Vince Ellis reports... "Coach Lawrence Frank cited stats after practice Monday that say Detroit was 29th out of 30 teams defensively in January. The Pistons improved to 17th during February and were eighth during March."

Those stats aren't points scored, it's points per 100 possessions.

Courtesy of PistonPowered.

Courtesy of Ball Don't Lie.

Pruiti, writer of the great NBA Playbook, provides his first in a series of year-long rookie rankings on Grantland. Knight ranks fourth. According to Pruiti:

"Right now, when Knight defends the ball handler in pick-and-roll situations, he forces turnovers 25 percent of the time. Much of that has to do with Knight's length, but it also has to do with his effort on defense."

There's more at the link.

Looks like Oden is staying with the Blazers for one more year. I wouldn't turn down $8.9 million, either.

From someone writing in to Drew Magary's mailbag at Deadspin.

"I work in a well-known Federal building. A week ago I walked into the men's room at the same time as a political appointee, whom might I add, doesn't know me from Adam. As we sidled up to urinals 1 and 3, respectively, he unzipped his pants and said at normal volume, "It's...Showtime!". I had to replay what I had just heard in my head two or three times to make sure I heard it correctly. I was sure of it when he began urinating and released a bassoon-eque fart simultaneously. It was, indeed, showtime."

Courtesy of Tom Ziller at SB Nation.

The Pistons' restricted free agents are Afflalo Stuckey and Jonas; unrestricted are Wilcox, Summers, McGrady, and Prince.

Who do you want the Pistons to target?

My dream would be DeAndre Jordan (restricted) but that seems highly unlikely. More realistically, I'm interested in Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Craig "The Rhino" Smith, Shelden Williams, and Troy Murphy. Yes, those are all bigs. No, that's not a coincidence.

Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News reports that sideline reporter Eli Zaret has been released. it sounds like Zaret wasn't surprised by the move after Pistons executive vice president of broadcasting, Pete Skorich, left a few weeks ago.

H/T to TrueHoop

Kissing Suzy Kolber, for those who don't know, is a satirical website focused on the NFL. After Bernard Berrian's Twitter comments to Minnesota State Representative and disabled veteran John Kriesel, one of the KSK authors, Matt Ufford, created a post imagining Berrian's response to criticism from others, including the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and a puppy. It was obviously satire, but Berrian's legal team threatened a lawsuit. Ufford, himself an Iraq veteran, offered to make changes to the post in lieu of removing it. Unfortunately, that was insufficient for Berrian's PR team, so KSK removed the post to avoid a frivolous lawsuit. The link has Ufford's letter to Berrian's PR people, as well as the KSK response to the issue.

I thought I'd make sure the Daily Norseman readers knew this. I used to like Berrian, but he is doing himself no favors in the past week.

Food for thought from Mike Payne's favorite website, PistonPowered.

Sebastian Pruiti of the fantastic NBA Playbook blog breaks down the newest Piston guard. I urge you to check out the video, but here's a summary:

GOOD: Good ball-handler. Can penetrate but doesn't finish explosively. Avoids defense around the rim with nice floater. Nice shooting form.

BAD: Not an instinctive passer. Handles traps poorly. Turnover prone. Occasionally poor shot selection.

Tip of the hat to PistonPowered.

From today's Ball Don't Lie chat...

3:31 Birdman84:
If the Cavs take Irving, will they look to dump Sessions. Ramon would look good in Pistons blue.

3:31 KDonhoops: He'd be perfect for the Pistons as another shoot-first guy that looks uneasy running the point.

Yes, I know I missed a question mark.

"26. Detroit Pistons
Name me a bigger hit-or-miss general manager than Joe Dumars. He's like the Warren Beatty of NBA GMs -- either he delivers a hit or bankrupts your studio, with no in-between.

Mega-Hits: Trading Jerry Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton; getting Ben Wallace as compensation for Grant Hill's Orlando signing that would have happened anyway; orchestrating the Rasheed Wallace trade; stealing Chauncey Billups in free agency; drafting Greg Monroe.

Mega-Misses: Blowing the Darko pick (which should really count three times); giving an aging Hamilton a cap-crippling extension for reasons that remain unclear; turning Billups and Antonio McDyess into four months of a past-his-prime Allen Iverson, then $95 million of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva; giving away Arron Afflalo (and his dirt-cheap contract) that same summer for a future second-round pick to clear salary because he just spent $95 million on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva."

I don't always agree with Simmons, but I think he's pretty accurate here.

DeMarcus C. Cousins did not fly home with the Kings after a loss against the Dallas Mavericks. He was apparently mad at Donte Greene for the last possession. Greene passed to Tyreke Evans instead of Cousins.

Beat you to it, PS!

Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook breaks down how Antonio McDyess got into position to get a game-winning tip.

I love NBA Playbook. I always learn something.

This is awesome. Hoopism has created one of the best ways for basketball fans to waste hours at a time. Almost every completed dunk in the history of the NBA's Slam Dunk Contest is in here. It's sorted by score and round, as well. Unfortunately, Chris Andersen's 79 missed dunks are not included.

H/T to TrueHoop.

Dan Feldman of PistonPowered writes on TrueHoop, looking at how Dumars' reliance on veteran talent has led to the Pistons' decline. It is rather depressing.

Kelly Dwyer discusses our own Kevin Sawyer's All-Overrated Team. The list gets Dwyer's stamp of approval.

For Mr. Payne. Gordon, Villanueva, Monroe, and McGrady have all been working with Arnie Kander.

"Were the Piston Decimated by Injuries Last Season?"

Ben Gulker answers this question on Dave Berri's blog. It's good stuff, even if you don't care for the Wins Produced metric.

Funny stuff, especially if you know comics.

Golden State trades Corey Magette to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell. The Warriors get some cap space out of the deal. Gadzuric expires in 2011; Bell expires in 2012.

We've discussed trading for Magette as a way to move up in the draft. Well, so much for that. DeMarcus Cousins is looking increasingly unattainable. Although... a Biedrins for Prince trade would still work. Hmm...

Hat tip: Fanhouse

If DeMarcus Cousins really did fail a drug test, would he fall to the Pistons? Would we still want him? Could he just be another Michael Beasley? More questions?

Tom Ziller takes a look at Monroe's rebounding numbers to see if Monroe's soft reputation is deserved.