DOY: Rodney Stuckey

I hope there can be about 100 posters of the 'Handsome Brontosaurus' Chris Bosh getting dunked on like he did last night in Detroit. This probably will be the highlight of the Pistons' worthless seasons. My dream for playoffs is Derrick Rose right over Bosh. I will buy a poster asap.

-Charlie.

Deal At Your Own Risk

Every once and a while there comes a time in sports when a GM just becomes too good at his job. When it happens, you are assured of two things. 1.) Every single one of their draft picks is somehow better than it looks, and 2.) If you make a trade with them, you are probably getting ripped off. Right now there are only two such GMs in all of sports. You can think of one easily, even if you aren't sure of his name. Scott Pioli, the Vice President - Player Personnel of the Patriots, has such a track record of excellence that even when he makes a seeming reach for a draft pick (Logan Mankins in the first round in 2005) the general reaction is not "Man, now that was a dumb move". No, the reaction is something more along the lines of "The Patriots drafted that guy? Ugh, how did we miss him?"

The other GM that has reached that level? None other than former Phoenix Suns GM and current Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo. Just think of all the moves he has made in the past few years that any other GM would have scoffed at. Signing Steve Nash to $65 million contract. Trading Joe Johnson for two first rounders and Boris Diaw, who at the time was considered a bust. Signing Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbosa for the Raptors. Trading big for small in the T.J. Ford/Charlie Villanueva trade. Very few if any of the other GMs in the league would have to had the guts to pull off even one of these deals, and yet Colangelo has come out on top every time. To put it simply: the man knows his stuff.

So why am I so interested in Bryan Colangelo today? Mainly because I saw this post on Need4Sheed earlier today. To summarize:

The Pistons made their first move of the off-season Friday, shipping Carlos Delfino to Toronto in exchange for second-round picks in the 2009 and 2011 NBA drafts.

So what has the 25 year old Delfino done in Detroit? In three years he has averaged 4.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in less than 15 minutes per game. So...why is Colangelo so high on him? Well, Delfino is best when driving to the basket, and his scoring mentality will fit in perfectly with the Raptors new mindset under Colangelo's watchful eye. Also, the trade probably spells the end of Morris Peterson's career in Toronto, as free agent's 20 minutes a night will likely go to Delfino. So essentially Colangelo was able to take a player that was withering away on Detroits bench for the price of two second rounders, and that player will allow the Raptors to save at least $2 million in cap space in replcing Peterson while being able to bring in a substantially younger player that better fits their system than Peterson did. A year from now, when Delfino is playing 23 minutes a night for the Raptors and playing effectively, everyone is going to turn to the Pistons and ask "How did you let this guy go?" The answer? They dared to deal with best.

I Wonder What He'll Do If They Lose At Home

This has to be my favorite YouTube clip of the week. Rasheed completely nails some guy in the face with his jersey after the Pistons' Game 4 loss. You have to love the guy who tries to catch the jersey before it hits the other guy in the face: now that is a team player.

Which Way to the Finals?

Throughout the post-season, LeBron and Company have done enough to put away the Wizards and Nets, but now it's time for them to step up. Last season, the overconfident Detroit Pistons, led by the ever obnoxious Rasheed Wallace, allowed the Cavs to snatch a game away from them in a series that many media outlets declared should have been a sweep. Then Rasheed worked his magic, opening his loud mouth to declare that the Cavs wouldn't win any more games in the series. Obviously this is really stupid...remember how Greg Oden threw down on Joey Dorsey, after Dorsey talked trash? So the Cavs won another game...oh yea they won one more, too. In games 6 and 7 there was Detroit, on the brink of elimination, when the Cavs collapsed, bringing more woe to Cleveland...as if we need any more of it.

If I was rational, I would say the Cavs are going to lose this series, too. But I'm a Cleveland sports fan, and obviously not rational.

So without further ado, I present THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS' KEYS TO REACHING THE NBA FINALS!

Get physical!: After watching the Cavs fail to retaliate against Mikki Moore's hard foul against Sacha Pavlovic in the Nets-Cavs series, I came to realize just how "buddy-buddy" the NBA can be. I don't care if you're friends with an opponent, LeBron. This is the playoffs...retaliate...foul them hard. Same goes for the rest of the Cavs. EVERYONE must play physical, from Daniel Gibson to Damon Jones. Yesterday, the Pistons announced they had a big, bad hurting awaiting LeBron whenever he tries to drive to the basket. Fine...Zydrunas should hear that and elbow Rasheed Wallace in the head (kind of like what Wallace did to Ilgauskus last year, which required the Cavs center to have multiple stitches).

Find a killer instinct: If the Cavs go up in the series, they MUST put the nail the coffin. After watching Game Six of the Nets series, it seems they learned their lesson from last year, as the Cavs drained three after three to put the Nets away by sixteen. However, the Cavs cannot just live and die by the three. Too often some of the Cavs *cough* Larry Hughes *cough* have a tendency to clang jumper after jumper off of the rim, when they're obviously cold. In the past two games, Hughes was a revolting 4-23 from the field and 2-5 from the line, while averaging 3.5 assists. The whole idea of playing Hughes at point was to cut down on his trigger-happy tendencies...Mike Brown has to pound this into Larry's head again. So instead of continually shooting wild jumpers the Cavs must......

DRIVE!!! DRIVE INSIDE, DRIVE INSIDE, DRIVE INSIDE!: Everytime I see someone throwing up a ton of low-percentage shots, I want to vomit. Bang it inside to Z or Drew Gooden. Even Anderson Varejao could throw in the occasional basket if they get it to him inside. Of course, this would require the Cavs to actually get physical...and they had better be against the Pistons. Mike Brown could also use LeBron and Hughes to make slashing cuts to the basket. Who knows, maybe it'd even cut down on Hughes jacking up random jumpers. Drives could be ugly, but at least they don't produce rim-clanging nausea.

Defend the pick and roll!: In the Nets two wins, they ran the pick and roll with impunity. It was disgusting...over and over and over. The main culprit: Drew Gooden. He let Mikki Moore (on his 7th different NBA team in 9 years) blow by him again and again. Gooden better learn how to play better defense for the Pistons, or else it's going to be a long series.

Crash the Boards: The Cavs did a terrific job out-rebounding the less physical Nets in the first couple games of the series, but then went soft. They can't afford to go soft against the nasty Pistons. Once again, the big men HAVE TO get physical, crashing the boards and fighting for every loose ball.

Point guard?: Uhh...what's that? The Cavs need to find a permanent solution in the offseason at point guard. Eric Snow can be a great defender, but is simply not an offensive threat. The Larry Hughes "band-aid" isn't really working, as he still attempts to operate as more of a shooting guard. Mike Brown could take a risk, and attempt to play Daniel Gibson at PG for longer spurts in the game, as he performed well in Game 6 against the Nets.

If the Cavaliers can play up to their potential, and play with intensity, they have a decent shot at winning what could be a long and brutal series.