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Good. Now play like you want that ring.
By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
One night in September, Antonio McDyess left his home on the city's Northwest side and did what any just-off-the-moving-truck arrival to a new neighborhood might do.
He ventured out to meet the neighbors.
After dinner at Tony Parker's house a few doors down, the Spurs point guard took McDyess, a recently signed free agent, on a tour of his estate. Encased in a corner of Parker's trophy room, taunting its guest from behind a block of Lucite, was the 2005 NBA championship ring claimed at the expense of McDyess' Detroit Pistons.
I didn't remember he was on that team, Parker swears. He thought I was doing it on purpose, but I really didn't remember.
Five months later, McDyess still isn't buying it.
I know he did it on purpose, to rub it in my face, said McDyess, who played five seasons in Detroit before signing with the Spurs in July. I should have taken (the ring) out of the case and took it home.
McDyess' old team makes its annual trip to the AT&T Center tonight, bringing with it a stark reminder of why his 14-season championship chase has relocated to South Texas. Had he remained in Detroit, larceny would have been the only plausible manner for McDyess to obtain a ring.
In the throes of a painful rebuilding process that began the day Chauncey Billups was dealt to Denver, the Pistons are mired in a 10-game losing streak, their longest since dropping 13 straight during the 1993-94 campaign.
It's sad, said McDyess, who nevertheless will be rooting for Detroit to extend that streak tonight. It's sad to see those guys go through that. Nobody wants to be on that end of it, losing (10) games in a row.
There was a time when a visit from the Pistons rivaled a visit from the Lakers on the Spurs fan's Must-See Meter.
The Pistons were the Eastern Conference's winningest team of the last decade, making six straight conference finals, two NBA Finals trips and one Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Only three players remain from Detroit's 2004 championship team Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, who returned via free agency last summer.
Plagued by injuries, particularly to Hamilton and Prince, Detroit is 11-22 under first-year coach John Kuester, in a tug-o-war with Indiana for last place in the Central Division. It's a strange sight for a Spurs team that had come to regard each game against the Pistons as a potential Finals preview.
They've been good for so long, Parker said. At some point, it's going to turn. It's sad to see that.
For the Pistons, the beginning of the end of an era came Nov. 4, 2008, when team president Joe Dumars orchestrated a point-guard swap with Denver. Billups became a Nugget. Allen Iverson came to Detroit, in an ill-fated experiment to determine how many ball-dominating shooters a team could employ at once.
Also sent to Denver briefly, and for bookkeeping purposes was McDyess.
McDyess didn't play a game for Denver, accepting a buyout and re-signing with Detroit for the balance of the season. But the Pistons as he'd known them were no more.
Detroit snuck into the playoffs as the eighth seed, only to be swept by Cleveland in the first round. A few months later, McDyess and Rasheed Wallace left for free agency.
With the Billups deal, McDyess said, Detroit broke up all chemistry.
I really didn't understand the logic of that trade, he said. I guess they were in a rebuilding stage, and it's showing now.
Asked if he would still be in Detroit if Billups were still there, McDyess said, I think I would.
Instead, McDyess wound up in San Antonio, just down the street from Parker. He hasn't looked back since leaving Detroit except for tonight, when his old team comes to his new town, leaving him no other choice.
Good. Now play like you want that ring.
Yes. Please.
Deja vu. This is a recycled article from the summer.
This article leaves itself way to open for shots from Laker fans. I'll just throw it out there before they have a chance:
LakaLuva: "It's true, San Antonio is a lot closer to LA than Detroit is."
Whew. Glad that's out of the way.
Hey Denver! You send Billups back to Detroit we'll send McDyess back.
McDyess probably has it on cruise control this regular season, pretty sure if healthy he will play 10x better come playoffs, the Spurs usually do.
I'm not orried about Dyess!! Not at all!
The guy is a veteran, knows his body and when he has to give 100%
He is kown for being a 2ND half season player and WILL come up when we really need him and the end + during PO...
I mean he is such a reliable shooter, a smart guy... He fits better than any new player I have ever seen coming...
The only reproach we can make is his lack of hustle/intensity in some games or knowing better the spurs systems... Nothing insurmountable!!!
Now let me rewatch the Dice interview on Spursdotcom so I can have de ja vu twice.
The only problem I have with that is that I watch him EVERY season. This by far is one of his worst overall starts. I can't tell if it's him or he's just uncomfortable with the system but he doesn't look like himself out there-especially on the boards and overall hustle.
I want him to play well every game. For me it's a downer personally when he plays poorly even if the team wins.
He's having a solid game against his old teammates, which is encouraging. I agree with Pauleta, the better version of McDyess is yet to come.
Could Detroit's situation today be a glimpse of what the SPurs cpould be like when Timmy and Manu are gone?
Parker is still young, he'll be a spurs even when td and manu are gone. With Parker,blair, hill, and possibly splitter, i don't think we''ll suffer the same fate as the pistons
Dice played a nice game tonight. Best he has played in about the last 5, in fact.
IMO its still a possibility. It depends on a lot of things falling into place. Parker deciding to saty in SA. Splitter living up to the hype. New vet talent the FObrings in the next couple of seasons. Maybe the Spurs won't fall as low as the Pistons. I just hope Pop is serious and he'll still be around after TD is gone.
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