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  Memphis opens the season against the Pistons hobbled a bit from pre-season action. Mega-star Allen Iverson is questionable for the game with a pulled hamstring, starting PG Mike Conley is nursing a twisted ankle, last season's starting PF Darrell Arthur is out after having surgery and rookie Sam Young looked to be in pain after taking a nasty fall at the end of the open scrimmage on Saturday at FedEx Forum. Still there is good reason for optomism heading into the season. Zach Randolph has been powerful inside and has played like a man looking to shed his image of being a selfish player. O J Mayo and Rudy Gay, while struggling with their shots at times, have looked much more mature on the court and willing to do more than just look for their own shots as well. Lionel Hollins is heading into his first full season as Head Coach and is hoping to install an attitude of hustle and teamwork to a team that ranked at the bottom last year in assists and turnovers. It won't be an easy job but so far the results have been encouraging.
 Detroit enters the season opener with a ton of uncertainty after losing two and a half starters (Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Allen Iverson) from a season ago. And the Pistons fate Wednesday may be even more uncertain than hoped. Richard Hamilton missed Tuesday's practice for personal reasons, and that might mean a trade is coming. Tayshaun Prince and Kwame Brown are nursing injuries, but both are expected to start. Rookies Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye, both expected to be in the rotation, are serving suspensions for pre-season fights. I think the Pistons will be better than most expect this year, but Wednesday probably won't show it -- even against the Grizzlies. Dan Feldman - Piston PoweredÂ
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Point Guards: Mike Conley vs Rodney Stuckey
Conley and Stuckey both entered the league in the 2006 draft. Conley was the 4th pick of the Grizzlies and Stuckey the 15th by Detroit. Stuckey has been relatively injury free in his career and but has started only 67 games. Conley suffered through an injury plagued rookie year but has started 107 games. Neither player is the experienced man running the team that championship teams prefer but both have tremendous talent. Stuckey's main advantage is his size. At 6-5 he is a difficult guard for any point in the league and will look to use that size advantage to score over Conley. Conley is more of a setup man and will look to break down Stuckey off the dribble to force Detroit's defense to react to him and give his teammates better looks at the basket. If Conley was 100% he'd have the advantage. Unfortunately he's not.
Advantage: Detroit
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Shooting Guards: O J Mayo vs Richard Hamilton
Two of the iron men of the NBA face off in this game. O J Mayo is supposed to be one of the hardest working players in the NBA and last season he did nothing to disprove that playing in all 82 games and averaging 38 minutes a night. The former UConn player will run any defender ragged chasing him around the court and around the numerous screens the Pistons set for him. Hamilton (31) has been the model of consistency in Detroit averaging between 20.1 and 17.6 ppg every season there. Mayo will need to play hard-nosed defense, avoid foul trouble and make Hamilton defend him as well by hitting his shots. It isn't easy but at 21 Mayo does have youth on his side. Throw on top of that the rumors that Hamilton is unhappy and Detroit may be looking to trade him makes this call much easier.Â
Advantage: Memphis
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Small Forwards: Rudy Gay vs Tayshaun Prince
Rudy Gay has started to pick up his game to the level so many people in Memphis expected of him coming out of UConn. In the last three games Rudy has averaged grabbed 23 boards, dished out 6 assists and scored 62 points on 22-42 shooting from the field. That is the type of performance that will earn him a big paycheck and it probably isn't a coincidence with the timing. The Grizzlies have until Oct. 31st to sign him to an extension.Â
Advantage: MemphisÂ
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Power Forwards: Zach Randolph vs Ben Wallace
There isn't a better matchup for Zach in the league. Ben Wallace is no offensive threat even when left wide open and Zach has been known to leave quite a few players wide open in his day. Wallace also isn't the defender he was back in his heyday. Randolph has looked very different in a Grizzlies uniform than he has in previous stops. He's passing the ball for one thing. He's not taking silly three point shots for another. He was even seen playing a little defense but it is possible that he didn't realize that's what he was doing.
Advantage: Memphis
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Centers:Â Marc Gasol vs Kwame Brown
Marc Gasol and Kwame Brown were both jettisoned by the LA Lakers to acquire Pau Gasol in what some people have called the most lopsided trade in NBA history. Interesting that they both wind up starting on NBA teams this year. Marc Gasol has lost a ton of weight from last season and looks quicker for it while still able to pound with the best of them. The problem is that he really doesn't look any quicker despite the lost weight. Kwame was pathetic against the Grizzlies in the pre-season but he isn't worried about pre-season any more than AI is. The question is will he ever live up to being a first round pick much less being the 31 pick in the draft? So far the answer appears to be a resounding no.
Advantage: Memphis
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Benches: Memphis vs Detroit
Memphis has improved the talent on the bench but a lot of its experience is lost if Allen Iverson can't go on opening night. DeMarre Carroll, Marcus Williams, Sam Young, Hasheem Thabeet and Hamed Haddadi are all nice looking players that need some experience to become solid NBA players if not more than that but without AI the bench will struggle to score many points. Losing Darrell Arthur until 2010 didn't help either. Detroit has strengthened their bench with Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Chris Wilcox and Chucky Atkins. While the Pistons did lose some players (like AI and Antonio McDyes) the retooling has generally been considered a success so far despite Detroit's poor pre-season record.
Advantage: Detroit
Other Commentary:Â
Piston Powered
Beyond the Arc
Grizzed by VanJulio
Straight Out of Vancouver
GrizzFans
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At this point no one seems to know. The Head Coach of Detroit told the media yesterday he still hadn't made up his mind. I used the starting lineup suggested to me by Dan Feldman over at Pistonpowered.com.