Finals for the third straight season, to be among the teams putting out feelers in regard to Carmelo Anthony’s availability, according to a league source. 

Denver Post 

The Pistons are getting long in the tooth and are looking to retool, and in the east one or two moves can make the difference. 

Flip Saunders was removed as head coach in Detroit on Tuesday, but Joe Dumars claims that he will not be made a scapegoat, and that the players will be held responsible for the team’s failure in the Eastern Conference finals again, Larry Lage of the Associated Press writes.

“There are no sacred cows here,” Dumars said. “You lose that sacred-cow status when you lose three straight years.”

Chicago Tribune

The coaching musical chair continues, as Flip Saunders got the boot today from the Pistons.

The Detroit Pistons announced on Tuesday that Flip Saunders will not return as the Pistons’ head coach next season, according to a Yahoo.com report.

Saunders, 53, had one year remaining on the four-year contract he signed with Detroit in June 2005.

But Pistons president Joe Dumars decided it was time to cut ties with Saunders, who posted a 176-70 regular-season record in his three seasons with Detroit.

Yahoo

Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons has been fined $25,000 for his use of profanity and criticism of the officiating following last night’s game, announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations. 

Wallace made his comments to the media following the Pistons’ 106-102 loss to the Celtics in Game 5 of the 2008 NBA Eastern Conference Finals in Boston.

ESPN