Talk about some real balling...

[Oracle]

The SA vs Cavs game is fantastic, great basketball all over the place, and down to the wire drama!!!

Leonard vs James

Irving vs Parker

Wow, good stuff!!!

Irving just shot a 3 at the BUZZER, and we're off to overtime!

[Oracle]

Stan Van Gundy is a stubborn ass man. He should be playing Quincy Miller, plain and simple!

To be clear on QM, he's pretty raw and light in the pants, but the talent is there given good coaching and time! He's a low risk guy to have around, so I like adding him to a young team. There's no way I would have wanted him before in a trade for real assets! Now that he's hit rock bottom, he's a good value!

Excuse me Oracle, but what did I miss? Quincy Miller actually got some PT here and showed to be pretty raw, and I missed it?! Damn. Here I am thinking that he'd be a breath of fresh air and would've established himself as being more than a low risk guy to have around, if he was given the clock Singler, Butler, and Prince have had; he wouldn't have stunned the NBA world, but neither did any of the Pistons who've manned the SF position for us.

I got a problem downgrading players without actually seeing them for myself and when in comparison it'd be damn near impossible for them to underperform their predecessors, not to mention on a team that has more "meh" players than decent ones, and the record reflects just that.

I hope you don't fall off!

Maybe you haven't been watching the NBA, or don't have league pass, but if you did, maybe you wouldn't miss so much!

Yes, you missed a LOT, the kid is as RAW as they come, he's light in the ass, AND he's a effing tweener!

Just because you don't know, you shouldn't assume that others are in the same boat! QM isn't effective guarding SF's and he's way to light to play against PF's, so the first thing that has to be done is to figure out where he heading as he matures. Will he pick up the speed to deal with SF's, or will he bulk up and be a PF... who knows? I'm sure you don't, that's why you're complaining about something that shouldn't be a issue, but you want to make it into one!

You make an assumption and run off making claims based on that false assumption! I said NOTHING to downgrade the player, I simply stated what SVG and everybody else knows, and that's why QM was thrown on the last gasp trash heap!

BTW, Singler and Prince EARNED what they're getting, QM hasn't earned SQUAT, unless your undying man love is taken into account

Man love is a dangerous thing! You aren't even satisfied when we say he should get PT, no, that's not good enough for you, he needs to get 30 minutes a game to satisfy your hunger to watch his jock strap go up and down

Come on DX, get a reality pill already!

[deusXango]

Stan Van Gundy is a stubborn ass man. He should be playing Quincy Miller, plain and simple!

To be clear on QM, he's pretty raw and light in the pants, but the talent is there given good coaching and time! He's a low risk guy to have around, so I like adding him to a young team. There's no way I would have wanted him before in a trade for real assets! Now that he's hit rock bottom, he's a good value!

Excuse me Oracle, but what did I miss? Quincy Miller actually got some PT here and showed to be pretty raw, and I missed it?! Damn. Here I am thinking that he'd be a breath of fresh air and would've established himself as being more than a low risk guy to have around, if he was given the clock Singler, Butler, and Prince have had; he wouldn't have stunned the NBA world, but neither did any of the Pistons who've manned the SF position for us.

I got a problem downgrading players without actually seeing them for myself and when in comparison it'd be damn near impossible for them to underperform their predecessors, not to mention on a team that has more "meh" players than decent ones, and the record reflects just that.

[Oracle]

What's the over/ under for the Pistons at this point?  What are the odds of hitting the customary 29 again?

[deusXango]

Sparma, to be totally honest, I felt there was no way in hell we'd end up with 29 wins 3 years running, especially with Van Gundy at the helm...sh!t.

[Sparma]

What's the over/ under for the Pistons at this point? What are the odds of hitting the customary 29 again?

[Oracle]

Middleton scored 30 points last night!

The Bucks have been led by two Piston rookie, Knight, now Middleton, but we dumped both in the trash!

Joe wasn't a bad drafter, but he was piss poor developing players and getting coaching for his rookies!

[Oracle]

Stan Van Gundy is a stubborn ass man. He should be playing Quincy Miller, plain and simple!

Hell yeah, this season is TOAST, so why in the world are we playing has beens like Prince & Butler???

Speaking of Prince, it's time for SVG to do the RIGHT thing and buy out Prince so that he can go to the Clippers, or find a way to get him there! They want him and he wants to go home!!!

In addition, we're playing 4 games in 5 nights, and that smells like the young guys should get ample PT and let the oldsters rest their old ass dust busted smelly carcasses!

To be clear on QM, he's pretty raw and light in the pants, but the talent is there given good coaching and time! He's a low risk guy to have around, so I like adding him to a young team. There's no way I would have wanted him before in a trade for real assets! Now that he's hit rock bottom, he's a good value!

[Sebastian]

Stan Van Gundy is a stubborn ass man. He should be playing Quincy Miller, plain and simple!

[cool breeze]

Dinwiddie: Hell Yeah I'm seeing what you're seeing in SD! This kid only needs regular PT and good health, and he's going to be HELL on defenses! I LOVE the way he gets to the rim, and with that size, he's going to start converting more! He has the poise and character to go far, and I really hope we stop the Lucas experiment and focus on SD for the remainder of the season! 

JACKSON: Jackson may look like a 2 guard to you, but he HAS to be a PG in this league, because he can't shoot well enough to make a living as a 2 guard! He can be a Westbrook style PG, but we can't tell until he masters the fundamentals! Prince picked up everything pretty quickly, but PG is a more difficult position to master with no training camp! 

KCP: Pope is all over the map, just as inconsistent as he was last year! He's still trying to be someone he's not. If consistency can't get a lot better next year, I'll have to re-evaluate KCP as a core piece! he's valuable, but we'll have to see if he's really going to be a starter!

Monroe and Drummond: Both need a lot of work, but like a new suit, would look better with a good PG!

My PASS connection for this last game was really bad so I was only able to see bits and pieces of the actual game. What I did see was another game where officials called some bogus fouls on Dinwiddie. Some of this stuff should be sent to the League front office for review for what that might be worth. But maybe in the long run the officials are helping the Pistons.

Detroit players played hard until crunch time. The outcome was a good thing for the future of the Detroit Pistons. We are now in a tie with Denver and Sacramento regarding total losses so we are moving on up in this year's draft. The higher we go the greater chance we have to get a top 3 pick. Wouldn't that be sweet? Will Charlotte now try to catch us?

[Oracle]

Dinwiddie: Hell Yeah I'm seeing what you're seeing in SD! This kid only needs regular PT and good health, and he's going to be HELL on defenses! I LOVE the way he gets to the rim, and with that size, he's going to start converting more! He has the poise and character to go far, and I really hope we stop the Lucas experiment and focus on SD for the remainder of the season! 

JACKSON: Jackson may look like a 2 guard to you, but he HAS to be a PG in this league, because he can't shoot well enough to make a living as a 2 guard! He can be a Westbrook style PG, but we can't tell until he masters the fundamentals! Prince picked up everything pretty quickly, but PG is a more difficult position to master with no training camp! 

KCP: Pope is all over the map, just as inconsistent as he was last year! He's still trying to be someone he's not. If consistency can't get a lot better next year, I'll have to re-evaluate KCP as a core piece! he's valuable, but we'll have to see if he's really going to be a starter!

Monroe and Drummond: Both need a lot of work, but like a new suit, would look better with a good PG!

[Oracle]

Man...as I look as the box score from yet another consecutive loss, I just shake my head in wonder.     Stan Van Gundy might be a decent coach, but look at the complete scrubs that that guy has collected...Tayshaun Prince, Anthony Toliver, Joel Anthony, Caron Butler, Shawne Williams, John Lucas III, Jodie Meeks, Quincy Miller and Cartier Martin.  Geesh.  I mean these guys are all literally just hanging onto what's left of their NBA careers by their fingernails.  I mean it looks like the roster from the Grand Rapids D-League team.  

Meanwhile, SVG has just thrown tons of good young talent right out the window for almost nothing in return...Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey, Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko and two 2nd round draft picks.  I mean say what you want about those guys;  they certainly never lived up to their talent in Detroit.  But at least they aren't a bunch of broken down has beens or n'er-do-wells.  And the only decent player SVG ever got in return was Reggie Jackson, who has looked pretty shaky so far.

And whatever success this miserable team has had this year was all with Joe Dumars' guys...Monroe, Drummond, Singler, KCP and Jennings.

SVG might be a decent coach, but he's a flat out awful general manager.

Seb and I have been beating that drum since he latched on to F**king Jodie Meeks

Although I do like Meeks, I don't like him at the price SVG paid for him! He was making 1.5M, he should have got 3M from SVG, not 6!

But here's the interesting thing! The talent level hasn't been that great, and wasn't when we were ripping the league a new one with Jennings! What happened is that Jennings made EVERYBODY else better by mastering the single greatness possessed by this team!

When he went down, we lost that, but Augustin had enough experience with the team & system, and chemistry with Drummond that we could stay in the hunt for the playoffs.

After the trade, Jackson has absolutely no chemistry with Drummond, doesn't know the system or the players... in short, he's lost.

But I do like the move long term if Jackson can master the position THIS season, or I wouldn't advise signing him long term!

BTW, your comments on Joe are interesting. Joe was a pretty good GM, but he was horrible at hiring(and firing) coaches. If only he had got a very good coach, the talent he had could have flourished!

But time and again, Joe never wanted to pay for coaching, opting to hire on the cheap, and he got what he paid for!

[cool breeze]

I was wondering how our Pistons could lose that game against the Lakers? They of course lost it because of their inept defense and with the help of the officials.

Dinwiddie: One great thing Stan Van Gundy did last night was bench Jackson and bring in the rookie. Maybe some of you are not seeing what I see in this player. But as soon as Dinwiddie got on the court, I thought the Pistons looked like a smarter team. I counted 4 fouls that were called against Spencer Dinwiddie that were not fouls. Meanwhile, Spencer drove into the lane and was pulled and slapped but the officials swallowed their whistles. Lin drove into the lane untouched but somehow he was fouled. Meanwhile, he was hatchet man on defense but the officials never saw it. through all of that Spencer threw the pass to the open cutter at the correct spot and time so that player could get off a decent shot attempt. That is no easy thing to do with this Piston team where players are used to standing around a lot on offense. Maybe they stand around a lot because they feel the point guard won't pass them the ball when they do run through screens. I noticed that Jackson had no idea what was going on in that regard and wasn't even looking to pass the ball to either Pope or Meeks when they ran around screens looking for the ball. But since Singler has moved on, we miss a player who is willing to set screens. The best thing Stan Van Gundy can do is tell Spencer Dinwiddie that he has full confidence in his ability to run the Piston team. He is the only point guard who has any brains and really knows what it takes to win games. Let Dinwiddie play a lot of minutes and then spend time in the summer league and I am sure the Pistons will have a really good backup or starter at the point guard position next season. Please don't throw this player away like so many others.

JACKSON: Jackson is not a point guard. He is a 2 guard and it is clear that he has no idea how to run a struggling basketball team in the half court. In Thunder land, it was not necessary to use your brain much because that team only needed to run their first option. Jackson looks out of sorts on this team because his teammates are not willing to run a half court offense. Of instance,

KCP: I noticed Pope running from defense on made baskets never looking back at Spencer Dinwiddie. What is this man thinking of? Doesn't he want the ball? Pope ran slowly to the baseline behind the 3 point line and stood. Since when don't you act like you want to get the ball early. There were 15 times that I counted where Pope had no defender close to him 15 yards after crossing the half court but he didn't look back. I noticed Spencer looking his way with this "what the hell" look on his face. If Pope had looked, he could have received the ball and either drove to the basket, shot an early mid range jump shot, dished or had a layup.

Monroe and Drummond: Our big men sure do build up the stats. They look good on paper. But it seems that almost every game the Pistons lose, it has a lot to do with our big men. The opposing big men get key rebounds or make key shots or out bigs allow guards to get layups without giving a hard foul. Are opposing guards afraid of our big men? Also, players are not prepared to do anything in the half court offense. Our big men stand a lot when the point guard is trying to get the half court offense started. If the pass doesn't go perfectly in to Monroe, he doesn't move hard to the ball. That is a basic fundamental. You should always be moving to the pass to accept the pass if it is only a short step. Drummond needs to fight to get low post position. But Drummond doesn't know how to do many of the basic things a lot of players learn to do in high school. Drummond is a freak athlete and has great instincts as to where the ball is going to come off the rim. But He fails to even think about boxing somebody out with his body. He turns and looks as if it is not important to expend the energy it takes to put a body on somebody. Sure enough because he seldom does it, all teams in the NBA know that he doesn't box out and that gives inferior big men an incentive to fight for offensive rebounds. And Drummond usually plays lazy in the first half like he did last night. Maybe nobody is watching. That must be what he is counting on. How many times have we witnessed the opposing team shoot the ball and a long rebound comes off the rim just out of reach of Drummond? If Drummond had boxed his man out, he would have secured more space. Opposing bigs are getting rebounds that bounce off the rim 3 or 4 feet away. Also, Drummond at times gets pissed off and then we see his potential as a player. He seems to be able to do whatever he wants to do relating to rebounding on the offensive end. But other times, he just goes through the motions running from free throw line to free throw line and then resting. Can a coach trust our big men to be active and play hard in every game? I don't think so but keep hoping.

Tolliver is a 2nd unit player who has only one skill and that is shooting the long ball. He is missing a lot of shots like Pope lately. Van Gundy needs another power forward he can bring in during the dry shooting spells. Detroit needs a 4th big man who is young and capable of becoming a good two way player and that guy needs to excel on defense. We have no big men who can hold their own on defense let alone perform well with help defense. How can a team win if we have no big man who is a good help defender?

Like it or not, there are so many questions about the abilities of our players as a team to perform equally or better than most opponents. We have no clear stand out players who come to play in every game. All of our players lack the key thing a winning team has and that is players who are consistently bringing high energy and ability. If anyone disagrees please speak up. We need better basketball players at almost every position. No player including Drummond should be considered untouchable relating to potential trade material. The best thing that can happen is if the Pistons lose every game to the end. Beat out the Kings and keep moving up in the draft. Get lucky with the ping pong balls on draft lottery day. I hope our players keep working on improving up to the end as well. But right now, I am sure Stan Van Gundy has lost his trust in many of the current players.

[deusXango]

Man...as I look as the box score from yet another consecutive loss, I just shake my head in wonder.     Stan Van Gundy might be a decent coach, but look at the complete scrubs that that guy has collected...Tayshaun Prince, Anthony Toliver, Joel Anthony, Caron Butler, Shawne Williams, John Lucas III, Jodie Meeks, Quincy Miller and Cartier Martin.  Geesh.  I mean these guys are all literally just hanging onto what's left of their NBA careers by their fingernails.  I mean it looks like the roster from the Grand Rapids D-League team.  

Meanwhile, SVG has just thrown tons of good young talent right out the window for almost nothing in return...Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey, Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko and two 2nd round draft picks.  I mean say what you want about those guys;  they certainly never lived up to their talent in Detroit.  But at least they aren't a bunch of broken down has beens or n'er-do-wells.  And the only decent player SVG ever got in return was Reggie Jackson, who has looked pretty shaky so far.

And whatever success this miserable team has had this year was all with Joe Dumars' guys...Monroe, Drummond, Singler, KCP and Jennings.

SVG might be a decent coach, but he's a flat out awful general manager.

I am in total agreement with your assessment of the GM Stan is not.

I was seriously thinking to myself: What has been Van Gundy's best personnel move/decision, since becoming the President/GM. I have to conclude that GM Stan has not made any smart transactions:

- Moose has played his [GM Stan] as all season long, every since Draft Night. GM Stan could had moved Moose on Draft Night for a player or pick, if he had any Pimp Juice running in his veins. Moose becomes a free agent (Pelican) the week of July 1 - 7th.

- Yes, he moved Josh but what did he get in return - not a living, breathing body (Nick Johnson, Terrance Jones, who was injured at the time), GM Stan gets the Pistons the rights to pay Josh's salary for the remainder of the season and the next 4 more seasons

- Okay, WE didn't have a 1st round pick, so GM Stan drafted Spencer Dinwiddie, there is still hope for S.D. but Head Coach Stan refuses to play the kid the consistent minutes required to improve in this League.

- I personally thought GM Stan's only good move was the signing of D.J. Augustin*, but alas GM Stan sends D.J. to play with his college buddy, Kevin Durant, in OKC, for a guy [Reggie Jackson], who GM Stan will need to decide to pay or not pay. Why get involve with having to compete with signing Jackson, when during the same week a decision has to made with Moose. (Note: I don't believe Moose is staying, here, but attempting to hold discussions about hopely an advantageous sign-and-trade involving Moose, during the same three-day period teams have to match RFA offers is tight. Stan is fat, but he's not that fat where he can be in two places at the same time.

*D.J. Augustin was only due to make $3,000,000, next season and is an excellent back-up PG.

-You would think that GM/Head Coach Stan would have gotten more for his former, starting SF, Kyle Singler.

- Nothing in return for Jonas Jerebko, a hustling, reserve PF, who should had seen minutes as a SF, with an expiring $4.5 millions. Oh, but, WE did get Tayshaun from the Celtics and his expiring $7.1 million. Watch and see Stan, f@ck this money up by signing another marginal-level, scrub player.

- Don't forget that Caron Butler was sign for next season, too, at $4.5 million and WE still have to pay the over-paid, F@ckin' Jodie Meeks ($6.275/2015-16; $6.5/2016-17). Way to go GM Stan. Piston Pals: You can't tell me that Rodney Norvell Stuckey was not worthy of some of this money, the same Rodney Stuckey, who is doing it in a Pacers uniform at only $1.3 milllion, this season. Don't worry, Stuckey will get his contract situation corrected in July.

- What is severly puzzling to me is why does Head Coach Stan refuse to play Quincy Miller and Thomas Robinson and again, Spencer Dinwiddie, hell the season is over now.  

- Meanwhile another lost season for Dre and no-games after the Tax Deadline (April 15).

Oh, by the way, OUR Pistons are currently in a 7-game losing streak. This season has been the worst!!!

I can't help but get me some of this, by sticking my  2 cents worth in, because these are two of the most honest assessments of our management regime I've seen in a long time.

Murph got the ball rolling, but for my money, he was much too kind toward SVG, but Sebastian saved the day by pointing out a few of his major flaws. Stan Van Gundy is in wayyy over his head as president of the Detroit Pistons and my gut tells me that when it becomes apparent to all (the upcoming draft and this summers FA signing period) we'll be wishing we had Joe back, like I wish we had Singler back! This sh!t about SVG being a helluva coach is beginning to bore me also....where's the f@ckin' evidence?! He talks a lot about the same things that Don and Oracle does, on why the team loses, but they don't recruit the talent or make the coaching decisions! The only difference I see between them is about $7 million a year (give or take a few million...I think Don got money ). Talk is cheap, it's the results that count and up to this point, there's been piss-poor results!!!

"...look at the complete scrubs that that guy has collected...Tayshaun Prince, Anthony Toliver, Joel Anthony, Caron Butler, Shawne Williams, John Lucas III, Jodie Meeks, Quincy Miller and Cartier Martin.  Geesh." 88% correct because I've not seen Quincy Miller in a game, in a Detroit uniform yet! I ask the same question I asked when we had Datome riding the bench, "why the f@ck not?!" With the record we have (not will have if they played, but have) and the lack of effective production coming from one of the most dynamic positions on the floor, by the games design, WHY THE F@CK NOT??!! I'm not campaigning for Miller to start, but the minutes Butler and Williams are given to stumble around, ineffectively, give them to Miller for a game or two and let us all see that he ain't sh!t, if that's the case, and stop engaging in conjecture and supposition. We often talk about players being locker room cancers, but what about coaches being cancers on the playing floor? When a young, capable, skilled, player is kicking some old men and scrubs asses on the practice floor and the team witnesses this from practice to practice, but doesn't get anything but DNP-CD when the actual game rolls around, how does that effect the spirit and mindset of your starters? You want to base a case on "they just don't care?" Go right ahead because that's where we seem to be with 3/4 of the season devoted to playing a man short when the game starts. Getting back to Murph's quote, 9 men on a 15 man roster being recent recruits made by your president/GM/coach tells you what?

Paying Josh to play for Houston (and whoever else for the next 4 years) accomplished exactly what this year? We could've kept Josh and had the same record, maybe better, anybody ever thought of that? Genius move in hindsight. SVG said right up until the last minute he wasn't going to make a trade deadline move, and BAM! Reggie Jackson for Augustin and Singler. He was and is applauded for his lack of integrity (integrity being his action matching his words) and this isn't the first time in his brief career here that he's shown a lack of integrity. He said he was going to play Datome and didn't...he said Dinwiddie would get more PT, but doesn't. He said Jerebko would get more time, but after the trade for Tolliver, J.J.'s ass was back on the bench and he was playing better then, than Tolliver is now. If he's serious about all the things he's said about how important Monroe is to him, what is he doing to secure his services beyond this year? Monroe seems to be doing everything he needs do, to enhance his marketability, so he can get out of Dodge as soon as possible. What must Prince be thinking about his new coach; I wonder if buffoonery has crossed his mind?

[Sebastian]

Man...as I look as the box score from yet another consecutive loss, I just shake my head in wonder.     Stan Van Gundy might be a decent coach, but look at the complete scrubs that that guy has collected...Tayshaun Prince, Anthony Toliver, Joel Anthony, Caron Butler, Shawne Williams, John Lucas III, Jodie Meeks, Quincy Miller and Cartier Martin.  Geesh.  I mean these guys are all literally just hanging onto what's left of their NBA careers by their fingernails.  I mean it looks like the roster from the Grand Rapids D-League team.  

Meanwhile, SVG has just thrown tons of good young talent right out the window for almost nothing in return...Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey, Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko and two 2nd round draft picks.  I mean say what you want about those guys;  they certainly never lived up to their talent in Detroit.  But at least they aren't a bunch of broken down has beens or n'er-do-wells.  And the only decent player SVG ever got in return was Reggie Jackson, who has looked pretty shaky so far.

And whatever success this miserable team has had this year was all with Joe Dumars' guys...Monroe, Drummond, Singler, KCP and Jennings.

SVG might be a decent coach, but he's a flat out awful general manager.

I am in total agreement with your assessment of the GM Stan is not.

I was seriously thinking to myself: What has been Van Gundy's best personnel move/decision, since becoming the President/GM. I have to conclude that GM Stan has not made any smart transactions:

- Moose has played his [GM Stan] as all season long, every since Draft Night. GM Stan could had moved Moose on Draft Night for a player or pick, if he had any Pimp Juice running in his veins. Moose becomes a free agent (Pelican) the week of July 1 - 7th.

- Yes, he moved Josh but what did he get in return - not a living, breathing body (Nick Johnson, Terrance Jones, who was injured at the time), GM Stan gets the Pistons the rights to pay Josh's salary for the remainder of the season and the next 4 more seasons

- Okay, WE didn't have a 1st round pick, so GM Stan drafted Spencer Dinwiddie, there is still hope for S.D. but Head Coach Stan refuses to play the kid the consistent minutes required to improve in this League.

- I personally thought GM Stan's only good move was the signing of D.J. Augustin*, but alas GM Stan sends D.J. to play with his college buddy, Kevin Durant, in OKC, for a guy [Reggie Jackson], who GM Stan will need to decide to pay or not pay. Why get involve with having to compete with signing Jackson, when during the same week a decision has to made with Moose. (Note: I don't believe Moose is staying, here, but attempting to hold discussions about hopely an advantageous sign-and-trade involving Moose, during the same three-day period teams have to match RFA offers is tight. Stan is fat, but he's not that fat where he can be in two places at the same time.

*D.J. Augustin was only due to make $3,000,000, next season and is an excellent back-up PG.

-You would think that GM/Head Coach Stan would have gotten more for his former, starting SF, Kyle Singler.

- Nothing in return for Jonas Jerebko, a hustling, reserve PF, who should had seen minutes as a SF, with an expiring $4.5 millions. Oh, but, WE did get Tayshaun from the Celtics and his expiring $7.1 million. Watch and see Stan, f@ck this money up by signing another marginal-level, scrub player.

- Don't forget that Caron Butler was sign for next season, too, at $4.5 million and WE still have to pay the over-paid, F@ckin' Jodie Meeks ($6.275/2015-16; $6.5/2016-17). Way to go GM Stan. Piston Pals: You can't tell me that Rodney Norvell Stuckey was not worthy of some of this money, the same Rodney Stuckey, who is doing it in a Pacers uniform at only $1.3 milllion, this season. Don't worry, Stuckey will get his contract situation corrected in July. (Note: Stuckey is averaging 19 pts, 4 rebs, 4 ast over the last 10-games, as the Pacers are 9-1 during that stretch).

- What is severly puzzling to me is why does Head Coach Stan refuse to play Quincy Miller and Thomas Robinson and again, Spencer Dinwiddie, hell the season is over now.  

- Meanwhile another lost season for Dre and no-games after the Tax Deadline (April 15).

Oh, by the way, OUR Pistons are currently in a 7-game losing streak. This season has been the worst!!!

[Murph]

Man...as I look as the box score from yet another consecutive loss, I just shake my head in wonder. Stan Van Gundy might be a decent coach, but look at the complete scrubs that that guy has collected...Tayshaun Prince, Anthony Toliver, Joel Anthony, Caron Butler, Shawne Williams, John Lucas III, Jodie Meeks, Quincy Miller and Cartier Martin. Geesh. I mean these guys are all literally just hanging onto what's left of their NBA careers by their fingernails. I mean it looks like the roster from the Grand Rapids D-League team.

Meanwhile, SVG has just thrown tons of good young talent right out the window for almost nothing in return...Greg Monroe, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey, Kyle Singler, Jonas Jerebko and two 2nd round draft picks. I mean say what you want about those guys; they certainly never lived up to their talent in Detroit. But at least they aren't a bunch of broken down has beens or n'er-do-wells. And the only decent player SVG ever got in return was Reggie Jackson, who has looked pretty shaky so far.

And whatever success this miserable team has had this year was all with Joe Dumars' guys...Monroe, Drummond, Singler, KCP and Jennings.

SVG might be a decent coach, but he's a flat out awful general manager.

[Oracle]

1. Anybody that can't see the difference between the way Jennings ran this team and Jackson(or Dinwiddie & Augustin), simply isn't watching!

Jennings ran the P&R with Drummond between 50-80% of the time, depending on quarter, and it's the single most important play for this team because there is NO OTHER Center in the league that is more dangerous than Drummond in that play!


The fact that Jackson almost NEVER runs that play, takes away the biggest offensive threat we have, and blows up everything else offensively AND defensively for this team. We don't have enough talent in other areas right now to compensate for them not using this play!

2. I still maintain that Wise didn't believe in the streak because he didn't understand WHY they were winning! I didn't believe in them at first until I figured out how they were doing it! Once I did, I knew they were going to be hard to beat by anyone!

3. This game was telling in that the Lakers haven't been able to close out games, even at home, but in spite of a great effort by Dinwiddie, KCP and the bigs, they hardly sweated closing us out! We have to be very bad for that to happen!

4. I was going to say this a couple of games back, but Jackson has played better at home and horribly on the road, but this game was a new low! I think he scored 2 points and had 5 turnovers! I still think for whatever reason, he's struggling to learn the offense and his teammates, because he almost does nothing each possession!

We're pretty much done for the season when we lose to the Lakers, which doesn't mean we can't have some moral victories! It would have been a fight to get into the 8th position with Augustin & Singler, but we would have been in the hunt, now we're just toast!

[Oracle]

The Pistons, by and large, have been a better defensive team and a less effective one offensively since Stan Van Gundy swapped out more than 25 percent of his roster and 40 percent of his starting lineup at the trade deadline.

Their defensive rating over the seven games since All-Star break was less than 100 – meaning they were holding teams to less than one point per possession, which is top-10 defense territory. Their field-goal percentage defense had improved correspondingly.
Their defense was gashed, however, on Sunday night by Charlotte, the league's 28th-ranked offense. The Hornets scored 54 points and shot 54 percent after halftime, coming from eight down at the break to win by seven.

Tayshaun Prince found the words to explain why afterward: the lack of words.

"I think the most important thing is we don't talk defensively. We're just quiet. It's a lot of breakdowns," he said.

This is AMAZING!!! I don't know how any team can play defense without talking to each other... it just can't work!

“We’re committed to him,” Van Gundy said. “It’s a long-term thing. This isn’t a tryout.”

Jackson, via Ellis:

“All the time, all the time,” Jackson told the Free Press when asked if Van Gundy has told him of his long-term intentions. “He told me to stop trying to press and feel like I got to prove to the world that I’m worthy of the trade.

This is probably a good message for Van Gundy the coach to deliver. Jackson has too often overextended himself – most visibly during his first game with Detroit – and it’s hurt him on the court. If Jackson stops putting so much pressure on himself to impress immediately, he’d probably play better.

But I hope Van Gundy the executive views this as somewhat of a tryout.

Seriously, SVG is going to have to figure out how to separate his GM job from his coaching job, or he's going to look like a first class jerk!

Of course the coach needs to motivate the player, but the GM has to keep a clear head! You don't commit to a player no matter what happens, it doesn't make sense, and what if Jackson gets a max offer, but just doesn't fit here?

Get it together SVG!!!

[deusXango]

Oracle, I've heard that one picture is worth a thousand words; this picture speaks volumes about Datome's time in the "D."

[Oracle]

[Oracle]

NBA referee Violet Palmer has recently announced her plans to marry Tanya Stine, her girlfriend of twenty years. Palmer had previously kept her sexuality a secret, but officially came out by announcing their engagement. Stine is both a professional hair stylist and an actor, having appeared on Sons of Anarchy, The Fosters, and Grey’s Anatomy.

[deusXango]

Gigi Datome has been a basketball player for most of his life, and a pretty good one at that.

"He came to the NBA as one of the most accomplished players in Europe, an Italian league MVP prior to signing a two-year, $3.5 million deal with the Detroit Pistons.

The game, and opportunities to play it, came so freely for him; that is, until he got to Detroit and found himself no longer a star but a spectator on the bench.

That’s why the last two games with the Boston Celtics have meant so much to him.

He was an unexpected hit in Boston’s loss to Orlando on Sunday when he scored 10 points. To show that it wasn’t a fluke, he was even better on Monday in helping Boston come away with a 100-90 win over Miami.

Datome finished with a career high-tying 13 points, while playing more than 20 minutes against the Heat.

There was no mistaking how much Datome treasured his opportunities to play lately.

“You can’t understand; 50 games in Detroit, inactive, DNP …"-Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE

For a player who couldn't play NBA defense, or hit a shot on a 10 foot rim, Datome seems to be doing pretty well. Half a lifetime dedicated to playing  fundamentally sound basketball and excelling all the way to your leagues MVP, trumps 4 years at Duke, in my mind, but Detroit fans had a different take on things; every Euro player is going to be Darko.

It's beginning to appear that throwing away, or at least allowing some to waste away, is more of the same sad past....no wonder we've missed the playoffs since when and are still looking for players who we can call our core group. Yeah, I want to see Gigi do well like Middleton, Knight, Afflalo, Smith, and Johnson....it's a damn shame to have to root for the Pistons, as they play for other teams!

[cool breeze]

How in hell can our team lose to the Lakers? Laker managment have it down so well that this will be a difficult task. But somehow Stan Van Gundy needs to do something to insure the lose. I've got it, play Lucas more and encourage pushing the basketball so our 2 guards can shoot those off balance 3 point shots. I am joking here but the best thing that can happen for Piston fans is to pull for our team to lose lose lose. But our players will be trying extra hard to keep their jobs so I suspect the Pistons might lose.

[Oracle]

That final comment slayed me, I love you man!!!

[deusXango]

Detroit – Ndamukong Suh got paid. And the Lions got played.

Whether the Lions miscalculated or were misled by Suh and his agent, it's their own fault. They bungled this, long before the reports Sunday he was leaving for the Dolphins and a staggering $114 million, $60 million guaranteed.

Be mad at Suh if you wish, but don't misconstrue what happened here, as the Lions lost their best defensive player in a generation or more. Suh did exactly what he always suggested he would do — break the bank, any bank. And yet the Lions' front office of Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew clung to foolish optimism, knowing it was all about money even as they ran out of cap space and time.

That was my immediate reaction but we might be able to survive the loss of Suh defensively.  Quiet it as it kept I think Fairley when healthy and being healthy is the key word in this was better and required the same double teaming as Suh did.  Plus we had a ton of pass rusher on that front four but I would still have preferred it if we kept Suh.  

Hopefully Caldwell can get Fairley right in the head,  he reminds me of a quicker Jerry Ball when he's healthy and focus. Bright spot is it frees up cap money.

If Stafford makes the progress we all hope for, and the rest of the defense stays together with some additions, we should be alright.
If Stafford makes progress (touch and timing) our offense should make playing defense in Detroit a lot less demanding. I'm gonna miss Suh though.

They say we shouldn't be mad at Suh, and while I'm not, I was a bit upset that it was ALL about the money! I understand that the money is important so that's fine, but there are other things, and IMO, playing in South Beach may have been one of them, especially for a single man!
Let's be honest about the single women in the Metro Detroit area...how many REAL hotties do you see? I ain't talking about "settle fors," but REAL hotties.

I don't want to be too crude, but the level, variety and tanned bodies of the women available in Miami sort of dwarfs what available in cold ass Detroit   Sometimes it's about money, power and pu$$y
Not to mention the lack of State taxes there, which should cover his pussy bill; now only if he can stay out of dumb sh!t, like some we know.

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