Hot Damn January

[BallinD]

Blake Griffin’s last 7 games

37 points(14-28 FG), 9 rebs, 7 ast
29 points(9-16 FG), 9 Rebs, 4 ast
38 points(12-23 FG), 6 Rebs, 3 ast
32 points(10-24 FG), 11 Rebs, 9 ast
30 points(11-18 FG), 4 Rebs, 5 ast
19 points(7-17 FG), 4 Rebs, 4 ast
44 points(13-23 FG), 8 Rebs, 5 ast

[BallinD]

This is not a Hot Take.  And I'll try to walk you through the thinking here.  Judging from your description of BG, our undisputed best player and the only Piston who consistently shows up night in and night out, playing hard, gritty will-to-win Deetroit basketball, you probably won't listen.  BTW Have you watched many games this year, just wondering?

Well as far as the facts go, there are a lot of reasons to build around 29-yr-old Blake:  
Fact 1,, he's 29. Fact 2, he is the only piston besides Luke who can consistently gets shots for himself and teammates, thus Fact 3, he leads the team not only in scoring, but also in assists, from the power forward position.  Fact 4: He has been asked by his head coach to run the offense (about that Ball Hog Thing?!)

Fact 5He is one of only three players in the NBA; Lebron, Giannis and Blake to average 26, 8, and 5 on 36.3% from 3, which is higher than LBJ and Giannis.  KD, AD and Kahwi are the other three hovering near that threshold. I find it satisfying as a fan to watch him as a Piston beat other teams down in our wins, and to root for one of our own consistently fighting hard even when we lose, something we haven’t seen from the other two of our so-called Big 3. I can root for him and the team w/o having to rationalize my homerism.

Blake is having arguably his best year at 29, and showing his game has evolved to also offer a significant perimeter threat, a coast-to-coast threat as well as half-court bully ball threat.  His game is growing, is not as dependent as most think on athleticism, and thus will possibly age very well, along with his high BBIQ.  (Unlike Dre who is all athleticism and continues to regress in FT%, FG%,
Riddle me this Murph; how do you build around a player who only shoots somewhat effectively from 0-5 ft, but whose FG% is less than 50% from the field?

Drummond, since 2012-13 when he shot .608 on 5.7 attempts, his attempts have increased consistently to 13.8 attempts while his percentage made have dropped consistently to .498 this year.  If Dre is to be the cornerstone, he would be the weakest cornerstone in the NBA, how could you build around that kind of production as the NBA rules continue to emphasize more scoring.

Even Vince Ellis is supporting a “strategic” one year tank, to use this opportunity to shed dead weight and get younger, more athletic, longer, playmakers.

Build around Blake and Kennard with the youngsters and maybe Willie Reed as a cheap center prospect till we can do better.  Skal Labisierre rides the bench for a the kings, while marvin BagLey gets the starts, he avgd 15/8 last year, is 6’11”.

BallinD...with all due respect, why should we build around a 30 year old, black hole, ball hog (his usage % at 29.4 is 16th in the NBA, tied with Steph Curry, if you really want to call that a ball hog, how do you figure he leads the team in assists...did you know we are the worst shooting team in the league, kinda hard to get assists with these shooters, particularly from the PF position)  How does that make any sense in the world?  Blake will be 30 years old by the end of the season.  He's injury prone.  His skills are going to begin to decline very soon.  And quite frankly, he isn't good enough to lead this team to a wining record now.

So why should we dump our 25 year old All Star center for a bag of basketballs?  Wes Matthews is 32 years old, and DeAndre Jordan is 30.  (Well, it satisfies two things 1: we just might be better this season with Deandre being a better fit, playing better D and shooting less, and at a much higher rate than Dre.  2: His contract and Matthews comes off the books this year, allowing us the flexibility to sign DJ at a cap-friendly rate or release him and load up on what we really need, a dynamic wing who can create his own shot.)  It is debateable Dre has not already peaked, and will continue to shoot more and shoot worse, and he will need to re-up on a no-doubt Max Salary in a couple years, do we really wanna do that? And if not, his youth will be a moot point in the next few years when he will be in his prime yes, but demanding another max and at 27-28 very soon to be out of a prime that never matched Blakes for production or leadership.

Unless we get some good young talent, and/or some draft choices, dumping Drummond make no sense.

I think it is clear in today's NBA (diminished value for centers, vastly diminished value for centers who cannot shoot nor defend at a high level) that we cannot build around Drummond.  I mean isn't that what we have tried to do for the last five years, to what effect?

What is the one consistent factor in the 5-year Dre n Weggie show, losing courtesy of Dre n Weggie. Dre is demonstrating an amazing ability to continue to shoot the team in the foot by doing more of what he does worst without awareness (also see his post-ups debacle where he has consistently been the worst post up player in the league consistently)

I ask you, be honest; how many times, like tonite has Blake willed and carried the team to victory in his short time here and how many time have you seen Dre do that?  Even his 20-20 games are not that impactful in clearly willing us to victory.  Who is the better leader?  Do you not remember Dre sitting on the bench pouting when we clinched the playoffs a few years back while his teammates celebrated?  

[Murph]

Don...I would not be opposed to trading Drummond out of hand, but it would have to be for young players or draft picks who could develop and help the team in the future.

For example, I would be willing to trade Drummond to Dallas for Wes Matthews' expiring contract, Dennis Smith Jr and a conditional 1st round pick (out of the top 10).

Or how about Drummond and Reggie for Matthews' expiring contract, Jordan's expiring contract, Smith Jr and a conditional 1st round pick.  I might do both those trades.

But just giving Drummond away for expiring contracts is not acceptable.   Why would be give away a 25 year old All Star for nothing?



That said, I would not be opposed to shutting down Blake after the All Star break (like Phil suggested) and taking in order to try to snag Cameron Raddish, who is falling in the draft, or even Rui Hachimura. Either of those guys would solve our SF problems for at least a decade.

[cool breeze]

Even Vince Ellis is supporting a “strategic” one year tank, to use this opportunity to shed dead weight and get younger, more athletic, longer, playmakers.

Build around Blake and Kennard with the youngsters and maybe Willie Reed as a cheap center prospect till we can do better.  Skal Labisierre rides the bench for a the kings, while marvin BagLey gets the starts, he avgd 15/8 last year, is 6’11”.

BallinD...with all due respect, why should we build around a 30 year old, black hole, ball hog?  How does that make any sense in the world?  Blake will be 30 years old by the end of the season.  He's injury prone.  His skills are going to begin to decline very soon.  And quite frankly, he isn't good enough to lead this team to a wining record now.

So why should we dump our 25 year old All Star center for a bag of basketballs?  Wes Matthews is 32 years old, and DeAndre Jordan is 30.  

Unless we get some good young talent, and/or some draft choices, dumping Drummond make no sense.

Murph the reality is that for the last 6 weeks with AD playing in every game along side Blake until his recent injury, the Pistons have not been able to protect the paint. In every game opponents have a strategy of going inside to start games and keep going into the paint until the Pistons make adjustments. I think in this last game ZaZa was tired. He is older and cannot be very effective when playing a lot of minutes when he has to do that playing 3 or 4 games a week. Everyone looked tired in the Washington game. But there is a problem with the Piston defense when AD and BG are guarding the paint. AD strays out too far on the perimeter in hopes of making a steal and driving the length of the court. If only he ran that hard from end to end when going from offense to defense when he is standing in the paint maybe the Pistons would not be giving up so many easy layups. If AD and BG are going to start the game then there needs to be a 3rd defender who is strong enough to provide help defense in the paint. The only player that can do that is Stanley Johnson. But Johnson's shooting percentages are low as you pointed out. So pick your poison. What has been going on doesn't work. This coach does not value what good coaches always value. There must be at least one player in the starting unit that does not need to score but provides stability for the team with strong defense, moving without the ball on offense for the purpose of setting screens, rebounding and passing the ball well. No team has to have 5 strong shooters to win. But that is the goal of Dwayne Casey. He wants 5 guys who want to score. That is why at times he used both Jackson and Smith in crunch time which is ridiculous. Two extremely soft defenders playing in crunch time with Reggie Bullock who is a player that cannot stop dribble penetration most of the time and especially not in crunch time situations. Brown cannot provide strong help defense in the painted area. Casey has had him try but he is still learning how to stop players on the perimeter. Jon Leuer cannot defend power forwards or centers. But his contract is so impressive that the coach always finds time for him.

One big sign that Dwayne Casey is grasping at straws now is when he brought up a new point guard to add to the dysfunction at the point guard position. Insanity by the coaching staff has contributed greatly to the reasons why the Pistons have no stability from game to game. The roster is not stocked with tough hard nosed players or enough athletic players. The Pistons are being smothered by bad contracts and will not admit that they have selected the wrong players to use the bulk of their payroll on. Reggie Jackson, Leuer, Galloway, Smith, Robinson and yes even Johnson are all replaceable pieces that need to be either released or traded now. The strategy should be to rest Griffin for the rest of the season to protect him from further body damage. AD is the only player who can bring much in a trade. Also, being that Dwayne Casey doesn't place much value on Johnson's ability to help a team win games and only wants long distance shooters, plus the fact that teams like the Spurs, Lakers and Golden State do see a lot of positives in Stanley Johnson, then the Pistons should trade him as long as Casey is the coach.

If no changes are made and AD not traded but Johnson is placed on the market with no player in return who offers what Johnson does offer, then I say the Piston organization are just as foolish as usual. They don't know that they don't know because they are too busy looking at stats instead of looking at what happens in the games. Removing Johnson's contract means nothing and don't expect Piston management to make a good trade for Johnson. Then if Johnson does shut down that All Star player on Toronto like he did in the game at Toronto in the playoffs, maybe some of you will say damn it all Dwayne Casey is an idiot too. Right now to make the Pistons into a real team and if no changes are made, Casey needs to install Johnson in the starting lineup to stop opponents from beating up the Pistons in the paint. Blake Griffin at least sets up to draw a lot of charges. AD is the weak link on defense when he is fully healthy. His decision making skill set is inferior to almost any starting center in the league. He makes up for it with his big body but that doesn't work in crunch time or when teams are serious about attacking the paint.

What is funny is that Washington wants to blow up their team because management knows that they will never be a contender type team as constructed. But leave it to the Pistons to get their asses kicked but insist that the cause was because Stanley Johnson has lost his focus. No the Pistons have had Andre, Reggie J, Jon Leuer, Ish Smith, Langston Galloway as their core based on length of time served and size of contracts, so if the owners is actually serious about contending within the next 10 years, he needs to change the culture. To change the culture, the team needs to change the coaching staff which is much like SVG's relating to tactics or strategy where the head coaches never figured out that they do not have the right players to play the type of game they insist on selling to the fans. That is why I say Casey is trying to sell snake oil to the sucker fans. I personally do not like the tactics either Casey or SVG have used even if they had the players to fit their program. Playing the shoot out type strategy without 3 All Star type players who are dead eye types along with low IQ players guarding the paint, surrounded with fringe players to fill out the roster is foolish anyway you look at it. Even with the best players one could find, playing Casey's style always allows opposing teams to get back into every game even when his team builds up a 25 point lead. Even if Detroit players hit 7 3s in a row, opposing teams will wait out the blitz and strike back by getting 20 layups eventually. How pitiful this has become when the head coach leaks his take on the problem as to why the Pistons are losers. Yes it much be Stanley Johnson, the guy who backs up Blake Griffin for 11 minutes a game on most nights who has lost his focus. If you can believe that then you might believe that AD is a great defender and decision maker within the Piston rotation system on both offense and defense.

AD is an odd duck who has been gifted with an incredibly powerful body but doesn't know how to use it in a way that helps his team win games. However, if he could bring the Pistons a top draft pick. What if the Pistons scored another Isiah Thomas with that pick? What if the Pistons acquired a smart tough big man who can make great decisions in the paint on defense? Murph are you opposed to trading AD if that could happen? Maybe you have no confidence in the Pistons owner or his front office to actually make a good trade if AD was involved. I sure can understand why you would be hesitant based on past blunders that have placed the Pistons into their current situation.

With all the BS the fact remains that the Pistons are getting beat on most nights because they have allowed too many easy uncontested paint points. Opposing teams identify the Pistons as being weak on defense in the paint and hit the boards hard because the Pistons allow too many 2nd and 3rd chance points. But even worse, our big men are getting beat in transition even on made baskets. That has been happening now for 3 straight seasons. Dwayne Casey must have been AWOL in the film room over last summer. Or maybe Dwayne failed to call SVG for advise because he was coach of the year at Toronto. I don't know of any college or high school coach who doesn't adjust their strategy to what type of players the coach has to work with for the season. The first thing you do it identify that one thing and move forward with a plan that has a chance to work. Maybe that doesn't ever happen in the NBA because the NBA is not really based on playing basketball the right way but instead providing fans with a circus act purely for entertainment to please non basketball fans. Please Mr. Owner bring in Isiah Thomas to clean house.

[Murph]

Even Vince Ellis is supporting a “strategic” one year tank, to use this opportunity to shed dead weight and get younger, more athletic, longer, playmakers.

Build around Blake and Kennard with the youngsters and maybe Willie Reed as a cheap center prospect till we can do better.  Skal Labisierre rides the bench for a the kings, while marvin BagLey gets the starts, he avgd 15/8 last year, is 6’11”.

BallinD...with all due respect, why should we build around a 30 year old, black hole, ball hog?  How does that make any sense in the world?  Blake will be 30 years old by the end of the season.  He's injury prone.  His skills are going to begin to decline very soon.  And quite frankly, he isn't good enough to lead this team to a wining record now.

So why should we dump our 25 year old All Star center for a bag of basketballs?  Wes Matthews is 32 years old, and DeAndre Jordan is 30.

Unless we get some good young talent, and/or some draft choices, dumping Drummond make no sense.

[BallinD]

Even Vince Ellis is supporting a “strategic” one year tank, to use this opportunity to shed dead weight and get younger, more athletic, longer, playmakers.

Build around Blake and Kennard with the youngsters and maybe Willie Reed as a cheap center prospect till we can do better. Skal Labisierre rides the bench for a the kings, while marvin BagLey gets the starts, he avgd 15/8 last year, is 6’11”.

CBS Sport; Skal Labissiere.
After showing promise last season in his second year (15.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks per 36 minutes), the 6-11 forward has completely fallen out of the Kings rotation because of the addition of rookie Marvin Bagley III and the emergence of Harry Giles, who missed all of last season due to injury. But that doesn't mean Labissiere doesn't have talent -- in fact, according to the November report from Yahoo Sports, he was one of the players that the front office was frustrated wasn't seeing more minutes from coach Dave Joerger. Once the top player in his high school class, Labissiere has shown the ability to play inside and outside on offense, while protecting the rim on defense. There may not be much room on a suddenly promising Sacramento roster, but Labissiere, who's under contract at an affordable $2.3 million for next season, is definitely worth a look if the Kings are willing to sell low.

Also from CBS: LUKE: “He was drafted No. 12 overall in 2017 as a knock-down shooter, so it's no surprise that's how the Pistons have primarily used him. But Kennard is much more than a spot-up guy. He's been good in pick-and-roll situations this season, generating 0.941 points per possession this season as a scorer and passer according to Synergy Sports Tech, compared to just 0.788 points per possession as a spot-up shooter.
With Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith around him, Kennard doesn't get many opportunities to facilitate the offense. If he went to a team willing to give him some freedom as a ball-handler in the second unit, we could see a side of Kennard that's been largely untapped so far in Detroit.”

[BallinD]

We careen into the lottery, tanking to Win Now

Please Bench Weggie, his futility is simultaneously maddening and hilarious.

Shut Blake down, play Henry if u can’t swing a trade. Gasol n Conley have been made available. Go for it.

Trade Reggie B n ish to Dallas for DSJ, or Reggie B for Boston, Dallas, or Philly 1st rd pick, or whatever playoff team needs shooting to make a push.

Can we get a second for SJ?

Trade Dre to Dallas for Deandre and Wes Matthews,

As DX said, sitting on your hands in a futile calculus to try n scrape up equal value: Phuque That! This sh!tshow is way beyond that point.

Give Casey a shot at a roster he can mold with our young talent, tho he has shown an innate ability to push the wrong buttons at the wrong time.

[deusXango]

"Casey has been reluctant to try Griffin at center, but with Drummond out, he experimented with small-ball lineups.

Late in the first half, Casey had Griffin, Stanley Johnson, Bullock, Bruce Brown and Langston Galloway on the floor.

Late in the game, it was Griffin, Johnson, Bullock, Jackson and Galloway."-Vince Ellis/Detroit Free Press

Wot da' phuque! No Kennard? No practiced Kalin Lucas, seeing the floor before Khyri Thomas? As much as I've lost faith in Jon Leuer, where was he during Casey's brain fart? Kennard has been playing his most aggressive ball lately! The eye test has proven that Thomas has earned more time in the rotation! If we're not tanking why is Casey continuing to start Jackson, game after game? The Pistons are prepared to pay this clown $35 million over the next 2 years without so much as a blink but, trading $2.5 million Bullock is the topic daily....we need to stop bitchin' about being capped out as an excuse for not acquiring better talent to play with Griffin and Drummond. IMHO Stanley Johnson and Reggie Jackson are sabotaging the teams efforts to be competitive and they're doing it with managements approval.

Gores allowed SVG to put this franchise in the hole it's in, so why isn't he leaning on Stefanski to straighten this mess out at all costs? The Pistons will never get equal value for the overpaid, underperforming, so why not cut their loses and get as much as they can? Isn't that what astute management does?

[Phil-Good]

At this poing A Lose is like A win in my book. I would love to see the Pistons make their way back to the NBA lotter where they belong.

Blake, appreciate all your hard work. About 15 games after the all star break. You can go ahead and rest your legs. This season is in the book and the Pistons need to rebuild.


Also, Reggie Bullock. I appreciate your hard work but the Pistons need to let you move on with your career.

Good luck and If anybody deserves A shot at A championship it's you. I have 3 teams you should consider signing with long term. Milwaukee, Oklahoma, LA Lakers and A up and coming team like the Brooklyn Nets.

The Pistons should trade Bullock for as many nuggets as they can get back.

[Sparma]

Agreed that they missed AD today. Just a miserable game overall.

Against Sac I think there's little doubt but that Drummond's presence would have secured the win.

My eye test is telling me that Drummond had better hurry back from his concussion.  

Some guy by the name of Thomas Bryant, who was the 42nd pick of last year's draft, put up All Star numbers in a Wizard's rout.

In fact, Bryant and his back-up, Ian Mahinmi, put up a combined 13 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks at center.  And together, they shut down Zaza, while the Wizards won by 14.  Yikes!  

Drummond is definitely NOT the reason the Pistons suck, if today's game is any indication.  But hey, Griffin got his numbers, so it's all good.  I'm beginning to think that Griffin is turning into Carmelo Anthony.

[Sparma]

Well, Wise, you ALSO said, earlier (prior to your final, official, prediction of 39): put me down for 55 wins. And you did say we should expect 55 wins, at least, which accords with Murph's wording of what you said.

You can spin it any way you'd like, they lost the game without Drummond.  Anyway, the Pistons aren't tanking so that's that.

Um...didn't you say the team should win 55 games?

No I predicted 39 wins Sir 

[Murph]

My eye test is telling me that Drummond had better hurry back from his concussion.  

Some guy by the name of Thomas Bryant, who was the 42nd pick of last year's draft, put up All Star numbers in a Wizard's rout.

In fact, Bryant and his back-up, Ian Mahinmi, put up a combined 13 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks at center.  And together, they shut down Zaza, while the Wizards won by 14.  Yikes!  

Drummond is definitely NOT the reason the Pistons suck, if today's game is any indication.  But hey, Griffin got his numbers, so it's all good.  I'm beginning to think that Griffin is turning into Carmelo Anthony.

[WTF]

You can spin it any way you'd like, they lost the game without Drummond.  Anyway, the Pistons aren't tanking so that's that.

Um...didn't you say the team should win 55 games?

No I predicted 39 wins Sir 

[Sparma]

Murph: "At this point, I would not be opposed to trading Drummond, if we are going to tank and do a full scale rebuild. But according to media reports, that isn't going to happen. So there is no sense in trading Drummond if we are still in win-now mode."

I've been a Drummond supporter more than most, and I do think there's a point to trading Drummond IF they can get an even, or favorable, trade for a wing or a PG.

Mixed as Drummond's performance is, he's proven he can be an important contributor on offense. See our 14-6 start last year, where he functioned as pivot (yes, opponents figured something out, and the whole thing went downhill).

Now though, he really seems lost on O. When Blake came in last year, it seemed like he and AD were really looking for each other, and that the unusual combination might work on O. Now, Griffin doesn't look for him, and AD doesn't seem to know where to put himself on O except for going for offensive bounds.

People have persuaded me that the Wall contract's too burdensome, especially when placed next to Blake's. Something like a Beal for AD trade (Wash probably wouldn't go for it, unfortunately) would improve us, I think, even as we try to win now. I think a platoon consisting of ZaZa and a second center around his level could be an effective supplement for Blake, if we really strengthened the wing spot.

I do oppose just jettisoning AD, as some to favor with expiring contracts being seen as a sufficient return.

[Murph]

You can spin it any way you'd like, they lost the game without Drummond. Anyway, the Pistons aren't tanking so that's that.

Um...didn't you say the team should win 55 games?

[WTF]

And I don't see how losing by 2 points at home to a weak Sacramento team that we should have beaten proves that we don't need Drummond.  We would have very realistically won that game with Drummond.

Hey Spin Doctor you also realistically believed this team could win 45 to 50 games.  They lost this game on a game winning buzzer beating not because they were with out AD.   Using your reasoning they should have loss against the Heat.

[Murph]

At this point, I would not be opposed to trading Drummond, if we are going to tank and do a full scale rebuild.  But according to media reports, that isn't going to happen.  So there is no sense in trading Drummond if we are still in win-now mode.

And I don't see how losing by 2 points at home to a weak Sacramento team that we should have beaten proves that we don't need Drummond.  We would have very realistically won that game with Drummond.


Don, we are all losing our patience with Johnson.   Earlier in the season, his shooting and shot section had improved marginally.  That's all I'm looking for.  I would be happy with a marginal improvement from year to year...just something to show he's moving in the right direction.  

But recently he has slumped back to his old ways.  Half way through the season, he's shooting an anemic 39% from the floor compared to 37% for his career.  And she's shooting and unacceptable 27% from the 3 point line, compared to 29% for his career.

He's not a kid anymore.  He's a 4 year vet, and he's played this way for 2 different coaches.  It is very possible that this is it; this very well might be as good as Stanley is ever going to get.

Earlier in the year, I thought the Pistons were a shoo-in to make him his $5 million qualifying offer, or match a longer term offer.  Now I'm not so sure.  His minutes have declined under Casey.  He began the season as the starting SF, but he's played himself out of the starting line-up.  Now he's only playing 20 minutes a game off the bench.

I like the guy, but he might be a goner.  And honestly?...maybe the Pistons are better off spending the $5 million elsewhere.

[WTF]

What I've learned the past 2 games is that the Pistons don't need AD and that he is expendable.   We should be trying to move him for a well above average pass first PG and a first round pick in the upcoming draft by trade deadline.      

I would like to see him sit a couple more games just to see if my Eye Test is on point.

[Sparma]

Don: "Sparma I am not Stanley's agent.You are a fair and balanced poster."

I appreciate your words, Don.

There's something little known that I'd want to bring out if I were Stanley's agent. There's an unexpected comparison that emerges between Stanley and Reggie B, using career stats.

First the bad news though. It's widely known that Reggie's the way better 3 shooter (.400 > SJ's .291 (lower this season)), and it's no surprise to see statistical verification that Reggie B's significantly better close up (RB .691 from 0-3ft > SJ's .604 (lower this season)). Reggie B's also a better from 16ft to the 3 pt line: .422 > SJ's .304, quite consistently with the 3 pt % comparison. And for the season Reggie's B's crushing SJ from 16 ft to 3 pt line at .548 to .250, more than doubling SJ's rate of success from that distance.

The news in favor of SJ is that notably, indeed shockingly, he's a better shooter than is Reggie B from middle distance, at least from 3-16 feet. The difference isn't great, but it's significant: SJ's .309 from 3-10 ft over RB's .282, and .402 from 10-16ft over RB's .394. And this season, SJ's above his career % in what I consider the heart of middle distance (3-16ft). He's much higher than his career average from 3-10 ft at .510 and he's higher than his career average from 10-16ft at .450. For the season, Reggie B. sits at .310 from 3-10ft, i.e., a tick ahead of Stanley's career %, but way behind SJ's % for the season. And RB's .360 from 10-16, behind SJ's career % and way behind SJ's season%.

What does it all mean? Stanley really does have some shooting skills, as he's maintained, along with Don. It does seem like the coach should make some adjustment to Stanley's skills. And maybe San Antonio would welcome one such as Stanley.

[cool breeze]

After watching the entire game to find out what some posters were saying about Johnson, I am puzzled as to why you did it. Johnson played one of his best overall games. He made few mistakes on either offense or defense. What I liked best was his ability to create confusion in the paint on defense against the Heat. But Johnson's best trait in this game was making the extra pass which doesn't happen much with these Piston players. Johnson was open to take several 3 point attempts. Instead he knew that Luke had the hot hand and made that extra pass to him and Luke delivered. Those two players really play well together. They like each other that much is very obvious. Chemistry is everything in basketball. Great job Luke and Stanley. And I will add Reggie Bullock as well. He really played hard in crunch time and delivered with several great plays.

Dwayne Casey caused this game to go down to the wire in my opinion. He waited too long to substitute defense for offense in crunch time. With timeouts in his pocket, Casey could have brought both Brown and Johnson in several times in the last 2 minutes. Instead he only brought Brown for some odd reason and kept Reggie Jackson in the game to defend Tyler Johnson who had a nice night scoring. So what was Casey thinking? Was he afraid to pull Reggie Jackson for some reason because of politics? It made no sense. The Pistons had players who could bring the basketball up the court if they could create an empty possession for the Heat. But it appears that Casey is content to allow opposing teams to score in crunch time thinking he has the right players on the court to keep scoring. This was an interesting decision that made no sense at all. He could have brought Reggie back in to shoot free throws at the end. And I am all for that because Reggie Jackson, with all his faults, is very cool when he goes to the free throw line at the end of games. I just would love it if Casey would reveal his thinking on some of the decisions he makes. I am only a fan and fans usually don't know the entire picture . But Casey clearly took a gamble that the Heat would not exploit Jackson's weaknesses on the defensive end. Plus, RJ did not play well on either offense or defense in this game. To be fair though, Jackson has been a much better defender this season than at any time in his career in Detroit. Still his defense cannot compare with Johnson's ability to defend especially in the paint on help defense which was a sore spot in crunch time during this game. Also, Johnson was not rewarded for busting his ass in every area to help create this win by his coach. The coach didn't notice maybe.

[cool breeze]

Detroit was on auto pilot easily beating up on a team that was playing horribly. Then Brown stepped out of bounds with the ball by accident while trying to get the ball to Blake in the half court offense. That mistake was followed up by Blake Griffin's mistake on defense where he failed to box out on the weak side with led to a easy put back after a shot didn't go in that was attempted with Za Za contesting. This time we can't blame AD for failure to box out Whiteside. Griffin misses and Winslow makes a 3 pointer after a nice pass from Wade with Bullock defending Winslow. Griffin then makes a great 3 pointer but Tyler Johnson makes a 3 point shot against Brown. Bullock then get his shot blocked in the paint and the Heat go back on offense where Tyler Johnson hits another 3 against Brown. Score then was down to Pistons 61 and Heat 54. Casey calls a timeout. What I saw was stagnation on offense during this short period of about two and one half minutes where 4 Piston players were standing around counting on Blake to create all the offense. He must get really tired of this insanity. Where was the necessary screening off the ball? Where was the necessary movement to make the offense respectable? Reggie Jackson was not contributing much for sure but maybe he knows there is a trade about to go down. Who knows but the coach should have recognized lack of movement and lack of Piston energy on defense which allowed the Heat to make this comeback. Also, Brown caused a turnover on the inbounds pass after a made basket by the Heat. I am not trying to single out Brown for making several mistakes in a short period of time. Rookies do that. That doesn't mean that Brown is not going to be a really good player for the Pistons. It proves that the coach doesn't have quick recognitions skills necessary to call timeouts quicker or make rotation adjustments quicker and for the right reasons. The Pistons continue to slide downward after Brown went to the bench and Kennard took his place. Blake shot a 3 point attempt that missed and there was no Piston who was even close to the paint to attempt to get an offensive rebound. Johnson for Miami then hit a 3 point shot to get the heat to within 4 points. Kennard buried a 3 ball to end the slide. Galloway and Johnson arrive in the game. But Reggie Jackson stayed on the court instead of bringing in Calderon.

There seems to be trends where the Pistons offense shuts down and everything depends on how well Blake shoots the 3 point shot. At the start of every game, the Pistons show a lot of movement with both the ball and the supporting players with Blake. The team also seems to have good energy on defense. Then maybe when they think nobody is watching usually in the 3rd quarter, there is no player or ball movement with the exception of Blake. And the defense really looks weak as well. Do the assistant coaches see this same thing? I think the assistant coaches are much better now than those who worked on SVG's staff. Miami gots some confidence when the Pistons energy went South. Then instead of playing out an what should have been a easy game, the Pistons got into a dog fight. Maybe that is a normal thing for regular season games in the NBA. There are so many games to play the players are just trying to survive because they all know that there will be another hard game the following night. Anyway I am losing interest and trying to find a reason why I shouldn't stop watching the Pistons. Reggie Jackson did not earn his paycheck for this last game. I know that much.

[cool breeze]

Sad to see Reggie B's not being regarded/ mentioned as part of that core.  He may well be our most efficient player, or at least the one easiest to envision being integrated into any winning team, including the Warriors, Rockets, and Lakers.  Not saying he's better than Blake, but, gosh, that's an important piece to give up on.

Earlier, BallinD passed along a critical assessment of Stanley.  I've been plenty critical of Stanley, even while being fair and balanced to my own satisfaction, but not Don's.  

Reviewing some stats backs Don on a couple of key issues.  First, he really could shoot from distance in college, to tune of 37.1% from 3.  Had he been able to translate that to the more distant NBA line, notwithstanding the frightening release point that he entered the league with, we'd be singing his praises now as a key part of the future.  

Secondly, as Don has claimed, Stanley really is a pretty good shooter from middle distance even at the NBA level.  His .557 from 0-3 ft isn't great, in fact it's below his career standard.  Also, as I've noted, his 3% has gotten worse each season (.274 now), while he insists on hoisting up more than ever this year (hence his diminished time, presumably).  

But he's shooting .510 from 3-10 ft out this year (notably far better than the 3 preceding season), and .450 from 10-16ft (even his .402 career mark strikes me as respectable relative to the league, but I'm not sure).

The 3-10 ft range seems like the sweet spot for him.  You can do real damage from there.  I don't think it's reasonable to expect coach Casey to adjust majorly to Stanley; still, some adjustment to his strengths would be best for all.  

And of course coaches should take serious account of what their players can actually do, even while advancing a coherent overall strategy.

Blake, Dre, Kennard, Khyri, Bruce.  If this is the core, we gotta let a lotta dead weight go.  Glad to see Kennard in there.  

Let the trading begin.  Dre just might go?
OTOH
Miami loses it's starting PG to injury and thinks outside of the box to try Winslow there and found their PGOTF...

Detroit loses it’s back-up PG to injury and runs out 81-year-old Jose Calderon and went something like 3-17.

Spoelstra Woke...Casey asleep.

Might have been an opportunity to try Kennard or even Khyri Thomas at the point. Creativity is not against the
rules.

Sparma I am not Stanley's agent.You are a fair and balanced poster. Why do I stick up for Johnson? I am disappointed that Johnson is not going to be part of the Piston's future when a better head coach is finally hired. As of now, the hand writing is on the wall. Casey wants more specialist type players where defense is not important and long distance stats is everything. Johnson is only a back up for Blake for about 10 to 12 minutes a game. He can be replaced with a 38 year old player now. But the fact is that Johnson has a lot of game experience, can play fantastic defense and is only 22 years old. He can be a prime time player but has to play a lot of minutes to do that. The Suns did that with their small forward who shot horribly last season but plays similar to Johnson. This season he is a stand out with I am sure Johnson will become once he is traded.

This thing about targeting Johnson on this forum has been pretty amazing. Why not target Galloway for his performance in the first half of the Heat game? When Johnson turns the ball over he is trying to create something by at least driving in the paint. He misses jump shots from beyond the 3 point line but many come at the end of the shot clock. But he does miss wide open shots like many Piston players. Johnson is 22 years old and not making $8M a year. Galloway is making a lot of money for a player who is one dimensional and seldom passes the ball to an open teammate and loves taking contested long distance shots which lead to layups by opposing teams in transition.

The biggest stinker on this team is Andre Drummond. Don't be critical of AD the great decision maker. This team is a big loser. The players who play in crunch time with Blake make it extremely hard on him. If this coach played both ZaZa or another unidentified big man who can provide strong paint defense and rebounding, along with Stanley Johnson, and either Kennard or Brown, the Pistons would seldom lose to weak teams and sometimes get lucky beating some of the strong teams. As it is, the Pistons are always playing poker by using weak defensive minded players who are spot jump shooter specialists along with either Jackson or Smith. This should be obvious to anyone who watches the games based on the actual games not stats. Stats tell us a different story. AD is an All Star. Is there a stat on decision making skills for both offense and defense? Yes please focus on Johnson as being a big let down for all fans. He is in Casey's dog house with a lot of teams making calls to see if Johnson is available now. I would say he should be wouldn't you? Then once the 22 year old Blake Griffin back up is gone, won't things will be a lot better. Leuer will then be a difference maker because he will back up Blake. You and many others will be happy again.

Johnson will be very happy to get the hell out of Detroit where he will come back like a lot of other players to kick the Pistons asses. Middleton loves to come back. I see where Knight is playing pretty good now even with a bad knee. But Knight took about the same abuse as Johnson gets with posters. Of course Knight was horrible. It couldn't have been that he had to play pick and roll with Maxiell and Monroe. I tried to defend Knight over and over but big Joe Dumars listened to the fans and brought in Brandon Jennings the reject from the Bucks where nobody on their team wanted to play with Jennings and no other NBA teams were interested but Joe. Why not throw in Middleton. The fans didn't like him either even though the coaches at the time didn't play him much. He was not good enough to play for the Pistons. The coaches were much like Casey. Play the high contract players.

The Pistons have had horrible decision makers at the very top of the organization for far too long. They have a horrible decision maker playing center but it is written in stone that AD is the future of the Detroit Pistons. It has to be that way somehow. And it is also necessary to give away Stanley Johnson as a throw in to repeat the folly of the Middleton-Knight trade. The fans support the top leadership. They can do nothing wrong. Let's see, the fans need something so why not give away Stanley Johnson to show them we are shaking things up and doing something. Fans can't live life without Andre Drummond though. We must keep them happy. Fans won't be too unhappy as long as the Pistons win the fight to get that 8th seed. Even better how about if the Pistons get the 7th seed. Put the Pistons in the Western conference and the truth might come out. Lucky that the Pistons are playing the scrub teams a lot. Hey the Pistons are on a winning streak. Casey is doing a masterful job with his focus on 3 point shooting. What a brilliant coach we have now. He is far superior to SVG. Damn we are lucky to be Piston fans. Just move Johnson and things will be even better. Maybe if Luke misses a lot of shots after Johnson is gone, then the posters will beat up on him and say he is a big disappointment. Meanwhile, AD will be protecting the paint.

[Sparma]

I certainly don't hear the announcers denigrating ZaZa's impact. Quite the opposite.

Concerning Ish, Kelser (earlier) said that he thought it was the presence of Ish AND Reggie that makes a difference.

I'm not a Reggie J fan, but Kelser seems to have a point there. Also, I don't think Ish is a great player taken in isolation. But he does make a significant difference as part of a system, facilitating necessary diversity, changing the pace. I would have thought anyone watching his rentree could have seen the impact of having him in there in his first game back, even though he tailed off, and even though that presence didn't prove to be enough for the win.

[Sparma]

Agreed that Stanley played well against Miami, Don.

Excellent game by Wade. Also, I think that in his glory days he would have gotten those FTs he sought on his 3 shot at the end.

An important win if we aspire to making it into the playoffs (personally, I'd rather aspire to the #6 pick, but, oh well).

Per Zach Lowe:

Here's the blip about Stanley:

The stagnation of Stanley (Johnson)
Before this depressing season, Johnson would at least show glimpses of the player Detroit envisioned when they selected him over Booker after a draft-room debate: rapid-fire switches across three or four positions, artful drive-and-dish attacks.

Even those flashes have flickered out. Johnson loiters on the perimeter, the league’s least threatening "stretch" power forward, filling time until what feels like an inevitable divorce this summer. He’s shooting 27 percent from deep. Opponents ignore him to gum up Detroit’s offense. It’s hard to drive-and-kick into anything productive when defenses wait for you in the paint.

What’s the opposite of a stretch-4? A contracting-4? A shrink-4? Stanley Johnson is a shrink-4.

Johnson has coughed the ball up on 17 percent of his drives, the ninth-highest such rate among 256 guys who have recorded at least 50 drives, per Second Spectrum data. He doesn’t offer anything else at power forward. He’s not a screen setter. He has fewer offensive rebounds than Trae Young.

He should be able to bully wings when Detroit shifts him to small forward — rare these days — but Johnson has just 10 post touches all season, per Second Spectrum.

Johnson is a stout defender, but non-centers can’t really be on the floor if they bring zero offense.

The wing positions define Detroit’s present and (probably) future mediocrity. They spent lottery picks on Johnson and Luke Kennard. Bruce Brown is a nice story — he got love in this space last month — but not great (Bob) when a low-usage 22-year-old second-rounder starts over two lottery guys.

There is still hope for Kennard. He has drained 40 percent of his career 3s, and he has enough feel off the bounce to work as a secondary ball handler. He just needs to stay healthy and gain Dwane Casey’s trust on the other end. (Brown deservedly has it.)

Detroit will pop champagne if it snares the No. 8 seed this year — hooray for geographic luck and the crappy East! — so Casey will probably ride the guys he trusts. But it is in the Pistons’ organizational interest to see what they have in Kennard

Ballin I haven't watched the 2nd half of the Miami game yet so perhaps Stanley Johnson screwed up big time later on in the game. But what I witnessed from the moment Johnson and ZaZa entered the game was that the Pistons looked like a very tough team to beat. The combination of three high IQ players, Za Za, Johnson and Kennard along with another older player Kennard made watching the Pistons fun again. Johnson and Za Za did all the dirty work setting hard screens, running hard in transition to get back to protect the paint, and getting tons of deflections on defense, getting steals and not allowing easy points in the paint. The Pistons have been losing because they are soft in the paint on defense. That isn't on Blake Griffin. He is great at setting up to draw offensive fouls on opposing drivers. How many offensive fouls does AD draw? No a player like Za Za, maybe a younger version as time moves forward, would compliment Blake Griffin who is the first outstanding player the Pistons have had in many years. AD is not a good fit for Blake.

Both Johnson and Za Za eliminated easy point blank shots within 7 feet from the basket in the first half. The Pistons were dominating the game. The only weak player in that unit of Za Za, Johnson, Kennard, and Calderon was Galloway. Somehow the head coach didn't notice that Galloway was the weak link within that defensive unit. Brown would have been great for those other 4 players to play with. I say that the coach must have had blinders on because Langston Galloway also shot around 7 jump shots that all missed badly. He didn't make a shot that I can recall during that stretch. But what Galloway did do was shoot contested shots with everyone of his attempts. Also, before jacking up those low percentage attempts with a defender in his face, there was a wide open teammate that he didn't pass the ball to. The player that was hot was Luke. Johnson also hit his only 3 point attempt. Neither Johnson or Kennard took contested shots.

What I love about Luke Kennard is that he is not just a spot long range jump shooter. He can do a lot of things with and without the basketball, That is why he would be fantastic as an NBA point guard. He sees the floor, he can pass the ball well. He knows all about getting proper floor spacing. You look at the way Luke plays, and he appears to think a lot like Blake Griffin on offense. Both players size up the defense and take what the defensive gives them. That is how you play winning basketball. You don't go by a script that this coach employs that the Pistons must be a 3 point shooting team stocked with catch and shoot long distance shooters. Players like Bradley Beal play like Luke and Blake. While it is nice to see Bullock get hot at the beginning of the game with his long jump shots, by watching a lot of games we all know that the misses will eventually even out and those misses often lead to opposing fast breaks for easy layups. Shooting the ball early in the shot clock by players like Galloway, Bullock and Jackson make it very difficult for players who are moving without the basketball at the time to get back to defend the paint when opposing teams push the ball after a Bullock, Jackson, and Galloway miss. Usually there are Piston players close to the baseline when those long contested jump shots are attempted. It is clear that with a good coaching staff, this team could be a lot better by using the right players and limiting turnovers and shooting long contested jump shots. Cutting down on unforced errors creates wins. Luke Kennard usually shoots the ball when the floor is spaced properly and when he misses uncontested shots, his teammates are located at better spots on the floor where they can sprint back to protect the paint against easy layups.

So Ballin I am only going to write about what happens in actual games and not try to prove anything by stats because if we did that AD would actually look like an All Star player. I wish him well but wish that he could get those stats on another team because he is not a winning type of player. Also. Galloway, Bullock, Smith, Jackson, and Leuer are all part of the problem. They are not winning caliber high basketball IQ players. But the biggest problem is the head coach, Dwayne Casey and i hate criticizing NBA coaches because the players always determine who wins and who loses in the NBA. But the coach does decide how many low basketball IQ players he is going to put in the game and play the majority of minutes and who will play as a unit. I still can't forget earlier on in the season when Dwayne Casey was determined to play both Jackson and Smith together in crunch time against starting caliber guards on opposing teams. take your pick as to who you want to score on in those moments Dwayne. That was when I lost respect for this coach and believed that Toronto made the correct decision on firing him. Toronto was always an easy out when the playoff season started. It was how he used those players at Toronto that caused his team to lose so easily. I like the fact that he is playing his two rookies but when ZaZa was out, this team suffered big time and Casey refused to bring up a G League big man or even dress Henry Ellenson. Leuer played horribly during that period and could not guard centers or power forwards. How could Henry have played any worse. He is bigger and stronger than Leuer. and I am sure there were big men in the minor league who could have helped this team during that period. The Pistons lost big time without Za Za and Calderon was to me at least a better fit for the Pistons than Ish Smith and his out of control up tempo nonsense. But maybe they were trying to sell other teams on Smith before the trade deadline. But the fans should want the coach to play the players who have the best chance to win.

One last comment on Johnson and that will be it for me. Johnson is 22 years old and is a prime time defender, screener, passer and an overall high basketball IQ player. He has been used in the wrong way since he arrived. But in fact other NBA teams really like him a lot and see his potential. He is not a disappointment at the draft position he was drifted in so I feel that someone should point that out when posters blame him for the way the Pistons have performed. This coach as pushed Johnson out of any future with the Pistons. He is playing very small minutes since Casey decided to only use him as back up at power forward for Griffin. Maybe he stunk it up in the 2nd half of this last game and something different happened that a caused you to focus on Johnson as a screw up. But please believe the devil is in the details. Johnson's shooting percentage is not good but he seldom touches the ball much. When he does touch it, he is forced to shoot a 3 point shot because the shot clock is winding down below 7 seconds. Other stat driven players don't like shooting shots that have a low percentage chance of going in to protect their shooting average. This is the modern game where agents tell their clients how to be successful in the league. Get your shooting percentage up. Don't shoot it at the end of the shot clock. Pass the ball to another player and make him be the sucker. Johnson is a team player who has a long history of being on winning teams. That type of thing is not in his nature. Johnson will find a home in another city and become a star player. He will have a long career is nothing else being a crush time hard nosed defender who shuts down opposing shooters in important moments. You win when you have players who can do that one thing. But in Detroit, Johnson is not on the floor in crunch time. with the long string of loses, the Pistons have lost those games because they give up easy shots in the paint especially with neither Za Za or Johnson on the floor while Jackson, Smith, Bullock and Galloway give up dribble penetration and there are no big men in position to provide a 2nd line of defense that Big Ben provided. Basketball is simple but the Pistons coaching staff have made it very difficult for the Pistons to win because of the players they have decided to play especially in crunch time.

Hats off to Dwayne Wade who was the players Joe Dumars failed to notice when he selected the chain smoking teenager, Darko. But of course Joe was planning ahead for the day that Rodney Stuckey could take over the team. Great career Mr. Wade!

[cool breeze]

I know we should all be believers in Piston front office propaganda. What can they do when they have a payroll full of players who have contracts that cannot be traded. Based on the amount of the payroll the Pistons should be at least the 3rd best team in the extremely weak Eastern conference. One of the fringe teams like the Pistons is Orlando. I like their players and their potential better than the Pistons. The only way the Pistons won that game is the combination of Blake Griffin's willingness to take another beating as well as Orlando's center missing shots close to the basket while their point guard, Augustine missed a wide open layup. Then a third shot was missed on a wide open shot by their 2 guard at the end so the Pistons won. WOW!

It is becoming pitiful how stubborn this head coach really is with his player combinations. He never made game time decisions in crunch time being in his best defensive players when the Pistons needed a stop. Casey is determined to force fans to watch his selection of specialists attempt to play defense in important moments of the game when everyone knows they are horrible defenders who have a slim chance of stopping anyone at any time. In this game Casey took out Kennard to improve the defense by bring in Brown to defend Ross. Brown might be a better defender than Luke but Luke is taller and Brown is much shorter than Ross. Two players who Casey just couldn't part with were Bullock and Jackson. Meanwhile, both Bullock and Jackson are well known as having the reputation of not being able to stop dribble penetration. Also, neither Bullock or Jackson were on target with their long distance shooting last night. Bullock kept missing and screwing up on defense. Jackson penetrated too far with no plan too many times and also could not knock down his outside shots. Everything was on Blake on offense. Fortunately AD got some offensive rebounds and also made a nice baseline shot in the 4th quarter. Still, what was this coach thinking about in overtime? If you get a tiny lead and a time out is called. Why not bring in ZaZa to play defense at the center position. He boxes out well on the defensive boards and challenges shots in the paint. What would be wrong with placing both Bullock and Jackson on the bench and bringing in the team's best overall defender Stanley Johnson, Brown the 2nd best defender, and Thomas the 3rd best defender along with Griffin. That could present problems for any team when they most need to get a basket. Instead, Dwayne uses his weakest defenders a the most important time in the game. I am sure if Jackson was injured Casey would use Ish Smith ignoring the fact that Smith is always a liability on defense because of his size. How in hell do coaches like Dwayne Casey find employment at the alleged highest level of basketball? Maybe the answer is that the NBA is not the highest level of basketball at all.

Greg Kelser needs to stop the nonsense about the value of Ish Smith. Smith did not play a good game last night. He does push the tempo well but he is often out of control and his insistence on dominating the basketball and shooting too many contested shots along with his inability to guard anyone should cause Greg to notify his comments about the value of Ish Smith to the Pistons overall future. If the Pistons sign Smith again, we should all know that the owner is not serious about building a championship caliber team within the next 6 years.

The Pistons remain a below average team who might not make the 8th seed again in the extremely weak Eastern conference. I for one believe that the NBA should select the best 16 teams for playoff consideration instead of using the current formula. Detroit doesn't belong in the playoffs based on their performance over the past two months. The Piston front office should have a plan to re build the Pistons. That should start by trading AD who might have enough value to create a positive situation relating to improving the Piston's talent level. The Pistons also need a new head coach. Casey is worse than SVG as a bench coach. He might create a nice atmosphere for the players but Detroit needs a smarter coach like Pop or Boston's head coach. And the Pistons need to acquire a superior back court and not spend all their money on an inept front court.

My prediction as to what the Pistons are going to do before the trade deadline. They will trade Stanley Johnson for sure. He is not part of their future plans with Casey as the head coach. Johnson's role continues to diminish as the season moves forward. When he did play in crunch time, the Pistons won more than they lost. So the plan must have been hatched about a month ago where the Piston front office advised Casey that Johnson is going to be traded so gradually reduce his role as a rotation player. Now Johnson is only used as a back up for Blake Griffin who is the most important player on the team and cannot be off the floor for many minutes. Johnson has been forced to play power forward. He will gladly take any minutes without complaint knowing the hand writing is on the wall. It really doesn't matter what Johnson does on the court. Even Thomas has beat him out for playing time at small forward and shooting guard. At least Johnson has had experience playing three positions during his stay with the Pistons. But it is clear to me that Detroit would have won several more basketball games if Stanley had been on the floor instead of Casey's pets who are only shooting specialists. The Pistons lose because they give up too many easy shots around the rim from both dribble penetration and lack of effort or ability to defend by both Drummond and Griffin. They need at least two high end defenders to have any chance to win in crunch time. Instead Casey continues to use combinations that will never work. But Dwayne is proud after this game even though he knows he should have lost this last game if not for three Orlando players missing easy open shots around the basket that they would normally make 90% of the time. "The Pistons showed toughness". No Dwayne,  Blake Griffin showed toughness not you. You were an idiot.

According to NBA.com Bruce and Luke are nearly identical in size.  Both are 6'5" and differ in weight by only 4 lbs.   Ain't it nice to know we are tougher than our 8th seed competition.  

Lemonpen I stand corrected. As you are one of the few who attend games instead of watching on television, but for me just watching on TV, I was surprised when you pointed out the facts. Thanks!

I like both players a lot. Both have winning potential and either players could make a more positive fit playing point guard than either Jackson or Smith eventually if the team were serious about building a real team. The Pistons need a top notch paint protector playing center with a back up like ZaZa to compliment Blake Griffin. But the movement going forward appears to be going in the opposite direction. It appears according to the announcers that once Ish Smith's groin issue is resolved, Detroit will be in the thick of things when the playoffs begin. If ZaZa is injured again, no worries because the Pistons have now tested Jon Leuer and they find he is a good replacement. All is great in Piston land and Andre Drummond is a great paint protector and decision maker. Nothing to worry about these days for sure about the future of the Pistons. We beat the Magic and the Heat without the Heat's best player.

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