The Point Guard Power Rankings

This might be the golden age for point guards in the NBA. Chances are if you have an NBA team then you have a pretty good point guard. The position is just really deep. The deepest position in the league in fact. So there are a ton of conversations about, “who is the best point guard?“ There are also a lot of very different top five lists for point guards.

The fundamental differences for people who make these lists are simple. Some believe the best point guards are traditional; get their teammates involved type of point guards. Others believe that the best player playing the point guard position is the best.

I am of the belief that the best player is the best player. I know Chris Paul is the poster boy for point guard play but that doesn’t mean he impacts the game or his team winning the most. The best point guard to me is the one that knows exactly what his team needs to win.  I decided to do a list of the top 30 point guards in the league.

The NBA point guard power ranking:

1.     Russell Westbrook. OKC Thunder	I know that Westbrook has only played 11 games but have you seen his stats for those 11 games? Dude is playing like the best player in the league. Period. His PER is a whopping 31, which is one of the highest in the league. Dude is a walking triple double and plays defense at a high rate. Nobody in the league can guard him and he has become a smarter player this year. He took almost 4 threes a game last year and has dropped his average to around 2. He is just being relentless going to the basket as well as getting his teammates involved. Not sure how he doesn’t win the MVP if he keeps this up and the Thunder get like the 6th or 5th seed after their bad start.
2. Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors	Steph Curry was playing like the best point guard in the league during Westbrooks injury and has kept that up for the most part. Most people like to pigeon hole him as a 3 point shooter but he has probably the second best handle in the league and has an array of floaters and layups he uses when he gets into the paint. His one flaw is that he is not a great defender at all. For the most part golden state has had to hide him on defense. Which makes it crazier that Golden state had the 1st ranked defense for a while.
3. Chris Paul, LA Clippers	Okay I couldn’t drop Chris Paul to low. He still is guy you want your point guard to play like because of his basketball IQ and he still has a more than great 25 PER. We are actually probably sleeping on a great year from him. He is being more aggressive and let the ball out of his hands more to grow the offense. The Clippers have struggled at times but it's not really his fault. Their lack of great wing players are.
4. John Wall, Washington Wizards	This guy deserves way more respect than he gets. He is a freak athlete and still is a true point guard. He is leading the league in assist and still dropping 17 points a game. He was always dangerous driving to the basket but now he has developed a jumper that has made him a legitimate threat on offense.
5. Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors	I struggled to put Lowry this low because I love his game. What he is doing in Toronto is just amazing since Demar DeRozan went out. His splits this year is crazy. He is averaging the most points in his career (20.0 ppg) all while shooting the highest percentage he has ever shot on more shot attempts than ever. He is one of the main reason for Toronto’s emergence on top of The Eastern conference
6. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs	Tony Parker is still the Tony Parker we all know and we will remember how good he is once the playoffs roll around. So far in the season he has either been hurt or rested because Popivich openly doesn’t care about the regular season.
7. Damian Lillard, Portland Trailblazers	Lillard is one of the most clutch players I have ever seen. He lives for those moments and almost always comes through. If you don’t believe me then look at his numbers. The guy shoots 70% from the field in overtime in his career. 70! He also leads the league in 4th quarter points. His problem is his defense which isn’t terrible it just isn’t good enough to cover the other great point guards in the league.
8. Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies	Conley needs more respect and that is why he made my top ten. He does all the little things for the Grizzlies. Like making sure the offense runs through Zebo and Marc Gasol. He has also been crazy clutch as well. Hitting dagger 3’s in multiple games this year. He isnt’ the best point guard for many reasons but he more than holds his own.
9. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers	I love Kyrie. I really do. His handles are out of this world and he might have the best under the rim game and touch around the basket. My main problem with Kyrie has been his proneness to not make his teammates better. He has all the offensive skill in the world but that offense would hum a lot more if he was more of a willing passer. Score first point guard or not, you should not go a whole game without an assist. That goes for almost any position but the point guard specifically.
10. Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix Suns	Bledsoe could definitely jump up this list in the next couple of years. He is physically imposing on defense. He is a freight train in transition and has really improved his shooting. Statistically he played better last year but he is picking up the pace in December. Averaging 17.7 points and around 6 assist and 6 rebounds.
11. Jeff Teague, Atlanta Hawks	Yeah we all need to start noticing what the Atlanta Hawks are doing. They basically are the Spurs east coast division. The Hawks are leading the league in assist and Jeff Teague is filling the Tony Parker roll perfectly as a penetrator. He is also assisting at a high clip with 7 a game. He should probably be higher on this list with the Hawks being first in the east now.
12.Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls	Derrick Rose is down here because we all high no clue what he really is until he gets pass his injury stigma. If he can get over that then he would be a top 5 point guard.
13. Goran Dragic, Phoenix Suns	Dragic is up here too although he primarily plays shooting guard with Phoenix. We all know he is a point guard and he should have been an all-star last year. He is lower on this list because Phoenix hasn’t quite found their groove like last year. But he still has the splits of 16.3 ppg 4.1 ast and 4.3 rbs. Not playing on the same level as last year but I expect it to pick up.
14. Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets	He is averaging 15 and 10, which is pretty damn good, but this has translated into a ton of success for the Nuggets. Their offense usually looks discombobulated. I put some of that on the coach but the point guard is responsible too.
15. Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets	Remember when this guy was in the best point guard discussion? Yeah, me too. Dude just can’t drive the lane anymore. He even got benched for Jarrett Jack! In fact, I have him ranked too high. Drop this guy down 5 spots.
16. Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelican	Jrue should be a way better point guard. He still is a good point guard but he was a lot better in Philly. I will say that he is starting to ragain some of that mojo he had in philly though.
17. Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets	The Hornets aren’t having a great season but Walker is still a top 20 point guard. Their bad play has a lot to do with Lance Stephenson and a little bit of a slump defensively.
18. Rajon Rondo, Dallas Mavericks	I know people see Rajon Rondo as a top 10 point guard but that is really unfounded. Rajon Rondo has never made an all-star team. He has never had a PER of more than 18 in his career. He gets a lot of assist but sometimes he can be a little too ball dominant. The Mavs offense should be good for him if he buys into giving up the ball early. That offense is very much dependant on ball movement.
19. Reggie Jackson, Oklahoma City Thunder	Reggie Jackson should that he is capable of being a starting NBA guard while Westbrook was out this season. That was mainly just offensively. He has shown an ability to score at the rim but has been really bad on defense at times. It would be interesting to see how he would fair guarding the best point guards on a daily basis.
20. Isaiah Thomas, Phoenix Suns	Thomas proved to be a spark for the Suns early in the season and has put up numbers better than Kyrie Irving in his career. Obviously his size is a factor when it comes to defense.
21. Brandon Knight, Milwaukee Bucks	Brandon Knight is having a great year for the surprise Bucks. People had basically given up on him as a point guard and Jason Kidd deserves some credit for his turn around. He did average similar numbers last year but the difference is that he is shooting a lot better. Shooting almost 45% from the field and improving his 3 point shooting from 32% last year to 40% this year.
22. Darren Collison, Sacramento Kings	Collison has been an ok addition for the Kings. He is a solid point guard that can play some defense and get’s a solid number of assist.
23. Mario Chalmers, Miami Heat	Without LeBron, Mario Chalmers is taking more shots a game and shooting a worse percentage.
24. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves	Yeah he is hurt again. Oh and he still needs to develop a jump shot to reach his potential.
25. Patrick Beverly, Houston Rockets	We are at the abyss portion of this article and Patrick Beverly is only in the league because of sheer toughness and gritt.
26. Dennis Schroeder, Atlanta Hawks	He is an underrated part of that Atlanta Hawks team. Averaging 8 points and 3 assist in only 17 minutes a game.
27.Brandon Jennings, Detroit Pistons	Woah this is my bad. I started this blog a week and a half ago. Jennings has been torching since Josh Smith left. Put him up to the 22 spot.
28. Jose Calderon, New York Knicks	The Knicks are bad at basketball.
29.Devin Harris, Dallas Mavericks	A decent back up in the Mavs offense
30.Cory Joseph, San Antonio Spurs	Has filled in pretty will for Tony Parker to become a good two way player.

The Daily Bruh Review 12-9-14

Some how I was able to catch 3 different games on this Monday night. But first this night started with me deciding to eat pasta and clam sauce. Let me just say that somebody should have told me how smelly canned clam sause is man. It is stanky as hell. That has nothing to do with anything but I figured that I would warn you. Yeah I know, it is random so let's just go to some observations.

1.  Cleveland Cavaliers vs Brooklyn Nets.

Yeah the Cleveland Cavaliers are good and the Brooklyn Nets are bad. That is pretty much the conclusion anyone would get from this game. What I took from it was that the Cavs are starting to look more and more like the team we expected. LeBron being the primary facilitator has kind of loosened up the offense and they are even playing slightly better defense. These dudes are also crazy good rebounding the ball. They out-rebounded the Nets 55 to 33. There was a point where I saw Tristan Thomas get 5 offensive rebounds in what seemed like a 2 minute span.

I still think this team can use a rim protector and the show "The Starters" on NBATV was talking about a scenario where the Cavs trade Dion Waiters to the Grizzlies for Kousta Koufas. Not sure why the Grizzlies would want Waiters but all option seem reasonable.

But of course Waiters has his best game of the season probably. He shot 50% and scored 26 points from the bench. If he just embracing his bench role like Tristan Thompson has then he could really help the team.

The Nets are just really bad which doesn't surprise me but does because Lionel Hollins is a good coach.

By the way Jay Z's reaction to a crazy turnaround jump shot by LeBron was priceless.

2. Toronto Raptors vs. Denver Nuggets.

Kyle Lowry has really been stepping up his game with DeMar DeRozan out but this game really showed how valuable he was to the Raptors success even in a bad shooting night. At the end of the game the Nuggets decided to try to double team Kyle Lowry and it lead to so many great looks for his teammates in crunch time. I really like watching this Raptors team and Lou Williams is going to be an important pick up during this stretch with DeRozan out.

3. Green Bay Packers vs Atlanta Falcons.

The biggest thing I took away from this game was that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are great Hall of Fame players for many reasons. But both have areas where they lack and they make up for it with their knowledge of the game. It seems as if Aaron Rodgers don't have many areas where he lacks AND he has the knowledge. The arm talent is there and he can also run. It is hard not to see what he is doing this year and not call him the best quarterback in the league.

Oh and I hate the Falcons for being within 5 yards of the touchdown 3 times and giving up on running it with Steven Jackson every time. I lost to the worst team in one of my fantasy football league for the 3rd time this year. This time I lost by 3.5 points. Yeah I'm salty. Wasn't in the playoffs but it was more of a pride thing.




Smaller Observations:

• Read an article that Washington QB Robert Griffin was punting balls to himself for 40 minutes after practice. Maybe he wanted to have fun like he did as a kid? Maybe he is just depressed as hell. Either way this is what the season has come to 2 years in a row.

• LeBron said that he was honored to play in front of Prince William and Duchess Kate. The Nets were probably embarrassed that they had to watch how bad they were. 

• Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varajao has one of the dumbest mustaches I have ever seen. 

• I can't believe Kansas City Chief defensive back Eric Berry has lymphoma. That is just sad. Prayers up.

• I was just about to write that maybe LeBron was going to embrace his hairline and then I saw a Sprite commercial with his hair fully there. So maybe he isn't.

• John Wall's what-would-be-the game winning layup was awesome but this crazy circus shot when he began to take over in overtime is better.


• Also John Wall getting emotional after the game because a little girl that was his good friend lost her battle with cancer was a great display of humanity and was extremely sad. RIP Miyah.

• Eric Bledsoe is a guard... blocking potential game winning shots.

• Also I love the Suns and I love the Thunder but right now the Thunder is gunning for the Suns current spot in the western conference playoffs. I'm going to need the Rockets or somebody else to fall off.

• This sucks there is 11 teams in the western conference that I would want to see play in the playoffs. In the east there are only 4 teams I want to see play in the playoffs. Maybe make it the 16 best records make the playoffs. 

• The Suns loss sucked so much but I loved that game winning three from Blake Griffin. Just crazy that it went in. Blake Griffin gets the Bruh award of the night for shooting a shot that teammate J.J. Redick said he thought was an air ball and it happened to win the game.

• Check out this funny soccer video that Zach showed me. It's pretty damn funny

The Best Backcourt in the NBA?

In the upcoming days I will be starting my NBA season preview hopefully giving a look at all the teams, conferences, best storylines, best league pass teams and bold predictions.

So to hold everybody over I figured that I would dive in to this new debate over who has the best backcourt in the league. I heard the beef between Dion Waiters and John Wall and it really got me to thinking about who was truely the best backcourt in the league.

If you didn't hear the background on the story, here is an article that describes the situation in detail. Essentially Bradley Beal proclaimed that the Wizards had the best backcourt in the NBA and Dion Waiters called it, "Nonsense". Waiters believes that he and Irving hold that title.

Now I love Kyrie Irving but Dion Waiters seems like a random person to make lofty statements like that. I get the confidence but do the numbers really support this?

Now I needed somewhere to start so I decided to look at the rosters of all the teams in the league. The biggest thing that made this somewhat easy was the talent discrepancy at the two different guard positions. Most basketball fans know that point guard is one of the deepest positions in the league so finding a team with a good point guard is really easy. The shooting guard position is the one that is a little more talent challenged in terms of star power. So it narrowed down the choices a little bit.

Also be aware that some situations are in flux. The Thunder don't know who their starting shooting guard will be. I think if Reggie Jackson were to get that nod then he and Russell Westbrook would get at least some consideration in terms of a position on this list.

The top backcourts that I found in no particular order include:

Washington Wizards: Point guard John Wall and Shooting guard Bradley Beal.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Point guard Kyrie Irving and Shooting guard Dion Waiters.

Golden State Warriors: Point guard Steph Curry and Shooting guard Klay Thompson.

Brooklyn Nets: Point guard Deron Williams and Shooting guard Joe Johnson.

Toronto Raptors: Point guard Kyle Lowry and Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan.

Charlotte Hornets: Point guard Kemba Walker and Shooting guard Lance Stephenson.

San Antonio Spurs: Point guard Tony Parker and Shooting Guard Manu Ginobili.

Phoenix Suns: Point guard Goran Dragic and Point guard/Shooting guard Eric Bledsoe.

Those are mainly the only teams with formidable players at both guard spots. Most other teams have great point guards and specialist at shooting guards. This include the Clippers with Chris Paul at point guard and J. J. Redick, a shooting specialist at shooting guard. You also have the teams like the Heat and the Rockets that have an all-star shooting guard and an average or below point guard.

Now I can break out all the stats and we could count how much each back court scored and assisted compared to the others but that might not be a good indication when you try to factor in shooting percentages, defense, and how often they get to the foul line or create opportunities for their teammates.

The best way to look at all of those combined is to look at the win shares and efficiency ratings of each back court. Win shares is the estimated amount of wins that this person (or 2 people in this case) adds to the team. The player efficiency rating is the all encompassing statistic for how well a person plays. The average PER is 15. Kevin Durant posted a 29.8 PER for reference.

My gut and eyes told me that the Warriors were the best back court in basketball but here are the numbers:

Wizards: 11.9 win shares and 33.8 cumulative PER. (Beal only added 14.3).

Cavs: 8.3 win shares and 34.1 cumulative PER (Waiters only added 1.6 win shares and 14 PER).

Warriors: 20.1 win shares and 38.4 cumulative PER (Klay added 6.7 ws and 14.3 PER).


Nets: 10.3 win shares and 33.1 cumulative PER (Both had similar PER and ws).

Raptors: 20.5 win shares and 38.5 cumulative PER (Lowry added almost 12 ws, DeRozan almost 9).

*Hornets: 12.5 win shares and 31.5 cumulative PER (Lance had the higher ws, Walker had higher PER. Also played on separate teams last year so no as valid).

Spurs: 11.6 win shares and 38.9 cumulative PER (The low ws not surprising because the Spurs share the ball but man their PER is amazing).

*Suns: 14.4 (18.5 for full season) win shares and 41.0 cumulative PER (Keeping in mind Bledsoe only played 43 games. So he only had 4 win shares which would give him around 8 win shares in a full season)

Based on the numbers it looks like the Toronto Raptors had the best back court. I actually thought that they were underrated coming into this article. The numbers prove that to be incredibly true because they had more win shares than any other team and posted the 3rd highest PER. The Warriors were not far behind and I put them at second. The numbers rank out the teams:

1. Raptors

2. Warriors

3. Suns

4. Spurs

5. Wizards

6. Nets

                                                                                                        7. Cavs

                                                                                                         8.Hornets (only because they have yet to play with each other.)

So the two teams disputing this title were relatively low on the list. It should be noted that Bradley Beal was also hurt at times last season and increased hi playoff production to 19 points per game and a PER of 17. So he'll most likely get better and that coupled with John Wall's progression should jump the Wizards ahead of the aging Spurs.

The Cavs on the other hand was not surprisingly carried by Irving and I don't see that getting better with LeBron and Kevin Love in Cleveland to take away opportunities from Waiters (which is obviously justified). Their low ranking is also not surprising because of the reports the had issues last years.

The Suns are a team that might have had a chance to take the number one spot if they were healthy the whole year. Their PER was amazing. Also Bledsoe's ability to play defense at a high levels and the Suns system allows for both guards to flourish in the pick and roll.

The Warriors were great offensively and although they were carried a lot by Steph Curry, Klay scored at a great clip and added more defense than Steph Curry ever could. I still think this is the best back court to watch.

Once I started doing this blog I suspected that the Raptors would rank high because of their combined
scoring ability and their fairly underrated defensive abilities. Lowry is a hard nosed strong defender and DeRozan can be really scrappy as well. Imagine also how much higher their stat totals would have been if they traded Rudy Gay before last season. Seeing as their stats improved after Gay was traded to the Kings last December.

Everybody will have their own opinion but the Raptors might have the best back court in the NBA. Get those boys in Toronto more national TV games!!!!

Monday Spread Option 02-10-14

1. SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Missouri DE, Michael Sam came out as homosexual this weekend, what do you think it means for him and his hopes to get drafted and for the NFL as a whole?

Spencer-
For Michael Sam himself I think it just shows how courageous he is as a person to be open about being a homosexual knowing the judgement that can come with it. He broke the barrier and in a way, like Jason Collins was for the NBA has become an activist for being open about your sexuality no matter who you are or what you do. I sincerely hope he is judged by NFL scouts for his athletic ability and skill as a football player and not for anything else other than that. Obviously the media is going to make a bigger deal out of a potential NFL player being gay than what should be made in today's day and age, but that shouldn't deter a team from drafting him. When they look at Sam and his athletic resume they should decide to draft him or not draft him because they feel he is going to contribute to their team's success or not. Obviously I don't have control over that but his sexuality or the unnecessary attention that comes with drafting him shouldn't be reasons for not taking him in the draft.

Ty-
Honestly I don't know. I believe that this shouldn't be a big deal at all. Openly homosexual people have become more accepted in our community, as they should have. So my hope would be that it wont affect his draft status at all. But I will say that just because we like to believe that in 2014 homosexual people are universally accepted than we would be wrong. There is still a lot of discrimination and hate in the world. Although I don't think he will go through anything that a Jackie Robinson will go through I'm sure that he will go through his own hardship and he is a brave person to be the first openly homosexual in the NFL. But we won't know how this affects him until draft day. Mel Kiper has Sam graded as a 4th rounder. If he shows well in the combine but slips more than 2 rounds in the draft than I think that tell us all we need to know about how ready NFL teams are to draft a homosexual player. I do think that people aren't giving football players enough credit. I played football in high school with a lot of guys who are very open minded. The best thing about this is that although it seems a little late for this to happen, all you need is one person to make this no longer a problem or a big deal. This will be great for athletes who feel they have to hide who they are in order to realize a dream of theirs.

2. The Dunk Contest has a new format. Do you like it? Do you think that it will make the contest better?

Ty-
The Dunk Contest format has changed quite a bit. Now instead of head to head there will be two teams, East and West. There will be a freestyle portion where people just continue to dunk for 90 seconds non-stop and the judges decide which team wins. The winnng team decides who goes first in the second round which is a head to head portion where one dunker from one conference goes up against another from the other conference. The judges will decide each head to head matchup until one conference has won 3 matches. Each match loser is eliminated, so you could have a situation where one player has to win 3 head to head matchups in a row to win for his team. After the winning conference is crowned then fans get to vote on who the "Dunker of the Night" was.

I think that I really like the format change. I'm excited to see how well it works and if it adds more intrigue to the final event. It also helps that for the first time since the 80's there are 3 All-Star players (Paul George, John Wall, Damien Lillard) in the dunk contest. Sure it's not LeBron but I also feel like LeBron is more of a great in game dunker than he would be in a competition like this.


Spencer-
I do like the changes. I think before the NBA was having problems getting stars into it, the dunks were getting less and less impressive, this was a creative change that allowed for more of a "team" feel but still come competitiveness with people coming up with creative ways to dunk the ball. I think the togetherness or team aspect of it now promotes some of the bigger names to do it cause they all get to play as together, be creative together and do less dunks individually. Can't argue with the NBA trying to bring in a positive change to it to bring back its popularity. If not for anything people will at least check it out to see this new format.

3. The Olympics have started. What do you think will be, or should be the most watched events?

 Spencer-
 Personally, I'm most excited for the Hockey and I enjoy watching some other events like Curling cause it's just so different and the strategy to it is pretty cool, the Bobsled cause who doesn't like a sled going down a ice slide at 90 mph, and then some of the skiing/snowboarding stuff is pretty cool too. I think Americans should try to watch as many events as they can cause whether you believe it or not the Olympics is a cool way to unite people in each country around the world by showing some competitiveness but advertising togetherness as well. That being said though I think the Hockey will be the most watched. After 2010 in Vancouver when the U.S. nearly beat Canada for the gold medal in one of the best hockey games of all time I think people will be anticipating that again. I still remember all the tweets hating on Canada after that game so I know everyone wants a rematch with that team for gold this year.

Ty-
I think most people are going to tune in for the hockey portion. Specially if you are a NHL fan because they have put the season on pause for the olympics. I like watching most of the events because they are so fascinating to me. Alpine Skiing is crazy.Luge looks like it's fun to do. Bobsled, shout out to Jamaica! "Sanka, you dead?" "Yah man". Yes I just quoted cool runnings! You also can't forget about figure skating and my personal favorite, Curling. They just slide a thing on ice and the team sweeps in front of it to control where it goes! I think that it's just simply amazing that somebody though of that as a sport. 

4. There are only 2 undefeated teams in men's college basketball

left, Wichita State and Syracuse. Which team do you think can stay undefeated longer?

Ty-
I think that it is almost a little crazy that these two teams are even undefeated but Wichita State has a better chance. Syracuse is really good but they do have weaknesses. One weakness is that besides Cooney, they aren't a very good shooting team. But they find ways to win with their great front line and defense. It just doesn't seem like the Orange are a dominant team. Which is fine because they keep finding ways to win. They are coming up on a rough stretch though, going on the road to face Duke, Pitt and Virginia in 3 of the next 6 games. I wouldn't be surprised if they won all of those games but they have benefited from playing some of their harder opponents at home. Wichita State has a great team that has continued the momentum from it's run in the tournament last year but they aren't as good a Syracuse. They just benefit from being in a conference that might only get one tournament bid.

Spencer-
Although I hope my Orange pull off the undefeated season I think it is very unlikely given their tough schedule down the stretch, so I got to go with Wichita. Syracuse plays in the ACC and even though the have made the transition to the conference very well (out to a 10-0 start), they still play games with quality opponents in their eight remaining games including #25 Pittsburgh, a highly anticipated rematch at #8 Duke and #17 Virginia. It's not going to be easy to sweep those games. With that in mind I take a look at Wichita who is a well deserving to ranked team, and I see a schedule that bodes well for them going undefeated. They only have six games remaining, all against non-ranked Missouri Valley Conference foes. Enough said. Great team in a week conference could mean undefeated.

5. What did we learn this week in sports?

Spencer: Fan's think buying a ticket to the game is a free pass to be as ignorant as they want.

Look I love going to games live and in person and cheering for my teams, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I think we saw that line being crossed during the incident at the Texas Tech, Oklahoma State game when Marcus Smart shoved a fan who insulted him when he fell out of bounds into the stands. Now we don't know exactly what was said but it may have been racial, and even if it wasn't I just can't accept this as a culture. Look boo all you want, disagree with a call and express your anger, but when you insult a person or label them with judgements and fallacies it's crossing the line in my opinion.

Do I agree that Smart should of shoved the guy? No, keep your composure man that's part of your job. But it's also part of a fan's job to show some respect for the game and the players playing it. People forget that sports are there for our entertainment pleasure, which means the people playing them are their for our entertainment too. Whether or not they are on your team shouldn't matter, they are still playing a childs game that we love to watch. If you're going to be obnoxious watch from your house so you can scream at the TV and your family won't judge you. But it isn't a free for all for fans just cause you bought a ticket to the game. Also if the n-word was thrown out there that is even more ridiculous cause now while Smart serves a suspension and the fan who brought race wrongly into it gets to come back next week. We expect our beloved athletes to show some character, well why don't we as fans show some damn character? Stop embarrassing yourself, and the members of your fan base.

Ty- (Editor/Side note: Does anybody believe that this guy only said "Piece of crap"? Either the Orr guy is a little kid and preceded to call Smart a "Doo doo head dumbie" and Smart is really short tempered. Or  this Orr guy is lying about what he said.)

The Detroit Pistons don't realize their problems stem from signing Josh Smith and not Maurice Cheeks.

The Pistons recently fired their head coach Mo Cheeks after the team started 21-29 in an already disappointing eastern conference.

The Pistons are the east bizarro-esqu version of the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams added tons of talent in the offseason, but they added talent that was redundent to their roster. The Pelicans added too many guards when they traded for Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, which resulted in poor defense and a poor record.

The Pistons did the same thing but with front court players. They added Josh Smith and forced him to play as a small forward when he has always played better as a power forward. This meant a lineup of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. This resulted in bad defense, bad offense, and a poor record. Josh Smith is too slow footed to cover quicker small forwards and Greg Monroe continues to be to slow of foot to guard well ever. Meanwhile the Pistons score below the league average for points per game.

Joe Dumars was praised for putting together the Pistons team that won a championship in 2004 but maybe it is time that he is let go. He has now possibly botched two free agent periods where the Pistons had ample amount of cap space. Maybe another coach can come in there and make them a better team either for the rest of the season or next year but right now the Josh Smith signing is looking like a failure. It also hurts that the Pistons are on the verge of missing the playoffs in a conference where the number 3 seed is only 2 games over .500.