Hooped Up

Back to his old self, Richard Hamilton scores 30 as Pistons beat Kings
Hamilton scored 30 points and Detroit pulled away in the third quarter to defeat the struggling Sacramento Kings, 101-89, on Tuesday night.

“He’s getting his legs back, that’s important,” Pistons coach John Kuester said. “He’s coming off screens well, and it’s allowing him to get good looks.”

Hamilton severely sprained an ankle in the first game of the season and didn’t return until the second week of December. It has taken a while for his game to come around completely.

Averaging 30.5 points in his past four games, he made 12-of-20 shots and hit all five free throws to extend his streak to 51 in a row.
Michigan Live

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Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs.

Since making automobile references are mandatory when talking about the Pistons. This summer, Detroit got a new driver in head coach John Kuester plus brand new after market bolt on parts Charlie Villanueva, Ben Gordon and Chris Wilcox. But will they get better performance out of their upgraded whip? Read More »

The Boston Celtics appear willing to make major roster changes to balance a chance for a championship run and future financial flexibility. The Celtics offered Ray Allen andRajon Rondo to the Detroit Pistons for a package that includedRichard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Boston general manager Danny Ainge and Detroit’s Joe Dumars never spoke, but rather the Celtics had a lower-level executive make the pitch to aPistons official over the past weekend, league sources said. Detroit immediately rejected the idea, and it never advanced to the two top executives speaking about particulars. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence for a GM like Ainge to dispatch an underling to make that kind of a call, if for no other reason to give the top executive some level of deniability that he’s shopping his stars.

Yahoo! Sports

The Pistons have been doomed since the Allen Iverson trade and now the off season has begun for the Pistons thanks to a Cleveland hammering in the playoffs and Joe Dumars has to officially break up the band like Destiny’s Child. 

The Pistons will likely undergo a major roster overhaul in the off-season as this season is just not acceptable to a franchise used to battling for Eastern Conference supremacy. Besides,Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown and Allen Iverson are all unrestricted free agents. Iverson is a goner with Wallace likely out, too. McDyess’ future is a little more up in the air. It’s Brown’s option whether he will stay or not, but with a $4 million contract guaranteed, it’s hard to see him finding that kind of deal anywhere else in this economy and with many teams looking to shed salary. Walter Herrmann and Will Bynum are restricted free agents. It’s hard to see Herrmann back, but it’s the team’s option on Bynum and he’s expected back. As for Michael Curry, it appears he will return for a second season despite presiding over this transition season. He has two years left on the $2.5 million per year deal he signed last year when he became a rookie head coach. As for the rest of the roster, Joe Dumars will likely be very active this summer in free agency, so it remains to be seen what other players may be moved.

For the record, Chauncey Billups was like Beyonce.

Via Detroit Free Press

Just how far will the chain reaction of trading Chauncey Billups to Denver reach? And could Tayshaun Prince be a victim of the Chauncey Effect this summer?

If the Pistons are going to rebuild and add a young, elite-level forward, they may not be able to go the free-agent route. It might have to come through a trade, and if that’s the case, the most valuable chip other than picks is Prince.

Prince has two years and about $25.1 million left on his contract, far from unmovable. The Raptors have shown interest just as the Pistons have barely hid their interest in forward Chris Bosh. Nobody is saying that will happen. But Prince is no longer untouchable.

A Chris Bosh for Tayshaun Prince trade makes no sense for the Raptors, but stranger things have happened in the T-Dot. I don’t think this one will go down, but if it does, this helps the Pistons front court like you wouldn’t believe down the stretch.

Via Detroit News

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
Dwyane Wade
Deron Williams

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

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

It’s official Tayshaun Prince and the Pistons are alive and well, after sending the Magic packing last night. In the defining play of the game Hedo Turkoglu took it to the rack as hard as he could and Tayshaun Prince gave him the block of the playoffs and maybe the year.  This is ugly!