Just got to our overnight resting spot in Traverse City after wrapping up a long day with a rally downtown overlooking Lake Michigan. While Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo addressed the crowd, and George Blaha emceed the show with help from Greg Kelser, and the two fans who won our Pistons.com contest to tag along on our two-day trek through the Lower Peninsula and into Toledo were introduced to the crowd, I stood behind it all and looked out over Grand Traverse Bay and was reminded of the reason I’ve always believed Michigan’s economy will bounce back and be better positioned than most states for the long haul. To paraphrase James Carville, it’s the environment, stupid.
At the end of the day – at the end of a day where the orange fireball sun sinks typically into the Lake Michigan horizon – Michigan is still blessed with incredible natural resources. Once momentum starts to turn, the vacuum that’s been created by the drag on the economy and the loss of jobs related to manufacturing and the auto industry is going to filled by business and people who realize the opportunity here and the chance to live in a place with endless amounts of fresh water, beautiful vistas, deep woods and four seasons that present themselves largely without the threat of devastation from hurricanes, mudslides, raging fires and earthquakes.
But enough of that. Amid my reverie, I caught up with Dave Cowens and asked him about what he’d said regarding Kwame Brown on our Grand Rapids stop, which I referenced in my blog update on the Grand Rapids-to-Traverse City leg.
“He’s really fleet of foot,” said Cowens, who in Grand Rapids had said that in his time in the NBA dating back to 1970, Brown moved as well and with the body control he’s rarely seen in a man that size. “He can run like a deer. He’s quick. I was surprised, a guy that size. I think he’s going to do some nice things for us.”
Cowens said he got the same sense from Brown that I did when he spoke to reporters shortly after signing with the Pistons in late July – that he feels at ease for perhaps the first time in his career after bearing the weight of expectation that comes with being the No. 1 overall pick, as Brown was in 2001.
“I get the sense he’s happy to be here and just wants to help and doesn’t feel like he’s got a lot of pressure on him. He shouldn’t feel that way, anyway. We play a game. He’s got certain skills and you go out there and do what you do and have fun with it. He’s been around long enough now that I think he understands that.”
Joe Dumars and Michael Curry will be happy to get solid post defense and stout rebounding from Brown, but Cowens sees some offensive potential, too.
“Get him around the basket and put him in the post and he’s got some pretty good moves,” he said. “He makes quick decisions. His thing in the past has been as a finisher. He’d get to the right spot and miss a little one and get frustrated. It’s really keeping that focus all the way through the shot and not getting frustrated.”
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Award-winning journalist Keith Langlois, most recently lead sports columnist at The Oakland Press, joined Pistons.com as the web site editor on October 2, 2006. Langlois, who brings over 27 years of professional sports journalism experience to Palace Sports & Entertainment, serves as Pistons.com's official beat writer and covers the team on a daily basis.