OT - Pistons Bringing D-League Affiliate to Grand Rapids

Submitted by MGoChippewa on

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.  

Six Championship Drive

mgobleu

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.

WolvinLA2

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.

MGoChippewa

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.

WolvinLA2

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.

MGoChippewa

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.

rob f

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.