Blow the Speakers

What happens when you have the music turned up too loud for too long? You're going to blow the speakers.

Looks like our favorite Pacer rookie just blew his speakers. Looks like the Psycho T meter is now off. See you next year Psycho T.

910 Conversation - Central Division

Chicago Bulls

Derrick Rose, fresh off his rookie season where he won rookie of the year and then took his game to another level in the playoffs, decided he needed to get back to his roots a little bit. So when the invitations came out for the Rose Family Reunion, he naturally thought it would be a good way to do just that. He loaded up the Bentley and headed out to the family farm in Iowa and luckily for you, through a family loophole, we happened to be there for the weekend and followed Derrick around while he caught up with family, got advice from distant relatives and most of all got in touch with his roots. Throughout the season we will drop small excerpts from various conversations had at the Rose Family Reunion.

Cleveland Cavaliers

If you don't know all that has gone on in Cleveland this off season and all that might go on in the future, I'm not sure why you have read this far. So with all the hype and expectation in Cleveland, we have teamed up with the biggest free agent of the summer of 2010 to give us an exclusive insight into the team and into his preparations for free agency. Thats right, all 7 foot 3 inches of Zydrunas Ilgauskus will be checking in from time to as a guest blogger here on The Black Converse. We couldn't be more excited.

Detroit Pistons

Tayshaun and Rip Hamilton remain all that is left from the D that was in Detroit. The hallmark of the 3 different Detroit championship teams was their defensive prowess. Even in the biggest stretch, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva would never be the missing pieces that would bolster a team defense. So a blue collar team in a blue collar city abandons its blue collar roots. At least they aren't making an electric engine Camaro.
With little interest in how this season plays out for the Pistons, it reminded us here of another Detroit native; Kid Rock. Our level of caring for the Pistons this season is proportional to our level of caring what happens with Kid Rock. We believe the parallels between Kid Rock and the Detroit Pistons don't end there.

Indiana Pacers

Danny Granger will score a lot of points. The Pacers will play 5 white guys at one time. Nobody will think twice about the Pacers as a legitimate threat to make the playoffs. But they did draft Tyler Hansbrough, or Psycho T as he is more affectionately know around here. We have decided to create a Psycho T Intensity Tracker. We will check in periodically to see where the Intensity Nobs have been turned to and with any luck he will turn them up to 11 this year.

Milwaukee Bucks

"There is nothing to see here. Move along."
Don't think Obi-wan Kenobi was talking about this year's Bucks team? You're right. He was talking about every Bucks team since Ray Allen and Big Dog. Unless hell freezes over, or thaws out if you are a Bucks fan, the only thing remotely interesting about this organization is Bango the Buck and his Tales of Intrigue.

Injury Report 4.3

Injury Reports have become one of Charlie T's signature posts. But I've been blog-negligent lately and the only strand pulling me out is an injury report. So here we go:

JAZZ EDITION
Carlos Boozer (ever winning back Jazz fans) is unlikely.

Paul Milsap (inspiring Jazz fans to pray, fast, and/or kill for him to stay) is a mortal lock.

Jerry Sloan (suiting up to show an underachieving team what it means to care) is probable.

REST OF THE LEAGUE
L.A. Lakers (hoping the Bobcats don't make the playoffs) are unspoken.

Tyler Hansbrough (giving teams visions of Mark Madsen and the Ghost of Eric Montross) is probable.

Philadelphia 76ers (missing Elton Brand) are doubtful.

Allen Iverson (actually out with a back injury) is complete and utter malarkey.

Joe Dumars (having patience for complete and utter malarkey) is out for the season.

Rasheed Wallace (not being the Pistons' residential talented headache) is surprised.