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Doesn't Detroit have some high draft pick on their team right now that they're not using?
Do any Detroit fans want Brown back?
I'm a University of Cincinnat alum and know Jason Maxiell's game very well. I was hoping he'd fall to the Spurs. Great addition. Quiet, very hard-working guy who, although you call "undersized" (disagree), has a wingspan of a seven footer. He's a shot blocker, defender, never quits, is used to playing through double teams and has some nice moves around the basket.
Great draft pick.
Btw, I predicted your team would draft him WITHOUT having consulted any Detroit draft news or resources.
Props to me, my friend.
Doesn't Detroit have some high draft pick on their team right now that they're not using?
Do any Detroit fans want Brown back?
He'll help keep 'D' in Detroit
Defense made Bearcat 1st-rounder
By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer
Enquirer file
Jason Maxiell's a Detroit Piston now.
The first-round picks kept rolling past and the University of Cincinnati's Jason Maxiell's name wasn't among them.
But Maxiell wasn't concerned. He and his agent, Richard Katz, had received assurances several weeks ago from the Detroit Pistons that he would be their selection.
So when the Pistons' turn came up with the 26th pick in Tuesday's NBA draft, Maxiell, sitting at a table in Fifth Third Arena's UCATS restaurant, joined hands with his grandfather, James, and his mother, Patricia, as commissioner David Stern made the announcement.
Maxiell, a 6-foot-7 forward from Carrollton, Texas, known for his defense, was a first-round draft pick on his way to the Pistons, a top-echelon NBA team also known for its defense.
"It fits like a glove," Maxiell said. "Defense is their game, and defense is our game."
As the selection was announced, cheers went up from the gathering at Fifth Third. Maxiell's mother, who remembers her son telling her when he was 5 years old that he wanted to play in the NBA, began to cry.
"I thought I could hold it together," she said. "But when I heard his name called, I lost it."
Maxiell was his usual impassive self.
"That's just me," he said.
He hugged his mother and his grandfather. UC coach Bob Huggins hugged Mrs. Maxiell, then made his way to Maxiell and embraced him.
Maxiell is the first UC player to be selected in the first round since Kenyon Martin and DerMarr Johnson in 2000 and the 10th player in UC history to be taken in the first round.
To the rest of the nation, Maxiell's selection in the first round probably came as a surprise. He was not listed as a first-round selection in the mock drafts on the Internet.
But Katz and the UC coaches were confident Maxiell would be a first-round selection.
"I know the Web sites didn't say that, but we knew early in Chicago that there were a lot of people who really liked him and loved what he is," Huggins said.
"He's a wonderful human being. He's a great teammate. He's got a great work ethic and he's going to come and play every day."
Maxiell said he had a good workout with the Pistons and left Detroit believing he had found a home.
"I thought Detroit was the place for me," he said. "It'll be great going up there and trying to win a championship."
Knowing he probably would be drafted by the Pistons, Maxiell said he watched the NBA Finals, won by the San Antonio Spurs over the Pistons in seven games, with particular interest.
"I was watching to see how I fit in," he said.
Under the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, first-round selections receive a two-year guaranteed contract.
During his four years at UC, Maxiell scored 1,566 points - 11th on UC's career scoring list - and pulled down 491 rebounds.
Last season, he averaged 15.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots.
But it wasn't his numbers that defined him. It was his work ethic and the way he carried himself during four years at UC.
"The thing that everybody says about our guys is that they come in every day and they work, and Max is at the top of that list every day," Huggins said.
"Max is at the top of that list. He's going to play in the league for a long time because he'll show up every day and play."
Late Tuesday, another former Bearcat, Robert Whaley, was selected by Utah with the 51st overall pick.
^That's a HORRIBLE pick by Utah.
Detroit made a great pick.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...506290350/1064
Cheers to Maxiell for doing it right
Basketball only part of Max's legacy at UC
By Paul Daugherty
Enquirer staff writer
Jason Maxiell did it right. The whole thing. Max went to class, made the grades, endured Bob Huggins' practices, learned and worked and strived and grew. He leaves the University of Cincinnati as the total package.
He also can play a little basketball.
The celebrating Tuesday was for Maxiell's entry into the NBA. More than 50 family members, from at least six states, gathered at Fifth Third Arena to toast Jason's success. "He has a chance to live his dreams," was how his grandfather, James, put it.
Yeah, he does. But it's more than that. Maxiell leaves UC a better place for having been there. His example should stand for every kid who ever shows up in town dreaming big, whether it's basketball or biology. Maxiell didn't get anything handed to him. He earned it all.
Ideally, basketball players go to college and end up this way. Their games improve enough, the NBA becomes interested.
Their minds improve enough, they leave with a degree. (Maxiell's is in psychology.)
Their selves improve enough, the 18-year-old child leaves as a 22-year-old adult.
"He speaks so well now," Patricia Maxiell was saying. "He writes so well. He's become a man."
Jason was 5 when he announced to Patricia, "I wanna be in the NBA."
"OK, baby," she said.
Seventeen years later, she opened her mail one Saturday morning in March and started crying so hard, she didn't stop until Sunday night. "I got this letter from the university," she said last night. "I thought, 'OK, what bill did we not pay?' It was his diploma."
Patricia calls the NBA "a perk." Imagine that. She says The Association is just a small part of what she hopes will be a long life for her son. "He can't play basketball the rest of his life. That degree will last him forever."
She was there for Jason, always. Preaching the motherly gospel of support. Never allowing herself to dream that Tuesday would come, satisfied only that her son was working hard and good things would happen.
"He was always a hard worker. He got that from my dad," Patricia said.
Her dad was at the gathering Tuesday. James is quiet, reflective and big as a house, same as his grandson. "I told him I'd be his grandfather and his father," James said. "And I was." Jason and Patricia lived with her parents until Jason was 14, in Hazelcrest, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
Jason saw his grandfather go to work every day for the Chicago Board of Education, then come home in time to take Jason to the gym. He saw his grandmother do the same. He watched Patricia earn her degree in accounting. A house full of strivers.
By the time he got to UC, Jason was who he was. Credit Huggins for honing Maxiell's work ethic and his game. Next to Kenyon Martin, there has been no bigger success story in Huggins' 16 years at UC than Maxiell.
Mostly, credit Maxiell, who did it all himself.
There is a very good chance no Bearcat has ever been screamed at less by Huggins than Maxiell. There's an equally good chance no player needed less introduction to hard work. Maxiell never cheated himself or anyone else. Celebrate that, because that's why David Stern called Maxiell's name Tuesday night.
The Detroit Pistons, second-best team in the league, took him as the 26th pick in the first round. That surprised the "experts" who believed Maxiell would go later. Maybe they don't know him very well. "Be courteous and listen," James had told his grandson. "Be responsible and do your best."
That was a long time ago, but the advice still applies.
Christ...that guy sounds like SPURS material. Screw detroit!
LOL, I guess I'm going to use this as my "Well, if we can't have the le..." bit. I'll trade you this guy for the rings in a heartbeat.Christ...that guy sounds like SPURS material. Screw detroit!
I like the pick. I'll be honest.. I knew NOTHING about him when they called his name.. somehow I missed the boat on this guy, had no clue who he was. I did a little research, and I like it. Even more though, I like the fact that Joe wanted him weeks ago, and this wasn't a "our guy is gone, lets take this guy" move.
Sounds like he would fit right in, although if Larry comes back I wonder if he'll see any real minutes.
Watch for Darko to emerge in Summer league play, and get some quality minutes this year. You can Vbook that.Doesn't Detroit have some high draft pick on their team right now that they're not using?
Do any Detroit fans want Brown back?
And yes.. Brown is the best option for Detroit. Anyone who DOES NOT think that he's our best coaching option hasn't been watching.
This guy has Spurs written all over him. damn damn damn.
I admit , I'm not happy to see DET. picking up ANOTHER big bad shot blocker.
But I'm very surprised they didin't go for a scorer. Billups can't do it all. He's only 1 man. granted others do pitch in occasionaly - but Billups is the constant offensive force on that team, and he's a guard. Maybe DET. will get somethign good out of the FA market. But i hope not for the sake of my Spurs.
If I was a DET. fan I'd def. want Brown back. No matter what can be said about the yguy - you can't deny that he gives 110% to his teams and is one of the best coaches of all time.
I think your 2nd best option would be to blow up Duke while Coach K is on vacation thus forcing him ot take an NBA job.
What is it with Detroit and the long-armed players? Isn't Teyshawn Prince enough?
Fits in well with the team, I guess.
Bro, I hope you enjoyed my insights being a Cincinnati alum from San Antonio. Rare combination on the boards here!
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