Re: FORUM

[merc]

After two years of "hand sitting" you woulda thought Joe had something in the works for a decent big...
I understand the concept of taking care of our FAs first... but aren't these the same players that helped us miss the playoffs?
Well, back to patience mode

merc,
it is a mystery. he keeps bringing in 3s and 2s but ignores the power positions.
both offensively and defensively.
monroe is really the only low post threat on the team, unless they start posting up daye, but monroe is not really a bona fide low post threat. his game is more in that 8-12 foot range where he can use his superior ball skills on other big guys.
that is why a guy like craig smith would have been perfect.
it is ironic that portland signed him, so i'll get a chance to see him play, but it will just be for a team i don't really care about. he would have been a perfect bench player for detroit.
it mystifies me that he would bring in a guy like wilkins - a guy who might be a nice situational player, but someone who is not as much of a need, as a low post scorer like smith.
and that doesn't even begin to talk about the need for a big guy who can clog the middle and block shots.

Wise... been a long time supporter of Daly (lotta folks thought drug reheab was in order)... the Kings fans will confirm that this cat cares about the game and is aggressive to a fault...
But here we are in 2011 with minimal talent not expecting that one piece to put us over the top... oh well

[Flip]

GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yessssiiiir!
Fuckin A!
btw why is the Lions forum locked?

I gave up after the Stafford fumble, and still thought they were going to lose when I saw Janikowski setting up for his weekly 65 yd made FG. lol. But the boy named Suh attoned for his sins today with that block.

edit - I had the Lions forum on another site, so I just posted the link there and locked it. But I'm just going to make it a thread on here instead. So anyone that wants to post on the Lions, it'll be unlocked now.

[WTF]

Way too much time to give up after the fumble. I figured they would score again to make it 21-27 I was more worried on that last drive of our going 98 yards with no timew outs, but when CJ caught that ball I knew we could win.

[Flip]

yeah, when they got the 1st one and Stafford finally got his rhythm back, I thought if we could just hold them on D, we'd have a chance.

That CJ bomb catch was amazing.

[Flip]

I'd take any one of those bigs. Hopefully Joe has something up his sleeve.

[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

[Grizz]

Lions with their win over the Raiders, at 9 and 5, now are guaranteed of finishing over 500 .. Despite some tough losses and controversy .. I never lost faith .. I am not saying they are a great team but something different about this Lions team that I have never seen in 40 plus years of watching them ... I guess they just have a lot of fight and a lot of character for winning in them ..They have had a very tough schedule as well as dozens of their starters go down for 1 or more games with injuries this season and yet still have a good record This is their best team ever .. I dont even think any of the Barry Sanders teams are better than this team (even the 12-4 team) ... and hopefully we are just getting started towards becoming a contender for the next 5 or 6 seasons ..For myself .. I take the different controversies they have had, as a sign the team is not going to back down to anyone .. Sort of like the Bad Boys in that sense... Something Lions fans probably havent seen since the early 60s (I go back to the Dallas 5 - 0 play-off game as my first NFL game).. Anyway .. been waiting decades for a Lions team like this ..

[g-man]

hey there and happy holidays one and all.. merc's been out herding stray cats in this direction and i got caught up in the moving cloud of dust. looking forward to the lions making a little run late in the season and the pistons figuring out how to re-load their "back to work" lunch buckets this season. i see direct tvs nba league pass package is the same amount as last year even with 16 fewer games being offered. seems like the nba would get their shit together and offer a heavily discounted package to try and lure some fans back. sterns marketing group needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

[WTF]

Dalembert, Josh Smith, or Jefferson any of the three would fit nicely next to Monroe for the next three season if possible. I just don't see why we wouldn't give up Ben Gordon for any of the three, really how could we not get excited as fans watching Monroe, Smith, Knight, Stuckey, and Tay in a starting lineup. If China decides to let those guys loose I would rather have JR Smith with the MLE than watching Gordon get abused all season on defense.

Hell if I can get Smith and one of the other 2 I would get season tickets as soon as they signed or deal is done. Man can you imagine Monroe at PF, Dalembert at center, Josh at SF with Stuckey and Knight and we can bring Tay, Charlie, JJ and JR off the bench. Bye Gordon, JMax, Daye, Bynum, and Ben

Also did I see Terrico on New Orleans roster?

[frankied]

this is the player profile for amir over at espn. on balance pretty positive.
do we even have a single asset for the trade that dumped such a nice young player?

the profile:

• Long big man who is very effective finisher at basket. Good shot-blocker.
• Poor defender due to lack of strength and high base. Fouls constantly.
• Limited shooting range and no post game. Gets points on "garbage" baskets.

I was skeptical of Johnson's contract because I didn't think he could stay on the floor long enough to make his high-percentage shooting of much benefit. But last season he cut the fouls enough to average 25.7 minutes per game; while his defense remained a negative, his 17.67 PER offset it.

Johnson still fouls way too much -- only seven power forwards were found guilty more often -- but his rate of one every 7.0 minutes at least makes it plausible to start him. Johnson was also guilty of the defensive lowlight of the year for Toronto, which is saying something given this team's porous D: Against New Jersey, he allowed the ponderously slow Brook Lopez to catch the ball at midcourt, breeze past him off the dribble and dunk on Andrea Bargnani.

Johnson's Synergy Stats numbers were poor as well, and he had a bad habit of showing to help on one side of a screen only to watch helplessly as the dribbler went the other way. His biggest impediment, however, is his lack of strength and high base, which leaves him at a constant disadvantage in the paint. He can block shots, though, ranking sixth among power forwards in blocks per minute.

Those long legs are a plus on offense, as he moves well, draws fouls and is an expert finisher who ranked fourth among power forwards in true shooting percentage. He also added a midrange set shot this past season, and while the windup is slow it was accurate -- he made 41.9 percent of his long 2s. Another nice plus was his career-best 78.8 percent mark from the line.

[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

[frankied]

Dalembert, Josh Smith, or Jefferson any of the three would fit nicely next to Monroe for the next three season if possible. I just don't see why we wouldn't give up Ben Gordon for any of the three, really how could we not get excited as fans watching Monroe, Smith, Knight, Stuckey, and Tay in a starting lineup. If China decides to let those guys loose I would rather have JR Smith with the MLE than watching Gordon get abused all season on defense.

Hell if I can get Smith and one of the other 2 I would get season tickets as soon as they signed or deal is done. Man can you imagine Monroe at PF, Dalembert at center, Josh at SF with Stuckey and Knight and we can bring Tay, Charlie, JJ and JR off the bench. Bye Gordon, JMax, Daye, Bynum, and Ben

Also did I see Terrico on New Orleans roster?

while i think he is too expensive and he doesn't rebound the way i'd like a big man to rebound, but dalembert would be a definite upgrade and would bring a needed skill: shotblocking. he'd do well next to monroe.

[Grizz]

Frankie .. Good points .. Good post .... The past mistakes are going to haunt this team for a while longer ... I dont know how you can not make a move at this point .. at least in the free agency .. Obviously no one wants what we are selling ... 1 more FA big is a must ..

[frankied]

this is the espn profile for chase budinger. a guy who was a steal - he'd been projected as a possible lottery pick after an excellent college career - late in the second round, but who was immediately dumped to houston. sometimes it is hard to figure out which move made LESS sense...

the profile:

• Athletic, high-scoring wing can shoot off screens and finish at basket.
• Good length but low aggression defensively. Good passer, decent handle.
• Good leaper, excellent size. Struggles shooting off catch. Mediocre motor.

Budinger overcame a very slow start to finish with numbers that essentially mirrored his rookie campaign. The big surprise was that Budinger shot only 32.5 percent on 3s, a development related to his struggles in catch-and-shoot situations. On the move he was more accurate, but his real strength is at the rim.

Budinger shot 66.7 percent in the basket area, many of them highlight-reel dunks, and did well attacking the cup off curls. His secret was that he got so many of them the easy way -- 75.9 percent of his at-rim baskets were assisted, the most of any perimeter player, with many of them being alley-oops.

Budinger rarely tries in-between shots or uses his size to post up; his repertoire is 3s, long 2s and dunks. His ballhandling numbers were very solid, too, as he ranked 11th among small forwards in pure point rating and had the 10th-lowest turnover rate.

Defensively, Budinger doesn't look like much but his statistics last season were dramatically improved over his rookie campaign -- both his Synergy stats and his on-court vs. off-court differential were very solid, and according to 82games.com opposing small forwards had a 12.7 PER against him. I think those numbers overrate him, but sometimes long defenders are better than they look, and Budinger tends to lay off opponents and let his length and leaping ability do the work. He lacks strength and nobody will confuse him with Bruce Bowen, but if he maintains last season's numbers he's a very solid two-way player.

[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

[merc]

hey there and happy holidays one and all.. merc's been out herding stray cats in this direction and i got caught up in the moving cloud of dust. looking forward to the lions making a little run late in the season and the pistons figuring out how to re-load their "back to work" lunch buckets this season. i see direct tvs nba league pass package is the same amount as last year even with 16 fewer games being offered. seems like the nba would get their shit together and offer a heavily discounted package to try and lure some fans back. sterns marketing group needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

Hey G-Man... long time my friend. Thanks for showing.
For those that don't remember... G-Man was one of the first posters of any Pistons forum (believe the News was the first)... A true asset with his intellectual insights & humor.
Welcome aboard brother :^)
Yeah, I agree... was expecting some type of suck up promotion... I'm sure they'll lay it on thick during the holidays... just show us the money.

[WTF]

A friend of Merc's is definitely a friend to us all. Thanks for joining us G-Man.

frankie if we can give a player like Ben Gordon almost 12 a season Dalembert is worth 10 a season for the next 3 years. We have to do something, they need to do something or they'll never see 5,000 bodies in those Palace seats.

BTW I miss Funky, Sour Pee Boy, Big C, Oracle, Don, SHOW, TY30, GUM, OBM, Rebuild, and Dbed and the whole freaking gang.

[merc]

The near consensus was an athletic big that could protect the rim... however Josh Harper from Dime Magazine had a different view... he said the Pistons biggest need was multiple amnesty's

[merc]

From mlive...

"It's early, we're just playing around, mixing up the lineup and stuff like that," Stuckey said after practice. "I know this year I'm going to be playing a little more two while Will or Brandon are in the game."
To his credit, Stuckey came into camp in excellent shape. He weighed in at 206 pounds, one pound lighter than when he came into the league. Outside of a two-week break, he said he worked out hard during the lockout, with a focus on cardio the past few weeks.
"I just started running more long distance, running three or four miles a day," Stuckey said.

[Flip]

Interesting that Afflalo ends up getting basically the same deal Stuckey wanted but didn't get.

[Flip]

From mlive...

"It's early, we're just playing around, mixing up the lineup and stuff like that," Stuckey said after practice. "I know this year I'm going to be playing a little more two while Will or Brandon are in the game."
To his credit, Stuckey came into camp in excellent shape. He weighed in at 206 pounds, one pound lighter than when he came into the league. Outside of a two-week break, he said he worked out hard during the lockout, with a focus on cardio the past few weeks.
"I just started running more long distance, running three or four miles a day," Stuckey said.

Great to hear they are using Stuckey off the ball. I think the Knight/Stuckey combo is going to be one of the best in the league eventually. Going to be hard to stop both from attacking the basket. And Knights going to get Stuckey a lot of easy driving lanes with his abilty to dribble around and draw attention away from the paint, then can drop passes off to Stuckey in motion to the basket. Going to be fun to watch. Hopefully Stuckey plays tomorrow and we get a glimpse.

[Flip]

[Grizz]

.. because an inside post game will free up the outside .. and if done right .. can also open our guards and forwards in slashing to the basket ... Also .. protecting the paint .. just the threat of getting hit hard or blocked .. makes the opposition shoot less accurately and farther away .. We all know this .. I'm just praying Joe Dumars sees this post and gets his rear into gear and gets us 1 more Big at least ... Even a project would be better than just an old Ben, a soft CV ... Monroe will get better and better ... but what do you do when he is tired or in foul trouble .. and he cannot cover both sides of the lane most plays .. Joe D.. Now is the time to make a deal for a big man if you are going to get this team moving in the right direction development-wise ..

[WTF]

.. because an inside post game will free up the outside .. and if done right .. can also open our guards and forwards in slashing to the basket ... Also .. protecting the paint .. just the threat of getting hit hard or blocked .. makes the opposition shoot less accurately and farther away .. We all know this .. I'm just praying Joe Dumars sees this post and gets his rear into gear and gets us 1 more Big at least ...

Sorry Grizz but I don't think Joe had a chance to get Flip's Forum link before Pistons Talk went down

[WTF]

Looked great yesterday, now we can talk about how better a SG CB is over Stuckey as well. 23 pts in 20 minutes better than 50% shooting. The Clipper might be a good team it has 2 leaders on the floor in Paul and Billups. Dang! We don't even have one one the team.

Stuckey was yakking that he will become the leader finally after 4 seasons, I'll believe it when I see it first. Its the same speech he gave last season about being the leader of this team. It won't happen as long as you got Tay and Ben looming in the background.

[Grizz]

Wise .. just saw the highlights of the LA-LA game ... Chauncey looks great and like he is out to prove something .. I get why the Knicks wanted Chandler .. Who wouldnt? But they may miss having a leader on the court .. Agree that Clips are going to be a good team and fun to watch .. It must burn Kobe bad to know CP3 coulda been a Laker if not for the NBA voiding that deal ... Stuckey has a lot to prove this season .. now that he got that good contract even after acting like a spoiled brat many times last season ..

[WTF]

Can't believe we can't send Ben Gordon to the Hawks for Smith. Come On! they got a old crusty Stackhouse and TMac on their roster, if I was a Hawks Fan I'll shoot myself. Hawk's GM must have went to the GM'ing School of Joe Dumars to learn how to screw up a roster.

Why is it Joe can't do crap? I look at Portland roster and they got Wesley Matthews, Raymond Felton, Nolan Smith (a steal btw) and Jamal Crawford. Not knocking Knight and Stuckey I think that's a nice duo, but Bynum and Gordon has to go.

Affalo contract only confirms Joe's mistake in letting this kid get away. Affalo has already surpassed Stuckey in value to a team, leadership, and play on the court. Predict Affalo will be an All-Star before Stuckey will.

BTW where's my Rett

[Murph]

I see Kemba Walker was up to his old tricks last night. It looks as if he single handedly carried Charlotte to a 79-77 win over the Atlanta Hawks last night. Kemba scored all 5 of the Bobcats pts in the last 1:30, to carry the 'Cats to a come from behind win. Walker ended the night with 18 pts in 19 minutes, and he was a +16 on the night, while the starting PG, Augustin, was a -16 on the night.

Walker looks as if he picked up where he left off last March.

[Sponsored content]