Good Draft Night

[Sparma]

Beginning with an undrafted signee, and moving to the front: I really like the signing of 6’10” USC forward Bennie Boatwright who shoots 42.9% (!) from three.  Of course, there are risks, including limited athleticism, but we need shooters, and we’re bringing in another shooter (reported by Duncan Smith at Forbes).  He’s a first team All-Pac 12 picked, described in the LA Times as having “size and skill.”

I’m also pleased that we picked up Tennessee’s PG Jordan Bone at minimal cost late in round 2.  He’s praised in a site devoted to Tennessee as potentially THE steal of the draft.  They characterize his combine performance as superior to those of Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook.  What’s really noteworthy to me is that this (otherwise biased?) site sees his NBA future as potentially greater than of the other two Tennessee players drafted, including one at #22.  Another site draws a comparison to Ish Smith, as a super athletic guard who needs to show he can produce enough offensively to stick.  But he’s already shooting 35.5% from 3, which is solid.

Our pick at #37 is the puzzler, even though the kid, Deividas Sirvydis, can already really shoot.  Sounds like he’ll be doing that in Europe for the foreseeable future.  I’ve got nothing against picking a prospect with a major skill at #37, but adding 2 rounders to our #45 to move up 8 spots, strikes me as a steep prize.

I wasn’t too keen on the trade with Cleveland out of #30, but I guess Stefanski didn’t think highly enough of any of the guys available there to be stuck with a second guaranteed 1st round contract, as Murph mentions.  Four second round picks sound like a lot, although at least the one sent on to Philly looks unlikely to even become a real pick, giving the restrictions.  It’s my understanding that we’re left with one of those 2nd rounders.

You all probably know more than me about Sekou Doumbouya, who looks like he’s got major potential and sounds quite polite (in his limited English) on the ESPN interview.  I’m happy with that pick.

The draft looks to me like further confirmation that Stefanski’s trying to run a double tracked program, both going for it with Griffin, but also building for the future.  A delicate, precarious, operation, but I prefer it to going all in with the future.  If the team can develop some young and cheap talent, that would help the roster greatly even now, given our budget restrictions (once again laid out by Langlois in the Mailbag).  His actions suggest that Stefanski himself is aware of our limited ceiling now, and he’s challenging Casey to do his thing in fostering young talent.  Circling back to the start, Bennie Boatwright cited Fred Van Vleet, brought along by Casey, as an inspiration; I wouldn’t be surprised if that provided a reason for his signing.

[lemonpen]

I caution you against developing too strong an allegiance to our 2nd rounders. They're likely temporary. Keep in mind that we have little cap room, and the acquisition of Snell ate away nearly $2M of that space. The 30th pick would have come with a guaranteed contract, consuming even more of the cap. All of those 2nd round picks carry no obligation to ink, and any commitments may be delayed until after the initial FA signing period. I believe we can keep the European player stashed overseas for a while, at little cost. I don’t know how much cash the Cavs coughed up but it will assist in paying the bills. The bottom line is we need to preserve as much Cap as possible if we expect to be in position to snare a “productive” casualty of the 2019 Free Agent frenzy.

What I have seen so far makes me think this management group is on the ball. They appear creative, opportunistic and forward thinking.

[Murph]

So the more I read about this crap, the more my head hurts.  So the Pistons basically traded the 30 pick and the 45 pick for the 37 pick  and the 57 pick, and two distant 2nd round picks???  WTF?

And then their 18 year old 1st round pick doesn't even speak English, and their 18 year old 2nd round pick  isn't even going to play in the US???  And what are the chances he speaks English?

Wow...we managed to turn a draft night with two 1st rounders and all the potential in the world into something that maybe, possibly, might yield some benefits in like 3 years...if we're lucky...   

But hey. at least we landed an extra 2023 2nd round pick.  

Shades of Joe Dumars...  

[Murph]

Wow...I don't know.  I think we kind of snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

I guess Sekou was probably the best player available at 15.  So there is that.  He certainly has the most potential.  But how long is it going to take for that potential to work out?  His English wasn't even very good.  It's going to take him a freaking year or two to just figure out what the coaches are saying.  I'm 59 years old.  By the time that kid hits his prime, I'll be dead.

Why didn't we just keep the 30th pick and take KZ Okpala?  

I like Isaiah Roby at 45.  He can probably help right away. (Opps...I see we dumped Roby already. Nevermind.)

But who is Deividas Sirvydis?  Is he a buddy that Svi can hang out with and develop with?  He's only 18 also.  What are we running here, a preschool?

Jordan Bone was supposed to be the best athlete at the combine.  But he was not on any of the draft boards, and what are the odds a 57th pick is ever going to work out...especially at PG?

At least we didn't take another shooting guard.


I would have taken Kabengele, Okpala and Roby.  Three guys who could have stepped in and contributed right away.  I guess that would have been too easy.

I'm guessing Stefanski didn't want to get locked into a second 1st round contract.  He probably wants more cap flexibility and roster flexibility.  But does that mean he just intends to eventually cut these 2nd round picks?  What's the point in that?

[Oracle]

1. The Spurs broke my heart when they took Keldon Johnson at 29! I thought he was a good pick at 15, so I was hoping he would drop one more spot, but the Spurs picked him.

2. I would have kept the 30th pick and Kevin Porter Jr. I know the knock on him, especially the off court issues, but man, his upside would have been worth it, IMO. I also know that taking two risky players in the first round is, well, risky, but we need to take those kind of risks to get home grown stars.

Correction:
Isaiah Roby was drafted by the Pistons, but they did it for Dallas, so we have 3 rookies, not 4.

[Oracle]

Are they trying to get a full G-League starting 5 and win the championship?

Ok, seriously, here are the new Pistons(in draft order).
1. Sekou Doumbouya - Serious upside if we can develop him! Anywhere from Aminu to Siakiam to the Greek Freak are the comparisons.
2. Deividas Sirvydis - Complete enigma to this poster, but he does have very good size at 6'9, so we're really getting bigger in the youth.
3. Isaiah Roby - Another unknown to me, a 6'9 PF project
4. Jordan Bone - Now this one I'm familiar with. The only thing I don't like is his size, 6'2/6'3, but if groomed to be a backup PG, he looks like a bigger Ish Smith that can actually shoot.

But here is where all of this gets interesting, and I'm speculating a bit here too. This is looking like a serious stealth rebuild on the fly as we also plan to compete.
1. We have 3 rookies from last year: Brown, Khyri & Svi, and they need developing
2. We now have 4 rookies this year, and it's damn near impossible to develop all of them
3. We have 2 young players in Kennard & Maker to develop as well

While all of these cheap contracts give us very good CAP flexibility, the work required to get anything out of these guys is daunting to say the least.

What we're likely to do:
1. The high priorities are Kennard, Maker, Brown, Khyri, Svi and Sekou, these guys need to be first in line for minutes. Kennard & Maker are already rotation players, and even under the best of circumstances, I can't see how we add the other 3, except to say that Sekou is likely to get some minutes if he shows ANY leg!
2. IMO, we simply have too many youngsters for a team that's NOT in a full rebuild, we just can support the development effort unless most of them are in the G-League.
3. Given that, the only alternative left is that a lot of them are going to be included in some trade deal down the road. However, the best trade bait is not the rookies, but young players like Svi, Khyri and change in smaller deals.
4. If the deal is bigger, for some real talent, Maker, Brown and even Kennard may also be tradable in the right circumstances.

I'm saying all of that to say that I don't think we're through dealing by a long shot, other shoes are going to drop... stay tuned!

[Oracle]

Four 2nd rnd picks and cash

WTF are we going to do with 5 effing rookies?????


WTF are we going to do with 4 effing rookies?????

[cool breeze]

Four 2nd rnd picks and cash

Looks like the Piston's owner is short on cash. There were several good players who were drafted after the Pistons made their strange pick. This guy looked really raw on the game film that was shown on ESPN. He looked like he was playing against high school players. The Piston brain trust made the extra effort to see him play in person and must have been impressed with his workouts. But Rodney White really impressed Joe Dumars in his pre draft workouts. Just wondering why the pistons made that pick when they keep saying that "the time is now" relating to Blake's window?

What will the Pistons do with 4 2nd round picks. I only wish they were at the top of the 2nd round. Several players that I identified as potential rotation players over the years were never drafted. Recently Trier and McConnell really surprised me yet they somehow made it on NBA teams. Will Bol Bol drop in range of one of the Pistons picks?

[lemonpen]

Four 2nd rnd picks and cash

[Murph]

What happened to our 30th pick? Why is it now going to Cleveland?

[Oracle]

Sekou Doumbouya | 6-9 | 230 | SF/PF | France 

I like this pick a LOT, but how it turns out will be directly related to how well Casey grooms him along. Having said that, Casey did one hell of a job with another raw rookie in Pascal Siakam, so I'm sure that was a big consideration with this pick. 

NbaDraft.Net asks the seminal question as well, but I do believe we can make this work with the staff we have.

Doumbouya is extremely raw, but he possesses as much upside as anyone outside of the top-three picks in this draft. He didn't start playing basketball until he was nearly a teenager, yet he showed an encouraging developmental curve playing for Limoges in France. Doumbouya doesn't turn 19 until December, making him the youngest player in the draft. He possesses all the raw tools that simply can't be taught. At 6-9, he runs like a cheetah and closes for weakside shotblocks with Giannis-like ferocity. He can grab a defensive rebound and lead his own one-man fast break with alarming speed. He is still at least a couple of years away from being able to contribute to an NBA team, but with the right coaching/infrastructure, Doumbouya could be a total game-changer. Are the Pistons in a position to provide that kind of infrastructure?

On to the 30th pick!!!

[Oracle]

I hoped they could do this, use the power we have in expiring contracts to get something.

They ultimately did just that, Turning Leuer's expiring contract into Tony Snell, who really isn't a starter for a championship team, but could be for us at this point. But the real genius of this move was getting another 1st round pick in the bargain.

I wouldn't call this a steal, but it's damn close, a very solid move by the Pistons. However it could be a steal depending on who we draft with that 30th pick, so this deal could only get better.

Snell still has some potential, but I mostly agree with Don, I liked him better a couple of years ago, sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference. The Bucks will try to get some spot minutes out of Leuer, but he's likely to be gone when he expires.

I also agree with Lemon, I have absolutely no interest in Korver, and minimal interest in Crowder, he's right, we can do better. Of course, like some women, after a few drinks, they start to look better, so if nothing else is out there he would be ok. However, as Murph said, he's a 1000% improvement over the crappy Galloway!

Korver is likely headed to another playoff team that needs a couple of spot minutes of hot shooting.  No more.

I think we can do better than Crowder.  He is another one of those guys whose offense or lack there of takes too much away from his good stuff.

[cool breeze]

15th = Gorga Bitadze
30 = Dylan Windler

This is what you get when you draft at the positions where the Pistons will be picking. If this is happens, I hope at least Gorga pans out as a rotation player. As for Windler, he is graded as a below average defender so he should fit in really well with our current roster. The thinking regarding the Belmont player at pick 30 must be his maturity as he played all 4 years in college.

If the Pistons pass on Okpala they will be making yet another big blunder. NBADRAFTNET has him falling into the lap of none other than Golden State. The rich get richer. Is this whole thing fixed? Yet for pure NBA fans, Okpala will fit in really well with the Warriors who have the highest basketball IQ group that I have ever witnessed play basketball. My bet is that Okpala hopes like hell that the Pistons and others do pass on him and Steve Kerr smiles. Got you idiots! Steve couldn't believe it when he got Jordan Bell in the 2nd round. Maybe I am the only fan who is skeptical of what the Piston planners will do next. It is summer time. Anything is possible for the Pistons. That is the only time one can feel that way perhaps so I understand why some of you are so excited. Our only hope might be that Luke, Bruce and other young guys are working 12 hours a day to get better before training camp.

Also I agree with the Crowder trade for Galloway but somehow I think Casey will nix that idea. Langston is a weak defender who likes to take a high quantity of low percentage 3 point shots. That fits Casey's style. Casey was not responsible for building Toronto into a championship caliber team. Toronto won the championship because Nick Nurse created a great defensive game plan to win the conference finals series and another to beat Golden State. They won with incredible defense. The Owner of Toronto has a really good front office staff who went out and got the center and small forward they needed to make their defense superior. The Pistons have the opposite mindset and that is why basketball fans in the Motor City are turned off with the Teal. Posters indicate that the director of the front office is trying hard to bring in tougher players. But the payroll is lopsided with two soft defensive minded big men getting all the cash. good luck with that idea.

[lemonpen]

I'd trade Galloway for Crowder in a second.  Crowder's in his prime, he has Pistons DNA and likes to bang.  

Korver was a fine player in his day, but he's 38 and injury prone.  I'd have to say no to Korver.

Korver is likely headed to another playoff team that needs a couple of spot minutes of hot shooting. No more.

I think we can do better than Crowder. He is another one of those guys whose offense or lack there of takes too much away from his good stuff.

[cool breeze]

Post-Snell trade, Bleacher Report featured the following as a "realistic" draft day trade: Jae Crowder (from Memphis) to the Pistons to Galloway and #45.  That makes sense to me, giving us a very solid SF duo.  Going for someone like Korver in a similar deal also makes sense to me.

It looks as if we have ourselves a starting SF in the prime of his career.  Bravo!   Snell can play a little D and shoot 3 pointers.  

And this trade opens up the draft so that we can take  PFs and SFs, which gives us a lot more flexibility.  

And I like the fact that we'll have 3 more rookies on the team next year, to go along with our other young players, Brown, Thomas, Svi and Kennard.  By brining in young players and allowing Casey to develop them, Stefanski is slowly changing the culture of the team.  We are becoming a team that drafts good players and develops our own talent, as opposed to signing worn out, over-priced free agents.

The best part of the Snell acquisition is the part that we will not have to watch Leuer next season. While I was high on him two years ago, something happened last season as he was really not much of a factor with the Bucks although he averaged around 17 minutes a game. Perhaps his scoring average of 6 points a game caused his reduced involvement relating to playing time towards the end of the season. Is he a starter caliber NBA player? Will he combination of a Crowder type player with Snell actually improve the Pistons? I liked Crowder more two years ago too. I believe the Pistons should draft Okapala from Stanford and groom him as the back up at small forward who will eventually take Snell's spot before the end of next season. I saw his games last season and was struck with his ability to score under pressure situations with the opposing team's best defender on him. He is athletic and extremely smart ( you have to have a high IQ to get into Stanford) and those attributes showed on the hardwood last season. I think this guy is the steal of this year's draft.

The Pistons sure need more players with play making skills so I also like Phil's choice for a first round selection. The back court for the Pistons is very weak considering the fact that the top NBA teams have exceptional guard combinations. I really don't see how the Pistons needs can be met at their draft positions in that area this year. So our Pistons will continue to get pounded by opposing guards next year. As the Pistons are weak in all positions but BG's starting role at power forward, perhaps the best plan will be to take the best overall athlete regardless of the position with all of the picks. This is not a strong draft. Meanwhile, a lot of problems can be solved by scrapping this idea that Reggie Jackson should be walking the ball up the court so the Pistons can say he is our starting point guard. Reggie is not a point guard. He belongs on the baseline corner and should be moving without the ball pithin the half court offense if Casey actually had one. For the 100th time why not solve a lot of problems with the backcourt by starting Luke at point guard????? Are we surrounded by idiots? (Dr. Evil quote)

While the Piston's back court is perhaps one of the lowest rated back courts in the NBA, I have a big concern with the front court. Games are won with defense as we saw from this year's playoffs. The Pistons lack good paint protection, defensive rebounding and shot blocking along with lack of our big men's ability to get back in transition to defend the paint. Maker is too slim now. The Pistons need a younger hungry athletic defensive minded big man to back up both AD and BG and steal some of AD's minutes when he can be seen taking too many rest breaks during key situations. Who can get out on the shooters? Blake can't do it. AD can't do it. So unless the Pistons somehow trade for a big man or get lucky in the draft, it looks like either the Nets or the Knicks will take that 8th spot in the playoffs next season. Why not try to sign Jordan Bell? This is a no brainer. This guy has high energy and would be very effective in the Eastern Conference. If Golden State doesn't sign him, some team is going to be very lucky. This guy never lets you down relating to transition defense. He is an outstanding shot blocker, has quick feet, nose for the ball, and he is a quick jumper. Amazing that he is not making more money.

Based on the concentration of money at center and power forward, one would think that the Pistons would be in good shape until you see how dysfunctional the combination of AD and BG has actually looked in most Piston games. You need a high end big man defender to be matched up with Blake who provides the bulk of scoring. You do not need a center who is unpredictable relating to the energy he provides on defense. It seems that I have to keep pointing this out and accept the criticism from those who seem to forget every easily what has actually happened when the Pistons lost all those games in past seasons. How could anyone feel good about the center-power forward combination after what happened in the playoffs. If BG had been healthy, nothing would have changed in that series against the Bucks. The Pistons just could not match the energy the Bucks possess. Do fans want to accept average to below average results year after year? If so keep patting this owner on the back and you will get more of the same. Ah well I am more excited now that Jon Leuer is not playing center and power forward for us. Snell can actually contribute in the NBA in a positive way. But remember before last season, Casey had high hopes for what Leuer could do for the team. SIGN JORDAN BELL.

[Sparma]

Snell's a tough guy, a throwback for the Pistons. Griffin is too. I feel it's better than 50/50 that the Front Office pulls off another trade today. If it would be for Crowder, I agree that he'd also be a Pistons' throwback. That would begin to look like a roster with several components in throwback mode.

At the same time, it's looking like Stefanski's putting together a nice cadre of young players. On another site, someone spoke of a "stealth rebuild."

Let's say the dual agenda hypothesis has an anchor in reality. That'd be a tough agenda to fulfill! But respect to Stefanski if he managed to pull it off. You'd get a tough, hard working team for the next few years with a chance to win around 50 in the regular season, along with a chance to do some damage in the playoffs, along with a solid young core moving forward.

I'd trade Galloway for Crowder in a second.  Crowder's in his prime, he has Pistons DNA and likes to bang.  

Korver was a fine player in his day, but he's 38 and injury prone.  I'd have to say no to Korver.

[Murph]

I'd trade Galloway for Crowder in a second.  Crowder's in his prime, he has Pistons DNA and likes to bang.  

Korver was a fine player in his day, but he's 38 and injury prone.  I'd have to say no to Korver.

[Sparma]

Post-Snell trade, Bleacher Report featured the following as a "realistic" draft day trade: Jae Crowder (from Memphis) to the Pistons to Galloway and #45. That makes sense to me, giving us a very solid SF duo. Going for someone like Korver in a similar deal also makes sense to me.

It looks as if we have ourselves a starting SF in the prime of his career.  Bravo!   Snell can play a little D and shoot 3 pointers.  

And this trade opens up the draft so that we can take  PFs and SFs, which gives us a lot more flexibility.  

And I like the fact that we'll have 3 more rookies on the team next year, to go along with our other young players, Brown, Thomas, Svi and Kennard.  By brining in young players and allowing Casey to develop them, Stefanski is slowly changing the culture of the team.  We are becoming a team that drafts good players and develops our own talent, as opposed to signing worn out, over-priced free agents.

[cool breeze]

Tom Gores said he was thrilled that the Pistons made the playoffs. This was supposed to be the Pistons stepping stone. Our team could only move up from that experience of getting their asses kicked worse than any other team that made the playoffs. Mr. Gores was trilled with Andre Drummond's performance and believes what AD said after the last loss. Yes AD just got too excited and couldn't function as well as fans expected. Was it that hard to run hard out to contest shots after your assigned man had been making a lot of them? How did that happen? Is it true that a professional basketball player can actually get so excited that they jog back in transition defense instead of going full out like Lopez did? What I don't understand is the posters who continue to believe in the snake oil that this owner is selling.

Now after the Pistons GM announced that he is going full out with the Pistons famous Big Three. Yes we have Blake, Andre, and Reggie once again and why not? The Pistons have been very successful with those three players right? Is there any season ticket holder who actually believes in this nonsense? The real story is that this owner will not part with Andre Drummond regardless of the facts. He is really not interested in building a championship team. He likes the fact that Andre is playing with Blake and Reggie. So out of those three players, who can defend anyone in the NBA? The playoffs showed that you don't win with lazy or inept defenders. You have to have the right instincts to anticipate. You have to study opponents offense and know which spots they want to score against you. When was the last time any Piston fans had been able to identify that our team has ever followed a game plan created by the coaching staff to make stops against any opponent? I have just not been able to see where the Pistons have ever had a real specific plan. They play every opponent the same way. Are Piston players incapable of performing as a team? The Pistons always look like a group of individuals who are playing their first game together like a pick up game. Meanwhile winning teams do the opposite.

Maybe now that Chris Paul has proved that he is way past his prime, Tom Gores will make a blockbuster trade to get him maybe giving up the next 5 years of our first round picks and Luke as a throw in by trading Blake to Houston? How can any Piston fan trust anything that Piston management has already decided as their long term plan for success? It looks to me like the GM and head coach are just puppets who really have no influence in who will play or what the overall strategy might be. Run the pick and roll with AD and RJ. Shoot the 3 ball. Play one side of the basketball court. Keep ball and player movement down as low as possible. If Stefanski really believes the nonsense he has spoken, it is time to throw in the towel.

 Breath a little.   Un-bunch your panties.  Well, unless you find comfort in that tightly gathered feeling.   Even if management held the exact feelings you articulate,  THEY CAN'T COME OUT AND SAY IT.  I bet you're the kind of shopper that strolls around a used car lot with a hard on over your favorite, can't leave without it automobile.  

Tell me it ain't true.  

I never shop in the used car lot Lemonpen but the Pistons seem to like doing that with 11 years of bogus results in the NBA draft. Positioning a flunking team high up to get a chance at a top two pick a key to success for a minor market type team. The Pistons brain trust has defied all logic because of emotional attachments to underperforming players.

All I know is that the Pistons have the bulk of their money spent on a dysfunctional front court with BG and AD. I realize it would be difficult to move either of those players but what bothers me is the fact that this owner wouldn't agree to trade either player regardless of the deal if one could be made. That means there is something big missing relating to common sense within the ownership group. You have voiced your despair in the past after actually attending some games. I would think you would also be feeling the pain of being a fan who is stuck with very little hope long term to compete for a championship. We all have tasted the thrill of watching our team rise to the top. There is very little hope of that happening in many years regardless of the small moves the front office is making now. I agree with those moves but this owner is still selling snake oil. If only Cleveland's owner had bought the Pistons a long time ago we would be in good shape now.

[Murph]

Yes, the Pistons should draft Rui Hachimura with their 15th pick.  I can't imagine he will still be available at 15, but if he is, the Pistons should snap him up.

If Hachimura is gone, the Pistons should take PF Mfiondu Kabengele at #15, SF Chuma Okeke at #30 and  SF Jalen Hoard at  #45.  That would add a lot of height, strength, athleticism and shooting to the roster.

[Murph]

It looks as if we have ourselves a starting SF in the prime of his career.  Bravo!   Snell can play a little D and shoot 3 pointers.  

And this trade opens up the draft so that we can take  PFs and SFs, which gives us a lot more flexibility.  

And I like the fact that we'll have 3 more rookies on the team next year, to go along with our other young players, Brown, Thomas, Svi and Kennard.  By brining in young players and allowing Casey to develop them, Stefanski is slowly changing the culture of the team.  We are becoming a team that drafts good players and develops our own talent, as opposed to signing worn out, over-priced free agents.

[Sparma]

Heck of a trade with Milwaukee, as described by Phil-Good.  The DBB reporter says he's "stunned."  I'm amazed.  Snell's a good player.   I actually think Leuer has solid skills (in spite of his size limitations), but he was just sitting on the bench, with the worst salary on the roster (leaving aside Josh Smith's $$).  Also, I've heard Snell him on NBA radio, and he should be a good locker room presence. Snell tied Korver for 3 point percentage last year at 39.7% (although he's significantly lower than Korver for his career, but still good).

And the 30th pick has solid value by itself, or could be packaged with #15 to move up.  

This is a trade that helps now, while also building for the future. How can you beat that! An excellent start to the off season for the Pistons.  

[Phil-Good]

I have A kid who has snuck into my Alexander-Walker draft watch.

Darius Bazley. This is A development pick but this kid has the size, shot blocking ability and talnet the Pistons are looking for.

Think greek-freek, type of potential after A few seasons of development. IF this kid adds 20 pounds of muscle, WATCHOUT!

[Phil-Good]

Toney Snell can shoot and defend. It's A win. win trade for the Pistons.

Good trade by Ed and his staff. I like what these guys are doing.

And the Pistons got 1 more first round pick.

Get ready Piston fans. I believe more deals are coming. I believe the Pistons want to land more picks. First and second.

The scouting team has to be on top of their game. This draft is not great but it's always diamonds out there to be found.


The Pistons are adding talent and this organization needs talent and bodies.

[lemonpen]

Tom Gores said he was thrilled that the Pistons made the playoffs. This was supposed to be the Pistons stepping stone. Our team could only move up from that experience of getting their asses kicked worse than any other team that made the playoffs. Mr. Gores was trilled with Andre Drummond's performance and believes what AD said after the last loss. Yes AD just got too excited and couldn't function as well as fans expected. Was it that hard to run hard out to contest shots after your assigned man had been making a lot of them? How did that happen? Is it true that a professional basketball player can actually get so excited that they jog back in transition defense instead of going full out like Lopez did? What I don't understand is the posters who continue to believe in the snake oil that this owner is selling.

Now after the Pistons GM announced that he is going full out with the Pistons famous Big Three. Yes we have Blake, Andre, and Reggie once again and why not? The Pistons have been very successful with those three players right? Is there any season ticket holder who actually believes in this nonsense? The real story is that this owner will not part with Andre Drummond regardless of the facts. He is really not interested in building a championship team. He likes the fact that Andre is playing with Blake and Reggie. So out of those three players, who can defend anyone in the NBA? The playoffs showed that you don't win with lazy or inept defenders. You have to have the right instincts to anticipate. You have to study opponents offense and know which spots they want to score against you. When was the last time any Piston fans had been able to identify that our team has ever followed a game plan created by the coaching staff to make stops against any opponent? I have just not been able to see where the Pistons have ever had a real specific plan. They play every opponent the same way. Are Piston players incapable of performing as a team? The Pistons always look like a group of individuals who are playing their first game together like a pick up game. Meanwhile winning teams do the opposite.

Maybe now that Chris Paul has proved that he is way past his prime, Tom Gores will make a blockbuster trade to get him maybe giving up the next 5 years of our first round picks and Luke as a throw in by trading Blake to Houston? How can any Piston fan trust anything that Piston management has already decided as their long term plan for success? It looks to me like the GM and head coach are just puppets who really have no influence in who will play or what the overall strategy might be. Run the pick and roll with AD and RJ. Shoot the 3 ball. Play one side of the basketball court. Keep ball and player movement down as low as possible. If Stefanski really believes the nonsense he has spoken, it is time to throw in the towel.

Breath a little. Un-bunch your panties. Well, unless you find comfort in that tightly gathered feeling. Even if management held the exact feelings you articulate, THEY CAN'T COME OUT AND SAY IT. I bet you're the kind of shopper that strolls around a used car lot with a hard on over your favorite, can't leave without it automobile.

Tell me it ain't true.

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