Empty the Bench

- Anxiety was running a bit high last night until about, oh, halfway through the fourth quarter, so excuse us if a few too many bottles of alcoholic libations kept us from really focusing during the post-game press conference. We were, however, able to “lock in,” as Mr. Big Shot likes to say, long enough to watch Tayshaun Prince’s thoughtful, well-spoken comments on NBA TV. A very strong case could be made the Billups is this team’s MVP, or that “as Rasheed goes, so do the Pistons,” and that’s all very true. But Prince is without question the glue that holds it all together. True Hoop has a nice piece about the Palace Prince.

- Golden State of Mind seems to have sufficiently recovered from the Warriors’ second-round loss to the Utah Jazz, and now is wondering if head coach Don Nelson will stick around long enough to give it another go next season. For the record, they think he’ll be back.

- Further proof that NFL players could probably band together and kill all of us if they really wanted to. That John Henderson isn’t even close to being the first guy that comes to mind when you think “crazy sonofabitch” is scary. Someone, please, just give him what he wants.

- The 2007 NBA Draft is on the horizon, and the whole thing will probably take less time than the first 15 picks of the NFL draft. One guy who significantly improved his draft stock by leading his team to the Sweet 16, Southern Illinois’ Jamaal Tatum, sat down for an exclusive interview with Eric Satterwhite for Hoops Addict to discuss how he’s preparing for the day that will significantly shape his post-college playing career. Click here to check it out.

- Speaking of the draft, my ETB associate Andrew is going to just love this one. The Minnesota Timberwolves have a very slim chance of winning next week’s NBA draft lottery, where NBA execs put a bunch of ping-pong balls in a machine and laugh as the fate of 14 franchises hangs in the balance. Still, they’re superstitious folks, those T’Wolves, and are calling upon the sovereign God Almighty to throw ‘em a bone. That’s right, they’re sending their representative, Randy Foye, to the ceremony with a vial of holy water that front-office guy Rob Babcock scooped up in Lourdes, France, “a town made famous following a series of legendary Virgin Mary apparitions in 1858.” Yet another reason why the seemingly innate lottery drawing broadcast is something we look forward to every year. Seriously. That’s good TV. (via The FanHouse)

- ESPN has issued their first NFL Power Rankings for the 2007 season. Where are the favorite teams of my college friends ranked? The Packers are at #24, the Steelers are at #13, the Broncos at #7, and, of course, the Lions at #30.

- From some band’s message board re: last night’s Pistons/Bulls game: “My Chicago-living brother was at the game, got free tickets, 15 rows or so behind the basket. He said his group (all Detroiters) cheered when the Pistons put Big Ben on the line. Some whitetrash dude started yelling at them, ‘What, are you cheering b/c he hits his FTs for us and not for you?’ After Ben missed em both, my brother gave the guy a 2 thumbs up and laughed. The guy started throwing coins at my brother and was quickly removed from his seats by security. Funny.”

- Keyshawn Johnson was last seen strongly disagreeing with a few of his 2007 NFL Draft mates in the booth on ESPN about just how good USC wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett is before he came off the board. Well, lo and behold, Carolina Panthers management agreed with Keyshawn, drafted him, then promptly released Keyshawn to make room. Well, now it seems the Tennessee Titans think they’d be addressing their pot holes at wide receiver by bringing in the wayward vet.

- I swear I played against all of these guys at once last week at the courts on the corner of Houston and Chrystie. Jerks.

- Don’t laugh, but Paris Lenon is apparently going to light it up this season as the likely starter at middle linebacker for the Detroit Lions. We said not to laugh at Lenon, but feel free to laugh at the Lions.

- Daily Norseman thinks that Tarvaris Jackson is going to make a lot of you look really stupid. It would certainly help his cause if Troy Williamson remembered that wide receivers are actually supposed to catch the ball when it’s thrown to them, not bat it to the ground.

- Are those two snickering at what he did, or what he doesn’t have much of?

- Blog-a-Bull seems to be taking last night’s season-ending loss rather well. Their readers, not so much.