Pretty strong accusation

:mccosky:


What is Kenny Smith watching?

Sometimes I wonder if Kenny Smith watches any of these games he yammers on about hour after hour on TNT Thursday nights? I know he couldn't have watched the Pistons-Cavs game Thursday. Afterward, he ripped the Pistons defense. He said, basically (you can read his exact quote in the paper tomorrow or on line later today) that the Pistons aren't very good defensively without Ben Wallace. This after they held Cleveland to 71 points at home. My goodness, tough crowd.

Let me tell you a Kenny Smith story. Did you know he played for the Pistons? He did, nine forgettable games back in 1996-1997. He conned Doug Collins into giving him a one-year guaranteed contract, for the veteran's minimum at that time (I think it was $1 million). Kenny was smart, though. Ahead of his time, really. He knew he could double his salary if he got waived by the Pistons and picked up by another team. So, the whole time he was here, he basically was trying to convince Collins to waive him. Which is exactly what ended up happening. He was signed on Sept. 17, waived on Nov. 21.

Here's how obvious Kenny's plan was. Rick Mahorn and Grant Long nicknamed him Kato, after O.J. Simpson’s famed houseguest Kato Kaitlan, because Smith knew he was going to be waived and never rented an apartment or brought any of his personal belongings to Detroit. He stayed with teammates and mooched off their stuff the whole two months. He was their not-so-adorable houseguest.

Piece of work, wasn't he? Oh, and yes, he did get picked up (he played for both Orlando and Denver that year, which was his last in the NBA) and he did double his salary.

Forgive the inconsistency of my blogging lately. Blame the holidays. Just too much to tend to. Things will get somewhat back to normal in a week or so. Happy Holidays, all.

At the time, what they were saying was that Kenny Smith refused to go on the injured list and -that's- what pissed off Doug Collins (that and Kenny's toilet paper D, but I have to believe Collins knew that about Kenny Smith). This was back when players and teams had to agree to bullshit injuries in order to stay on contract, yet not part of the 12-man game roster.

And no fucking way was the veteran's minimum $1 million in the 1997 season. That was pre-lockout, and minimum was something like $200k and it didn't slide up much as a function of being a veteran. Not that I wouldn't mind if $200k found its way under my Christmas tree, but it wasn't a spectacular sum in NBA terms even back then.

I was going to guess around $200K myself.

What is the vet minimum now?

This is stupid. Apparently McClueless has decided eating to look like Oliver Stone was no longer enough he needed to master the art of conspiracy theory hunting. I am Sorry but I doubt the genius of Kenny Smith is the fact he made off with 200k-1 million of Detroit's salary then manipulated his release so he could get a pro rated second and third deal in the season.

Bottomline is Kenny Smith was wrong to be critical of the Pistons D in the Cavs game, but most would agree as of right now the defense still is our biggest concern.

Right now we look great on both sides, but last season with Ben we looked invincible for most of the season, then folded when it mattered. Therefore it isn't out the question to think the team may suffer defensively as the season grinds on into boredom, and the question will be can the team get back to top form when they need to?. Plus I think Kenny Smith on Thursday was out of his element, there was no Sir Charles and he was looking to be entertaining more than normal.

What is the vet minimum now?

Depends on time and service. The number of years you play increases the amount of the minimum.

i dont recall kenny smith being overly negative about us last year.

the defense without Ben Wallace thing is just one of those "accepted by sportswriters" facts. it's an easy thing to say that is probably on some level true, and it gives em something to yak about on TV.

Kenny isn't the brightest guy around. Hopefully some of you have heard the soundbyte that Jim Rome plays that contains a story/analogy that Kenny told during the lockout. It was some nonsensical story about the lockout being like driving a car that was running out of gas.

Whenever Kenny's name pops up as a GM or coaching candidate, it makes me laugh.

He's pretty entertaining on TNT with EJ and Charles, which is where he should stay.