Mo' Cheeks has been fired ...

[Sebastian]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pistons-fire-coach-maurice-cheeks-165831433.html

[Sebastian]

Hey Seb, there was also a good interview after the game with Brandon Jennings! It was nice to hear him admit that he's trying to learn how to be a real PG! While I have problems with Jennings at times, I do love the way he's very up front about everything, even when it isn't pretty!

Then after that, there was a review of the highest scoring game in NBA history, won by Detroit(Zeke) over Denver!

Then Zeke went on to praise Joe and do a review of his career through the NBA and as an executive with the Pistons... good stuff!!!

That was a great interview after the game. Also, Zeke said some meaningful things before the game. During that interview after the game with Jennings, Brandon stated how both Cheeks and Billups are always "in his hair" everyday relating to playing the point guard position the right way. After the game, Cheeks had his arm around Jennings shoulder as they walked off the court. We fans are not seeing what is going on between the coaches and the players. You can see the respect Jennings has for both Cheeks and Zeke. He does want to become a great player. And how about Drummond's free throw technique? He looked so much better at the line. You can tell he is working his butt off with the help of Rasheed.

You can't help but smile whenever you get the chance to hear what Zeke has to say about the Detroit Pistons. It would be really great if he could be working for the Piston organization either as a coach or GM. He has this special magic when it comes to the Detroit Pistons. Good things would happen again if he were involved. One meaningful comment came from Zeke at halftime when he said with young teams often defense starts improving when the offense is working.

Over the last two games Detroit's offensive tempo has become faster with more opportunities for both Smith, Jennings, and Stuckey in the open court. Smith was incredible working inside in that game. Stuckey did a good job running the team in the 4th quarter. And Stuckey is another player who plays better defense when the offense is working. Jennings was amazing. It was pretty cool how Jennings and Stuckey took turns running the offense. The team chemistry is so different right now. Bottle it and hang on to it Pistons.

The impact of Drummond cannot be dismissed when he came in during Denver's comeback. That steal and full blast attack going full court with the underhand scoop was crazy sweet.

The weak link right now is KCP. He just needs some shots to start falling. Teams are slacking off of him now. He can't seem to make an outside shot. If KCP can get it going on offense, his defense will be a real positive for this team because he will play even harder on the defensive end. KCP fits the up tempo style as well as Stuckey, Jennings, Smith, Drummond,Singler and don't forget Jerebco. Where does Monroe fit in with this style? Maybe Monroe offers something different that is needed  when the team cannot push the ball. JJ didn't get much time in this game but I really believe that he is an important player who can play good defense, run the court, pass the ball well, and move without the basketball. I thought that tonight he might have been able to get out on Denver's shooters faster to prevent so many open looks.

Maybe, just maybe, WE all learned something with last night's victory against the Nuggets. In no particular order this is what was realized:

1- When the opposing teams' starting PG doesn't play the entire second half, WE should continue to roll and beat a team that was missing Ty Lawson due to a bad back and Andre Miller, who is mysteriously not with the Nuggets.

2- Greg Kelser was hit with the epiphany that when Josh starts his game from the inside, offensively that he typically shoots better as the game continues when taking shots further from the basket.

3- Dre ain't nothing but the truth and like cool wrote, he is really practicing on his free throws.

4- Stuckey should be playing as the PG in the 4th quarter of games. This does not mean that B. Jennings shouldn't be on the floor, but that Stuckey should control the tempo in the 4th quarter of games.

5- KCP's confidence has to be restored.

6- Singler is over-matched as a starter and/or 35 minutes plus player.

[cool breeze]

Burke hit the key shot last night with 30 plus seconds left to help his team defeat Miami. Watching Burke is a beautiful thing for me. Sure he has always been a clutch player at the end of games at all levels he has played at but what I really love about him is his understanding of the players he plays with. He makes all of his teammates better on offense. His passes are always at the perfect speed and his timing of where his teammates need to get the ball is incredible. The other thing that amazes me about Burke is the fact that he doesn't hurt his team on the defensive end and with all of his responsibilities as a rookie, few can hold their own like he does. This makes me ill to think that he could have been a member of the Detroit Piston team. With Burke, Knight and Middleton, meshing with our current big men would bring glory to the City of Detroit. Last night Knight scored 23 points and was the Bucks key player in crunch time. He made a nice drive in the end and the shot just missed. He made the correct play and that was the important thing for me. And Middleton scored 20 points in that game. Moving on to the Timberwolves, Budinger is back from his knee injury. Remember he was drafted and given away by Joe Dumars because Joe liked Daye. Last night Budinger scored around 19 or 20 points and got some key rebounds although his team lost. Budinger can shoot it from long range, he can play good defense and is a good rebounder. WHY did Dumars give him away to keep Daye? Amazing what can go on in a GMs mind at times. I often wonder what if Detroit still had both Affalo and Budinger not to mention Burke, Knight and Middleton. All are good decision makers who do not hurt you on the defensive end. Instead as Isiah Thomas said, we have a Pistons team full of young players who are trying to find out who they are right now. All of those other cast offs that I have mentioned could play an up tempo game but are BETTER DECISION MAKERS AND DEFENDERS. They seem to also be more mentally stable skill players.

[cool breeze]

Hey Seb, there was also a good interview after the game with Brandon Jennings! It was nice to hear him admit that he's trying to learn how to be a real PG! While I have problems with Jennings at times, I do love the way he's very up front about everything, even when it isn't pretty!

Then after that, there was a review of the highest scoring game in NBA history, won by Detroit(Zeke) over Denver!

Then Zeke went on to praise Joe and do a review of his career through the NBA and as an executive with the Pistons... good stuff!!!

That was a great interview after the game. Also, Zeke said some meaningful things before the game. During that interview after the game with Jennings, Brandon stated how both Cheeks and Billups are always "in his hair" everyday relating to playing the point guard position the right way. After the game, Cheeks had his arm around Jennings shoulder as they walked off the court. We fans are not seeing what is going on between the coaches and the players. You can see the respect Jennings has for both Cheeks and Zeke. He does want to become a great player. And how about Drummond's free throw technique? He looked so much better at the line. You can tell he is working his butt off with the help of Rasheed.

You can't help but smile whenever you get the chance to hear what Zeke has to say about the Detroit Pistons. It would be really great if he could be working for the Piston organization either as a coach or GM. He has this special magic when it comes to the Detroit Pistons. Good things would happen again if he were involved. One meaningful comment came from Zeke at halftime when he said with young teams often defense starts improving when the offense is working.

Over the last two games Detroit's offensive tempo has become faster with more opportunities for both Smith, Jennings, and Stuckey in the open court. Smith was incredible working inside in that game. Stuckey did a good job running the team in the 4th quarter. And Stuckey is another player who plays better defense when the offense is working. Jennings was amazing. It was pretty cool how Jennings and Stuckey took turns running the offense. The team chemistry is so different right now. Bottle it and hang on to it Pistons.

The impact of Drummond cannot be dismissed when he came in during Denver's comeback. That steal and full blast attack going full court with the underhand scoop was crazy sweet.

The weak link right now is KCP. He just needs some shots to start falling. Teams are slacking off of him now. He can't seem to make an outside shot. If KCP can get it going on offense, his defense will be a real positive for this team because he will play even harder on the defensive end. KCP fits the up tempo style as well as Stuckey, Jennings, Smith, Drummond,Singler and don't forget Jerebco. Where does Monroe fit in with this style? Maybe Monroe offers something different that is needed when the team cannot push the ball. JJ didn't get much time in this game but I really believe that he is an important player who can play good defense, run the court, pass the ball well, and move without the basketball. I thought that tonight he might have been able to get out on Denver's shooters faster to prevent so many open looks.

[Sebastian]

Hey Seb, there was also a good interview after the game with Brandon Jennings! It was nice to hear him admit that he's trying to learn how to be a real PG! While I have problems with Jennings at times, I do love the way he's very up front about everything, even when it isn't pretty!

Then after that, there was a review of the highest scoring game in NBA history, won by Detroit(Zeke) over Denver!

Then Zeke went on to praise Joe and do a review of his career through the NBA and as an executive with the Pistons... good stuff!!!

Oracle, I saw Jennings' post game interview. Remember the question that Zeke asked about getting players involved or something to that affect and Jennings' answered was "really I just be hooping"?

I honestly wasn't impressed with that response. That is my problem with Jennings is that he has no sense of tempo and pace, which is the primary reason that Stuckey must remain a Piston.

Coach Mo' McGoo made an excellent move in the early part of the 4th, when he sat Jennings and then allowed Stuckey to run the point and when Jennings returned in later in the 4th, Stuckey was still running the point.

Maybe, Stuckey should be closing games as the PG, he has far more since of time and pace than does B. Jennings.

[Oracle]

Hey Seb, there was also a good interview after the game with Brandon Jennings! It was nice to hear him admit that he's trying to learn how to be a real PG! While I have problems with Jennings at times, I do love the way he's very up front about everything, even when it isn't pretty!

Then after that, there was a review of the highest scoring game in NBA history, won by Detroit(Zeke) over Denver!

Then Zeke went on to praise Joe and do a review of his career through the NBA and as an executive with the Pistons... good stuff!!!

[Oracle]

A lot of good stuff too!

Here's to hoping that the shooting continues to come around, heaven knows we've seen the dark side of that force!

A LOT better PG play down the stretch, but what can you say when Jennings & Smith combine for 65 freaking points???? WOW!!!

But when those two combine for 65 points and 20 assists, you almost drop a load in your pants!

Now we did get lucky as Lawson got injured, and he was breaking us down regularly, and once he was gone, that stuff went down considerably!

If you've never seen a Sasquatch in the flesh, you have tonight! I mean that big gump from Russia, Mozgov is a real clown, but he's got the big body and 6 fouls, so there it is!

[Sebastian]

The NBA TV crew tonight interviewed Vince Goodwill and young fella spoke accurately of OUR Pistons, when answering questions asked to him from Zeke, Dennis Scott, and Matt Winer. He didn't bite his tongue.

[lemonpen]

[b]@Don[/b] - First I do believe a trade will take place, just not a big one, more along the lines of positioning for the draft or maybe a small trade for a backup that can shoot. However, I do like the idea of giving KCP a chance to play on the ball, more on that below.

@Lemonpen - You said about Jennings, "He is the best jump shooter on the team (by a wide margin) and as such should sometimes by design play off the ball in the role of a catch and shoot floor spreader", and I agree! That wide margin is relative, because the team as a whole is so pathetic shooting wise, but it's none the less a true statement.

However, that being the case, the possibilities for who plays with the ball are Billups, Stuckey, and KCP.

I like a lineup that features Stuckey/KCP at PG with Jennings as SG, hell, I even like a lineup of KCP and Stuckey manning both guard positions while sliding Singler to SF.

The bottom line is that there is a LOT of possibilities with this team that have gone unexplored, but here's the optimism!

I actually think Cheeks is finding some footing and will be taking more charge of this team! He's been worse than clumsy so far, but I just have a feeling that this is about to change!

But it's not just him! I have that feeling about Josh Smith as well!

Finally a note to Don: While I continue to believe that Singler isn't the best choice at SG, I am beginning to see that at a minimum, he can help stabilize the starting unit in ways that KCP can't as of yet!

Singler is also spreading the floor a lot better than KCP, and that alone allows the big 3 to operate more effectively. This Singler move may not be as dumb as it first looked!

An interesting tidbit is that Kelser credited Singlers reputation as a shooter having greater impact toward spreading the floor as opposed to KCP being a relative unknown at this point.

[Oracle]

@Don - First I do believe a trade will take place, just not a big one, more along the lines of positioning for the draft or maybe a small trade for a backup that can shoot. However, I do like the idea of giving KCP a chance to play on the ball, more on that below.

@Lemonpen - You said about Jennings, "He is the best jump shooter on the team (by a wide margin) and as such should sometimes by design play off the ball in the role of a catch and shoot floor spreader", and I agree! That wide margin is relative, because the team as a whole is so pathetic shooting wise, but it's none the less a true statement.

However, that being the case, the possibilities for who plays with the ball are Billups, Stuckey, and KCP.

I like a lineup that features Stuckey/KCP at PG with Jennings as SG, hell, I even like a lineup of KCP and Stuckey manning both guard positions while sliding Singler to SF.

The bottom line is that there is a LOT of possibilities with this team that have gone unexplored, but here's the optimism!

I actually think Cheeks is finding some footing and will be taking more charge of this team! He's been worse than clumsy so far, but I just have a feeling that this is about to change!

But it's not just him! I have that feeling about Josh Smith as well!

Finally a note to Don: While I continue to believe that Singler isn't the best choice at SG, I am beginning to see that at a minimum, he can help stabilize the starting unit in ways that KCP can't as of yet!

Singler is also spreading the floor a lot better than KCP, and that alone allows the big 3 to operate more effectively. This Singler move may not be as dumb as it first looked!

[cool breeze]

I can't get away from this thought. Why not? KCP dribbles up the court and makes the entry pass.

[Oracle]

@Lemonpen - I posted the numbers to show that Bynum's numbers in critical areas of shooting are better, not that he is the better player, he's not, even though the numbers are close.

My point, and Will's point was that here you have another guard going 5/23 and not playing a lick of defense while turning the ball over, and Cheeks picks Bynum to make a point?

Look, I wish Cheeks did more of that, but his timing is horrid because he tends to punish the absolutely wrong player at the wrong time. If he just made it fair and didn't play favorites, it would keep the locker room quiet! What baffles me is that a player should know this!

@Don - Well Singler did very good for a 2nd game in a row. His additional size has helped out as our starting lineup is starting to take on monster proportions, Jennings excepted!

The Game - I continue to believe that Josh can be really effective if the PG play is better! Jennings had a good night, but his turnover rate(8 last night) is really getting bad!

Has Jennings ever met a lazy pass he didn't like? I'm starting to cringe whenever he brings the ball up into the half court, because he's either getting stripped, forced into a bad pass, or he'll just fumble the ball and they off to the races!

We're going nowhere if our PG can't be trusted to take care of the rock!

Finally, it was a great game until the 4th quarter! That's when the three stooges inhabited their bodies and the quality of play went straight down the toilet!

This was really important because it didn't allow Cheeks to rest key players for the back to back with Dallas! In addition, it caused me to lose faith that anything had changed except getting lucky in the matchup department!

[cool breeze]

Who do you trust? Why do you trust them? Coaching staffs are not as stupid as they might appear to fans when their teams perform badly. Take Cheeks for example. He was a really smart player himself and knew how to make this teammates better. He was not a big player but learned how to become a good defender. What has he been doing behind the scenes to help our point guards perform better? Do any of you believe that he has not been telling our players the right thing? When a team gives up 112 to 114 points in many games, the problem has to be the players not the coaches. Maybe a zone could have been used or as Lemonpen suggested to do more trapping to reduce traffic in the paint. Could it be that in practice the coaching staff attempted to install a zone defense to be used at times but decided that the players were not capable of playing an effective zone? Did the coaching staff attempt get the big men and guards to work together to set a solid trap on the guard? Maybe they did but decided that the big men or guards were not capable of anticipating quick enough to make this work. I think this is what has happened and the proof might be the fact that other coaching staffs were not able to improve the very same players who have been screwing up the defense. Good defense demands dedication and a lot of effort. I noticed last night that the players were committed to giving a lot of effort on defense. I would trust those players who were in the rotation last night if I were a member of the coaching staff. They seemed to be working well together and helping each other. Stay with those players including JJ and Billups. Watch closely which players are not giving a great effort on defense and pull them quickly if it happens. The coaching staff in on the chopping block so it is time to get tough.

[cool breeze]

I understand your displeasure with dribble penetration but when do we fault the strategy in addition to the player.  I rarely see us do anything different than run our guard over the top of (or into) screens.  Would like to see us change up by going under, and double team trap the ball.

Not a bad idea Lemonpen. It seems that the opponent's game plan for most teams that have quick guards is to exploit the Pistons biggest weakness. If our big men and guards can work creating a good double team to prevent the quick pass into the paint for sure this would be fun to see and might be very effective. Can the guards and big men communicate? Are the guards dedicated to playing defense in general? Are the big men quick enough to help set an effective trap? My take in most games where our Pistons allow 112 to 114 points is that there are several members of the team who are not giving the necessary effort to provide any resistance not matter what the coaches strategy might be. However, last night our Pistons looked like a different team after the first part of the 1st quarter. Detroit's opponent did not have quick guards like Orlando has so maybe that had something to do with Detroit's success on defense. But It seems that there was a different look to the defense within the first unit. Piston players were making shots so transition from offense to defense looked better. But one thing that I noticed was that Piston players really had the paint covered better. Singler was playing off his man a lot when he was playing on the weak side. Smith also was more active. Players were positioning to help others which created several blocked shots with Singler being involved a lot with that help.

Last night our Pistons looked like they knew each other and wanted to help make other players look better. They played as a team rather than individuals. And this lead to more confidence in each other. The shots started falling and the effort grew as the game progressed. For the first time in many games, I really enjoyed watching our Pistons. Win or lose all I care about is watching Detroit play smart and with passion. Just give us fans that much and I will be happy.

It was good to see Billups playing again. He said that he feels healthy for the first time this season. Could he be a factor coming off the bench when Jennings leaves to bring more stability and guidance for the young guys. I noticed one moment in the game where Billups was talking to Drummond as they were running back on defense. Drummond was not in the right position when Billups drove to the basket. I thought that was cool. This is what Drummond needs and a lot of players need. When something goes wrong in the moment and someone communicates how a players could have done a different and more effective movement, it tends to stick with you the next time that same situation occurs. If you bring it up after a game or the next day, players tend to tune out what you are saying and cannot make the connection. With Billups playing healthy, he can also bring a more stable pace to the team on offense where players will be ready to actually run a half court offense because a quick shot is not likely to happen on every possession.

The Nets appeared to be a broken team last night offering little to no resistance so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next game and if last night was a fluke or our Pistons have made a change in the right direction. It all starts with defense for this Piston team. Have the players finally realized this fact?

[lemonpen]

I understand your displeasure with dribble penetration but when do we fault the strategy in addition to the player. I rarely see us do anything different than run our guard over the top of (or into) screens. Would like to see us change up by going under, and double team trap the ball.

[lemonpen]

Don, you bring up some good points and some strange ones. Let me explain!

First you say "It is really silly to think that Mo Cheeks has lost this team because he put Bynum in his place last night".  I agree, so why do you think anybody is saying that?

Everyone has written, and maybe you need to really read what we're saying, because nobody has said that it's because of the Bynum incident.

The Bynum incident simply is the latest incident in a series of character revealing flaws in Mo Cheeks! What are his crimes? Let's review them.

1. Arriving here as arrogant as hell. Witness the silly incident with that woman from Atlanta, it makes no sense!
2. Talking up a player(Stuckey) who already had a reason to do good... what a waste of time, while putting down BK7!
3. Instead of putting his head down and getting to work, Cheeks talked a game he has failed to deliver!
The biggies...
4. Punishment of Josh Smith for seemingly minor infractions(2 times)... just plain silly!
5. Benching the best player, Drummond, while in the hunt for an all star berth... un-called for!
6. Starting Singler over the BEST perimeter defender on the team... inexplicable, especially considering that there were better moves to make to get Singler in the starting lineup, but he didn't have the courage to do any of them.
7. Then the Bynum incident, and no, Bynum wasn't wrong! Bynum pointed out the obvious, he's the better player over Jennings, so why give Jennings so much leash and not Bynum?

[th]Bynum: 2013-14 Stats[/th]

PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	MPG
7.7	1.7	2.8	0.7	0.2	0.435	0.783	0.355	17.7

[th]Jennings: 2013-14 Stats[/th]

PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	MPG
17.2	3.2	8.1	1.6	0.2	0.374	0.775	0.326	36.1

Bynum has a better FG%, FT% and 3pt%.. WTF are we talking about here???

But that doesn't mean Bynum is good, just that Jennings is horrible, so your larger point, that gets obscured by your Bynum venom, is essentially correct... our guard play sucks!

IMO, those so focused on assists miss the whole point... assists are a symptom of good guard play, NOT the reason for it!

If the assists are made by a playmaking guard, they are much more important that just having a guard pass to someone that hits a shot! That's why I thought the focus and measure of BK7 was so off, because who cares what is going on when a player obviously makes the team function better when they're on the court!

We clearly miss BK7's defense at the point of attack, and he had to deal with some really good guards, and Frank, wisely wouldn't let Stuckey take the pressure off of him and made BK7 learn on the job!

Finally, I thought you had a good idea about letting KCP play PG! I actually think it would improve his offensive game as well, but Cheeks will never go for that!

Aside from FG% I don't see where Bynum has a significant edge. IMO the root cause for much of Jennings inefficiency comes from trying to create his own O. He is the best jump shooter on the team (by a wide margin) and as such should sometimes by design play off the ball in the role of a catch and shoot floor spreader. I would even deliver the ball to him as he runs off screens. In summary I don't think Will can carry Jennings jock strap. I'm willing to ride the rapids with BJ to see if his generalship improves as the Monroe / Drummond combo improves.

[lemonpen]

The Oracle:
"7. Then the Bynum incident, and no, Bynum wasn't wrong! Bynum pointed out the obvious, he's the better player over Jennings, so why give Jennings so much leash and not Bynum?"

I may have missed it but why do you fault Mo for the dust up.

[Murph]

Credit where due... Jennings & Smith reduced the amount of shots and the results was a W... the best play of the game was a turn over... Smith was wide open for a 3... instead of the typical long range brick he saw the open man (JJ) it was picked off but for the first time Josh actually registered that chucking 3s does not benefit the team.
Less is better.

Yes...if Brandon Jennings would shoot only 13 times and dish 9 assists every game, I'd never direct another rant his way again. And what I liked most about Josh Smith's game were his 7 assists.

The Pistons had balanced scoring last night, with every starter and Stuckey scoring in double figures. In fact, the box score this morning is a thing of beauty. We out-rebounded the Nets 57-40, and registered 26 assists to their 17.

Please Pistons...try to remember how you played last night...and repeat it.

[merc]

Credit where due... Jennings & Smith reduced the amount of shots and the results was a W... the best play of the game was a turn over... Smith was wide open for a 3... instead of the typical long range brick he saw the open man (JJ) it was picked off but for the first time Josh actually registered that chucking 3s does not benefit the team.
Less is better.

[Oracle]

Don, you have correctly identified the problem as guard play! IMO, while Josh Smith may lack some BBall smarts at times, a good PG would make our big three look like world beaters! A strong PG will put the controls on Josh and everybody else as well!

I didn't want Rondo, but now I really do want him, and if we could get him by giving up Jennings, CV, Stuckey, Bynum, JJ or anybody else not in the big 3, I'm all for it!

Get a good PG and watch the talent on this team EXPLODE!!!

Game: Please do not be fooled by this game!!!

They will likely win this one big, but they're making all of the same mistakes that they always do!

The reason we're winning is that the Nets don't matchup with us very well, and we could take them in any series! This is not the case for the other teams we need to beat!

Even as I type, these clowns are finding ways to give up an almost 30 point lead!

[cool breeze]

Don, you said "YOU CANNOT ALLOW DRIBBLE PENETRATION IF YOU EXPECT TO BE A GOOD TEAM AND WANT TO WIN GAMES".

That's an absolute statement, but I hope you don't mean it that way!

No team can stop dribble penetration... PERIOD!

So the real question is how do you handle it! Well, the best way is to slow it down, which is what we had in BK7! BK7 could harass guards long enough that if they did eventually get by him the shot clock was low causing either a bad shot or a poor decision.

However, one of the tried and true methods is to allow the penetration, but force it to the help defenders who will either block a shot, intimidate the shooter, or the player gets trapped and you get a turnover!

Our problem is that we're giving up dribble penetration early in the clock, and directly to the rim where the help is least effective! But it's not KCP who's the problem, it's mostly coming from the PG position, either Bynum or Jennings who both suck so bad it's embarrassing!

So what to do?

Well, Cheeks response is to do nothing and hope things get better... DUMB!!!

Again, there are tried and tested ways to fight this problem, and they're called ZONES!!!

Flip Saunders extended the life of our great defense by going to a modified zone over the objections of the 2005 team! But it worked a treat!

Cheeks could make our defense a LOT better if he went to a modified zone to hide our guards! Would we give up some outside shots? Yeah, but very few teams will beat you on a steady diet of outside shooting, the percentages tell you this!

Oracle I have read both part one and part two. Thanks for making the effort. I agree with you 100% relating to Knight and company and as you know I was extremely upset when that trade went down. There were so many fans who write on this forum who didn't believe in Knight while Knight was the main reason why I watched the Pistons. I agree that something needs to be done but I doubt that using a zone defense will work for more than a few minutes against most NBA teams. Zones really work well in high school and for some college teams. But from my experience in coaching I know that you usually play a zone to hide defects in your players. Say some of your players do not have good foot speed. You play those players because they offer something positive and usually those guys are really smart. And that is the problem with our Pistons. A lot of our players do not have high basketball IQs. They hate playing any kind of defense and you can see that really clearly by the effort they give. You still need to rotate in zones but are our players up to rotating or attempting to learn something new. I see a lot of our players as basic losers who only want to jack up shots. I do think that Frank was a smart basketball person and he couldn't get Bynum or Stuckey to show any improvement on defense. In fact, Stuckey resented Frank because he challenged Rodney pointing out on film how he was screwing up the defense by a basic lack of effort. One of the other problems with using a zone is outside shooters will get a lot of open looks. We have Jennings and Bynum who are easy to shoot over as it is. In my opinion you need smart players who are really willing to make a zone defense work. We don't have those type of players.

Now to KCP. I want to see KCP play but I want him to play point guard when Jennings goes to the bench rather than Bynum or Stuckey. He can do it. It is not difficult and he can then defend the center of the court and be really effective. The reason why Cheeks started KCP instead of KCP is the fact that KCP had a really difficult time guarding Affalo in previous games. Singler has guarded point guards at times. He is forced to do a lot of things that is not natural for his size and average quickness. But Singler is a gamer and will do anything his coach wants from him. Cheeks was a really good guard for a long time in the NBA. It is amazing that he cannot get through to this group of guards. I know that they are horrible defenders but still, it is crazy that those guards have not become any better at all. Maybe Cheeks is a horrible coach. But I want all of the attention on the person who caused this mess and that is Joe Dumars. He selected this group of guards and is responsible for what is currently happening. If Dumars would only trade two or three of our guards before the trade deadline, It could be really exciting to watch the team again.

[Oracle]

Don, you said "YOU CANNOT ALLOW DRIBBLE PENETRATION IF YOU EXPECT TO BE A GOOD TEAM AND WANT TO WIN GAMES".

That's an absolute statement, but I hope you don't mean it that way!

No team can stop dribble penetration... PERIOD!

So the real question is how do you handle it! Well, the best way is to slow it down, which is what we had in BK7! BK7 could harass guards long enough that if they did eventually get by him the shot clock was low causing either a bad shot or a poor decision.

However, one of the tried and true methods is to allow the penetration, but force it to the help defenders who will either block a shot, intimidate the shooter, or the player gets trapped and you get a turnover!

Our problem is that we're giving up dribble penetration early in the clock, and directly to the rim where the help is least effective! But it's not KCP who's the problem, it's mostly coming from the PG position, either Bynum or Jennings who both suck so bad it's embarrassing!

So what to do?

Well, Cheeks response is to do nothing and hope things get better... DUMB!!!

Again, there are tried and tested ways to fight this problem, and they're called ZONES!!!

Flip Saunders extended the life of our great defense by going to a modified zone over the objections of the 2005 team! But it worked a treat!

Cheeks could make our defense a LOT better if he went to a modified zone to hide our guards! Would we give up some outside shots? Yeah, but very few teams will beat you on a steady diet of outside shooting, the percentages tell you this!

[Oracle]

Don, you bring up some good points and some strange ones. Let me explain!

First you say "It is really silly to think that Mo Cheeks has lost this team because he put Bynum in his place last night".  I agree, so why do you think anybody is saying that?

Everyone has written, and maybe you need to really read what we're saying, because nobody has said that it's because of the Bynum incident.

The Bynum incident simply is the latest incident in a series of character revealing flaws in Mo Cheeks! What are his crimes? Let's review them.

1. Arriving here as arrogant as hell. Witness the silly incident with that woman from Atlanta, it makes no sense!
2. Talking up a player(Stuckey) who already had a reason to do good... what a waste of time, while putting down BK7!
3. Instead of putting his head down and getting to work, Cheeks talked a game he has failed to deliver!
The biggies...
4. Punishment of Josh Smith for seemingly minor infractions(2 times)... just plain silly!
5. Benching the best player, Drummond, while in the hunt for an all star berth... un-called for!
6. Starting Singler over the BEST perimeter defender on the team... inexplicable, especially considering that there were better moves to make to get Singler in the starting lineup, but he didn't have the courage to do any of them.
7. Then the Bynum incident, and no, Bynum wasn't wrong! Bynum pointed out the obvious, he's the better player over Jennings, so why give Jennings so much leash and not Bynum?

[th]Bynum: 2013-14 Stats[/th]

PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	MPG
7.7	1.7	2.8	0.7	0.2	0.435	0.783	0.355	17.7

[th]Jennings: 2013-14 Stats[/th]

PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	FT%	3P%	MPG
17.2	3.2	8.1	1.6	0.2	0.374	0.775	0.326	36.1

Bynum has a better FG%, FT% and 3pt%.. WTF are we talking about here???

But that doesn't mean Bynum is good, just that Jennings is horrible, so your larger point, that gets obscured by your Bynum venom, is essentially correct... our guard play sucks!

IMO, those so focused on assists miss the whole point... assists are a symptom of good guard play, NOT the reason for it!

If the assists are made by a playmaking guard, they are much more important that just having a guard pass to someone that hits a shot! That's why I thought the focus and measure of BK7 was so off, because who cares what is going on when a player obviously makes the team function better when they're on the court!

We clearly miss BK7's defense at the point of attack, and he had to deal with some really good guards, and Frank, wisely wouldn't let Stuckey take the pressure off of him and made BK7 learn on the job!

Finally, I thought you had a good idea about letting KCP play PG! I actually think it would improve his offensive game as well, but Cheeks will never go for that!

[cool breeze]

Many fans have ideas in their heads that they think are important. It almost always involves players who miss shots or about strategy or player combinations being used by the coaching staff when their team is on the losing end. But the basic rule that all basketball experts would agree on that your team cannot do if they expect to win a game is this. YOU CANNOT ALLOW DRIBBLE PENETRATION IF YOU EXPECT TO BE A GOOD TEAM AND WANT TO WIN GAMES. This is a basic fact. So why would Joe Dumars not know that fact? If he had been watching any of the guards he has signed to contracts, he would have known that Jennings, Bynum, and Stuckey have a history of allowing dribble penetration. It might be expected that KCP would have a tough time stopping dribble penetration in his rookie season because he doesn't know the tendencies of the opponent his is assigned to guard. But the other vet players have no excuse. Those players have endured several different coaching staffs who all know that you can't win if your guards allow dribble penetration. Frank did everything he could to improve both Stuckey and Bynum. Brandon Knight listened and spent an entire summer after his rookie year to put in the necessary work to become better at stopping dribble penetration. But both Bynum and Stuckey did not listen or just do not have the aptitude to become better defenders. First off you need to be able to anticipate and know your opponent's tendencies and be thinking ahead. All really good basketball players have the ability to anticipate what is coming before it happens. This is the basic thing that is missing with many of our players including Josh Smith and our two starting big men. But when your guards lack the skill set to stop dribble penetration your team is in big trouble. The only player on the team who does have the quality of being able to anticipate on defense is Kyle Singler. However, he has been asked to defend several positions since he arrived as a Piston. Now that he is a guard, it will take time before he will be able to respond on the floor against all the quality offensive guards in the NBA. Fans seem to become angry that Singler started the last game at the 2 guard position. I just wanted to tell you why that happened. It is out of desperation that both Frank and now Cheeks has turned to Singler. We have no guard on this team who has ever even been interested or respected by their peers as a defensive minded guard. Singler is far ahead of Josh Smith in knowing how to play small forward. He should be starting at that position instead of Smith who should be starting at power forward. Smith has the same problems as our guards on the perimeter. He cannot stop dribble penetration of small forwards. Now my question to you is how can anyone explain Joe Dumars logic when it comes to signing the players he has signed to contracts. It is really true Piston fans. No coach in the entire world can make this group of Piston players into winners. The coach needs players who are capable of winning games. You cannot win games if you cannot stop dribble penetration. That is just another reason why Joe Dumars needs to be fired. He traded away two guards in Brandon Knight and Middleton who can stop dribble penetration. Singler would not be playing the 2 guard position if either or those two players were still on this Piston team. This might explain why some of us Piston fans were so upset last summer after Dumars signed Bynum and coach Cheeks stated that he wanted Stuckey to be the team leader this year. Poor Mo Cheeks had no idea what he was getting himself in to when he agreed to be the head coach of the Pistons. 100% of the blame of the downfall of the Pistons should rest on the shoulders of Joe Dumars. He failed to select the correct players to fit the team. This is a team full of players who cannot stop dribble penetration. Bynum should keep his mouth shut and know why he was sent to the bench in the last game. But one of the problems is that there are several players on the team who are like Bynum in that they don't know that they don't know.

[cool breeze]

The Pistons sure have a lot of drama these days. I agree with all of you who are still pissed that Dumars ever traded Knight and Middleton. He should lose his job for that move by the end of the year if not before. However, some of you are going too far when you are attacking the head coach. I have said it before and I say it again. There is no living coach who could make sense of this roster. We have a collection of the worst guards in the entire NBA. Can we play forwards at the guard spots? I can only assume that some of you have not actually been watching the games over the past two weeks. And I can't blame you at all for that. I say that because if you had been watching, you would have seen how the opposing team seemed to get a big lift whenever Bynum entered the games. His passing skills have deteriorated even more than in his college days. But my complaint is his lack of ability to defend or to understand the concept of team defense. Cheeks is looking for a guard to step up and show him that that they are not completely useless on defense. It was Joe Dumars who lost the team when he put this bunch together. Bynum must have been able to brown nose really well with Cheeks this summer and fall. Cheeks has ignored all of Bynum's faults a lot longer than I anticipated. But his response to Bynum's rant when he was sent to the bench after sucking was great. A player who has just screwed up big time should be pissed at himself not the coach. So some of you want to use this little argument where Bynum was clearly in the wrong to show that Cheeks is a horrible coach. There are some things that I disagree with when it comes to the rotations the coach settles on but come on you Bynum fans and admit that your guy is a horrible player who doesn't belong in the NBA.

Why not try KCP at point guard? It could work. KCP is not a ball hog. He can handle the basketball well enough to dribble up the court and make the first pass to get the half court offense going. That would be a plus over what the other shoot first players (Jennings, Stuckey and Bynum) are currently doing and my bet is that the other players who never get to touch the basketball will be thrilled to see KCP at the point. If that doesn't work, activate Siva and de-activate Bynum please. The combination of the dysfunctional Big Three Big Men and those three guards has made me want to ban myself from watching the Pistons for the rest of the season.

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