Blogs > Pistons' Point

An inside look at the Detroit Pistons and the NBA.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Pistons coach Lawrence Frank postgame 3-29-13

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Pistons coach Lawrence Frank postgame 3-26-13

Friday, March 22, 2013

Pistons live chat 3-22-13

Monday, March 18, 2013

Frank responds to hoopla over DeAndre Jordan dunk on Brandon Knight

When the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan dunked over Brandon Knight last week, the internet exploded. It became a trending topic on Twitter, videos on YouTube (which can been seen below this story) hit 10-figure views and bloggers were talking about it for days.

Pistons coach Lawrence Frank, who returned to the team Monday after missing six games to attend to his ill wife, had a strong reaction to all the hoopla over the dunk and think it says something about the basketball culture.

"That’s what I think our basketball society is (expletive) up," Frank said. "It wasn’t even Brandon’s fault. Who really should be called out is who made the defensive mistake. I just don’t understand, that’s what we’re glamorizing? A dunk? Brandon had the courage to put himself up there. Too many guys, they’re called game quitters, they’re in the game but they’re really not in the game. So they bail out just because they don’t want to be dunked on.

"To me, I don’t know what the culture, whether it’s an AAU environment, I hate to blame that, or what the situation is. But when read that and saw that stuff, it just goes to show you we’re celebrating the wrong (expletive). We really are. If Brandon could have fouled the guy and the way DeAndre shoots free throws, it would have been a total non-issue. At least Brandon has the courage to put himself out there to make a play.

"The fact that people laugh about it, joke about it, I don’t know. There’s a whole lot more things to glamorize in our sport than something like that. I don’t even understand how that’s a story. You read about how it’s trending on Twitter. Talk about Miami winning 22 games in a row or talk about something else. But a dunk? Who cares. Brandon has the right spirit about it, but it’s crazy. I think it speaks more about our basketball culture. The things we make a big deal out of that are really (nothing), come on move on."

Friday, March 8, 2013

PISTONS NOTES: Monroe, Villanueva return from injuries

AUBURN HILLS — Greg Monroe and Charlie Villanueva returned from injuries Friday night in Detroit’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Monroe had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for his 29th double-double of the season.

Monroe was playing with a sprained ankle that caused him to miss the first game of his career due to injury. He said the ankle is feeling better, but he’s still not 100 percent.

“It’s a little sore,” Monroe said. “I think I did okay. I still got a long way to go. It was giving me a little pain.”

Villanueva missed Wednesday’s game with a sore left hamstring. He didn’t play in the first half Friday, but had 12 points and three rebounds in 14 minutes, including two big 3-pointers.

No Drummond update
When Andre Drummond was first diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back, the timetable for his return was four to six weeks.

It’s now been four weeks, but there is no update as to when Drummond will return.

“I’ll be honest with you, I really can’t answer that question only because I don’t know,” Pistons assistant coach Brian Hill said when asked if he thought it would be close to six weeks now. “I know Andre is doing a lot of stuff with Arnie Kander, our strength and conditioning coach.

“We literally have had no discussion what so ever as to any type of a timetable of when he might be back. I just leave that entirely up to Arnie to say how things are going and when we might see him. But so far we haven’t had that discussion.”

Frank still not with team
Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank remains away from the team as his attends to his ill wife.

There is no indication when he will return as the Pistons prepare to head West for a four-game road trip starting Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“That’s our head coach, it affects us a whole lot,” Greg Monroe said when asked about not having Frank around. “(The coaching staff) works with him everyday. It’s different not having him here, but at the same time these guys know what he expects. They have worked with him every day for two years now. I’m pretty sure they have dialogue in between games and after practice. It’s tough him not being here, but at the same time I don’t think there’s any drop off with those guys. It’s his staff.”

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Pistons live chat Friday at 12:30 p.m.