Rules/ Don

[Sparma]

Cool: "The NBA is a crazy game where strategy is non existent because of the stupid rules. The games could be much more exciting if teams were allowed to play any defensive style. No 3 second rule on defense. The intention was to make the games more exciting by featuring more scoring. But their rules have caused the games to be extremely dull in my opinion. Who wants to see players driving unopposed past the first line of defense with a simple high screen and go in for a layup?"

I agree that rule changes would help. The 3 second rule might serve a purpose though: you probably don't want the likes of Boban hanging out right by the basket on and on. Still, I'd call for something similar: re-allowing zone defenses. It's one thing to drive to the ball on skill, another to get open lane after open lane. Not so impressive, or fun. Allowing a zone (teams sometimes do something similar anyway) would even things up a bit.

And maybe this goes in the opposite direction (and I suspect you wouldn't care for this, Don), but I'd also have a four point line 3 or 4 feet further out. If Brooke Lopez can go, what, 5-7 for 3, maybe there's a further distinction needed. It could make for some dramatic finishes too (although even I would cringe at the 4 point basket & a foul play).

Every player on this team is movable in some form of a trade scenario if they're not expecting greater value in return.  Now before I get jumped on keep in mind that how on earth do you trash a player then expect something greater in return.   Also lets not overstate what is actually considered equal value as well in a trade scenario.   

As I stated BG should be move first and I honestly think the Lakers would bit and they also have a way of making trades work.   Keep in mind the Lakers also have a short window in which it needs to achieve Final Contention before Lebron completely fades.  They more likely to take a win now approach and might be willing to let go of young players and a pick to do so. 

AD also could be moved as well to one of the contending teams in the Western Conference. Only if we stop looking for something beyond a 1st round pick and a young player with potential that they're willing to part with.   

IMO we should build from the backcourt up as we did with Zeke and Joe then CB and Rip and after that find us another Big Ben, Rodman type defend then find us a players that can stretch the offense beyond the arc.   Kennard and Brown might be a decent place to start from.

I am trying to figure out who the Pistons would want on that Laker team as I haven't really followed them much so far. The talk awhile back involved Bradley Beal and or Wall for AD and perhaps Jackson. Wall has a heal injury which is serious enough to eliminate him from competition for the remainder of this season. Wall isn't getting any younger either but I would love it if Piston management took a chance and snagged both Beal and Wall. Beal is only 25 and Blake's ability to drive and dish to a player as deadly as Beal could really be sweet for the Pistons. Detroit would be lacking a center for sure. The Pistons would also have to pay Leuer and Galloway around $18M. But the Pistons would possibly have a really tough team with Wall, Beal and Griffin. As you put it, then the Pistons could find a player like Ben Wallace who is strictly a top notch paint protector. Washington could then possibly trade AD for draft picks or make the same mistake Tom Gores did and build a team around AD. I have said it now for a long time, AD is about the only player who can be traded that will get the Pistons back on track to become a winning team again. There is nothin that can be done to move Griffin's contract. And Blake is a tough highly skilled player so the only course the Pistons can be on is build their team around Blake. While stating that AD is the only player that the Pistons can make a good trade with, expectations must not be too high so perhaps there is no way Washington would consider taking on AD and Jackson's contracts for Beal and Wall.

If the Piston front office is trying to find a way to improve this Piston team with a trade, they will have their hands full trying to figure out a way to sell any team on taking Reggie Jackson. For sure AD would need to be included but i am not so sure a lot of GMs have much faith in AD's overall game. We might have to wait it out for another season when Jackson's contract ends. We also lose Leuer. Maybe Dwayne Casey is playing those guys a lot because he knows the Piston's front office is trying to trade them. Maybe I have been too hard on the Piston's coach.

The NBA is a crazy game where strategy is non existent because of the stupid rules. The games could be much more exciting if teams were allowed to play any defensive style. No 3 second rule on defense. The intention was to make the games more exciting by featuring more scoring. But their rules have caused the games to be extremely dull in my opinion. Who wants to see players driving unopposed past the first line of defense with a simple high screen and go in for a layup? The Front office of the NBA wants more dunks.The commissioner, Adam Silver should be forced to travel to every city that has a NBA franchise and agree to be dunked in a pool of water like the clowns do at the county fair.

[cool breeze]

Every player on this team is movable in some form of a trade scenario if they're not expecting greater value in return.  Now before I get jumped on keep in mind that how on earth do you trash a player then expect something greater in return.   Also lets not overstate what is actually considered equal value as well in a trade scenario.   

As I stated BG should be move first and I honestly think the Lakers would bit and they also have a way of making trades work.   Keep in mind the Lakers also have a short window in which it needs to achieve Final Contention before Lebron completely fades.  They more likely to take a win now approach and might be willing to let go of young players and a pick to do so. 

AD also could be moved as well to one of the contending teams in the Western Conference. Only if we stop looking for something beyond a 1st round pick and a young player with potential that they're willing to part with.   

IMO we should build from the backcourt up as we did with Zeke and Joe then CB and Rip and after that find us another Big Ben, Rodman type defend then find us a players that can stretch the offense beyond the arc.   Kennard and Brown might be a decent place to start from.

I am trying to figure out who the Pistons would want on that Laker team as I haven't really followed them much so far. The talk awhile back involved Bradley Beal and or Wall for AD and perhaps Jackson. Wall has a heal injury which is serious enough to eliminate him from competition for the remainder of this season. Wall isn't getting any younger either but I would love it if Piston management took a chance and snagged both Beal and Wall. Beal is only 25 and Blake's ability to drive and dish to a player as deadly as Beal could really be sweet for the Pistons. Detroit would be lacking a center for sure. The Pistons would also have to pay Leuer and Galloway around $18M. But the Pistons would possibly have a really tough team with Wall, Beal and Griffin. As you put it, then the Pistons could find a player like Ben Wallace who is strictly a top notch paint protector. Washington could then possibly trade AD for draft picks or make the same mistake Tom Gores did and build a team around AD. I have said it now for a long time, AD is about the only player who can be traded that will get the Pistons back on track to become a winning team again. There is nothin that can be done to move Griffin's contract. And Blake is a tough highly skilled player so the only course the Pistons can be on is build their team around Blake. While stating that AD is the only player that the Pistons can make a good trade with, expectations must not be too high so perhaps there is no way Washington would consider taking on AD and Jackson's contracts for Beal and Wall.

If the Piston front office is trying to find a way to improve this Piston team with a trade, they will have their hands full trying to figure out a way to sell any team on taking Reggie Jackson. For sure AD would need to be included but i am not so sure a lot of GMs have much faith in AD's overall game. We might have to wait it out for another season when Jackson's contract ends. We also lose Leuer. Maybe Dwayne Casey is playing those guys a lot because he knows the Piston's front office is trying to trade them. Maybe I have been too hard on the Piston's coach.

The NBA is a crazy game where strategy is non existent because of the stupid rules. The games could be much more exciting if teams were allowed to play any defensive style. No 3 second rule on defense. The intention was to make the games more exciting by featuring more scoring. But their rules have caused the games to be extremely dull in my opinion. Who wants to see players driving unopposed past the first line of defense with a simple high screen and go in for a layup? The Front office of the NBA wants more dunks.The commissioner, Adam Silver should be forced to travel to every city that has a NBA franchise and agree to be dunked in a pool of water like the clowns do at the county fair.

[WTF]

Every player on this team is movable in some form of a trade scenario if they're not expecting greater value in return.  Now before I get jumped on keep in mind that how on earth do you trash a player then expect something greater in return.   Also lets not overstate what is actually considered equal value as well in a trade scenario.   

As I stated BG should be move first and I honestly think the Lakers would bit and they also have a way of making trades work.   Keep in mind the Lakers also have a short window in which it needs to achieve Final Contention before Lebron completely fades.  They more likely to take a win now approach and might be willing to let go of young players and a pick to do so. 

AD also could be moved as well to one of the contending teams in the Western Conference. Only if we stop looking for something beyond a 1st round pick and a young player with potential that they're willing to part with.   

IMO we should build from the backcourt up as we did with Zeke and Joe then CB and Rip and after that find us another Big Ben, Rodman type defend then find us a players that can stretch the offense beyond the arc.   Kennard and Brown might be a decent place to start from.

[Sparma]

Don: "However, I like Brown's basketball IQ a lot and the fact that he is a confident type of player with a high energy type mentality."

There's a silver lining to the tough loss against Utah in that Bruce Brown is emerging as an important rotation player. Early on, he dribbled into a congested area, facing Gobart, but with Drummond as an option. He kept the ball himself for a nice basket. Similar situation a bit later, but he passes off to AD for the dunk.

High basketball IQ consists largely of making good, quick, decisions in complicated situations. Brown showed it in both those two cases.

He also pushes the pace (unlike Reggie J and Jose), which is at least a valuable switch. For instance, running up court, he found Blake running ahead with a beautiful bounce pass for the score.

He's no savior, not with those shooting limitations. And Donovan ate him up in the 2nd half, after Bruce had done really good work defensively early.

I hope that Casey makes heavy use of specialized skills, so I'm not saying Brown should just take over at PG. But he's earned serious minutes, some of which as the principal PG on the floor.

[cool breeze]

That's a pretty brutal article by SB Nation ripping into Drummond.  But I can't say I disagree with much of it.  While he's still a great rebounder, Drummond suffers from chronic low BBIQ.  Drummond has never come to the realization that he should focus on his rebounding, defense, shot blocking and passing, and not his offensive skills and certainly not his 3 pt shooting.  If only Drummond would realize his value as an NBA player, and his value to the team, he would take fewer shots and help his team more.  But you can't fix stupid, I guess.

Another huge point of the article that I agree with is that, for better or for worse, this is Blake Griffin's team now.  You could see it in Griffin's demeaner on the court, from the very beginning of the season onward.  I have mixed emotions about this also.  I don't think a Griffin led team is going to be any more successful than a Drummond led team.  Griffin is a huge ball hog also, with holes in his game.  And as always, he's injury prone and aging.  I mean all you have to do is look at the way the Clippers improved once they dumped Griffin to understand Griffin's value.

But Drummond is only 26, and so he can still be traded.  Some team is going to give us some combination of draft picks, young players and expiring contracts for Drummond.  We're stuck with Griffin.


And so we should probably get to work trading Drummond, Ish, Bullock and any other veteran asset we can trade...and begin the process of blowing up the team.  Then in another 3 years, when Griffin's onerous contract finally expires, we can complete the process of blowing the team up, and start to rebuild.

Because of the length of these contracts, it's going to take even longer for a complete rebuild than the usual 5-7 years.  In our case, it will probably take more like 7-9 years.  But what's the alternative?  Fighting tooth an nail every year just to play .500 and make the 8th seed, while we end up 23rd in the league in attendance?  That doesn't make much sense.

Murph and Sparma thanks for commenting on this article relating to Drummond. Last night who thought Casey's crunch time lineup had a chance? Mitchell started out slow but made chumps out of the Piston guards in the 2nd half. The Pistons lack high IQ players at the skill positions in the back court relating to both offense and defense. However, I like Brown's basketball IQ a lot and the fact that he is a confident type of player with a high energy type mentality. Last night Jon Leuer couldn't do anything right. He is often overlooked in Piston loses when he gets significant playing time. But at times Leuer has rotated much better than either Griffin or Drummond on defense. The Pistons are short handed right now at back up center and power forward. It would have been nice if Dwayne had kept Moreland. If Casey or the front office had spent any time watching last year's game film, they should have known that Moreland was an impactful player and a guy his teammates respected. Finally that combination of Bullock and Jackson in crunch time regardless of how much scoring they might bring is suicide because both players could not guard anyone on that Utah team when it counted.

[cool breeze]

Gores. Stop forcing Management and Head Coaches to try to win in A losing situation. Stop settling for bottom seeding in the playoffs.

Finishing 7th 8th and 9th every year. Chasing A fools dream of making the NBA playoffs.  

WHY???


Gores is dragging this Organization down in the mud.



BLOW THIS S.H.I.T UP!


You don't even have to blow it up. But you do need to reset. Drummonds has to go.

Jackson, Lure, Galloway. Nobody wants these guys. We stuck with them. That's ok. Embrace that they are bad contract guys.

The mistake is to lie to yourself and think we can win with these guys and force the issue at all cost.

No more anger from me. I see this team is A Lottery team with Blake Griffin. The Pistons should do Blake A favor and trade him and Drummonds for as many lottery picks as possible.

Get some young prospects and move on to the next chapter.

Of course you are correct Phil. Anyone who actually watches the games closely has known this after watching the implosion take place after the Blake Griffin trade a season ago. The bulk of the payroll has been spent on long term contracts involving the center and power forward positions. But this owner depended too much on his young sons love for Blake when making his decision to part ways with players like Tobias Harris. Blake and Andre are a bad fit. Neither player is a superior defender or actually has the ability to adequately defend the paint. As SVG used to say, the Pistons have a center who is not engaged on the defensive end. For sure AD is better now then he was when SVG made the statement but he is not good enough to make any difference from game to game. Every team in the league can score easily in the paint. It is this blend of inferior perimeter defenders mixed in with two big men who do not offer a 2nd line of defense. And worst of all AD and BG are the worst starting players at their positions to get back in the paint quickly in transition. Also, AD is playing too many minutes on defense out above the free throw line. He loves to get that one steal a game so show off his ability to dribble coast to coast. Often he screws that up after making a nice steal. The Pistons need AD in the paint. opponents pull centers out beyond the free throw line. On it goes with Reggie Jackson, Reggie Bullock, Langston Galloway, Ish Smith allowing dribble penetration after a simple high screen. That is all it takes to get that easy layup on the Pistons just set one high screen and it is all over. Because this coach plays the high contract players to most minutes nothing will change. Casey has even stooped to slipping in Jon Leuer more and more and in this last game. Leuer was the worst player on the floor on either side.

My question for the coach is why is Henry Ellenson in street clothes and not playing at least in the G League? 2nd how can Dwayne determine that Jon Leuer is a better player than Henry Ellenson who is taller, thicker, faster and has a good shooting stroke. His shot is rusty because he never plays. So the team has a number one draft pick who is extremely young yet but has really never been given a shot at regular playing time. Who is Henry? What is his potential? We will never know but for sure Dwayne will play Leuer because Leuer makes around $10 Mil a season. Dwayne cannot go wrong with this decision because the owner and front office loves it when the coach plays the high contracts. Maybe Leuer, Jackson, and Galloway will somehow get really hot or play well for a few games and then management can try to trade them. Or maybe the owner will not feel embarrassed when fans look at this insane payroll the Pistons have now and not laugh at him. Was SVG trying to tear this franchise apart with his decisions to sign players for crazy money when no other team had any interest? What ever happened to the theory of supply and demand? Where was the demand for Smith, Leuer, Jackson, Galloway or even Blake Griffin considering Blake's contract???? The Clippers most likely had a bottom line of moving Griffin for expiring contracts thinking they wouldn't get any decent player or for sure no number 1 picks. According to all reports, this deal for Griffin was all on Tom Gores shoulders. How tight was this owner with officials who run the Clipper organization?

Nothing has changed for the Pistons since last season even though Dwayne Casey is playing the high contract players. To this day there is no interest by any NBA team in the following contracts.
1. Blake Griffin
2. Reggie Jackson
3. Jon Leuer
4. Langston Galloway


Last night the head coach again went with Jackson in crunch time. Jackson couldn't defend his man or run the offense. At least even though it was a mistake to make that trade for Blake Griffin, he at least played his ass off on offense and kept the pistons in the game. Griffin is a good offensive player for sure and if the Pistons actually had a real NBA above average team, then it would be nice to have Griffin. But that was not the case for sure last season when that trade happened. Just how well will Blake perform next season and all those years he has left on his contract? You can't get any dumber then the Pistons management and ownership group if they actually care about the success of the Pistons long term. Did Tom Gores intentionally do the Clippers a favor in saving their franchise from that incredible contract they gave Blake Griffin? Piston fans will never accept this owner's goal of getting a 7th or 8th seed. This owner will never agree to trade Andre Drummond because he is like family to the owner. The only way it will happen is if AD tells the owner he wants to be traded. AD is still not the problem but his contract is a problem because of Blake's contract. The point guards on the Pistons are the worst in the league. But this coach could elect to start Brown at the point or Kennard at the point which could give the fans some hope. But we have another season after this season to watch Reggie Jackson and maybe this owner might actually give Ish Smith a new contract to secure another player who cannot defend NBA caliber guards. Nothing is new and it won't be shocking when the Pistons management makes another stupid trade or free agent signing. It will be just more of the same because all GMs know they can out smart the Piston's front office staff. Watch for a give away trade deal involving Stanley Johnson and maybe Luke Kennard next.

[Phil-Good]

Gores. Stop forcing Management and Head Coaches to try to win in A losing situation. Stop settling for bottom seeding in the playoffs.

Finishing 7th 8th and 9th every year. Chasing A fools dream of making the NBA playoffs.

WHY???


Gores is dragging this Organization down in the mud.



BLOW THIS S.H.I.T UP!


You don't even have to blow it up. But you do need to reset. Drummonds has to go.

Jackson, Lure, Galloway. Nobody wants these guys. We stuck with them. That's ok. Embrace that they are bad contract guys.

The mistake is to lie to yourself and think we can win with these guys and force the issue at all cost.

No more anger from me. I see this team is A Lottery team with Blake Griffin. The Pistons should do Blake A favor and trade him and Drummonds for as many lottery picks as possible.

Get some young prospects and move on to the next chapter.

[WTF]

Cheeks was the right coach but unfortunately hired at the wrong time.  Sadly we had to endure several bad coach before Joe was smart enough to hire him but by then Joe was doomed and so was Cheeks before he got started.   

Cheeks was doomed for doing the right things. He was smart enough to know he could start all three (Josh, AD and Moose) but Joe was desperate to make all three work together.   Cheeks could never get AD nor Moose to buy in to coming off the bench, Cheeks was also smart enough to know that letting Josh jack up 3's was not a good thing but running the offense through and letting Josh attack the rim was the team best option, but Joe thought otherwise.  IMO Joe destroyed Josh career, and almost Cheeks as well. 

I honestly think we could have had playoff success with Cheeks coaching those 3 without interference from Joe or Gores.  Cheeks also had Jennings balling the way a PG was suppose to ball.

[WTF]

You were right. These boys are rolling down the same old path.

All that is left is for management to wait until the L's pile up too high for any attempted fix to dig us out.

lemonpen I could be wrong 50-50 chance I'm right though   

Nothing wrong with going down the same path if it's the right one but we seem to keep going down the wrong one.   It really bothers me that we've abandon all the things we knew worked for this organization.  Everything seemed to die right along with Mr. D and now we have an idiot owning the team.

This team went to 5 NBA Finals lead by two great backcourts but here we are now trying to something that never worked before just to fit in with the rest of the league.   Why are we so focus on AD and Blake delivering a title when they should simply both be players that only compliment a superior backcourt like in the past.   They should be the Sheed and Big Ben to a Chauncey and Rip,  they should be the Bill and Rodman to a Zeke and Joe, they should only be the support to stellar and superior backcourt.

[Sparma]

Steve Hinson (at DBB) writes a very critical, but very good, piece on AD, calling for a divorce from him in the form of a trade. He makes a strong case. I'm not opposed, as long as you can find a trade that actually leaves the team better off. It's sad though because Andre's also got a lot going for him, particularly with his offensive rebounding.

For the next year and half, I'm afraid our main hope may need to be that the front office doesn't make moves to make the future yet more bleak. Some positive tweaking does seem in reach, like trading for a little used Tolliver, but I'd be worried that bigger moves, desirable in principle (eg so long Reggie J), would in fact leave the franchise worse off.

There's a positive theme in Hinson's piece, taken from Zach Lowe that's worth highlighting even though he applies post-AD: platooning. Hinson: "Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast, “There are a lot of coaches that have taken notice of Nick Nurse finally coaxing a platoon system on the team. Because players do not like that. It’s happened elsewhere, I mean Pop has done it here and there for years, but Pop is Pop, he has carte blanche to do whatever he wants. The Jazz have done it with Crowder and Favors at the four spot. There are a lot of coaches and GMs who have looked at those teams in particular and said ‘I hope this is the start of something’ because this is actually what more teams should be doing and coaches just can’t get the buy-in for it. ” Absolutely. And that type of situation at center would do wonders for the Pistons to give flexibility at the spot next to Blake."

With no fundamental solution to the roster woes in sight, I feel some hope that Casey might be willing to go the platooning/ specialization route. Witness him putting in the energetic, defensive minded, crappy shooting Brown for the sharp shooting but lethargic Kennard (but not giving up on Luke). And if Stanley's lost minutes the last two games beyond injury reasons, I take heart from that: we need you in there as defensive ace (except against Fourier), but we're not going to let you chuck it up from distance at unprecedented rates with unprecedented rates of failure (but he's not giving up on SJ, nor does he hate him).

Moving more to specialization would help Casey improve the O. Feel free to integrate a goodly amount of what Reggie J does best: pick 'n roll. Let Andre -- a good passer for a C -- guide the O as passer sometimes. Don't go overboard with either strategy as SVG did. When Ish is back, let him do his thing.

I don't think we have one dud player on the roster. So go deep into the roster -- as in football -- drawing from specializations of a bunch of guys. Of course, that includes being less Blake-centric.

That's a pretty brutal article by SB Nation ripping into Drummond.  But I can't say I disagree with much of it.  While he's still a great rebounder, Drummond suffers from chronic low BBIQ.  Drummond has never come to the realization that he should focus on his rebounding, defense, shot blocking and passing, and not his offensive skills and certainly not his 3 pt shooting.  If only Drummond would realize his value as an NBA player, and his value to the team, he would take fewer shots and help his team more.  But you can't fix stupid, I guess.

Another huge point of the article that I agree with is that, for better or for worse, this is Blake Griffin's team now.  You could see it in Griffin's demeaner on the court, from the very beginning of the season onward.  I have mixed emotions about this also.  I don't think a Griffin led team is going to be any more successful than a Drummond led team.  Griffin is a huge ball hog also, with holes in his game.  And as always, he's injury prone and aging.  I mean all you have to do is look at the way the Clippers improved once they dumped Griffin to understand Griffin's value.

But Drummond is only 26, and so he can still be traded.  Some team is going to give us some combination of draft picks, young players and expiring contracts for Drummond.  We're stuck with Griffin.


And so we should probably get to work trading Drummond, Ish, Bullock and any other veteran asset we can trade...and begin the process of blowing up the team.  Then in another 3 years, when Griffin's onerous contract finally expires, we can complete the process of blowing the team up, and start to rebuild.

Because of the length of these contracts, it's going to take even longer for a complete rebuild than the usual 5-7 years.  In our case, it will probably take more like 7-9 years.  But what's the alternative?  Fighting tooth an nail every year just to play .500 and make the 8th seed, while we end up 23rd in the league in attendance?  That doesn't make much sense.

[Murph]

That's a pretty brutal article by SB Nation ripping into Drummond.  But I can't say I disagree with much of it.  While he's still a great rebounder, Drummond suffers from chronic low BBIQ.  Drummond has never come to the realization that he should focus on his rebounding, defense, shot blocking and passing, and not his offensive skills and certainly not his 3 pt shooting.  If only Drummond would realize his value as an NBA player, and his value to the team, he would take fewer shots and help his team more.  But you can't fix stupid, I guess.

Another huge point of the article that I agree with is that, for better or for worse, this is Blake Griffin's team now.  You could see it in Griffin's demeaner on the court, from the very beginning of the season onward.  I have mixed emotions about this also.  I don't think a Griffin led team is going to be any more successful than a Drummond led team.  Griffin is a huge ball hog also, with holes in his game.  And as always, he's injury prone and aging. I mean all you have to do is look at the way the Clippers improved once they dumped Griffin to understand Griffin's value.

But Drummond is only 26, and so he can still be traded.  Some team is going to give us some combination of draft picks, young players and expiring contracts for Drummond.  We're stuck with Griffin.


And so we should probably get to work trading Drummond, Ish, Bullock and any other veteran asset we can trade...and begin the process of blowing up the team.  Then in another 3 years, when Griffin's onerous contract finally expires, we can complete the process of blowing the team up, and start to rebuild.

Because of the length of these contracts, it's going to take even longer for a complete rebuild than the usual 5-7 years.  In our case, it will probably take more like 7-9 years.  But what's the alternative?  Fighting tooth an nail every year just to play .500 and make the 8th seed, while we end up 23rd in the league in attendance?  That doesn't make much sense.

[cool breeze]

AD wants a steal out on the top of the key so he can go coast to coast at least once a game. Meanwhile Rome burns.Griffin rests for three games and then thinks maybe someone is stupid enough to watch this team and then beats up on Memphis. But the sad truth is that the Pistons are perhaps the dumbest team in the NBA and that goes for management. Who would dedicate the bulk of their payroll on two big men who do not compliment each other. Neither are good defenders or care much about being good defenders. Detroit's strength should be their ability to protect the paint and prevent easy shots around the basket. But that hasn't happed very often. We need an All Star caliber point guard or combo guard.

I know everyone has given up on Henry Ellenson but why in hell is he in street clothes and not playing every night in the G-League. If were him, I would beg this idiot coach to allow Henry to avoid getting rusty just to do the right thing for this young man.

If this coach hates Stanley Johnson then why not trade him? I know Dwayne loves Reggie Jackson and Langston Galloway. Those two are his key players who must remind him of something perhaps himself if he was at one time a horribly weak defender but liked to hog the ball and just let the ball fly. What makes Dwayne tick. I can't figure it out but perhaps he is just along for the ride while looking at the contracts in his basement at night and then plugging the highest paid athletes into his bogus rotation system. Meanwhile I watched the Suns-Philly game after the Pistons game and say TJ MCConnell starting for high flying Philly the ball was flying all round the court. Players were moving hard without the basketball and TJ was finding the cutters every time. How can that be? TJ is listed close to the bottom on Philly's payroll. We have at least one NBA coach who doesn't make decisions on the amount of money their players make. Dwayne is a worse coach for the Pistons than SVG and that says a lot. Somebody on the forum mentioned Maurice Cheeks who got canned quickly for doing the right thing. I wish Cheeks were the Pistons coach. Dwayne is our coach who believes the best offense is no offense just get out there and read and react guys. It must be a joke relating to Piston practices. What do they do? Maybe they are playing 21 or HORSE. It was good to see them win but Memphis looked horrible so we all know why the Pistons won that game. Will the Pistons ever win a game when the opposing team has all of their players available and are playing well? We know that will never happen with this group and this coach.

[lemonpen]

You were right. These boys are rolling down the same old path.

All that is left is for management to wait until the L's pile up too high for any attempted fix to dig us out.

[lemonpen]

Gotta start docking his pay each night in the amount of a courtside ticket. He does more standing and watching than an usher. Freakin 1-trick-pony.

Sparma don't blame SVG for AD's lack of development. During the early years Andre's mellon was too swollen and full of dreams about the USA Select Team and Olympics to dedicate himself to any summertime improvement.

He isn't a young guy anymore. His upper body is underdeveloped and his lower half appears to be weakening. (falls down with any deep knee bend)

What a waste.

[lemonpen]

IMO Brown did a masterful job on Conley. His quickness is quite impressive. Each time Conley appeared to have created enough separation, Zippy recovered. BB just might have DPOY consideration in his future.

[Sparma]

This team is so frustrating that they've earned about every rant thrown their way. So go for it.

Just one more time, I'd like to have a coach with:

a) cutting edge tactical ability, also in-game and
b) a strong commitment and ability to develop players. I'd think of young players mainly, but I'd be happy with reclamation projects or players below potential too.

From what I can tell Casey's best accomplishment has been to hold the locker room together during some tough times, something SVG evidently failed to do. I had real hope for Casey concerning (b) based on his Toronto track record but haven't really seen it thus far, unless it'd be with Bruce Brown (but I'm not really sure if he's improved or has just gotten minutes to show what he can do). Khyri's definitely earned more time (e.g. his PER is relatively high, albeit in few minutes).

If you're going to go back to Dre becoming a starter, then in fairness Bullock needs to be included who hadn't done much in Phoenix, and didn't get many minutes in Detroit to begin with.

I was going to give some credit to Casey with Reggie B, even with his distance shooting down, for helping him be a more well-rounded player, but the numbers don't back up my eye test, at least in that his PER is lower than in the previous 3 seasons. Weird fact: the percentage of Reggie's 3 pt shots that he attempted from the corner is down for the fourth season in a row even though he's been tremendously successful for his career from there at 45%. Shouldn't Casey & the analytics guys have a chat with him about that? Also, incredibly he's shooting from 0-3 feet at just over half of his rate for the past three seasons, e.g. 10.4% of his shots from close this year, as opposed to 19.8% last year (and more the previous two seasons). Dang, is he just ignoring Casey's gospel of up close or corner 3s?. Might his increased confidence be leading to lower percentage shots (this in addition to Stanley going off the deep end with his hugely increased number of 3s (along with slightly diminished success). Is Casey being ignored?

Sparma, call me cranky.  He wasn’t needed tonight but decisions made today and repeated ad nauseum can definitely have repercussions down the road when we will need this kid, maybe even later this season.  He’s (Khyri) already behind the curve and decisions to prioritize development or not, are crucial to a capped out team not known for developing our youth.  Wasn’t that one of the reasons SVG got fired. I get it though.  

I mean all everyone talks about is we need wing scoring.  Didn’t we trade a future second to move up and draft this promising 3&D wing?

Who besides Dre have we developed into a starter?
Please forgive my rant.

[BallinD]

Sparma, call me cranky. He wasn’t needed tonight but decisions made today and repeated ad nauseum can definitely have repercussions down the road when we will need this kid, maybe even later this season. He’s (Khyri) already behind the curve and decisions to prioritize development or not, are crucial to a capped out team not known for developing our youth. Wasn’t that one of the reasons SVG got fired. I get it though.

I mean all everyone talks about is we need wing scoring. Didn’t we trade a future second to move up and draft this promising 3&D wing?

Who besides Dre have we developed into a starter?
Please forgive my rant.

[Sparma]

Good point about Khyri. Maybe Casey just felt he wasn't needed tonight to the good outside shooting from multiple sources.

The MSU guy does look like he'll succeed.

Well Damn, when we get more than one of our shooters to splash the nets we’re not so bad.  Six Stones in double figures scoring solves a multitude of offensive sins, especially when Blake plays within himself.  Conley off...Priceless. That JJJ dude from Spartanland is gonna be something.  Good Win.  

Would have liked to see SVG/Casey give a little continuity and confidence boost to the underplayed rookie (Khyri) who can actually shoot and splashed for 13 pts last night, but I’ll take the W.

Go Pistons...keep Winning or keep Losing, just don’t ride  the middle.

[BallinD]

Well Damn, when we get more than one of our shooters to splash the nets we’re not so bad. Six Stones in double figures scoring solves a multitude of offensive sins, especially when Blake plays within himself. Conley off...Priceless. That JJJ dude from Spartanland is gonna be something. Good Win.

Would have liked to see SVG/Casey give a little continuity and confidence boost to the underplayed rookie (Khyri) who can actually shoot and splashed for 13 pts last night, but I’ll take the W.

Go Pistons...keep Winning or keep Losing, just don’t ride the middle.

[Sparma]

Had some hope for this game because Memphis struggles scoring. Detroit shot 40% from 3, and their 20 ppg guy Conley ended with zero on terrible shooting.

Great game by Blake, not least because of zero, yes zero, TOs! He backed off the action a bit at the outset, gradually becoming dominant. Smart. The Reggies, Galloway, and Kennard stepped up enough at different times to allow Blake to play a more modest, and effective, role.

[WTF]

You all should just take a moment and listen to what you're saying and a lot of it is what I've been saying and telling you guys since forever it seems.  The clock is ticking while many of you grasp the idea of waiting for things to happen.

As grand as AD stats looked you kind of knew by his 3rd year he couldn't carry this team,  sadly you could tell from Day 1 RG wasn't going to lead this team anywhere.  I really blame SVG for that in not being able to properly guide and motivate either of them.   

I blame Gore for hiring coaches that can't motivate players or come up with sensible game plans.  IMO Cheeks  had it right if only momentarily in his short stint as Joe played Lame Duck Prez the writing was on the wall for Cheeks.   The reality is that back then while many bashed the team Josh, Moose and AD should have and could have worked if properly given the chance.  

I can't understand that Old School Pistons Fans choose to keep falling in line with this new NBA forgetting that this team was always against the norm and followed it's own path.  We don't need a big three we need 12 guys committed to playing winning basketball or as LB would say playing the right way all the time.  No matter how good AD and BG stats look that don't play the right way and it largely effects the team as a whole.  

The team need to be sold to a competent owner,  gutted and started again from scratch top to bottom period...….  Everybody must go!!!!!

[cool breeze]

First off regardless of what Dwayne Casey says, the experiment with Reggie Jackson as a starter should be OVER. Trade any or all of the biggest contract players and obtain players that fit as a team using the draft to upgrade the overall talent level. I would love to keep AD because he has made remarkable progress relating to improving his overall basketball IQ and effort. But my best guess is that AD will not be signing a new contract with the Pistons. It might be better to draft two superior players in this next draft including a new big man and guards. And while I like Greg Kelser at lot and respect his observations from game to game, his comments on what Ish Smith brings to this team is pure nonsense. Smith being out would not change one damn thing if he had played the last 3 games. Smith is a liability on defense because of his size. He also is not good at stopping dribble penetration which as killed the Pistons all season long. Now here is my opinion as to how the Pistons can improve with this current set of players.

STARTERS:
Center - AD
Power forward - BG
Point guard - Luke Kennard ( Luke is a natural play maker. His scoring average would also really improve. His defense is superior to both RJ and IS. He is young and will really shine with more experience at that position)
Shooting guard - Bruce Brown - Brown and Kennard can share point guard duties while being on the floor at the same time. Brown can drive well and get jumpers off in the paint. He moves well without the ball.
Stanley Johnson - Detroit needs at last one superior defender. Johnson can provide help defense which is most needed of all weaknesses this current team has now. There currently is no 2nd line of defense once guard blow by the perimeter players. AD and BG might be the worst in the league as help defenders or paint protectors.

2nd unit:
Center - ZZ and a new G League experimental type player
Power forward - No current member on the team can play back up power forward as I see it. Try a G league player. Johnson has been BG's back up at times but I prefer him at the 3. Yet as of now Johnson is in purgatory on the end of the bench.
Small forward - Robinson - Thomas
2 guard - Bullock - Jackson
Point guard - Brown - Thomas ( both of these rookie are multi talented and can play 3 positions. Thomas has good size and it would be fun to see him play this position. Both players are superior defenders to any of the current players with the exception of Johnson.

Somehow trade or buy out the contracts of Leuer and Jackson. Mike Budenholzer's staff has some good assistant coaches. Too bad Mike is not the Pistons coach. I think Tom Gores picked Casey because of his style of play which is the opposite of what most Piston fans admire and identify with. The Pistons need a big reset in philosophy but perhaps as long as the current ownership is in place, Detroit Piston basketball will always be a farm team for teams like the Clippers, Golden State and the Lakers. I say this because Mr. Gores likes the LA life style and if he gives away players like Tobias Harris while taking on bad contracts, he will be a party favorite in that part of the world. To make this thing work with Blake, it might be best to rest him every other game so he can be at his best physically for those games he plays. Too much is expected from him as it is now. Casey is burning him out as panic sets in. We fans know all about how the Pistons play after the month of December. SOFT ON DEFENSE and TURNOVER PRONE ON OFFENSE. But Dwayne will stick with his soft guys most likely but if the fans are smart, the fans should stay away until opponents stop making the majority of their shots within 2 feet of the basket. The Bucks scored 116 points with the starters resting for much of the 2nd half.

[cool breeze]

Detroit lost a game against the powerful Orlando team due to turnovers and no interior defense but Dwayne Casey makes a wild gesture when Johnson attempted a 3 point shot early in the shot clock saying "WHY". Johnson was open for that shot. Every other Piston player especially Bullock, Galloway and Jackson takes that shot. I know Johnson is not a prolific shooter yet but he was wide open for that look. Casey sends him to the bench for punishment. Meanwhile, Jackson, Griffin, Leuer and Drummond made mind numbing mistakes passing the ball directly to opponent players. They never rotated at all on defense as a unit all night long either. Leuer allowed Sabonis to go coast to coast unopposed for a layup. Did anyone else stick around to see that blunder?

So before the game with the Bucks Casey decides to shorten the rotation and only use the players who give great effort. When has Johnson not given a great effort on defense? The worst trait of the Pistons is the fact that the following players cannot stop your grandmother if she is still alive and can dribble the ball at all. The worst of all is at the top spot.
1. Reggie Jackson
2. Reggie Bullock
3. Langston Galloway
4. Jon Leuer
5. Andre Drummond
6. Ish Smith
7. Robinson

Casey did not acquire those players but his biggest fault is that he believes that the only way for the Pistons to win is out shoot their opponents. But how can you outshoot any opponent if you give up tons of layups or 3 foot jump shots in the paint??? The fact is that the combination of Drummond and Griffin is pure poison relating to providing adequate interior defense. The Bucks game plan was to drive all night against the Piston's guards and small forwards. They easily were able to out fox the Pistons first line of defense while keeping Drummond out of the paint because his man made 4 3 point shots in the first half. Now I do not blame Andre Drummond for this loss. I am actually very surprised by his attitude this season. Andre is finally getting it and has been preparing himself better for each opponent while giving a superior effort every night. His partner Blake Griffin is not making good decisions on defense or maybe not really giving max effort on most possessions. Blake can play better defense but I see where he has blamed other players when he actually has messed up on defensive rotations. In the end, the coach has to take the blame for not having a philosophy from the get go that you win by making 3 point shots and out scoring your opponent. Casey has loaded his rotation with specialist long distance shooters who cannot do much of anything else well. And their shooting percentages does not indicate that this philosophy is very smart.

The owner should fire this coach in my opinion. He has committed the biggest sin of all by playing his biggest contract players and not being honest with his team at all. He ignores all of Reggie Jackson's insane turnovers and his inability to defend anyone in the entire league. He starts the worst defenders on the team as well. How do you play two inferior defensive guards at the same time and get away with it? No opposing teams are jumping on those bogus decisions by Dwayne and his staff. How can Casey blame this last loss on Johnson? I think he will try. Maybe the Pistons lost because of something Johnson said in the locker room. The Pistons used to be tough in your face hard nosed bastards as a defensive unit. Now under both SVG and Casey the Pistons are cream puffs. They will often beat up on teams trying to get into the lottery and trying to lose games and maybe once every 10 games those long distance shots will fall and the Pistons will win a regular season game against an opponent with a break even record of better. Fire this coach and trade whoever you can to get draft picks. We need a young hard driving teacher type head coach who can get younger players to play the right way and show passion on the defensive end. The Pacers took apart the Pistons with superior play making skills of Collison while really showing how you win by playing superior defense. That used to be what the Pistons were known for. Now we have an offensive minded coach who could never win playoff games when he had some really good players. Maybe that happened because he never knew how to teach players how to play superior defense as a unit. Maybe that statement is not true but I always thought that if the Pistons had made the playoffs in the past that their only chance of winning a series would be to be matched up with Toronto.

[BallinD]

Soarma, it’s also time to really see what we’ve got in Khyri and Luke, need to get them Galloway and Calderone minutes, but most importantly run some damn plays for em Casey/SVG, our most promising young talent and CHEAP.
We kinda see what BB has, whether you love him or see meh, as I do, but I do Love his energy FWIW, but do we really need another SJ to make Casey feel warm and fuzzy?

Ive come around to trading Bullock n Ish...he don’t move the needle and Ish is a tradeable asset. Get younger, longer, draft well.

[Sparma]

Weird thing about the lottery right now, BD: two Western teams with better records are blocking our way into the lottery.  As if that weren't enough: both those picks transfer to Boston (per Tankathon).  This organization can't get nothin' right.  There's hope though: slot #6 (currently Washington) is well within range.  And I can't see us falling (?) lower than 17.

And that brutal January ahead should secure a nice spot in the lottery.

It really is that time, Y'all.  New Year's resolution; Cut bait, cause the team has gone fishing with no way to land a whale, or even a minnow that could truly help this squad.  

@Sparma: You are so right about the predictable O and there is no solution in sight.  The scheme is Turrible, as Charles Barkley would say. Casey looks lost and becoming desperate.  I can see those analytics guys we hired are really earning their keep in helping him identify the smartest way to put the ball in the hoop.  And shades of SVG, down 20 with 10 minutes to go and Casey still got the starters in there?!?!  Weggie went down and for a minute, it was 2017 all over again.  Sheeeesh!

Casey   blowing smoke up our ass "the shots will fall," but can't find a scheme that will work to make that happen with this inconsistent bunch of guys.  Blake goes balls out, and we lose.  Blake plays within himself, we lose, cause no one else steps up, and we haven't figured out how to play off Blake and even scarier; that may not even be a thing. Weggie continues to play better, but not good enough.  Dre does enough to get his numbers.  Luke is up and down, mostly down.  Bullock is up and down and does not get enough shots, but doesn't demand them, nor does the scheme support him shooting more, though he is our best shooter  .

The emoji next to Langston Galloway's name is an ugly chick streaking.  

Bright Side; Khyri Thomas 2-2 from 3.  

Prognosis by All Star Break after catastrophic December and catastrophic January...We're In The Lotto Now!

Griffin putting in a superstar performance, except for the TOs (6 tonight) that our killing us.  Good to see him scrambling for a ball on the floor.  Gritty guy, committed, talented.  But not nearly enough.  In fact, sometimes part of the problem (a really predicable O, combined, not coincidentally, with a bunch of TOs).

Calderon 0-4 from 3.  Terrible for the season from deep: .158 after .464 last year, and .407 over the course of a long career.  What the heck?  Chance?  Outstanding shooters, something he's been, don't just forget how to shoot.  As you age, you can lose the space needed to shoot, but that doesn't seem to be what's going on from deep.

No Stanley?  Someone said he was benched, but I don't know.  I missed the very beginning.

Thomas showing a little something at the end.

Terrible defense throughout, but some signs of life on offense.

[Sponsored content]