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Detroit

Knight has a great mid-range game, but will need to develop before having much of an impact in the NBA. The Miami Herald predicted that Knight would be a top-five pick.

Knight's coach, John Calipari, says of him: 

"Brandon is a warrior on and off the court. He is as driven as any other player that I've ever coached. He has an innate ability to score while finding the open man. Right away he should be a leader and also a top-notch defender for us."

Some of us, myself included, are going to wonder why the Pistons didn't trade down in the draft for a pick they could use next year. Knight is going to take some time to develop, so either way we won't see much of an impact on the team from this pick. Time will tell.

At least we didn't pick Darko again.

There's a great combination of skill, chance, goalies standing on their heads … and just enough bad blood between the teams to make this a great series. 

If you're a San Jose fan reading this, sorry, go read this instead.

Here are five reasons why the Wings can, and should, win this game tonight.

#1 The Wings have momentum

This is easy. The Wings have clawed back from a 0-3 deficit in this series to tie it up. They've had lucky bounces and they've worked their asses off. The Sharks must be feeling like they can't do anything right. And in the past three games, that's been true.

#2 The Wings have experience

My favorite stat from today's news: Nicklas Lidstrom has played in 8 game sevens. In those eight games, he has 7 points. Is it obvious to say that this is the guy you want leading your team right now?

#3 They're on the road

This is a tough one, but if this game 7 was at home, I think the Joe would almost be too intense. While you lose the last match up, you do gain the fact that you've got nothing to lose, going into an opponent's building for a game 7. As far as cool, calm and collected has been the Wings' mantra this week, that's even easier on away ice.

#4 Jimmy Howard

Howard has been stellar in this series and has significantly improved since last spring. But unlike Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi, he doesn't have a cup. And that's helped him fly under the radar.

#5 Datsyuk and Zetterberg

These guys are playing, as they should, like the Wings' best players. But in the past few games, they've stepped it up. Now they're playing like the world's best players. If they can keep it up, they can lead the Wings to the conference finals tonight.

Three hours until game time. Get your superstitions on!

GAME 1 – April 13th – Joe Louis Arena – 7:00 P.M. (HOME GAME 1)

GAME 2 – April 16th – Joe Louis Arena – 1:00 P.M. (HOME GAME 2)

GAME 3 – April 18th – at Phoenix – 10:30 P.M.

GAME 4 – April 20th – at Phoenix – 10:30 P.M.

GAME 5 – April 22nd – Joe Louis Arena – 7:00 P.M. (HOME GAME 3) – If necessary

GAME 6 – April 24th – at Phoenix – TBD – If necessary

GAME 7 – April 27th – Joe Louis Arena – TBD (HOME GAME 4) – If necessary

A formal announcement will be made on Friday.

The total value of the deal, which will include the team, the Palace of Auburn Hills and DTE Energy Music Theatre, is expected to be announced at $420 million. Current Pistons ownership is expected to retain a minority stake of approximately 10 percent for a few years.

Gores, 46, is founder and chairman of Platinum Equity, a private equity investment firm that owns more than 30 companies in a range of industries, from industrial fasteners to recreational boats and a San Diego newspaper. Gores was raised in Flint.

Karen Davidson, widow of longtime Pistons owner Bill Davidson, is the primary owner of Palace Sports & Entertainment, the umbrella operation for the team and the venues. Bill Davidson’s son Ethan has a minority stake.

Forbes Magazine recently valued the Pistons at $360 million, down $119 million from the previous year. Much of this reduction in value was a result of Michigan’s sagging economy.

This is great news for the team, which seemed to begin to hobble its way into the All-Star break weekend, obviously undermanned with several key injuries (Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Danny Cleary) and a bit weary from a significant amount of travel in the past few weeks.

Datsyuk suffered the injury on Dec. 22 against Vancouver. He is expected to play in the Wings’ next game on Wednesday at Ottawa at 7 p.m.

To make room on the roster, the Wings assigned forwards Jan Mursak and Cory Emmerton to Grand Rapids of the AHL.

The Islanders suspended Nabokov after he failed to report to the team, having been picked up off of waivers after being signed late last week by the Detroit Red Wings.

There’s really not a lot to say about this. Obviously Islanders GM Garth Snow wasn’t happy when Nabokov hung up on him over the weekend.

But the Islanders are fooling themselves to think that Nabokov’s going to ever show up in Nassau Coliseum to take 50-plus shots per game.

Snow is being petty and unreasonable. He has a chance to pick up a few easy draft picks, or a third-line player. He should take the money and run, and deal Nabokov to the Wings, as is clearly Nabokov’s wish.

Arizona acquired Galarraga for minor-league pitchers Kevin Eichorn and Ryan Robowski.

Aside from his nearly perfect game, blown by a bad call from umpire Jim Joyce, Galarraga had an exceptionally sub-average season, going 4-9 with a 4.49 ERA in 24 starts and a single relief appearance.

It was time for Galarraga to go

And while there might be lingering sentiment for keeping a player who treated Jim Joyce very diplomatically when he had every right to be mad, this was the right move for the Tigers. Actually, it was a great deal.

Gallaraga had gone 23-26 with a 4.58 ERA over four seasons with Detroit and Texas. Just two years ago, he showed great promise by going 13-7 with a 3.73 ERA with the Tigers.

He had a fairly affordable one-year contract for $2.3 million, but became expendable when the Tigers signed Brad Penny.

It goes without saying that the expectations for the TIgers are high this year. And it’s a good sign that GM Dave Dombrowski is making smart moves that are incrementally improving the team.

There has been quite a bit of activity

But Tom Izzo went ahead and said it, the “R” word, at his weekly news conference.

“We are not a team that should be totally rebuilding,” Izzo said.

That’s right, Tom. I’d bet, there are a lot of other people across the state who are thinking the same thing. Especially since this is a team that made it to the final four the last two seasons.

But last year is last year, because the Spartans are a meager, inconsistent 4-3 in the Big Ten. And they’re hanging on in the college basketball poll with a No. 25 ranking in this week’s poll.

Rebuilding is not the word, consistency is the word. MSU has star players that aren’t playing like stars. In a case like this, could it be the coaching? Possibly. Is it likely it could be the players? Very likely.

Trying to find the root cause is almost beside the point. And fretting about the Spartans’ record is pointless, because we’ve seen what the Spartans can do if they can be simply good enough to get into the NCAA tournament.

What I fear is going on here is a case of managing expectations. It’s very possible that Izzo can feel that his team just doesn’t have what it takes to perform this year. And if he can tell that now, he’s possibly getting fans ready for a late season disappointment.

On the other hand, could it be possible that he’s using this to motivate his team? Possibly, but I think it’s more likely that Izzo and is team are simply frustrated.

Nothing is clicking, nothing seems to be going right. And sometimes all you can do is show up and keep working. And then maybe things will start going your way.