OT - Pistons Bringing D-League Affiliate to Grand Rapids
Report this morning from David Mayo (noted pot enthusiast) says that a West Michigan group is purchasing a D-League team and bringing it to Grand Rapids. The Pistons will control basketball operations and the ownership group will manage all of the business type stuff. Good news if you're in the Grand Rapids area and you love basketball.
The only problem here is that they will be better than the Pistons....
that I really disagree. I think all the fans really want is a D-League championship anyways.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^
Interesting since they already have a D League team in Auburn Hills.
D League level of ownership as well.
I remember the Grand Rapids Hoops from when I was young. Got to see Ray Jackson and Jimmy King play against each other in a game, pretty cool.
I remember going to the games and then shooting around in the driveway pretending I played for the Hoops. Been setting the bar high since a young age.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
Hoopie is still my favorite mascot - even named my gerbil after him when I was younger
March 26th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
Agreed. The Mackers were cool too, mostly because it was one of those pure-GR things.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
If you're from west MI and know what Val-du-lakes campground is/was, you know the den of iniquity it became toward the end; anyway I was camping there once and happened to get the site next to the guy who was Hoopie at the time (ironically his name was Zoltan), and 3 or 4 of his buddies. Long story short, over that long weekend, I witnessed more drunken debauchery, public sex, fights, midget tossing, lighting people on fire (no really, aeromed flew them out of there), wet t-shirt contests, exploding porta-pottys than most will experience in their lifetimes. It's no wonder at all that the place got shut down so many times.
That place was fearsomely awesome.
March 26th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
Don't forget Mark Hughes, co-captain of our 1989 Championship team, who played and coached the hoops for most of the 90's, including about a 2 year span where he was a "player-coach." I remember he wore those shoes with the bright colors and the big velcro straps that crossed in the middle.
Does anyone else remember the GR Tackers from the 70's? Same league as a Flint team that I assume was the inspiration from that Will Ferrell movie, Semi-Pro?
Is Darko starting at center?
is to hire Larry Brown and then only play the team's veterans. Can't confirm though.
Interesting. I don't know if the pot-shot at Mayo was necessary, though.
doobieous.
March 26th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^
I laughed so hard
Just the first thing that comes to mind every time I see his name. Think it's funny in an odd way that his employer had to publish that kind of story about one of their own employees. No malice against Mayo, he's not bad.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:04 AM ^
Wasn't he the guy that wrote that Tate was making his team mad at him because he was practicing in a plain blue helmet? I wouldn't be too worried about defending him.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
I don't really care about defending him, but it is physically impossible for me to resist an opportunity at a really bad pun.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
Mayo > Miracle Whip < Cool Whip
March 26th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
No one will take it seriously if it's played at the Delta Plex. What a joke.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
Hopefully it's just a stepping stone until they can play at Van Andel. Went to the opening game for the GR Cyclones there. Might as well be playing in a warehouse.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
Van Andel fits 10,000 people. What are the average amount of people that attend a D-League game -- 2,000? 3,000?
From a size perspective, the DeltaPlex is perfect. It's holds about 6,000 and won't have scheduling conflicts like Van Andel, which hosts big time acts when they come thorugh town.
March 26th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
Just from quick research, it looks like a lot of teams average between 3000 and 6000 fans per game. So the DeltaPlex is a fit from a size standpoint. I just don't like the venue because it's a dump. Would almost prefer they play at Hope, GVSU or Cornertsone if they could hold more people. Hopefully the increase in revenue for the DeltaPlex will encourage them to put some new seats in and jazz the place up a little bit.
March 26th, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
The bigger problem with the Delta Plex, IMO, would be the area. People like going downtown because of everything near Van Andel you can do before or after the game. What is around the Delta Plex? I guess you could go to Fazoli's before and grab some bread sticks, if that place still exists.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
I once went to the Delta Plex.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
from where I work right now, so no complaints from me. There's restaurants within driving distance, both to GR downtown and Comstock Park downtown. Obviously not like being right in GR like Van Andel though. Playing at DeltaPlex poses a few problems, like I said, hoping it's just a temporary home. There's been speculation that the DP's owners are behind the local ownership group bringing the team in, which would be a worst-case scenario.
fazolis is still there
March 27th, 2014 at 12:01 AM ^
essentially the same building that (before remodeling a decade or two ago) used to be called Stadium Arena or Turner Arena?
Though I moved away 35 years ago, I grew up in the Alpine Township/Comstock Park area and was very familiar with the place---went there several times back in the 70's to watch the Grand Rapids Owls Hockey team. The place looked back then like it needed to be bulldozed---I remember looking up from my seats, during one hockey game, at the ceiling beams and noticing a huge crack in a beam directly overhead. At one point in the building's history, the place was a discount department store for quite a long time, too. And I recall my uncles telling me they used to watch hockey there when they were teenagers, so the place has to date at least as far back as the late 40's
I don't have any idea (haven't been in there since the remodel) how extensive the remodel was, but the current exterior covers the original arched frame of the building. If the framework/structure of the place is still the original construction, though, I can understand it being called a dump. Which seems somehow fitting, given that the parent club is pretty much garbage.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
I can finally watch Mateen Cleeves(?) play a game in person!
March 26th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
I thought the Pistons were already in the d league
Why not move it to Flint and call it the Tropics...
March 26th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^
Best idea ever!!!