Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

[deusXango]

In this, the first meaningful season since 2009, the things that stand out to me is our youth, skill, and athleticism; Drummond, Jennings, and KCP. Those three players should be Pistons and vastly improved at that, in the next 3-5 years.

You wouldn't look at your 3 year old son and become disgusted because he hasn't graduated from college and has his own thriving business, so don't become disgusted with these 20-23 year olds who've only had 2 1/2 months to learn their craft and blend their skills; let's be patient.

Drummond is sleepwalking up on double-doubles every night, but what I read about a lot is his need to make FT's and block shots; the young man is only 20 years old and who in their right mind don't believe that by the time he's 23, he'll bring more to the table than we're b!tching about now? He's going to be a defensive monster on the inside (Ben Wallace?) for years to come, with a highly effective offensive game, just wait and see.

KCP is getting better, and better, and better......this young man is coming into his own the right way; he's willing to devote his time to doing the dirty work while he learns the pro game. Defense is the dirty work that'll work when your offense fails, plus he's under the conditioning care of the great Arnie Kander. We normally talk about Arnie when he's repairing a broken player, but little is said about what he's hired to do and that's strength and conditioning; KCP is not broken, but when Arnie's done with him (in a year or two) he's going to be a dynamo on both ends of the court, who'll know how to play this game, and if this backcourt develops like the winners of the past (Isaiah & Joe, and Chauncey & Rip), Jennings will join him in the conditioning regimen side of things. If defense is to be the staple of this team then Drummond and KCP are our true future.

[deusXango]

I know this is a Pistons basketball site, but DAMN!!!

Oracle, thank you, thank you, thank you; I'm very impressed with the man and all he's put himself out there for (winning a championship!), and can't wait for the season to start either. I missed the presser and all the follow-up news items, so this was a welcome piece of information, for which I'm grateful....thanks Bro.

[Oracle]

Yeah it's a tad long, but he said all of the things we need, and what's even better, he said it in a way that I BELIEVE that he won't tolerate the slacking off we've seen in the past.

I went into this presser not expecting much, but I wound up getting impressed, and now I can't wait for next season to start!!!

[WTF]

"Without question, Smith is talented and can do a lot of everything. His recent game against the Philadelphia 76ers is evidence. He had 22 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and four steals, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to record numbers like those in a game."-I Honestly Forgot

Smoke & mirrors? I don't think so! The man can play and is no dummy, like some erroneously overstate; it's as obvious that he's not a SF as it is that Monroe is not a PF, but we are way ahead of the game with both of them on our team. What we need is a real starting SF (hear me Joe?), and for Cheeks to make some real ballsy decisions with who starts at center, and who comes off the bench (my vote is for Drummond to start and Monroe to anchor the 2nd unit).

There's room for only one max player on the team and Monroe ain't him, so let's stop bringing up his contract demands when we talk about the wisdom of bringing him off the bench...Josh is the most overall talented big man we have and he's not a max player, so Monroe can expect to be paid handsomely, but not a max contract!

We desperately need a starting SF and a reliable outside shooting SG who plays hard every minute he's on the floor, not dumping Smith or Monroe; CV, Bynum, Billups, Jerebko, Stuckey, and Singler are either overvalued, overpaid, or overhyped and should be dangled to meet both or one of our needs, before the deadline. That misguided sentiment that starts in Joe's office, has infected a large segment of the Pistons fan base, and the results are showing up in the empty seats at the Palace; players win games, not sentimental favorites.

DX I've was all over the idea of getting Josh Smith and I have not been disappointed one single bit. I was never concerned about his show selection because he does too much as a player even when he's shooting like sh!t he's always making some positive impact on the team. Really they need to get off his back because a lot of those shots he has made been huge in a lot of games and I have yet to see a singlegame where he shot us into a loss

[deusXango]

"Without question, Smith is talented and can do a lot of everything. His recent game against the Philadelphia 76ers is evidence. He had 22 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and four steals, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to record numbers like those in a game."-I Honestly Forgot

Smoke & mirrors? I don't think so! The man can play and is no dummy, like some erroneously overstate; it's as obvious that he's not a SF as it is that Monroe is not a PF, but we are way ahead of the game with both of them on our team. What we need is a real starting SF (hear me Joe?), and for Cheeks to make some real ballsy decisions with who starts at center, and who comes off the bench (my vote is for Drummond to start and Monroe to anchor the 2nd unit).

There's room for only one max player on the team and Monroe ain't him, so let's stop bringing up his contract demands when we talk about the wisdom of bringing him off the bench...Josh is the most overall talented big man we have and he's not a max player, so Monroe can expect to be paid handsomely, but not a max contract!

We desperately need a starting SF and a reliable outside shooting SG who plays hard every minute he's on the floor, not dumping Smith or Monroe; CV, Bynum, Billups, Jerebko, Stuckey, and Singler are either overvalued, overpaid, or overhyped and should be dangled to meet both or one of our needs, before the deadline. That misguided sentiment that starts in Joe's office, has infected a large segment of the Pistons fan base, and the results are showing up in the empty seats at the Palace; players win games, not sentimental favorites.

[deusXango]

....like Wise stated, Burke was expected to be gone by #5 in the draft, leaving us with MCW (the 2nd rated PG in the draft); we clearly needed a true PG with leadership abilities, (IMHO, still do) not a SG and Joe blew it!!!

The knock on Burke, around here was he was too small, but we end up trading two studs (Knight and Middleton) for a PG that is too small; that flashy dribbling around doesn't compensate for his lack of defensive ability, or post up ability. Jennings contract would have paid BK7, Middleton, and Burke or MCW, so it's unimportant who wanted who, it's about how ridiculous the draft went and the ensuing signings of guards.

Question about Jennings; if he got 16 assists in the first half of a game, is it unfair to expect more than 2 in the second half, where it really mattered?

[deusXango]

Caldwell looks like a real stoic type of guy.......he has one face:  Business.  Not a screamer or an excuse maker like Schwartz.  I'm not jumping up and down excited, but am certainly willing to give him a chance.  I dunno.......seems kind of boring.  But that could be what the Lions need.

Fly, that's what this franchise needs on the field....business and not B.S.

Wise, I wouldn't be surprised that if Stafford doesn't get his sh!t together soon, Shawn Hill may be calling the signals until he does.

[Oracle]

From GrantLand - The Pistons Shouldn’t Be This Bad

[Oracle]

@Phillip - As I recall, everybody except Don was on board for either Burke or MCW, with the feeling that we couldn't go too far wrong with either. I wanted MCW more because of size, but I always felt that Burke had the mental advantage! Burke is just so mentally tough and a superior leader, it was surprising that Joe left him on the board, but IMO, Joe didn't do too badly with KCP! The early returns say different, but this is a longer term item, so we need to wait a couple of years!

@Don - The Phoenix announcers made a lot of good points, I guess I'm surprised at how fair and balanced they were in talking about the "Other" team!

@Wise - Like Fly, I am a big Stafford supporter, but also disappointed by Stafford's lack of growth! I'm looking for Caldwell to help turn him around, and he doesn't sound like an enabler! Stafford needs tough love, IMO! Also, I'm glad GUN is gone! Under GUN, the defense has also underperformed! For the talent on that defensive line, the results are piss poor! Hopefully a new defensive coordinator will produce better results! I'm wondering if they'll play a 4-3 or 3-4, but we'll see soon enough!

@Merc, @Lemon & @Fly - IMO, the Bynum/Jennings combination brought about one important thing! It exposed the weakness of Jennings to break down defenses, and the need for another guard that can do it more consistently.

That's an important discovery for the coaching staff and the GM, because it shows what we need, two guards that can penetrate, and at least one of them being a capable spot up shooter.

Let's not just jump on Bynum, neither Bynum nor Jennings are the right guards for this role, although Bynum sticks out like a sore thumb.

Jennings is not the spot up shooter we should prefer, and two dudes, both stretching the NBA measurer's credibility, Jennings generously listed at 6'1 and Bynum generously listed as 5'10 makes a mockery of the bureau of accurate measurement  

[Sebastian]

One of the side stories here.......regarding the ex-Piston dancer getting face-time on "The Bachelor".  Apparently, she has a 2 year old son, and none other than Rodney Stuckey is the baby daddy.  She has seen him play basketball.......and she STILL slept with him?

I'll excuse you because you've been away for awhile, but if you had monitored Seb's post, you could have figured out why she slept with Hot Rod!

She thought Stuckey was Fifty Cents!!!

Of course a lot of people make that mistake, and only know it's Fiddy when he doesn't run into things and get called for charging!

Of course now that the cat is out of the bag, that legally allows us to get into their business   

I can see why Stuckey wanted to hit that, but seriously, she needs to start checking ID's before spreading(so to speak) the goodies around!

[lemonpen]

Don, Cheeks suggested that we could see more small ball with Bynum & Jennings... just because they got away with it a couple of times this is a bad idea... once advanced scouts see this as a trend it will become automatic to send the 2 guard to the block with a clear out.
Safe to say nobody wants to see more Bynum and less KCP.

Unless you're Annne Rexic. (visualize puking emoticon)

[lemonpen]

Needless to say I'm excited about this being first Afro American hire in the organization for Head Coach.  Like I said in a previous posting about Caldwell is that he's not coming to kiss Stafford Ass,  the other thing that intrigues me is that he's a former DB that transformed into a Offensive Coordinator just seems kind of odd.  

My hope is that he hires great defensive and offensive coordinators as well as QB coach.  I hope he drafts a WR to help Mega

After the season ended most agreed we were talented enough to be playoff bound and needed someone to elevate this squad to the next level. If Caldwell has proven nothing it is that he can take someone else's team to the mountain top quick fast and in a hurry. Problem is history indicates an immediate and steady decline. But, if he can produce a playoff win next year Lion fans are likely to be deliriously happy for half a decade. Looking forward to the pandemonium.

The new OC has a fantastic track record with the Eagles starting QB.

[FlyDog]

Caldwell looks like a real stoic type of guy.......he has one face:  Business.  Not a screamer or an excuse maker like Schwartz.  I'm not jumping up and down excited, but am certainly willing to give him a chance.  I dunno.......seems kind of boring.  But that could be what the Lions need.

If he can get Dum Dum throwing like Peyton and correct those INT's then this team improves 3-4 games over last season and I'm happy.  

As a big time Stafford supporter, I am all for that.

[WTF]

Caldwell looks like a real stoic type of guy.......he has one face:  Business.  Not a screamer or an excuse maker like Schwartz.  I'm not jumping up and down excited, but am certainly willing to give him a chance.  I dunno.......seems kind of boring.  But that could be what the Lions need.

If he can get Dum Dum throwing like Peyton and correct those INT's then this team improves 3-4 games over last season and I'm happy.

[merc]

Don, Cheeks suggested that we could see more small ball with Bynum & Jennings... just because they got away with it a couple of times this is a bad idea... once advanced scouts see this as a trend it will become automatic to send the 2 guard to the block with a clear out.
Safe to say nobody wants to see more Bynum and less KCP.

[FlyDog]

Caldwell looks like a real stoic type of guy.......he has one face: Business. Not a screamer or an excuse maker like Schwartz. I'm not jumping up and down excited, but am certainly willing to give him a chance. I dunno.......seems kind of boring. But that could be what the Lions need.

[WTF]

Needless to say I'm excited about this being first Afro American hire in the organization for Head Coach. Like I said in a previous posting about Caldwell is that he's not coming to kiss Stafford Ass, the other thing that intrigues me is that he's a former DB that transformed into a Offensive Coordinator just seems kind of odd.

My hope is that he hires great defensive and offensive coordinators as well as QB coach. I hope he drafts a WR to help Mega

[WTF]

I don't mind the T.Burkes debates but the AZZ-HOLES who keeping bitching about MCW, that's some bULL!

MCW look like TRASH in the summer league. Yes, he having A good season but nobody thought about this kid as possible rookie of the year. And almost everybody would have took the Kentucky Kid over MCW.

So stop the bitching unless you were team MCW from the beginning and 98% of you were not.    

Phillip...good point.  Oracle is the only one who can complain about Joe not taking MCW, with any credibility.

Sorry Murph but MCW was always an option for both myself and DX along with Oracle largely in part because we never thought we would have a shot at selecting Burke so MCW was always an option. I could be wrong but I also think Don was also on board with selecting MCW.

[cool breeze]

I don't know if many of you ever had the chance to watch Tom Chambers play when he was in his prime. Tom had slow feet issues like Monroe but he made up for this weakness by playing smart. He made some great comments about Detroit players in this last game. First off, he was on the Suns defenders for not setting up and waiting for Monroe to make his spin in the low post. He said that Monroe almost always turns to his left which is the same thing that Smith does. He mentioned that if Monroe would only work on becoming capable of turning away from pressure to his right, he could be unstoppable. On defense Chambers mentioned Monroe being a liability when he travels out to the free throw line during pick and roll situations. Chambers said that Monroe needs to communicate with the guard and create space for the guard to get through instead of switching to defend the guard. Roll with his man back into the paint but somehow the Detroit coaching staff is not demanding this from Monroe. However, Chambers mentioned that the group of Piston big men could become incredible if Piston management can convince two good two way players who can shoot the ball to sign with the Pistons in the future. He mentioned the big men with a great future as Monroe, Drummond and Singler. Chambers stated that Singler attacks the weak side a lot on offense bumping the defender off his spot. I have noticed this as well. If you are going to get a foul called against you, then why not get it testing the officials with the potential that no call will be made and you will get an easy put back from the weak side. One final comment that stuck with me from Chambers was when Smith left his man a few times to help out a teammate on defense. Chambers stated that you never help a teammate when you are playing defense on the strong side. You help your teammate out on the weak side. Some of the mistakes that our Pistons are making are errors that can be corrected. I am wondering if the Pistons coaching staff is noticing some of this stuff and if so, what is preventing the team from reducing the mental errors.

There were some really positive things that came out of this last game for the Pistons. Monroe, Drummond and Smith played really hard. I thought the plays of the game came at the end of the 3rd quarter when Phoenix stole the ball and Smith, who was at least 15 yards behind the Suns guard was able to catch up with him and blocked the shot from behind. Then another Suns player got the rebound but Singler, who was running hard behind Josh Smith was there to block the second Suns shot attempt. Following that Smith got back down the court on offense within 3 seconds to get a pass in the paint and get fouled. That was real effort from our guys and I loved it.

Jennings played a fantastic first half against the Suns. One bounce pass he made was incredible. His shot wasn't falling but Jennings really made his teammates better in this game and his defense was much better.

Detroit went small after building up a big lead and I am wondering why and so did the Phoenix announcers. The Suns got life after this happened. Detroit had Stuckey, Bynum and Jennings on the floor at the same time. Why not bring in Harrellison? It appears that Mr. Harrellison is now in the dog house for no reason. He offers good defense, rebounding, shot blocking and has a nice 3 point shot.

I am for signing Monroe and hoping that whoever the GM might be this summer will bring in two new skill players who are established high producers who will not hurt the team on the defensive end.

[WTF]

I don't mind the T.Burkes debates but the AZZ-HOLES who keeping bitching about MCW, that's some bULL!

MCW look like TRASH in the summer league. Yes, he having A good season but nobody thought about this kid as possible rookie of the year. And almost everybody would have took the Kentucky Kid over MCW.

So stop the bitching unless you were team MCW from the beginning and 98% of you were not.    

I think the majority of posters were either on the one of those bandwagons prior to the draft. DX, Oralce were high on Carter-Williams initially and I was sold on Burke as a freshmen along with Ray Jr. over at Mercy.

Carter William in my opinion won't have the same stardom of Burke but will be a solid PG in the. Both are better as rookie than what we get out of our current back-court.

Burke had an even worse Summer League than Carter-Williams and a far better preseason. MCW open the season with 2 straight triple doubles and still plays steady.

Joe was a knucklehead for passing on them both   

[Murph]

I don't mind the T.Burkes debates but the AZZ-HOLES who keeping bitching about MCW, that's some bULL!

MCW look like TRASH in the summer league. Yes, he having A good season but nobody thought about this kid as possible rookie of the year. And almost everybody would have took the Kentucky Kid over MCW.

So stop the bitching unless you were team MCW from the beginning and 98% of you were not.    

Phillip...good point. Oracle is the only one who can complain about Joe not taking MCW, with any credibility.

[cool breeze]

"But my beef with your post is that you did not identify Detroit's basic weaknesses which leads to so many loses. The players on this team are weak defenders except for Singler."

Don...what are you talking about?  I mentioned defensive deficiencies 5 times when grading this team.

Drummond:  Needs to improve his defense.

Monroe:  Still needs to drastically improve his defense.  While his defense has actually improved slightly, he still has a long way to go before he's even an average defender.

Smith:  Needs to improve...his perimeter defense.

Bynum:  he's still a defensive liability.

Cheeks:  His defensive strategies are questionable.

In fact, I pointed out the Pistons bad defense so many times, I got tired of pointing it out.  But you are correct.  I should have made special mention of Jennings' bad defense, and of course CV's, Billups' and Datome's defense is so bad that it kind of goes without saying.

BTW Wise, compared to Piston Powered, my grading of CV was very kind.  While I gave Charlie a D, the guys at Pistons Powered gave him an F, an F, and an F-.  

I stand corrected Murph. Sorry!

[FlyDog]

Any team that needs Will Bynum to save their season is pretty messed up.

Well after 5 months of begging, praying, pleading......all it took was for me to cross my fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFle0npi1Qc

[Murph]

"But my beef with your post is that you did not identify Detroit's basic weaknesses which leads to so many loses. The players on this team are weak defenders except for Singler."

Don...what are you talking about? I mentioned defensive deficiencies 5 times when grading this team.

Drummond: Needs to improve his defense.

Monroe: Still needs to drastically improve his defense. While his defense has actually improved slightly, he still has a long way to go before he's even an average defender.

Smith: Needs to improve...his perimeter defense.

Bynum: he's still a defensive liability.

Cheeks: His defensive strategies are questionable.

In fact, I pointed out the Pistons bad defense so many times, I got tired of pointing it out. But you are correct. I should have made special mention of Jennings' bad defense, and of course CV's, Billups' and Datome's defense is so bad that it kind of goes without saying.

BTW Wise, compared to Piston Powered, my grading of CV was very kind. While I gave Charlie a D, the guys at Pistons Powered gave him an F, an F, and an F-.

[Phil-Good]

I don't mind the T.Burkes debates but the AZZ-HOLES who keeping bitching about MCW, that's some bULL!

MCW look like TRASH in the summer league. Yes, he having A good season but nobody thought about this kid as possible rookie of the year. And almost everybody would have took the Kentucky Kid over MCW.

So stop the bitching unless you were team MCW from the beginning and 98% of you were not.    

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