The Call Out is a sporadic cross section taken from the pulsing vein of the sports world. When the heartbeat skips, we look at why.
There are a lot of underachievers and goats (not the kind with the periods in between) in tonight's pitiful pairing of the Pistons and Bulls. A lot to not like. One of these TNT games is not like the other, eh boys? But in the end, there's only one participant deserving of tonight's (and the first ever) call out. Is it Tyrus Thomas? The Bulls almost got KG, they almost got Pau, they even drafted Lamarcus Aldridge and signed Ben Wallace, but all they have in the post to show for the last three years (the three years since they swept the Miami Heat) is Thomas and Joakim Noah. Speaking of Noah, he's looked decent of late, but isn't the emotional leader of two championship Gators teams drafted 9th supposed to account for more than a lot of hair? But forget the Bulls. They're a sad testament to how even the best of fanbases can be summarily shat upon (here's looking at you too, Sacramento). They're also exhibit A in the case against using stop-gaps to keep your team competitive but not for a championship. Ben Wallace? Scott Skiles? You know you're going to be making the playoffs with those guys just as much as you know you're going to flame out and need to rebuild in two years.
But forget the Bulls (and Vinny Del Negro, if you can). Look at the pitiful state of the once proud Pistons franchise. Tonight they started Aaron Aflalo and Kwame Brown for crying out loud! Don't get me started on Kwame. Please do get me started on Michael Curry and Allen Iverson's "bad" back. I had such high hopes for Curry coming in to the season. Hand picked by the flawless Joe Dumars. Single-handedly saving a season (I forget which one) from lockout. Leaping tall buildings in a...well, you get the hyperbolic idea. But he hasn't been able to do anything with this team. Iverson's back? Just a weak turn towards Samsonism by the Answer. But I'm not here merely to dog on guys. Or teams. There's a lot to be happy about even in this kind of game. Like Rodney Stuckey Will Bynum. The point is there are reasons for games and whole seasons lacking the kind of luster that gets us fans going. These are two teams fighting for their postseason lives. They should be scratching and sniffing at each like cats in heat. Or something. Instead, it's a game of whiffs. Airball after airball. Dropped passes. "Saving" taps over players' own heads that more often than not volley out of bounds. And the culprit? Who's to blame for all of this? Tayshaun Prince. I'm calling you out!
When I used to rip on the Pistons for being overrated (their one championship came at the expense of my Lakers, what do you expect?), I would always pick on Chauncey Billups. Obviously, I was wrong with that one. But Tayshaun? I'm not going to call him underrated or overrated, because at this point that's more played out than the Kobe vs. Lebron debate. What I will do, however, is spout you a bit of potential and then tell you what we know seven seasons in.
Tayshaun was and has been the poster boy for "doing it right." He came out of Kentucky after four years, a few "blistering" performances, and the usual conference awards (SEC MVP). He didn't start that first year out of Kentucky, coming off the bench behind Clifford Robinson and (hold the phone!) Michael Curry, but he did come on strong in the playoffs. That postseason, he became the only NBA player ever to score more points in the playoffs than in the regular season. Such an emergence, went the rationale, made the possibility of drafting Carmello unimportant to Dumars' '03 eternal sunshine and spotless mind. In '03-'04, Detroit won the NBA finals and the rest, as they say, is history. They won doing it "the right way," with no certifiable star and lots of guys who looked like glue. The ultimate glue guy on that glueiest of teams? Tayshaun. He did it all. Solid game at mid-range, long, and even post play. Moved the ball well. Defensive stopper. Length like no one's business. Pulled down a good number of caroms. Blocked Reggie Miller lay-ups for breakfast. He wouldn't score 30, but if you needed him to he'd put the chairs on the tables before you closed down for the night.
What next for the Prince of the Palace? Better stats. All-Defensive Second teams and Most Improved Player votes. A spot on the Redeem Team. Not bad right? Wrong. Tayshaun was supposed to be the harbinger of the next generation. All this talk of revolutionizing positions? The new forward bearing the KG-Dirk comparisons? Tayshaun was supposed to fulfill that. Look at the list of skills. Sounds pretty good. Or that Olympic team bid. Shane Battier was on that team for similar reasons, and Battier's game has recently been elevated to a whole new level or respect. But Battier's always had that kind of intelligent flare to his game. Here's the thing about a glue guy in the Tayshaun mold, they never break free. KG, like Tayshaun, has been accused of not having that killer instinct, that come-through in the clutch. Karl Malone had that problem too. But these guys, legendary forwards, they may lack the last minute heroics that guards like Kobe and MJ bear (that's another story), but at least they're intense. Tayshaun? Not so much.
Now let's not get carried away. The Pistons don't suck. They haven't sucked for a long time. But they haven't etched their names onto the echelons of history either. Tayshaun looks as if this will be his legacy too. And it didn't have to be that way. The Pistons slowly got rid of a host of the elements that took them to that single title, and at each point of attrition, I thought, "Here's Tayshaun's chance! This is his season! He's going to go Vesuvial on their Pompeii asses!" Alas, it doesn't look like he's erupting any time soon. Half way through a career, it looks like the window's staying open and Prince is staying perpetually on the same side of it. Looking at the boxscore tonight, you might think Prince held it down on a inevitably sinking ship. But what good is a glue guy when everything's falling apart? There's a reason we here go Outside the Boxscore. Prince may look like he's putting up a fine effort, but really he's taking these expressions and normalizing them. Holding it down? Yes, he's holding his team down. Killing it? Yes, he killed it tonight. Yes, he's a bad mother-shut-your-mouth. And by bad, we don't mean good.
Tayshaun? You could've done better. You should be doing better. Tayshaun, you've been called out.
The Call Out: Tayshaun Prince
