Pistons Trade Darko

The Detroit Pistons have announced that they have traded Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo to the Orlando Magic for center Kelvin Cato. This trade does not come at a total shock, but it was somewhat suprising that the Pistons gave up their former number two draft pick. By trading away Darko, it will free up some cap space for the Pistons as they try to keep their core nucleus of players together.

Three years ago when the Detroit Pistons drafted Darko Milicic with the number 2 draft pick overall, most thought that Joe Dumars had made a mistake. Dumars passed up Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Carmello Anthony and selected Milicic. Darko barely played his rookie season and his development, or lack thereof, was over-shadowed by the Pistons winning the championship. In his sophomore season he still did not play much and his numbers were barely any higher. He was over-shadowed again by the Pistons almost winning the championship. This season has just been a microcosm of his entire professional career with the same lack of minutes in his first two seasons.

I think a big reason Darko never played for the Pistons was because of how good the Pistons actually are. They have the best starting five in the league and they never had the time to let him get minutes. They never needed him to develop into a starter, so they did not rush his development. He never played, so he was never able to show what he could or could not do. He will probably be a decent NBA player elsewhere but clearly he could not do it with the Pistons.

All-Star Game Review

Normally I would not post about the NBA All-Star game but last night's game was a perfect example of how good the Detroit Pistons are. The East was down by 21 points at half time and it looked as if the West was going to win big. However, late in the third quarter, all four Pistons reserve All-Stars checked into the game for the East. The Pistons brought back the East into the game on the way to a 122-120 win. Yes, it was the All-Star game where neither team plays much defense; but it was still impressive to watch the Pistons bring back the East against the best players in the league. This game proved that they can play against anybody. Again, it was just the All-Star game, but it was still fun to watch.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

The Detroit Pistons finally got some much deserved respect for their amazing start to this season. Four of their five starters were selected to the NBA All-Star game (which will be on later today). The only starting Piston who did not make the team was Tayshaun Prince. The Pistons have been shafted in previous years for All-Star selections and it was nice to finally see them get some attention. The Pistons' goal this season was to have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs and they should be able to achieve that goal. They have the best record in the league and they show no signs of slowing down.

Lions Sign Martz

The Detroit Lions have signed former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz to be their new offensive coordinator. Martz and the Lions had been trying to work a deal for a while, and on Wednesday they were finally able to get a deal done. Terms of the deal are not official yet but it should be around $3 million for 3 years.

This was a wonderful signing for the Lions. Martz has been known to be an offensive mastermind. He was part of the "greatest show on turf" when he coached the Rams. He even lead them to a Super Bowl in a losing effort to the Patriots. The Lions' offense has been horrible since the Millen era(and even before then really). Martz should be able to make their offense a lot better with his coaching ability. The one big question for Martz and new coach Rod Marinelli will be whether they should keep quarterback Joey Harrington. As we all know, Harrington has not lived anywhere near his high first round expectations. Some believe that Harrington is not suited well for a west coast offense. Maybe Martz will tailor the offense to Harrington's skills so he can succeed for once. All I know is that Martz will make the Lions' offense better, but how much better will he make them is the key point. The Lions need vast improvement and Martz should hopefully be up to this difficult task.

I leave you with this brief overview of Martz's coaching career taken from Len Pasquarelli of http://espn.com.

"In each of his full seasons in St. Louis, the Martz-designed offense ranked among the top 10 in the NFL and twice rated No. 1 overall."

"Not counting the 11 games he missed last season, during which Joe Vitt served as interim head coach, Martz compiled a 56-36 record with the Rams. He led St. Louis to four playoff appearances, two division titles and a Super Bowl XXXVI berth. In his five full seasons in St. Louis, the Martz-designed offense statistically ranked in the top 10 every year, and was No. 1 in 2000 and 2001."

Super Bowl XL

It is hard to believe that the 40th Super Bowl will be hosted in Detroit today. The Lions will be at the Super Bowl this year but just not in the Super Bowl. It is exciting that the biggest sporting event in history will be within one hour of my house. It will be fun seeing "The Bus" coming back to his hometown to play in his most likely last game. I think the Steelers will win in a close game, but we will see what happens. With the Lions obviously being out of the Super Bowl again; it will be just another Super Bowl to sit and watch two great teams play while wishing we were cheering for out lovable Lions.

Is this our year?

Michigan won their second straight game over a ranked opponent by beating 21st ranked Wisconsin 85-76 at home. The win gave Michigan their first back to back wins against a ranked opponent since 1994. The win puts Michigan in a tie with Illinois and Iowa for the Big Ten lead. All three teams sit at 5-2 in Big Ten play but Illinois holds the tie-breaker because they beat Michigan earlier in the season. Michigan's overall record is 15-3 which is their best start since the 1992-1993 season.

Michigan is a having an amazing season. Michigan basketball fans are not used to seeing them do this well. Through self imposed sanctions and injuries to key players, Michigan has not had a good season in a long time. This season, Michigan fans are asking themselves-is this our year? Is this the year we finally make the tournament and make it to at least the sweet 16 or beyond? I think this season is Michigan's year. I don't think they will win the Big Ten title because the Big Ten is very strong this season. However, I do think they will make it to the big dance and win a few games. They have a strong starting five and a good bench players. They play a good zone defense and they have guys who can score big baskets like Daniel Horton and Dion Harris. They will be even better when starting forward Lester Abram comes back from his ankle injury.

Michigan has nine games left in conference play. I think they need to win a big road game in order to fully establish themselves as a true Big Ten title contender. Both their wins against ranked opponents were at home and they need to win a big road game to legitamize themselves. When the new rankings come out, Michigan should be ranked for the first time since 1998.

The Biggest Win

I have decided to start posting again. I wanted to come back when something big happened in the Detroit Sports realm. I think Michigan beating 12th ranked Michigan State in college basketball is a good way to start....

This past Wednesday, the Michigan Wolverines beat the 12th ranked Michigan State Spartans 72-67. The win put Michigan near the top of the Big Ten standings. Michigan was one of the highest team receiving votes outside of the top 25. With the win against State, Michigan should be ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 1998.

Michigan has showed that this season is different from previous seasons. They are 14-3 with a 4-2 record in Big Ten play. They just fell shy of beating 6th ranked Illinois on the road earlier in the season. They also played UCLA tough but lost again against a ranked opponent. Although Michigan played good against UCLA and Illinois, the bottom line was that they still lost. That is why the win against State was so huge. They were down in the first half by 13 but they came back strong and took the lead. They not only took the lead, they held the lead. Michigan played a great zone defense to shut down State in the second half. State fans may say Michigan won because of the calls, but Michigan deserved to win.

Senior point guard Daniel Horton continued his great season leading the Wolverines with 23 points. He brought Michigan back in the first half by scoring 13 points, then in the second half he scored 10 points to help pad the lead.

Daniel Horton won Big Ten freshman of the year in 2002, but his game seemed to decline during his sophomore and junior season. Many people were wondering if he was the real deal or not. This season he has proved that he is the real deal with career highs in points, assists, steals, and all field goal percentages.

Michigan plays 23rd ranked Wisconsin this Saturday. The winner will sit on top of the strong Big Ten conference.

I'm coming back

I have decided to start posting again on my website in the near future. I am still going to cover primarily Detroit Sports but I am going to change the way I cover them. Instead of covering game recaps, where you could get anywhere, I am going to analyze what happens in the Detroit Sports world. I also might eliminate some of the teams that I cover but I do not know yet. I should be up and running again this weekend.

An Explanation

Sorry for not updating in the last few months. I have decided to shut down this site. I might come back in a few months but probably not. I am just too busy with high school and work to post a few times a week. Thanks for anyone who has ever read my horrible posts! Please email me to tell me what you thought of my site, good or bad.....

9/13 Notes

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. In the last two weeks or so a lot has happened in Detroit Sports. Most of the news has been bad so I will start with pretty much the only good news in Detroit.

The Detroit Lions opened the season on a good note beating the Packers 17-3. The Lions have won the opening game in the last three straight seasons.

Joey Harrington looked good throwing for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns. He again did not throw an interception. New Lion Marcus Pollard had 5 catches including a touchdown pass from Harrington.

The Lions looked good in this game. Their defense was especially good holding Green Bay to just three points, the lowest ever scored by Brett Farve. The main thing the Lions have to work on is their offensive sceme. They have been calling some awful plays for Harrington to run. Another thing they need to do is block better for Harrington. Harrington does not play half bad when he has some time in the pocket.

The Detroit Red Wings lost Pavel Datsyuk to a Russian team. The Wings apparently could not give him enough money for him to want to come back. It is very hard to see Datsyuk go. I thought he was the most exciting player in the NHL to watch. He was just hitting his prime, and I just don't think the Wings will be the same without him. I will most remember Pavel for that awesome goal he scored on Marty Turco a few years ago.

Although the Wings lost Datsyuk, they were able to resign Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg is a young superstar in the making. He has been with the Wings for a number of years now and it was nice to see one of their young stars come back.

The formly third rank team in the nation were beaten by their rival Notre Dame on Saturday. Of course I am talking about Michigan's 17-10 loss to the Irish. Michigan's defense played decent but their offense was horrible. Mike Hart was out of the game early due to an injury but that is no excuse. Michigan was on the one yard line twice but they turned the ball over both times. Michigan should have won this game but again they choked. They always seem to lose a game before starting the Big Ten schedule, which almost always knocks them out of the championship picture from the start.

9/1 Notes

I will be gone this weekend for Labor Day. Once I get back I will post on what happened over the weekend in Detroit Sports.

Over the weekend the 4th ranked Michigan Wolverines will play unranked Northern Illinois to start the season. Michigan is heavily favored and they should be able to win.

The Lions will have one more chance to get ready for the regular season by playing in their final preseason game. They have lost every game thus far in the preseason and it would be nice if they could get a victory.

I recently re-did the sidebar. I now have a lot less links in my sidebar. I went to almost every link I had on my site and I found out that a lot of the sports blogs have stopped posting. Maybe I am wrong but it seems like running sports blogs is getting less popular.

Disgusting

That is the first word that came to my mind after I watched the Lions play the Rams last night on Monday Night Football. Sure it was only preseason, but the Lions got rocked 37-13.

The Rams scored on their first three drives as they took the early lead. This game was never close as the Rams held on to the lead for the entire game.

The Lions again could not get into the endzone with their starting offense. The Lions drove down the field a few times with their starting unit but they could only muster 2 field goals. The only touchdown the Lions scored was late in the game by their third string quarterback.

Joey Harrington went 9-18 for 106 yards. Although Harrington did not play that great, I don't think it was all his fault. The Lions' offensive line did not give him any time to throw the ball. Harrington was constantly under pressure and he was forced to get rid of the ball early and often. When the line did give him some time, Harrington played alright.

Jeff Garcia continued his bad preseason by going just 2-9 passing along with a fumble. He was supposed to be pushing Harrington for the number one spot but Garcia has failed to accomplish that.

So far this preseason the Lions have looked bad. They have lost every game and their starting offense together has failed to score a single touchdown. The Lions have just one more preseason game to get ready for the regular season. They probably won't play many of their starters to prevent injuries. The only thing good that has come of this preseason is that they have not had any major injuries.