Basketball from a fan’s perspective

A piece of NBA History

The Palace of Auburn Hills former home of the Pistons was demolished by an implosion on Saturday.  The 23,000-seat arena some 30+ miles from downtown Detroit served as home to the NBA Pistons from 1988-2017.  The Pistons moved in 2017 and share space in Little Caesars Arena with the NHL Red Wings in downtown Detroit. Three championship banners were won by the Pistons in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The arena will long be remembered for one of the worst incidents in modern NBA history.  During a Piston-Pacer game a fight would breakout between the teams, several fans came out of the stands and became participants in the melee.  Sport media dubbed the incident “The Malice in the Palace.”  The building and land were sold in 2019 and will be developed into mix use property. 

The NBA on TV

Pandemic aside the re-start of the NBA season is great for fans, except maybe those in NBA cities.  If you live in Dallas or New Orleans, you will have no opportunity to see your Mavs or Pelicans in person.  As for the balance of us it is a different story, with only 22 of the 30 teams playing there is a game afternoon and evening with playoff implications.  Checking out the schedule with little exception most games will be available for us to see on the various platforms, NBA TV, TNT, ABC and ESPN. 

Just a view

Laker guard Avery Bradley can score the ball, he is probably looked at more as a defensive stopper.  There are plenty of guys in the NBA who can score, there are fewer numbers who can effectively defend.  Sometimes we confuse the term defensive stopper, at the NBA level the hope is to limit the number of shots taken by the opponent.  If for example it takes player A. 30 shots to score 20 points versus 20 shots that is 10 missed shots.  Missed shots of course are an opportunity for your team to rebound the ball and score. 

Beginning in elementary through high school and into the NBA scoring the ball has always “looked” more important than playing effective defense.  The ideal athlete is one who is a capable scorer and adequate defender.  As for the Lakers perhaps, it will be defense by committee.  Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso, Dion Waiters, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JR Smith, or Quinn Cook might be called on to step into the shoes of Bradley.  I hear you, “With the exception of Rondo, Caruso and Cook the others are shooting guards.”  That is an affirmative however in a series based on match ups one or more could play the point for brief periods. 

Satch   

Checking out NBA history I came across the name Tom “Satch” Sanders.  Sanders played for the Celtics from 1960-1973, he was just as much a key to Celtic success as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and others.  Sanders was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2011, if you check out his stats you might question why.  Over the course of his Celtic career (he only played for them) his scoring average was 9.6 points along with 6.6 rebounds a game. 

It was not the fact Sanders could not score he was willing to sacrifice his scoring to play tough hard-nose defense.  Although his rebound numbers were no place close to Dennis Rodman consider this fact, Sanders game could be compared favorably to him.  After retirement Sanders became the first black coach hired in the Ivy League while coaching Harvard.  He was an assistant and served briefly as head coach of the Celtics.  At the age of 81 we believe he is simply retired and enjoying the balance of his life.