“He said he wanted to fight me? You all need to check and see if he’s still drinking.”
-Ben Wallace
(explanation)

Forever ingrained into Pistons history, Allen Iverson has elected to return to the 76ers. Since Louis Williams is out for a while, AI should be able to get some of that precious playing time that Michael Curry so fondly deprived him of.
Oh yeah, and guess who the Sixers play not after Iverson’s debut? You guessed it, the Pistons.
Iverson signed a free-agent contract with Philadelphia on Wednesday, three years after their acrimonious split led to his trade and seemingly ended any chance of his return. Iverson’s brief retirement is over and …

The Pistons are running out of bench. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Charlie Villanueva’s nose slams into Big Ben’s hip and surgery follows. Here’s to hoping Kwame Brown has one hell of a game tonight.
Villanueva updated the world Sunday with a Twitter posting: “Surgery tomorrow, wish me luck, I will send a tweet during surgery, lol, the mask is on its way, lets go.”
Villanueva suffered the broken nose during the Pistons’ 94-88 victory over the visiting Hawks on Sunday, a win that snapped a seven-game losing steak.
It happened when …

I know I’ve been following Sheed more than many of you would care to hear about, but I can’t help myself – the man is absolute entertainment.
After being T’d up for arguing a Hedo Turkoglu flop, Sheed was fined $30,000 for this spewing this outrageously humorous statement:
“They’ve got to know that he’s a (darn) flopper. That’s all Turkododo do. Flopping shouldn’t get you nowhere. He acts like I shot him. That’s not basketball, man. That’s not defense. That’s garbage, what it is. I’m glad I don’t have too much of …

Prior to Sunday, the last seven games were tough times for avid Pistons fans. Honestly, we were almost halfway to catching up with the Nets. But the drought ended Sunday afternoon, and that deserves a post.
•Historically, from what I can remember, the Pistons are horrible in Sunday afternoon games. To have this game be the one that snaps the streak is big.
•I’m surprised the Pistons aren’t doing worse, considering 95% of their team is injured in some way or another.
•Charlie broke his nose – story of the month for Detroit. …

Not to make light of this situation at all, but I did enjoy seeing “MAKE SOME NOISE!!!” on TV.
Link
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)—A small fire kept Detroit Pistons fans from watching most of the second half of Friday’s 104-96 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The fire filled a production truck with smoke during the second half and the live feed was lost for the rest of the game. No one was hurt.
Viewers saw the feed from the arena’s scoreboard once a connection with Palace of Auburn Hills was made, but the …

Pretty crazy stuff for a guy who started over 400 consecutive games. This will be the perfect window for Jerebko and Daye to step up and show their stuff, which I’m sure they’re more than willing to do. I would keep an eye out on trade rumors too, the longer Tay sits out (without surgery), the more I get to thinking there’s something going on behind the scenes…
Vince Ellis/DFP:
For now, the remedy is rest for the ruptured disc in Tayshaun Prince’s back, but possible surgery to correct the problem hasn’t …

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I know many of you despise Sheed for signing with the enemy, but put that aside for a moment:

For the past two seasons, I have run a Detroit Pistons blog, and for the past two seasons, I have done season previews prior to the regular season tip-off.
This year, I admitted my defeat.
I tried to come up with something, anything, even if my preview was a little short compared to seasons past. I just flat-out couldn’t do it. That’s how outrageously different this year’s team is.
I tried to start out with the easy stuff: focusing on the returners. But not even the “sure things” are sure things anymore.
We used …

•Remember Derrick Coleman? How couldn’t you? Well, he’s the new DPS athletics commissioner. Try goofing off with Coleman breathing down your neck.
•Grand Rapids = A bit of revenge for Flip Saunders. Wish it wouldn’t have been blacked out.
•Jonas Jerebko gave Antawn Jamison a run for his money. Vince Ellis is rooting for him — and so am I for what it’s worth. Had a chance to interview him after open practice, he’s a good guy.
•Will Bynum has the most popular number in NBA history.
•The Cavs are all getting the flu …

8 spots have been filled, leaving 8 spots remaining for this year’s 3rd annual Yahoo fantasy basketball league!
If you want in, drop me an e-mail at pistonpost@gmail.com with the e-mail address you want the invitation sent to.
Like I said, only 8 more available spots. Of course, this is 100% free — first come, first served!

From my piece over at The Western Herald:
The complete Detroit Pistons team is gathered near the scorer’s table. Each player wears a blue or white practice jersey with their numbers printed on both sides.
With a basketball in his hand, backup guard Will Bynum steps out of the group and firmly plants his feet just outside the right wing. He glances upward, then heaves the ball 25 feet into the Palace air. Thousands of fans watch, each one standing and momentarily silent. Bynum takes off running. The ball lands near the …

Well, the Palace crew is now 2-0 in the preseason. Great win last night, despite the preseason status. However, it seems the bigger story around the media is the replacement refs’ free throw blunder:
The replacement referees caused confusion in the first quarter of the Pistons’ 113-104 preseason win over the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night. Ersan Ilyasova was fouled while shooting a jumper and awarded two free throws. During the next timeout, more than 90 seconds later, the officials decided he had been taking a 3-pointer, and gave him another shot.He …

I’ve been having some problems with readers being able to post comments for the past month or so, but needless to say I finally got to the bottom of it and fixed the issue. Before, if you tried to post a comment, you likely saw “Failed to add you comment” pop up.
If you post a comment now, you should have no problems whatsoever. In the rare occasion that you do, please let me know ASAP via the “Contact” tab near the top of the page.

There’s an excellent new interview that ESPN’s Scoop Jackson scored with Allen “I’m a $&%#ing starter” Iverson.
Part of me loves the interview because it’s essentially a Curry bash. Part of me wants to throw my monitor against the wall, seeing how Iverson has become the NBA’s Brett Favre, at the expense of our fine basketball club.
The highlight of the interview, for me, was when Iverson said coming off the bench was “the worst year of [his] career.” So coming off the bench for a few games is worse for your …

It’s official – at least 50% of Charlie Villanueva’s livelihood just went out the window. He was quoted at Media Day saying he would “respect the rules” but that he really wanted to “tweet at halftime.” It was anticipated, but now it’s set it stone.
The rule bans Twitter, Facebook, and just about anything classified as a “social networking site.”
Marc Stein writes:
The league has defined “during games” as the period of time beginning 45 minutes before the opening tip and ending “after the postgame locker room is open to the media …

It’s that time of year again, but space is limited to 16 spots (15 if you count me)!
If you want in, drop me an e-mail at pistonpost@gmail.com with the subject line “Fantasy” and the e-mail address you want the invitation sent to.
Like I said, only 15 more available spots. First come, first served! Don’t miss out on six months of relentless head-to-head fantasy basketball!

By now, I’m sure everybody’s heard about the JR Smith incident that will get him benched for the regular season’s first seven games.
The circumstances are sad (in regards to JR), but Arron Afflalo will likely be allowed to take advantage of them.
Afflalo is the favorite to start in Smith’s spot during his suspension, according to the Denver Post.
The loss of Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza left a pretty damn big gap in the Nuggets rotation, especially defensively. Guess who fit right in? Our own Mr. Afflalo, who Karl practically picked …