Hindsight is 20/20

[Sebastian]

Hindsight is a mother. At this juncture of the season, truthfully WE look like sh!t.

I think that WE would be at 18-14, rather than 14-18 if WE had not made the B. Jennings trade.

My displeasure with Jennings is that he dribbles way, too much, draining the shot clock before he either takes a shot or puts teammate in a bad spot, trying to find a shot late in the shot clock. Then there are the times when he will shot too early in the shot clock. His shot clock management is terrible for a starting point guard. Equally, as bad he cannot guard the position.

In hindsight, I would had rather gone with a 3 guard rotation of B. Knight, Stuckey, and KCP. OUR jumbo line-up would had been better off with Middleton, as OUR 7th man, playing 28-32 minutes as a back-up SF or SG. B. Knight is a much better one-on-one defender at the PG position than is Jennings.

Joe could have waived the Ukraine and exchanged him with Harrelson.

Also WE are beginning to see the Linguine signing was worthless, too. Rather than adding Linguine to the roster, emphasis should had been placed on developing T. Mitchell. Investing interest in Tony's game would have proven to be more useful than signing the Italian League MVP (yeah right, MVP).

Check this: I am not a Charlie V. fan, but he could be getting some time on the floor, just to see if he can help to stretch the floor. Charlie V. may have proven to be an asset when on the floor with a dual combination of Josh, Moose, and Dre.

I mean, Joe should have amnestied Charlie V., when he last had the chance back in July. Hell, if you are not going to play the man or trade the man, then he should had been amnestied.

If Joe can't pull a rabbit out of his ass, and I mean soon, then he better put the house on the market.

OUR 2013-14 Pistons hasa very, very low Basketball Team IQ average. Moose, who may be the most cerebral of the starting five, but he happens to be the worst player physically and instinctively. OUR PG cannot run a team, plain and simple. Each game, Brandon Jennings' objective is to show that he can score on the opposing starting PG. This is not going to get it done.

[Oracle]

Seb, I could show you the highlights of what BK7 did to the Lakers, on the road, but that was a blowout, and he's obviously the scoring leader and the man for the Bucks!

However, the clip I will show, shows what we're really missing in losing Brandon Knight!

This clip is from this month, again, on the road against the Wizards! This is interesting from the following standpoints.

1. The Wizards were able to contain Jennings with ease, using only one man in the 4th! In this video, you'll see that John Wall is defenseless against BK7, and the entire Wizard team couldn't contain BK7 when the game was on the line!

2. His combination of speed and size is killing the Wizards, he's doing what he needs to do to get scores from anywhere on the floor, and if they cut that off, BK7 takes it to the rim... the kid is impressive!

3. If you watch the timeouts, BK7 is very active and vocal in the huddle

4. While he can't shut down Wall, he's capable of limiting what he does, and that alone allows you to beat the Wiz.

Here's the clip!

[Sebastian]

Damn, B. Knight went off last night against the Lakers: 37 pts, 8 rbs., 4 stls., 2 ast.

[WTF]

1. Start Rodney or Trade him either way bringing him off the bench is really not the optimal option. I said he should be starting since the beginning of the season.

2. Trade Moose or bring him off the Bench, in either case both are better options then having him in the starting unit. I've been saying trade him since back in July and nothing has change my thinking.

3. Stop playing Chauncey and Will, somewhere either in the league or D-League are two better choices at the backup PG spot and Joe needs to stop playing pussy on correcting this issue when he has all the resources available to correct this. This is why I'm always screaming to fire his ass.

4. Give Pope the "Green Light"  You drafted him with the 8th overall pick, so treat him as such!  He was before we drafted him was the man in college, but he had the "Green Light" to jack up shots.  Either way Starting Pope or bringing him off the Bench he needs to be giving the "Freedom" to do what he does best and that's score.  

5. Quit or Look at the film of some Past Detroit Pistons Coaches (Chuck, Larry, Flip and Doug) Winners it look like you open the wrong cans of film (Micheal, John, Lil Larry) Losers. I can only imagine what either of the four earlier mentioned coaches would be doing with this team. One thing is for certain Josh would be a whole different kind of Beast under them, and so would Jennings, and Andre and you can bet on them collectively playing far better defense.  Far too much length on this team that the defense ranks last.

[Phil-Good]

The Pistons only have 3 real problems.

1. No closer

2. Defense

3. FT Shooting.


Two of the three can be fix. So there is still hope for this team. But I'm not ready to close the book on these boys just yet.

IF these guys go all in for, and with each other things can start to look good really fast. But it's going to take hard work like you never seen.

[merc]

Many of you are the same ones that called Joe a "Genius"

We hang on to hope...

[Sissy1946]

And for having the patience to still believe in them although that's starting to wane as we speak, hopefully making a wish for them to start playing competitive basketball is what we've got left, something has to happen to get this team straightened out, a trade for more shooters, something, change the line up, are the bigs really Working & Wow, that free throw shooting.

[Oracle]

I wish he had these moves in the post   

Drummond Happy New Year, from this tweet(Yup, Drummond has > 1/2 Million followers)

Andre Drummond         @AndreDrummondd
Follow
Thank you for all the love! Wow 50.3K on Vine 160K on IG and 552.3K on Twitter! Love you guys!! Let's make ... https://vine.co/v/hVrAI1aMMzQ 

[Sebastian]

"Matt Barnes: Mo Cheeks Almost Ended My Career" - Matt Barnes

"Billups, in reality, is going to be the coach for this team because Mo Cheeks and his staff aren't strong. Cheeks [who previously coached the Trail Blazers and 76ers] has never been an X's-and-O's guy or a disciplinarian. When he's had good veteran players, he's had success. But when he's had a young group that looked for leadership, that hasn't been there because he's a quiet guy. By about the 10th game this year, the players from last year's team will realize they had a good coach then [Lawrence Frank] with a creative mind." - DDB

"Well, I’ve covered the NBA since the days when Jack Ramsay was roaming the Blazer sidelines in paisley pants. And I don’t think since that time I’ve seen a coach as poorly informed, as casual about his duties and as lazy as Cheeks. NBA head coach? He should have been charged with identity theft. This is a guy who… :

• … sometimes within an hour of game time couldn’t tell you the starting lineup of the team he’d be facing on a given night.
  
• … after a game one night famously (I used to play the tape of this on my radio show) needed prompting to understand how standings worked — you know that complicated thing where if two teams have the same number of wins but one team has fewer losses? Yeah, there was a problem with that.
  
• … didn’t listen to assistant coaches who knew way more about the game than he did.
  
• … spent a large portion of the game yukking it up with fans behind the bench rather than paying attention to the game.
  
• … got outcoached on a nightly basis, especially at the defensive end." - Piston Powered
  

Finally, a fan who is losing money betting on this team

"I don't care about the record I care about how they're playing. That team should be a playoff team, but the head coaching MIGHT prevent it.

If you cannot stop your team from taking pull up 3s constantly you should not be a head coach. Will Bynum pull up 3 when the Pacers had a 4 or 6 point lead in the fourth was insane. If you cannot stop Josh Smith from shooting 3s then you shouldn't be a head coach. If you cannot have the Pistons who are playing two centers (Drummond and Monroe) and one power forward (Josh Smith) on defense stop alley oops and lay-ins in the half court you should not be a head coach. If you are playing Chauncey Billups corpse over 20 minutes you should not be a head coach.

I 100% agree with people who said fade the Pistons against good teams, because no way can they beat good teams consistently with a lack of discipline and bad coaching .

If you're Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond, or Brandon Jennings I am going nuts. To be on a team with Rodney Stuckey and Josh Smith who are morons and Chauncey Billups corpse getting minutes I would be regretting being a Piston. You don't watch the NBA if you have no clue why Stuckey is a moron. Thank god I followed my own rule about not betting the over on win totals for teams I think that are going to make the jump.

(CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS)" - Fan

Yo, Oracle, I bet OUR boy Frankie D. has more than a thing or two to he could add about Mo' Cheeks inability to coach an NBA team.

[Oracle]

No, I'm not that crazy, because as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and no, I'm not in the grass is greener club either, because I know...

The grass is greener on the other side because it's fertilized with bullshit.

This is a call to get Cheeks stronger assistant help, and I don't care who gets fired from that group!

[Oracle]

"Matt Barnes: Mo Cheeks Almost Ended My Career" - Matt Barnes

"Billups, in reality, is going to be the coach for this team because Mo Cheeks and his staff aren't strong. Cheeks [who previously coached the Trail Blazers and 76ers] has never been an X's-and-O's guy or a disciplinarian. When he's had good veteran players, he's had success. But when he's had a young group that looked for leadership, that hasn't been there because he's a quiet guy. By about the 10th game this year, the players from last year's team will realize they had a good coach then [Lawrence Frank] with a creative mind." - DDB

"Well, I’ve covered the NBA since the days when Jack Ramsay was roaming the Blazer sidelines in paisley pants. And I don’t think since that time I’ve seen a coach as poorly informed, as casual about his duties and as lazy as Cheeks. NBA head coach? He should have been charged with identity theft. This is a guy who… :

• … sometimes within an hour of game time couldn’t tell you the starting lineup of the team he’d be facing on a given night.
  
• … after a game one night famously (I used to play the tape of this on my radio show) needed prompting to understand how standings worked — you know that complicated thing where if two teams have the same number of wins but one team has fewer losses? Yeah, there was a problem with that.
  
• … didn’t listen to assistant coaches who knew way more about the game than he did.
  
• … spent a large portion of the game yukking it up with fans behind the bench rather than paying attention to the game.
  
• … got outcoached on a nightly basis, especially at the defensive end." - Piston Powered
  

Finally, a fan who is losing money betting on this team

"I don't care about the record I care about how they're playing. That team should be a playoff team, but the head coaching MIGHT prevent it.

If you cannot stop your team from taking pull up 3s constantly you should not be a head coach. Will Bynum pull up 3 when the Pacers had a 4 or 6 point lead in the fourth was insane. If you cannot stop Josh Smith from shooting 3s then you shouldn't be a head coach. If you cannot have the Pistons who are playing two centers (Drummond and Monroe) and one power forward (Josh Smith) on defense stop alley oops and lay-ins in the half court you should not be a head coach. If you are playing Chauncey Billups corpse over 20 minutes you should not be a head coach.

I 100% agree with people who said fade the Pistons against good teams, because no way can they beat good teams consistently with a lack of discipline and bad coaching .

If you're Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond, or Brandon Jennings I am going nuts. To be on a team with Rodney Stuckey and Josh Smith who are morons and Chauncey Billups corpse getting minutes I would be regretting being a Piston. You don't watch the NBA if you have no clue why Stuckey is a moron. Thank god I followed my own rule about not betting the over on win totals for teams I think that are going to make the jump.

(CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS)" - Fan

[cool breeze]

How can this be fair to basketball fans who buy season tickets? This is the way of the NBA placing greed over the game. No player can survive this kind of schedule unless you approach each game as if you are going out on a slow walk. Have you ever done much traveling as an athlete? It is a bitch to fly on a plane and then travel in a bus to sleep in a strange bed with no time to collect yourself before playing in a foreign place with all the fans against you. Then try to do that for 5 games in 7 nights. We will be watching a lot of Datome and Bynum on this trip. The fans who paid big bucks in their home town will get a sloppy half hearted game from our Piston players so maybe some people can enjoy an easy win. Don't forget those teams that visit the Palace doing the same thing and our Pistons look like world beaters. You get a false hope don't you? And suddenly Joe Dumars doesn't appear to be so stupid. So why are we hooked on this lame NBA stuff in the first place? We are conditioned as small children and cannot break away from it. Do we blame our parents for not setting us straight on this fraud? It can't be our fault can it? Some day this thing called the NBA will come crashing down. How many of us will live to see that happen? PT Barnum said, " there is a sucker born every minute". He sure was right about NBA basketball.

[Oracle]

I totally agree, and that dove tails with what Wise was saying, that we should have kept Knight & Middleton! Of course drafted either Burke or MCW!

Knight wouldn't have liked not being a PG, but he's a team player, and would eventually do whatever was asked of him! The tragedy is that we actually would have had a glut of good shooting wings if he didn't pull that trigger!

IMO, Datome isn't performing for exactly the same reason KCP is under performing!

It's Joe forcing them into a role that he created in his mind, and not who they truly are! Unfortunately Cheeks has bought into Joe's vision 100%. Here's what I mean, and credit to Wise for seeing the KCP situation.

KCP isn't a 3 point specialist! He can and does shoot the 3, but as Wise said... KCP is a scorer!!! Big difference in the way you would want to use him!

I totally agree with Wise that you have to turn a scorer loose, but we never involve him in the offensive flow(probably because Cheeks doesn't have one)!

Ditto Datome, he spends his life out in 3 point range, where defenses know he'll always be, and he rarely gets clean looks! But more importantly, he's not involved in anything else!

Nobody on this team cuts to the basket except Singler... WTF's up with that!

Show me the superstars on this team that are good enough to warrant pulling off ISO's in crunch time?

It's ALL Cheeks though, and to the extent that Joe hired him, it's on him as well!

[WTF]

Many of you are the same ones that called Joe a "Genius" since I've been screaming for his head since 2007. I said back then this team would be at least 14 season between it's last "Championship Run" if the Dummy wasn't fired. Well we're very much on pace with what I predicted back then.

Back in 2004 Joe had the makings of a "Dynasty" and God as my witness we all watch Joe blow it season after season from the 2004 Championship season sit on his hands as that team declined. Joe failed to get the maximum out a Core Group because he couldn't replace a bench. Free Agents (FA) normally run to contending teams and Joe couldn't manage a single one.

Back in 2009 when this team that in all my heart I believe had one more glimmer of hope and still a solid FA away from winning a title Joe proceeds to fire Saunders and hire Curry, trade away Dice and Chauncey and later Affalo. Why? for "Cap Space" in a summer where the best he could come up with was Charlie and Gordon. Still in need of a PG with Rip and Stuckey already on the Roster he signs Gordon and trade away Affalo. How Fu@king Dumb.

From 2010-2013 I've listen to everyone again calling Joe a Genius for his "lottery selections" as if he planned to do this all along. Yep his plan was to suck season after season so he could get lottery picks (This is what some of you think). How do you call him a Genius for not screwing up a lottery pick? Well you can because he passed on Walker and Burke when he needed a PG for another Combo Guard (Knight) and SG (Pope). My best guess is that he truly on got 1 of the last 4 draft picks right (Drummond).

It's 2013 and some of you still caught up in this Joe being a Genius thing, Joe having this great plan. I'm not down on the Josh Smith signing and I'm not down on the Cheeks signing, but trading away Knight, Middleton and Krastov for Jennings was a very dumb move. Resigning Bynum very dumb move when you have the potential to draft Burke.

Joe has done a lot of stupid sh!t and all many of you have done was make excuses for him, Delfino, Amir, Middleton, Budinger, Affalo, all traded away and you keep Maxiell, Jebreko, English, and Bynum. A lot of dumb choices here. Gores need to take a page from Bill Ford Jr. and fire Joe like Jr. did Schwartz.

[cool breeze]

I've been out of town for a week visiting family, so I haven't been watching these disasterous games.  WTF?  Losing 5 out of 6 to teams we simply HAVE to beat?  In games we should have won?  We're in big trouble.  If this keeps up, all the Joe haters, Moose haters and Stuckey haters are going to get their wish.  None will be back next year, if the Pistons can't right the ship.

I saw this post on M-Live, and thought is was a great summary of where we are and how we got here:



"Okay, time for a frustration rant. The players and coach have taken a lot of criticism. Most well deserved. BUT, there's more to the story as Paul Harvey was wont to say. It's time for JoeD to take some lumps. Let's look back at the team Joe built this summer.

Hires Cheeks June 10th (his choice). Cheeks is a fine man and I enjoyed watching him PLAY in Philly. Good choice to coach the Pistons? Very questionable.

Draft night June 27th. Pistons need a point guard. They have Knight/Stuckey (combo guards) and Singler/Middleton (promising SF's) on the roster. Four wing players. No point guard on the roster. None. Zero. Many say the NBA is now a PG league. Trey Burke is sitting there at number #8. The #1 rated PG in the draft. Joe passes and takes KCP (the #3 rated SG).

"We are basically desolate at the wing positions," Dumars said. "It was just a major focus of ours, going into this draft, that we have to upgrade the wing athletic shooting. Just don't have enough wing long athletes. And so that was going to be a priority for us."

The above was Joe's reasoning. Even though he had Knight, Stuckey, Singler, and Middleton for wings and no PG. WTF? Please remember Joe's reasoning.

Signs Josh Smith (a PF) July 10. The 2012/2013 Pistons were lacking in athleticism and talent. Smith brings both. As it stands, it's obvious the Pistons now need some outside shooters to provide the spacing needed to compliment the big front line he has assembled. What does Joe do next?

Signs Datome July 15, an unknown Euro with a reputation as a shooter (small forward?). He is an unknown quantity and there were proven NBA wings/shooters available.

Signs Billups and Bynum (PG's) on July 16. Billups turning 37 before the start of the season. Played only 42 games the preceding 2 years because of injury. Joe still gave him a 2.5M contract. Bynum received a 5.75M 2 year contract. For comparison's sake Nate Robinson signed with Denver for 4.1M for 2 years.

July 30th Joe trades Knight (combo guard/wing), Middleton (SF/wing), and Kratsov for Jennings (PG). Finally a real PG. In a vacuum this is a good deal. But the bigger picture looks a little different. We wouldn't of had to trade 2 wing players (Joe said we were “desolate at the wing positions”) for Jennings if Joe had drafted a PG (Burke). Jennings gets an 8M contract. Burke would be on a rookie deal.

That's basically the team Joe built this summer. He talked about needing athletic wings who could shoot. What does he do? Trades away 2 athletic wings who can shoot (Knight/Middleton) and signs an unknown Euro (Datome). Plans to turn Smith into a wing? Smith's best position is PF. Drafts KCP.

Smith is a PF playing out of position. Monroe is a center playing out of position. KCP is a rookie in need of seasoning. Drummond has no room to develop a low post game because of spacing issues. Jennings is the only ball handler on the starting 5.

So what do we have. Arguably the worst shooting team in the league. A team that desperately needs shooters to provide spacing for our bigs to operate. We need athletic wing shooters. The exact thing Joe said we needed this summer.

This team is what it is. The team Joe built."

All of this is true but what wasn't mentioned was the fact that Detroit is the worst defensive team in the league and the worst free throw shooting team in the league. FIRE JOE DUMARS BEFORE HE MAKES HIS NEXT MOVE!!!!

[cool breeze]

This game was no fluke. Washington had a good game plan and executed the game plan well. They know when to attack Detroit to get a run going. Whenever Bynum gets on the court unless it is a blow out, the other team and last night the Wizards know everything that Bynum will try to do on offense. He tries to split two defenders a lot on the pick and role and last night he got his ass kicked on that play. Every time he tried it, he either lost the basketball or nearly lost possession of the basketball. And the shot clock was almost expired because of his tendency to dominate the basketball. And on defense the Wizards targeted Bynum's gambling tendencies and his lack of size. And notice there have been no easy lob passes from Bynum lately. No other teams are now ready to pounce when Will enters the game. But has anything changed since Will arrived on this team. Early on he looked great. Other teams adjusted and made him the target to get runs started. Get Will running out of control and you have it made. But Mo Cheeks has great confidence in Will Bynum. He says that because Joe Dumars as screwed this team so badly signing weak guards for so long, Cheeks has no other option than to insert players who would not see the floor on any other NBA team. And didn't Joe sign Bynum for a term longer than one season? Oh I forgot, Joe got him for a really cheap price some posters stated. He actually signed for much more money than the players on other teams who are kicking his ass on a nightly basis.

[cool breeze]

I watched a lot of Atlanta games last season because so many fans were hoping that the Pistons would sign Smith. What I found was how Smith seemed to lack energy and ability to score in the closing minutes of games. He is now our highest paid player but cannot do that and we should not expect that of him. He was doubled in the 4th on every possession and other players did not step up to get open or missed wide open jump shots. He did get the ball to the open man so that shows me that Smith can be a prime time player with the right group. In the first half, KCP was really running a lot on offense. He looked somewhat like Richard Hamilton. But in the 2nd half I didn't see much movement by any of the players in the late minutes. The problem with Detroit is still the fact that they cannot make stops at the end of games. The team is not a good half court team so defense has to win games for them. The Wizards have reached a new level with their defense. They have confidence in each other on defense.

With all of that said, the Pistons lost this game because of horrible free throw shooting again. And although coach Cheeks said in the post game interview that he has confidence in both Billups and Bynum, it was a big mistake once again to put them on the floor together. The problem with Billups is that his body is not cooperating no matter how hard he tries and with that he cannot get enough game minutes under his belt to get in proper game shape. That is why he is missing those 3 point shots. Datome has no business playing in the 2nd half of games yet. Jerebco is a better all around player with more size and he is a much better defender which the Pistons needed when the Wizards made their comeback. I got another thing out of the Cheeks interview. He is extremely passive as a person. Maybe that is why the players like him but I get the feeling that he knows this group of players are just not good enough to win much of anything this season and that is why he is not showing any signs of being excited about the game of basketball. It appears that he is on some kind of medication for depression. I would be depressed if I had to be responsible for this group of guards Joe Dumars has selected. The Wizards brought in tough defensive minded guards off the bench. Detroit brings in weaker defensive minded guards off the bench. Who ever wins much in the NBA with that formula? Good job Joe Dumars!!!!Oh I forgot what Joe is saying. If Stuckey were healthy, nobody would be talking about the quality of the guards. Wrong Joe. We were talking about the guards last summer and every game this team has lost so far this season. Stuckey is a slasher and not a good half court player who can find open spots on the floor and create his own shot in the half court game during crunch time.

One good thing should be mentioned and it concerns one guard. I thought that Jennings played one hell of a game last night. He was brilliant at times. One bounce pass assist to Singler was amazing. That would be worth the price of admission for me. Get Affalo and keep KCP and this team might start kicking ass.

[Sebastian]

I've been out of town for a week visiting family, so I haven't been watching these disasterous games.  WTF?  Losing 5 out of 6 to teams we simply HAVE to beat?  In games we should have won?  We're in big trouble.  If this keeps up, all the Joe haters, Moose haters and Stuckey haters are going to get their wish.  None will be back next year, if the Pistons can't right the ship.

I saw this post on M-Live, and thought is was a great summary of where we are and how we got here:



"Okay, time for a frustration rant. The players and coach have taken a lot of criticism. Most well deserved. BUT, there's more to the story as Paul Harvey was wont to say. It's time for JoeD to take some lumps. Let's look back at the team Joe built this summer.

Hires Cheeks June 10th (his choice). Cheeks is a fine man and I enjoyed watching him PLAY in Philly. Good choice to coach the Pistons? Very questionable.

Draft night June 27th. Pistons need a point guard. They have Knight/Stuckey (combo guards) and Singler/Middleton (promising SF's) on the roster. Four wing players. No point guard on the roster. None. Zero. Many say the NBA is now a PG league. Trey Burke is sitting there at number #8. The #1 rated PG in the draft. Joe passes and takes KCP (the #3 rated SG).

"We are basically desolate at the wing positions," Dumars said. "It was just a major focus of ours, going into this draft, that we have to upgrade the wing athletic shooting. Just don't have enough wing long athletes. And so that was going to be a priority for us."

The above was Joe's reasoning. Even though he had Knight, Stuckey, Singler, and Middleton for wings and no PG. WTF? Please remember Joe's reasoning.

Signs Josh Smith (a PF) July 10. The 2012/2013 Pistons were lacking in athleticism and talent. Smith brings both. As it stands, it's obvious the Pistons now need some outside shooters to provide the spacing needed to compliment the big front line he has assembled. What does Joe do next?

Signs Datome July 15, an unknown Euro with a reputation as a shooter (small forward?). He is an unknown quantity and there were proven NBA wings/shooters available.

Signs Billups and Bynum (PG's) on July 16. Billups turning 37 before the start of the season. Played only 42 games the preceding 2 years because of injury. Joe still gave him a 2.5M contract. Bynum received a 5.75M 2 year contract. For comparison's sake Nate Robinson signed with Denver for 4.1M for 2 years.

July 30th Joe trades Knight (combo guard/wing), Middleton (SF/wing), and Kratsov for Jennings (PG). Finally a real PG. In a vacuum this is a good deal. But the bigger picture looks a little different. We wouldn't of had to trade 2 wing players (Joe said we were “desolate at the wing positions”) for Jennings if Joe had drafted a PG (Burke). Jennings gets an 8M contract. Burke would be on a rookie deal.

That's basically the team Joe built this summer. He talked about needing athletic wings who could shoot. What does he do? Trades away 2 athletic wings who can shoot (Knight/Middleton) and signs an unknown Euro (Datome). Plans to turn Smith into a wing? Smith's best position is PF. Drafts KCP.

Smith is a PF playing out of position. Monroe is a center playing out of position. KCP is a rookie in need of seasoning. Drummond has no room to develop a low post game because of spacing issues. Jennings is the only ball handler on the starting 5.

So what do we have. Arguably the worst shooting team in the league. A team that desperately needs shooters to provide spacing for our bigs to operate. We need athletic wing shooters. The exact thing Joe said we needed this summer.

This team is what it is. The team Joe built."

I must agree. Joe has f@cked up, royally.

[Murph]

I've been out of town for a week visiting family, so I haven't been watching these disasterous games.  WTF?  Losing 5 out of 6 to teams we simply HAVE to beat?  In games we should have won?  We're in big trouble.  If this keeps up, all the Joe haters, Moose haters and Stuckey haters are going to get their wish.  None will be back next year, if the Pistons can't right the ship.

I saw this post on M-Live, and thought is was a great summary of where we are and how we got here:



"Okay, time for a frustration rant. The players and coach have taken a lot of criticism. Most well deserved. BUT, there's more to the story as Paul Harvey was wont to say. It's time for JoeD to take some lumps. Let's look back at the team Joe built this summer.

Hires Cheeks June 10th (his choice). Cheeks is a fine man and I enjoyed watching him PLAY in Philly. Good choice to coach the Pistons? Very questionable.

Draft night June 27th. Pistons need a point guard. They have Knight/Stuckey (combo guards) and Singler/Middleton (promising SF's) on the roster. Four wing players. No point guard on the roster. None. Zero. Many say the NBA is now a PG league. Trey Burke is sitting there at number #8. The #1 rated PG in the draft. Joe passes and takes KCP (the #3 rated SG).

"We are basically desolate at the wing positions," Dumars said. "It was just a major focus of ours, going into this draft, that we have to upgrade the wing athletic shooting. Just don't have enough wing long athletes. And so that was going to be a priority for us."

The above was Joe's reasoning. Even though he had Knight, Stuckey, Singler, and Middleton for wings and no PG. WTF? Please remember Joe's reasoning.

Signs Josh Smith (a PF) July 10. The 2012/2013 Pistons were lacking in athleticism and talent. Smith brings both. As it stands, it's obvious the Pistons now need some outside shooters to provide the spacing needed to compliment the big front line he has assembled. What does Joe do next?

Signs Datome July 15, an unknown Euro with a reputation as a shooter (small forward?). He is an unknown quantity and there were proven NBA wings/shooters available.

Signs Billups and Bynum (PG's) on July 16. Billups turning 37 before the start of the season. Played only 42 games the preceding 2 years because of injury. Joe still gave him a 2.5M contract. Bynum received a 5.75M 2 year contract. For comparison's sake Nate Robinson signed with Denver for 4.1M for 2 years.

July 30th Joe trades Knight (combo guard/wing), Middleton (SF/wing), and Kratsov for Jennings (PG). Finally a real PG. In a vacuum this is a good deal. But the bigger picture looks a little different. We wouldn't of had to trade 2 wing players (Joe said we were “desolate at the wing positions”) for Jennings if Joe had drafted a PG (Burke). Jennings gets an 8M contract. Burke would be on a rookie deal.

That's basically the team Joe built this summer. He talked about needing athletic wings who could shoot. What does he do? Trades away 2 athletic wings who can shoot (Knight/Middleton) and signs an unknown Euro (Datome). Plans to turn Smith into a wing? Smith's best position is PF. Drafts KCP.

Smith is a PF playing out of position. Monroe is a center playing out of position. KCP is a rookie in need of seasoning. Drummond has no room to develop a low post game because of spacing issues. Jennings is the only ball handler on the starting 5.

So what do we have. Arguably the worst shooting team in the league. A team that desperately needs shooters to provide spacing for our bigs to operate. We need athletic wing shooters. The exact thing Joe said we needed this summer.

This team is what it is. The team Joe built."

[FlyDog]

Maybe my 37-45 prediction was a bit optimistic?

[WTF]

Maybe we got it all wrong! just maybe this team is tanking.   Play like sh!t and make it to playoffs and get ass whipped because we can't win home games or really play like sh!t and get the 8th pick or better in 2014 Draft.  Maybe Joe convinced Gores that winning now isn't a good idea.  

We forget that the pick is protected and Detroit keeps that pick if it falls between 1-8 but this team so dumb it'll fu@k around get get the 9th pick and lose it.   But let say luck is on Joe and Gores side and and the magic of the ping pong balls gives them a top 3 pick or worse case they stay beneath 9th pick.  

I figured this sh!t out, play hard for three quarters and suck in the fourth.  It's all smoke and mirrors and misdirection and slight of hand, we've all been fooled  

[Phil-Good]

I see the Pistons lost. But how? Let me guess? No defense? Bad FT Shooting? Bad Defense? Bad Defense?

[Sebastian]

Piston Pals: The time to make a trade and/or fire Mo' is now, no later than tomorrow, because with six days before OUR next game on Jan. 5th against the Grizzlies, a mini-mini camp can be installed with newly acquired players and/or a new coach.

Wake the f@ck up Joe and get your azz to work!  

[Oracle]

Another damn "L". I'd say that it is about time for a "no sacred cows" speech from Joe.     

A change has got to be made and quick!

Amen, and that includes the coach!

Before the break, we had a really impressive suffocating perimeter defense where we harassed guards consistently... but poof, it's gone!

Organization is missing from this team, everything is too make it up as they go!

We also really miss a guard with Knight's size! He didn't lock Wall down, but he limited a lot of what he's easily getting away with on Jennings!

Joe needs to find us a real backup guard with size!

[Sebastian]

Another damn "L". I'd say that it is about time for a "no sacred cows" speech from Joe.     

A change has got to be made and quick!

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