Can the Motor City Compete with Bullpower?

First, a tip of the hat to the Cap'n for the invite and congrats to his Warriors for their surprising and dramatic upset over the Mavs. Game 6 was one of those games that reaches beyond NBA fans. Even if someone doesn't watch basketball, all you have to do is tell them about Stephen Jackson's seven three-pointers or Baron Davis balling out with a pulled hamstring and they suddenly share the excitement of the game.

BUT TODAY IS PISTON-BULLS. So that's what we will be talking about. Game one tips off very shortly, and Detroit has home court advantage. The Bulls are coming off a tremendous series against the defending world champs. Not only beating the Heat, but sweeping them. However, the Pistons are an entirely different team.

Not to detract from the Bulls victory over Miami, but D. Wade was coming back from an injury and Shaq is getting old. The Bulls will have some serious competition with the Pistons. Every single game is going to be hard fought. But when it is all said and done, I'm going to have to say Detroit wins it in seven games.

Just the fact that I said the Bulls will have some serious competition with the Pistons (instead of saying the Pistons will have some serious competition with the Bulls) shows how much of a threat the Bulls are. The Pistons better watch their backs. Ben Wallace took a piece of Detroit's championship dreams when he moved to Chicago - and he has shared it with his teammates. It's going to come down to the strongest starting line-up in the East vs. the deepest team in the East. So crack open a cold one, sit back, and enjoy the ride because this should be the start of a beautiful rivalry.

Kanye isn't the Only Attraction in Chi-town

That's for damn sure.
The Bulls are the toast of the town once again. They absolutely embarrassed the Heat on Saturday, completing an improbable 4 game sweep of the defending champs. So much for the "Baby Bulls." These are men.
And these men may be the best team in the East. Detroit no longer looks like the clear favorite. They can turn it on and off at will, but they don't look nearly as hungry as they did 2 years ago. The Cavs have had the Bulls' number over the last couple years, but as much as I love the Wine and Gold, I think the Bulls just look like a more complete team.
They're fun as hell to watch, playing an 80's style of fundamentals-first basketball. But just to cover their bases they do have Ben Gordon, a Vinnie Johnson-style chucker who will either catch fire and torch you, or be cold as ice. I'm just hoping the Bulls'll be too tuckered after going 7 with the Pistons to go 7 with the Cavs...
Here's hoping.

Game 2s

I feel like George W at an Enron investor's party... everything's coming up Houston. For the second time in 3 days, TMac and Yao dominated Utah in the second half, and snatched victory from their conservative, sometimes polygamist, clutches. Actually, Mehmet looked pretty impressive and gave Yao some problems in the first half. But with his shooting stroke gone cold, the lusty Turk couldn't get it done on the offensive end. TMac was pretty cold in the first half, but he sank 'em when they counted and Houston took a commanding 2-0 lead going back to Salt Lake City.
The Pistons blah-ed their way to another vic against the sorely outclassed Magic. There's really not much to say here other than that the Pistons could win this series in 4 with Rip Hamilton literally playing with his eyes closed. Dwight Howard's shortcomings are being exposed like a roll of film.

Magic Courting Chauncey?

This is intriguing as hell to me. Chauncey in Orlando kills 3 birds with 1 stone. First, Orlando gets the veteran leadership they'll need when Battie is no longer starting, and Grant Hill finally faces the music and retires. Second, the Magic get the solid shooting stroke and extra scoring punch provided by one of the best pure shooters in the league (maybe the best clutch shooter in the business). Third, the Magic get one of the best point guards in the league, and then have a great trading chip in the expendable Jam Nelson (who becomes worthless with the arrival of Billups). The Magic were feeling gun shy about giving Nelson a fat extension based on his inconsistent play, this way they can let him walk, or sign & trade him for another piece. Now supposedly this would all cost the Magic Darko, but I don't see why. No way Detroit is after Darko, so what're they gonna do, just let him walk? For the 6-8 mil range, I feel like Darko's a steal. So they give Howard 85 mil, they give Chauncey 3 or 4 years at 14 per. They really oughta have money left for Darko at 7 per. Now tell me there's a more evil starting line than Darko, Dwight, Chauncey, Hedo and ________ (insert name here). They would cut a bloody swathe through the Eastern Conference.

CHauncey Heading West?

Everybody seems to agree that Chauncey has no choice but to leave Detroit. I'm not sure I understand why; I thought the whole point of letting Big Ben walk last off season was so they could afford to pay Billups this off season.

From Mark Kiszla at the Denver Post:
Billups would be receptive to the idea of a sign-and-trade deal that could land him with the Nuggets, according to agent Andy Miller, who represents the 10th-year veteran.

That I have no doubt about. If Billups flourished with Rip and Tayshaun, imagine what he'd do with AI and 'Melo. That would be an absolutely absurd starting line.

Also from Kiszla:
The raise sought by Billups, an NBA bargain at $6.36 million in the final year of his contract of Detroit, would almost certainly force Denver to trade center Marcus Camby or forward Nene to acquire the all-star guard.

If Denver can get Chauncey for Marcus Camby, Joe Dumars should fire himself. Why would Detroit, who passed on paying money to an aging Wallace for Chauncey, be interested in dealing for the even more aging Camby? That's just stupid. The deal would have to involve Nene, and that's just for starters, because of the obscene 60 million dollar deal Hilario signed, the Nuggs would have to throw in some serious prospects to Detroit to sweeten the pot. The deal would have to be something along the lines of Detroit signing Chauncey to 4 years at 13 mil/year, and trading him to Denver along with Nazr Mohammed(4 remaining at 5mil) for Nene (5 remaining at 10mil), Diawara (1 remaining at 800k), Kleiza (1 remaining at 845k), Blake (expiring at 1.4) and maybe some sort draft picks arrangement.

Lindsay Hunter: Trying to Make the Cheerleading Squad?

Lindsay Hunter just got slapped with a 10 game suspensh from the league for testing positive. No, not for testing positive with audiences, for drugs. Read this(from FanBall):

Guard Lindsey Hunter was suspended for 10 games on Wednesday, the NBA announced. Hunter tested positive for phentermine, which is on the banned list. A search on webmd.com shows that phentermine is a prescription used to fight obesity. Hunter has not appeared obese during the season, so this is a bizarre story. Luckily he has no fantasy value, so this will not affect any lineups.

Agreed. That is both bizarre and a fantasy non-factor. What is this dude getting in shape for? Dance class? Prom? Weird...

C-Webb

I told you, didn't I? CWebb, despite his obvious shortcomings, was a great move for the Pistons. The bottom line, as I said at the time of the trade, is that the Pistons don't need Webb to motor up and down the floor, they just need him to rope in some boards, spread the defense, hit open shots and dish the rock at timely moments. Those are all things Webb has become an expert at. And not-too-surprisingly the Pistons are on fire and proving once again that they're the only real team in the East. News of they're demise was greatly exaggerated, and I fear come playoff time, the Cleveland faithful will once again be hearing that awful sound... "DE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL!!"