5 on 5 with Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys

We have started a new feature on Basketball.org called “5 on 5 with…". Essentially, the series is a short interview of 5 questions that we do via email with a variety of experts throughout the basketball world. The first few “5 on 5 with…” interviews we will be conducting with some of the top NBA blogs out there that we at Basketball.org read frequently. First up, is Matt Watson of the famed DetroitBadBoys.com.

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Matt Watson is a full-time blogger (pardon me, “Associate Producer”) for FanHouse, and he is also the guy behind Detroit Bad Boys. Matt is credentialed for Pistons home games for FanHouse, which was pretty much his goal in life ever since he failed to make the JV team in high school and it hit him that he’d never, ever play in the NBA.

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1. From the hiring of Michael Curry to the trade for Allen Iverson, 2008 has been an interesting year to say the least for the Detroit Pistons. What do you think the Pistons have in store for 2009? Do you see any future moves on the horizon from Joe D. and his staff?

I’d be shocked if there’s any more big moves on the horizon (though I can almost guarantee there will be at least one small trade to get under the luxury tax). The first half of the season has been entirely devoted to change. Obviously there was the big trade, but even after that there’s been a bunch of mini-storylines that have given fans ulcers: waiting for McDyess, trying AI (and then Prince) at the point before promoting Stuckey to the starting lineup, experimenting with the three-guard lineup, dealing with injuries to Rip and Sheed, and, of course, moving Rip to the bench.

Michael Curry claims he’s done tweaking the lineup and will stick with the current arrangement the rest of the way. I’m inclined to believe him—if the Pistons are going to do anything in the playoffs, they’ll need to be a lot more consistent. I’m not yet convinced this team is a legitimate contender, but I will say they’ve done a tremendous job tightening up their defense. If that continues and the offense finally starts to click, maybe, just maybe, they can make it seven straight conference finals appearances.

2. As a Piston fan, what has been the biggest disappointment so far for you with the Pistons? What has been the bright spot?

It’s tough to see a guy like Chauncey Billups leave, especially since I don’t think most people fully recognized what he brought to the table until after he left. (Not that I blame them—how do you celebrate efficiency? When do you pump your fist when a guy doesn’t commit a turnover?)

Allen Iverson, on the other hand, is basically the polar opposite, and adjusting to his style of play has taken some time, especially since he’s lost a step and doesn’t quite realize it—he doesn’t get into the paint nearly as much as he used to, and when he does he’s missing a ton of layups. Don’t get me wrong, there have been flashes of his old brilliance, but there have been just as many times that I’ve had to remind myself about all the cap space he’ll soon create.

As for bright spots, that’s easy: Rodney Stuckey. He started the season ice cold but has since played long stretches at a near All-Star level. As a pure point he still has a lot to learn, but as a scoring combo guard he’s been extremely impressive. He showed off his driving ability last season, but he now has a jumper to go along with it. If the 2007 draft was held again, he’d be a top five pick, easy.

3. We have spoken plenty about the economy and the NBA on Basketball.org. I am curious to know your thoughts specifically with the Pistons. Have you seen much of an effect on attendance? I know Mr. Davidson has plenty of cash, but do you think it will ever hit a point that free-agent money limited and not available? What about the other 29 teams, do you think they will be effected?

The Pistons still pretend their sellout streak is intact, but I’m not sure who they’re fooling—there are rows upon rows of empty seats at nearly every game, especially weekday contests against sub-par opponents. The economy has hurt the entire country, but few regions have been hit as hard as metro Detroit. Combine that with the fact that the Pistons simply aren’t as good as they were in recent years and it’s obvious ticket sales are going to suffer.

Will the economy change the team’s free agent plans? Well, Davidson has always resisted the luxury tax, so that’s not going to change. The Pistons will have a ton of cap space this summer with Iverson and Rasheed Wallace coming off the books, and while most fans expect the team will chase a guy like Carlos Boozer, it’s always possible the team will settle for less, waiting for the economy to turn while justifying the decision as preserving cap space for the summer of 2010. I don’t think it’ll come to that, but you never know.

4. Basketball.org has only been around for a few months now, therefore I am fairly new to the blogging world and I guess you could call me a rookie–I am in need of some veteran advice (please no need for hazing). What you do when somebody writes a comment trashing you?

I’ve been doing this for several years and my stomach still gets in knots every time someone does that. But here’s the thing you need to remember: people are far, far more inclined to comment when they disagree than when they agree—for every guy trashing you, there were probably 10 who read your post and think, “yeah, he’s right, nice post.” It’d be nice if everyone who liked it was as vocal with their support as the one guy who trashed it, but sadly that’s not how it works.

5. DetroitBadBoys.com is one of the premier NBA blogs on the web and gets referenced countless times throughout the blogging community. How did the site come about and do you have any future plans for the site?

I bought the domain name during the 2004 playoffs but didn’t start the blog until Oct. 2005. I basically did it on a whim, to be honest. I’d been writing about the NFL and MLB for a number of years and decided to make an excuse to write about the NBA. The Pistons were always my first love growing up, and considering they were coming off back-to-back NBA Finals appearances, I figured there was probably an audience for it.

Plus, I wanted to try out the whole blogging thing. Looking back it’s kind of funny—at the time it seemed like I was late to the blogging game, but in hindsight it was still the beginning, at least as far as the NBA blogosphere was concerned. Back then there was a relatively small handful of really good basketball blogs and it was kind of tight-knit community. These days it seems like there’s a dozen blogs for each team, not to mention all the Deadspin knock-offs. I’m not going to get all nostalgic and say it was better back then, but it certainly was easier to keep up with what was out there, not to mention for a new site to be noticed.

As for future plans, I have a few ideas, mostly focused on doing a better job of shining the spotlight on the readers. I’ll put DBB’s comment section up against any forum or blog—they crack me up every night with their humor, and they routinely blow me away with their insight and analysis. I know most people only read what’s on the front page, but that’s the tip of the iceberg—the best stuff is after the jump.