 Young Sixers Impress vs. Old Pistons
 In a game that meant nothing for either team, the Sixers came into Auburn Hills tonight and took it to the Pistons to the tune of 102 to 91. Willie Green was unconscious, Lou Williams and Bobby Jones impressed, and Louis Amundson may have earned himself a spot on the roster for next season with his dominant play on the inside. Willie Green and Louis Amundson are co-players of the game. Green was amazing, 26 points, 5 boards, 7 assists and 1 steal. Louis Amundson deserves his own paragraph. Earlier this week, I wrote about Louis Amundson, and how he was basically Renaldo Balkman, without the hype of being a first-round pick. The post was met with the question, “Who is Louis Amundson?” Well, Louis Amundson is Renaldo Balkman. In other words, he’s a guy with limited talent, good ups, and great hustle. Put him on the floor for a decent chunk of time, and he’s going to fill up the stat sheet with his hustle alone. Tonight, sweet Lou played 23 minutes, by far a career high, and he delivered 8 points, 11 boards, 4 blocks and 1 steal. Very Balkman-esque, huh? Knicks fans love to point to Balkman as a prime example of Isiah Thomas’ “eye for talent,” but they fail to recognize that Isiah used the number 20 pick for a guy that’s basically on par with a D-leaguer like Amundson. Both players are good guys to have on your roster, they’re in line with Najara, Varejao etc. They’re good if they’re eighth or ninth in your rotation, and you bring them in for 10 to 15 minutes per game to up the energy level, and they’re very, very easy to come by. Which is why Isiah was criticized for taking him in the first round. And rightly so. I hope Amundson makes the team next year, he’s probably a long-shot, but sending him in as a banger, enforcer and intimidator will bring some life to the team. I haven’t said much about the Pistons, because they really didn’t show up for this game. The Princess tried to light up the Sixers early, but after the Sixers reserves hung with the lackluster Pistons starters through two quarters Flip Saunders got the starters out of there and let the scrubs take the beating. Chris Webber continued to hamstring the Pistons with the horrible play Sixers fans are all-too familiar with (5 points on 2/6 from the field in 26 minutes). The Sixers clinched bragging rights over the Knicks, who continued the foldola with a loss to the Raptors behind Eddy Curry’s 6–turnover performance.
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That is a Balkman-like line. Amundson might be on par with Balkman and Varejeo.
Of course, saying they are "easy to come by" is a joke. If so, then why would anyone want to trade for Varejeo? Yet he has plenty of takers....
Can you show me ten guys take after Balkman or even in front of him that can put up any kind of hustle numbers like Renaldo?
If I watched every team play every night I could probably give you 30 names. The difference between Balkman and the hustle guy on just about every other roster is that the Knicks suck so bad he's played more minutes than most spazzes in the league.
And I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm interested to know who, exactly, has been beating down the Cavs door for Varejeo? He plays 23+ minutes per game and averages 6 and 6.
So after this relatively "meaningless" win over the Pistons... where do you guys sit on the "winning is bad for the Sixers" argument?
Does it seems wrong to you that teams get rewarded for sucking? I think there needs to be a greater incentive for winning. Is it right that it's better to be the worst team in the league than the 11th or 12th worst team?
I think it's completely f'd up, and I really don't know why this is only an issue in basketball. In baseball the draft is meaningless. But in football the draft dictates everything, yet you don't see teams tanking their seasons to get the top pick.
What is it about basketball? Do the owners not care about their fans? Do the coaches and players have no pride in what they do?
As far as the Sixers go, that win last night may have been a little superfluous, but overall I'm ecstatic with this team. They showed more heart than about 90% of the teams that made the playoffs, more class than anyone in the league, and they got a taste of winning.
I think the future looks better for the Sixers right now with this season behind them and probably the #11 pick than it would've had they completely tanked the season and wound up with a top two pick. They know what they have (a superstar, and a few really good pieces), and they know what it takes to win games. If they'd tanked they'd have either Oden or Durant and a bunch of guys who know nothing but losing.
As far as the lottery goes, I can only cross my fingers and hope that God, or Gravity, or David Stern, whichever one is controlling the ping pong balls, punishes the Celtics and Bucks for what they did to their fans this year.
The Sixers have a 0.8% chance of winning the lottery. The Celtics have a 0.0% chance of being able to look themselves in the mirror the day after the season ends.
NBA draft vs NFL. I think the main reason teams act differently is the nature of the game. One player doesn't mean as much to a football team as one player does to a basketball team. I suppose a franchise QB is the closest you can get. For the most part though, one starter on a five man basketball team is going to have a more dramatic effect than one guy amongst 22 starters that only play half the game on a football team.
Either way, it's bullshit though. I've been really annoyed with Sixers fans that haven't wanted to win over this past month. The Sixers owed their maximum effort to the fans and they gave it. That's all we can and should be asking from them.