OT: Welcome Home Worm
Don't know if anybody else watched/listened to the Worm's jersey retirement ceremony, but I thought it was great. Good to see most of the Bad Boys back. Wish he would have been a Piston for longer, as he was a fantastic player. But he finally got honored by his original team, so congrats Dennis!
Karen Davidson got booed, badly.
i dont blame anyone. not to sound like a dick, but she deserves it. just sell the team already so we can actually try to start rebuilding
Dumars and Isiah got some boos, too, and people were screaming things when Isiah was speaking. I thought the crowd could have been a little more respectful.
Joe likely got booed from what I heard. The crowd erupted for Isiah though. Don't know what they were yelling when he was talking, but I'll bet it was positive. He brought nothing but glory to the franchise. Without him, we could have been staring at the Tampa Bay Pistons or something odd. That's how precarious things were when we drafted him.
When he looked at Rodman and told him he'll always be a Piston, then held that stare. It reminded me of when he used to stare down teammates those first couple years who weren't going full bore. The Westside Assassin with a smile.
Isiah's speech was very well-received, but when he was first introduced, it sounded like a mixture of cheers and boos. For Dumars, I guess it could have been people doing the old "Joe DUUUUUUUUUUU-MARS" thing, but I doubt it.
by how the team's future is up in the air, but as a player he was sensational, an important cog on the team. Looking back, that team was full of important cogs, role players that knew their roles and efficiently went about their business getting the job done.
It's weird. I watched almost every game that was on TV from 82 to about 92. (lots of lost hours of youth. lol) I don't remember those really good teams from 87 to 90 pissing away possessions. They were so crisp and good with the ball. You watch a game now and it seems like you are holding your breath trip to trip. That shouldn't be on the pro level, no matter how untalented your team is.
You might be right. Dumars hasn't been good running things for years and I think what is worse is that he seemed to take a personal emotional stake in a bad way. The Billups trade to Denver was poorly thought out, sort of vindictive for the playoff failures, and showed that he didn't really have a plan. It alienated the fans. Also, he hasn't been as available as fans would like.
One thing that was obvious is Zeke is growing older better. He's a few years older than Joe, but Joe looks like he needs a serious vacation.
Really a great athlete. Bat shit crazy, but a great player. I'm looking for an article that I read a while back talking about how he used to study film of his teammates freethrows so that he could better time and position himself to rebound their misses. The guy had one main job, and he took it very seriously.
http://www.nba.com/video/games/pistons/2011/04/01/0021001124_chi_det_pl…
Nice ceremony. Between this and the Fab Five, it's been a little spring of nostalgia. That was a bit of the old Dennis coming back - he used to always get overcome by emotions whenever he had to give a speech. I'm happy to see him get his due. It's too bad they couldn't have done this when Chuck Daly was alive, though. He was a father figure to Rodman.
Meh, he was better on the DAAAAAAA BULLSSSSSSSSS
As soon as he left the Pistons it was kind of downhill for him from an emotional standpoint. Chuck Daily was like a father to him and the rest of the team were like his older brothers. I hope he has his life back in order though. I remember seeing him on that Celebrity Rehab show a few years ago and it was pretty sad.
Daily did a great job with the guy. When he played for the Pistons, the Worm was a pretty normal guy (by NBA standards). He had a role - board and play D. He did both, got two rings and turned from a nobody into a solid NBA player. There weren't any dates with Madonna, green hair, cross-dressing, marriage ceromonies with him as the bride, kicking photographers in the junk, etc. (Right before he left there was one incident with him in the Palace parking lot, but I think he was already off the team.) You can see the great job of mentoring (not just coaching) that Daily and his staff did when you look at what he was as a Piston versus the freak show he became later on.
player. Even though he was skinny as hell, he could out board anyone.
He could sure ball.
single piece of the puzzle that throttled the Bulls during out back to back run. No other team in the country could keep Jordan from blowing up, except the Pistons. Daly would simply put Dennis on Jordan, one on one and basically tell him: Keep Jordan under thirty points and we win this game. More often than not, he was right. Jordan would get his thirty, but the rest of the team could not pick up the slack.
There wasn't one guy who stopped Jordan - it was a team effort. The Bad Boys followed the "Jordan Rules" to a T.
Those were days of tough defense. I miss Jordan and others trying to drive the lane on the Pistons and getting hammered, having to earn those points at the line. Stern really pussified basketball.
Congrats to the Worm - it was good to finally see him come back.
Dumars was the first line of defense against Jordan. Even Jordan says Joe was the guy who defended him the best.
Saying that, Rodman was the only guy I've ever seen who could defend anyone out on the court (but save for the tiniest, speediest PGs). Magic, SGs, Forwards...heck, he rejected Olajuwon and convinced me you could put him on anybody.
Anyone have a picture?
I don't have a pic but Rodman was rockin a black blazer with a sequined silver #10 on the back.
Classic
...deserved this...he deserves the HOF nod...I am happy for him. The guy is slightly nuts, but still one of the great rebounders and defenders ever.
Cool to see a lot of the Bad Guys together for the night.
Clicked on it thinking we had landed chris wormley.Imagine my disappointment.
Last one depicts a great moment when he brought out the shirt with pictures of Davidson and Chuck Daly and presented it to Karen Davidson
Rodman is the guy I patterned my game after. Constant hustle. Physically he was often at a disadvantage, but mentally - he knew what was going to happen before it did, and he could get inside the opponent's head big time. His rebounding was a thing of beauty.
I hope I can pick up a Piston's Rodman jersey now. They've been hard to come by since his time in Detroit was before the jersey fad blew up. I have a Spurs jersey, a Bulls jersey, even Lakers and Mavericks, but no Pistons jersey and that's where it all started.
I was in HS during the Bad Boys era and it was sad when DR got traded for Sean Elliott.
I'm upset I couldn't make it to the game last night, but he absolutely deserves this.
How are they handling Greg Monroe now? Doesn't he wear #10?
I was the same way until everyone got taller than me in high school. Through out middle school and my freshman year of high school my mantra for my game was tough D and rebounding. Too bad I hit my growth spurt early and everyone else got taller than me, so I had to move out to the perimeter as a guard. I sucked as a perimeter player. The worm will always be my favorite player along with Gary Peyton.
I need to get his jersey too. I have a Prince jersey, a Shaq Orlando Magic jersey, and a Grant Hill Team USA jersey.
In "Pistons Live" (pre-game) they had a segment on Greg, who said he has always worn 10 and had been nervous about asking Dennis for permission to keep wearing it. He said Dennis gave his blessing. It probably won't be issued to anyone after Greg.
Last year at the beginning of March, LeBron filed paperwork to have his number changed. Apparently there's a deadline well before the beginning of the next season. (Of course, if you change teams, the point is moot.) So Greg would have #10 for at least next season anyway.
The guy can do what he wants, but he should give it up to recognize that it has been retired. I am not a Boston fan, but Ray Bourque voluntarily changing from 7 to 77 during Phil Esposito's ceremony has to be one of the cooler things in sports.
Used to wear it for the pickup games behind Couzens Hall. Tried playing like Rodman too, though it may have ended up more like Mahorn, considering my lack of athleticism. Used to drive the guys who never played defense nuts.
<br>
<br>And for the record, Sean Elliott was a bitch.
Didn't want to wear 23 as an honor to Jordan so he picks #6. Dr. J was the original Jordan.