Michigan, the Tanking? Pistons and Reggie Bush

Lions at home, lambs on the road. It's been Michigan's problem ever since the Big Ten season started. It was a problem last night, but one they were fortunate to overcome. Purdue is not a good team, but they made Michigan sprint in the 2nd half to keep up. 91 points were scored in the 2nd half of that game. That defense that looked so good against MSU (which is a top 10 team by most standards) looked... not there... against Purdue. 

Fortunately the offense showed up & were able to out-pace Terone Jackson's 32 pts. Burke finished with 26, 7 & 3 steals, Stauskas, Hardaway and McGary played well, and no one else really did. They'll all have to bring it if they're going to win Sunday vs. Indiana. By the way, there's a big pileup at the top of the Big Ten standings. As many as 4 different teams could have a share of the Big Ten title if Michigan beats the Hoosiers.

I'm not sure if the Pistons are actually tanking or not. It feels like they are. They never tried to get a replacement SF after the Calderon trade, they just filled in with Singler and Stuckey. They're not in a rush to bring Drummond back anytime soon, even though it sounded like he could have been back a week ago. Charlie V and Greg Monroe had minor injuries that kept them out of last night's game (I think if Monroe had played, the Pistons had a shot). If they announce sometime next week that Drummond is "shut down for the season", that's the official TANKING bell going off.

Not that I blame them. I think this is a 6 player draft. There's always the chance that some team like Minnesota will reach for a guy about 5 picks too early (KAAAHN!), but you can't count on 3 teams doing that and letting either Oladipo, McLemore or Porter slip to the Pistons at 9th. There's 19 games left. Detroit isn't going to "beat" Charlotte for the worst overall record, probably not catching Orlando for 2nd worst or Washington for 3rd worst (as an aside, this would be the 5th year in a row Washington finished with a bottom-5 record), but the other 5 teams are only a difference of a couple wins by them & a couple losses by Detroit from getting the Pistons the 4th worst record. Yay!

The Lions have been linked to one major free agents this year NOT currently on the team: Reggie Bush. The offense suffered from the lack of Jahvid Best in 2012, it looks to have a similar lack of Jahvid Best in 2013 & the foreseeable future. This must be dealt with. Well, the 2 major RB's hitting free agency this year are Stephen Jackson and Reggie Bush, and Bush does what Best did, only better. So I perked up when I saw that Bill Barnwell wrote an article on Bush's pending free agency & what he could contribute in the future. Here's a point-by-point summary if you're too lazy to read it (but you should really read it):

• Pass catching RB's are more valuable now than ever
• Reggie Bush is a pass catching RB. Very much so, in fact
• Bush has also carried Miami's offense the past 2 years
• Despite being 27, there aren't a lot of miles on Reggie Bush & his best years may be ahead of him

Sounds good to me. Remember, Bush returns punts!