Pistons Game Day-Detroit@Miami 7:30 EST on FSD

The Pistons will be shorthanded for this one.  Stuckey, Rip, and Wallace will not play tonight.  Stuckey's shoulder still is bothering him some bit, Rip still claims he has the flu, and Wallace is dealing with family matters.  That leaves Detroit with only 10 healthy guys for a tough game.  Miami has been bitten by the injury bug also though.  Chris Bosh is dealing with a sprained ankle and will not play tonight either.  Dwayne Wade returned to the lineup for the Heat last night after missing some time with migraines.  Not many times can the Pistons take advantage of there size against teams.  But tonight is a night they can.  LeBron James played power forward for the Heat last night, and was abused and lost on offense.  Thing is though last night he had a true SF that plays PF guarding him.  Tonight, either Chris Wilcox or Greg Monroe will have to guard him if they run the same lineup and that could be a nightmare.  These projected starting lineups I'm gonna give you could switch up some.  If LeBron is the starting PF tonight, expect to see a change for the starters tonight.  They may move Tayshaun to PF for the night and Start Daye at the 3.  But this is what they should look like.

Detroit Pistons
1.McGrady
2.Gordon
3.Prince
4.Wilcox
5.Monroe

Miami Heat
1.Chalmers
2.Wade
3.James
4.Anthony
5.Ilgauskas

UPDATE: Eric Lefkofsky says no interest in buying Pistons

  It was rumored Michigan man Eric Lefkofsky would be interested in buying the team if Gores didn't he quickly shot that down and said he has no interest.With only 9 days left of the 30 days Tom Gores was giving to negotiate the buying of the Detroit Pistons there is no new information with Gores.  Gores does in fact have lawyers in Detroit as we speak and he also flew to New York last week to meet with NBA officials.  This week the value of the Pistons came out by Forbes.  Karen Davidson was quickly bombarded with questions.  Her answer may of been the dumbest one.  "I didn't even know what the value of this team was", was her answer.  Shes the current owner of the team and she was the one that put a price on the team for buyers to see a range to bid in.  Mike Illitch who also owns the redwings and Tigers was very interested in buying the team.  It was rumored he offered 400 million, 40 million more then what the franchise was worth, Davidson rejected.  The reason why the value of the Pistons came out this week is because Gores brought his lawyers in to do everything to prove to Davidson and show her what the value is.  Problem is, if the franchise is valued at 360 million, and Karen Davidson thought 400 million was to low of a offer from Illitch, how in the heck is she ever gonna sell this team.  Karen Davidson is 100% to blame for the 119 million decrease from last year to this year in the teams value.  She has been greedy.  Greed has cost her almost 120 million and greed is costing the entire Pistons franchise to go from one of the best in the NBA to middle of the pack.  Boy do we ever miss Mr. D or what?

Wolverines and Zack Novak Upset the Spartans 61-57

For the first time in just over 3 years Michigan has beaten Michigan State in either basketball or football and they did it in a hostile Breslin Center.  The Wolverines pretty much controlled the entire game.  But a late spurt by the Spartans made the game interesting.  Kalin Lucas had 27 points for the Spartans and Durrell Summers had 13.  But there wasn't a player over double figures after them two.  The Spartans faced some tough times this week with the Lucious drama that unfolded and it showed.  They only had 2 bench points for the entire game.

The Wolverines were red hot from downtown shooting 10-21 47% and 6 of them came from Zack Novak.  Novak was shown on the bench screaming and yelling at players trying to be the leader he needs to be.  They listened to him.  Darious Morris had 18 points to go along with 8 assists and 4 rebounds.  Tim Hardaway Jr. also had 10 points with 8 rebounds.  For at least in tell the end of the year Michigan has made Michigan State there little brother in basketball for the first time in a long time.

Michigan State you can say they have been a bust all year long.  Starting the season as the #2 ranked team in the country, and they have not lived up to what they were suppose to be.  In fact there has been chatter they were in trouble to not win the Big Ten championship.  Now they may be in trouble to make the tournament.  The Spartans just don't have the depth, or any production don't in the pain for them to be contenders in the Big Ten, and there just not shooting the ball well at all this year.  Either way if they make the tournament expect a Tom Izzo team to go deep.

Michigan despite being 2-6 in the Big Ten have been some what a surprise this year.  They have been in close games to Kansas, Ohio State, and Syracuse.  They have also played teams like Wisconson on the road tough also.  For 3 freshman, 1 sophmore, and 1 junior to compete the way they are against the power houses of college basketball is more then impressive.  It makes a Michigan fan smile knowing that there isn't 1 senior on the team and they have competed the way they have.  Michigan will not get to the big dance this year but with the youth on this team, the future is very bright.  GO BLUE!

Detroit Lions Zach Follet not expected to play football again.

just days after Follet took shots at Stafford on the radio, he admits he will probably never play football again.  Follet hurt his neck early in the season and was carted off the field.  Little did he know that would be his last game ever.  Follet was more known for his popular tactics off the field then his on field play.

Pistons Value has decreased 119 Million from last year to this year

Forbes magazine reported that the value of the Detroit Pistons and palace sports entertainment is now at 360 Million dollars when last year it was at 479 million.  This is what happens when you have someone running the team like Karen Davidson.  She tied Joe Dumars hands so he can't make moves or spend any money.  It's now resulting in no fans showing up to games.  The end result is a 119 million dollar decrease in value.  What makes me even more worried is that it's rumored she turned down 400 million from Mike Illitch to buy the team, which is 40 million more then what it's worth.  We better all hope and pray she stops being so greedy and just sells this team.  Otherwise this team is gonna go even farther downhill and she is gonna be stupid if she lets it go longer then 2 more weeks cause it's only gonna keep going down while shes running this team.

Billups, Nuggets down Pistons 109-100

Well you look at the box score for the Pistons and you see some pretty good numbers all around.  Problem was they couldn't stop Chauncey Billups and Aaron Afflalo.  Remember them two guys Joe Dumars?  The Pistons got off to a lighting quick start going on a 9-0 run to start the game.  After that Denver pretty much put it in cruise control.  The Pistons would get close and then Billups would hit dagger, after dagger.  The Pistons problems were not on the offensive end tonight but on the defensive end.  Denver shot 47% from the field and 41% from downtown 11-27.  The Pistons cut the lead down to 3 in the 4th and Will Bynum ended up scoring 18 of the 26 Pistons points in the quarter.  But poor defense ended up costing the Pistons the game in the end.  Rodney Stuckey left the game do to an injured shoulder.  X rays were negative.

Well I'll stick to what I said in the pre game blog.  I stated if Kuester messed around with the rotations to much it would wind up costing the Pistons this game.  Come to find out that's exactly what he did.  He ran the same lineup out there 2 times in the game and that lineup kept digging the Pistons a whole.  He ran out the lineup of Bynum, Gordon, Daye, Charlie V, and Ben Wallace in the second quarter only to dig themselves at 13 point deficit and then he ran the same lineup out in the end of the 3rd and to start the 4th.  Bad news was Kuester wasn't smart enough to understand that lineup just wasn't working together.  I'm fine with all them guys playing.  But you can't run out 5 bench players at the same time and expect them to do much.  I love Ben Wallace to death, but tonight Monroe was doing everything, and there was no reason for Monroe not to get 30+ minutes.  That remains the problem with this team.  There is no set rotation what so ever.  One night there is 9 guys playing the next there is 11.  Kuester seems to be really relying more on getting everyone playing time then putting players on the court to win a game.

Rip was a no show to the game, because he has the flu again.  Yeahh right Rip, Stop faking!  Who gets the flu twice in 1 month?  Karen Davidson I spotted in the audience while she should be home trying to sell the team to Tom Gores.  All in all the Pistons got beat by the better team.  A little defense can go a long way.  Also not trading your all star point guard for Allen Iverson and trading a good young SG for a 2nd round pick can go a long way also.  Billups and Afflalo really stuck it to the Pistons tonight and seeing them to laughing together at the end of the game really hurt me as a fan.

OT:2011 NFL Mock Draft 1.26.11

1. Carolina Panthers-Da'Quan Bowers, DE, Clemson


2. Denver Broncos-Patrick Petersen, CB, LSU


3. Buffalo Bills- Nick Fairley, DT/DE, Aubrun


4. Cincinnati Bengals- A.J. Green WR, Georgia


5. Arizona Cardinals-Blaine Gabbert QB, Missouri 


6. Cleveland Browns- Robert Quinn DE/LB, North Carolina


7. San Fransisco 49ers- Marcell Dareus DE/DT, Alabama


8. Tennessee Titans-Cameron Jordan DE, Cal


9. Dallas Cowboys-Aldon Smith DE/LB, Missouri


10. Washington Redskins-Von Miller DE/LB, Texas A & M


11. Houstons Texans- Prince Amukamara CB, Nebraska


12. Minnesota Vikings- Cam Newton QB, Aubrun


13. Detroit Lions- Akeem Ayers LB, UCLA


14. St. Louis Rams- Julio Jones WR, Alabama


15. Miami Dolphins-Mark Ingram RB, Alabama


I'll do the rest of the 1st round and tweak this one after the senior bowl.  If I get enough ad clicks and followers in the next week I'll do all 7 rounds!  So click away and follow me!  I'll bring new news and rumors everyday!