Concussion Protocol

[BallinD]

The team has taken a few too many shots to the head. Until they complete the proper protocol, they should not play anymore. Their brain is addled, the limbs don’t respond to the head (Casey), but the Heart, (Blake) is still beating, so there is that.

Alert Dr. Stefanski, Casey has not emerged from the concussion protocol tent yet. Trying to get his legs under him, and his head right. Can he emerge b4 the Philly game tomorrow? Prognosis doubtful!

[cool breeze]

While we can pick apart the different substandard Piston players excluding Blake Griffin, I am upset with this head coach. He doesn't have a clue it appears. What is different this year from last when we get right down to the truth? This coach did not create a game plan that would work against the Bucks. So what was Dwayne doing? That is his job. No coach should get away with this. I did not see any player with the exception of Stanley Johnson and ZZ who ever attempted to set a screen off the ball within the Piston half court offense. I watched the Suns who played on a long road trip beat the Bucks a week ago. Their coach created a game plan for the offense. Granted the Suns are horrible but they also have better defenders than the Pistons and better point guard play. But the way the Suns beat the Bucks in Milwaukee was the fact that they set a lot of screens and actually ran a real half court offense. The Bucks gave away a lot of wide open mid range shots in that game. The Suns had a rookie center who knew how to rotate and provided shot blocking in the paint.

In this game, everything was on Blake Griffin's shoulders. The other 4 players were next to worthless while standing at their designated positions as ordered. Players like Stanley Johnson will never be effective players with this style. Casey has made the critical mistake of forcing an offense on players that do not fit the style Casey likes. How can any team beat a good team when you have no teamwork on offense? No off the ball screening. No weak side plays. No movement that has any purpose. Fans just look at players and see if they make or miss a shot. Casey has not implemented a winning style of play to fit this basketball team. So what is different? That is what SVG did.

The Bucks are long and lean and very athletic. They are fun to watch. How in hell can Ish Smith play effectively against this Bucks team? It is impossible for Ish to be successful with his style of being the guy who dribbles around to create offense while his teammates stand in place. Maybe with both Bullock and Smith injured, it will be more fun to watch the Pistons. I would be in favor of playing Kennard or Calderon as the starting point guard. But the real problem is that the NBA has created a monster now where every team plays the same way even if they do not have the talent to play the offensive style that features one on one strategy where no teamwork comes into play. Just what positive thing did Casey bring for his team last night? All he is doing is throwing out the basketball in practice and keeping his fingers crossed during the games. He has no clue as to how to substitute effectively. Notice that Kennard sat on the bench in the 3rd quarter. The starters looked like they had never played basketball with each other. This was much like the previous game when thinking of the 3rd quarter meltdown. Here is my assessment of the value of each Piston player.

Blake Griffin - $20Mil
Andre Drummond - $8M - Extremely poor defender and thinker but can beat up on bad teams
Reggie Jackson - $8M - poor defender but can shoot the ball and drive effectively
Jon Leuer - 0
Lanston Galloway - 1.5M - extremely poor defender and is a specialist shooter only
Ish Smith - $3M - plays hard but is an extremely poor defender - ball dominate - size matters
Stanley Johnson - $3.5M - only based on potential being he is 22 years old and plays in a dysfunctional offense that does not play to his strength which is the mid range game featuring screening and passing. Best defender on the team
Glen Robinson - $1M - below average player placed in a starting position who is not a good defender, play maker or screener. Was the weakest starter on defense at Michigan
Reggie Bullock - $2M - Terrible defender, passer and a below average driver. He can get hot from distance but should not be considered as a starting 2 guard - getting older now too.
Kennard - $3 - based on potential because of age - might be a high quality point guard but is not extremely quick and is not being considered for a role as a point guard

Thomas - Making about what he should at this stage. But has great potential and should be part of the rotation now.

Brown - making what he should be making and is earning every penny. Plays really good defense for a rookie. But I would prefer Kennard to ge the nod over Brown as a rotation point guard. Yet I might be wrong.

The Pistons have nothing to lose if they place both Thomas and Brown in the rotation for every game. The Pistons can only beat the rebuilding type teams and soon they will be ahead of the Pistons.

I still recommend trading Andre Drummond before the trade deadline. He is only going to become worse as he ages. He is over weight and plays with a low basketball IQ that was exposed again in this last game.

My 2nd recommendation would be to fire the head coach, Dwayne Casey and replace him with Sweeney the young assistant coach who is a very smart guy. Dwayne is only making this his last stop before retirement. He is coasting on auto pilot. He has no clue relating to what player combinations will work best. In that regard he is worse than Stan Van Gundy. The Bucks handled the pIstons easily without Middleton who always kicks the Pistons butt for throwing him in on that bogus trade. It seems to be the norm for the Pistons to get the patsy award in all of their trade dealings. When will Tom Gores give away our number one pick this year? Will he pass on players like Mitchell?

I'll bet that Casey can't wait until the Pistons play Atlanta again. Maybe his offense will work against that team. I have e seldom seen a more disorganized NBA team perform then our Pistons did against the Bucks. Time to stop watching them now perhaps before things get even worse after the Christmas holidays. That is what happened over the last two seasons. Why should anything change this year? Maybe the Eastern conference teams are even weaker though so we have that to hope for that our Pistons can beat teams like Atlanta. Again, great coaching Dwayne. WOW I would prefer the owner hire a junior high coach.

[Sparma]

Murph: "We desperately need a win at home against the dreaded 76ers on Friday night to right the ship and avoid and extended slump. Let's hope Embiid doesn't undress Drummond again. That's all we need."

I'm not predicting a win against Philly, but I do foresee us doing better against them than what we've been seeing. Stanley's tailor made to force Butler to work hard. Embiid's just better than Drummond (who's been off, I agree), but I think Drummond will be ready on Friday to do respectably well against him. And I don't see their answer for Griffin, unless Embiid is able to slide into help D repeatedly with Andre being ineffectual on O. We'll see.

Kennard does need to start, along with Bullock, but I'm not sure he's up to that yet.

We've got some problems to solve! (and I'm not seeing the deeper problems being solved this year.

[Murph]

Man...playing a couple of really good teams like the Thunder and the Bucks shows how far the Pistons have to go before they can contend.  I knew this stretch of games would be difficult, but now that we're experiencing it, it's butt ugly.

Reggie Bullock being out of the line-up reveals just how thin we really are.  Galloway is not a starter, and when he starts the bench is weakened.   In Bullock's absence, Casey has got to throw Kennard into the starting line-up, sink or swim.  It will give Kennard much needed experience as a starter, and it will keep our bench unit in tact.

And I agree with Sparma on Stanley Johnson.  Yes, he is improving, and yes, he is a valuable defender off the bench.  But NO he should not be allowed to go 3-16 from the field, including 1-8 from the 3 pt line.  Inexcusable.

Dummond is in a funk.  He simply must figure out a way to stay out of foul trouble.  When he's in foul trouble, it impacts every aspect of his game, his defense, his rebounding, his offense and most importantly, his confidence.

It's nice to see Khyri Thomas get some burn.  He played well  off the bench, with 3 pts, 3 rbds and 2 asts in limited minutes.


We desperately need a win at home against the dreaded 76ers on Friday night to right the ship and avoid and extended slump.  Let's hope Embiid doesn't undress Drummond again.  That's all we need.

[Sparma]

Another ugly one.

Heroic game by Blake, even with his 7 TOs.  It occurs to me that he might be about the closest approximation to LeBron in the league, now that LeBron's no longer devastating on the defensive end.  Not saying he's the 2nd best player in the league or something crazy like that, just that I can't think of anyone whose game resembles LeBron's at this stage of his career more than Blake's at this stage of his career.

Beautiful play with Calderon slicing to the middle, bouncing the ball to ZaZa who quickly tosses to Leuer for the short jumper.  Andre also had a nice pass to Reggie.

Dreadful on the whole, of course.  Terrible D.  Stanley recovered nicely on one defensive play that Kelser commented on, showing great energy (I'd best not mention his 1-8 from 3 in case he's reading this).

Calderon shot 0-4, he seemed just off with his ordinarily excellent shooting touch.  Still, I'm not surprised that he finished +3 (high for the game along with Leuer, who's proving to be useful).  Calderon instantly introduces patterned play.  At 37 he's not exactly a building block though.

What are the answers?  Kennard will help in the future (not so much at the moment), as will Reggie B.  Hard to be optimistic, even after the great start.

I did see Boban got an 18/9, after picking up a 12/12 stepping in as starter a week ago.  Go Clips!

[BallinD]

It's no secret I'm not a fan of the Weggie,but we really have nowhere else to go, unless the waiver wire, trade route, or G-League callup.  Have to think there's a young dynamic prospect out there, but more likely that hope is delusional, though Robert Covington was poached from the GR Drive under the nose of SVG, so there is that.

Can Kyrih Thomas offer anything; I'd like to see, but it may be more important to give Luke enough burn to return to game shape.

I hear the Pistons are trying to snag Daymean Dotson off the Knicks, a good prospect, methinks.

@Sparma/@Ballin: Very good discussion on the need to diversify the offense, and I especially agree that Reggie needs to be more involved as a ball handler.

This actually opens the door for Luke getting some PG duties, but I wouldn't do it now, he's got to adjust to NBA speed again, the G-League is a step slower and two Talent levels lower than a NBA scrub. He'll need about 5-10 games before he can do what we need him to do.

@Wise: The drivers of that were the same guys driving the Clippers to the top of the west, Bradley and Harris. I'm watching them to see if they tank or was it truly SVG's coaching. Harris is playing amazing ball, and Bradley is still a great defender, hopefully he stays healthy.

[Oracle]

@Sparma/@Ballin: Very good discussion on the need to diversify the offense, and I especially agree that Reggie needs to be more involved as a ball handler.

This actually opens the door for Luke getting some PG duties, but I wouldn't do it now, he's got to adjust to NBA speed again, the G-League is a step slower and two Talent levels lower than a NBA scrub. He'll need about 5-10 games before he can do what we need him to do.

@Wise: The drivers of that were the same guys driving the Clippers to the top of the west, Bradley and Harris. I'm watching them to see if they tank or was it truly SVG's coaching. Harris is playing amazing ball, and Bradley is still a great defender, hopefully he stays healthy.

[WTF]

Last year this time they were sitting atop of the conference looking like world beaters and then BAM!!!!!

[Sparma]

BallinD: "It is clear he doesn’t really trust Weggie making plays."

Reggie's got a lot going for him, although he's inconsistent (eg with shooting) even when he's temporarily committed to playing the right way. I think you're right about Casey not trusting Reggie; I'd been thinking myself. Casey's so convinced that he can't trust Reggie to subordinate his game and routinely get that the ball to distance shooters that he's devised an entirely different game plan fueled in part by that distrust. Casey's probably well aware of the limitations of running so much of the play through Blake but he can't stomach giving Reggie the ball a bunch because then his whole blueprint goes up in flames.

Interesting times, because the O absolutely needs to diversify in a hurry or we're going down in December. If only Casey had been around when that Reggie for Rubio deal was offered. But if Casey doesn't trust Reggie he's got really limited alternatives. I do think he'll get more opportunities. Run more plays through Andre? Doubtful. Some more minutes for Calderon? Think he's tried that. Kennard at PG? Can't see that working, and Casey doesn't seem to have a lot of confidence in that direction at the moment. Maybe the Ish and Kennard combo that you may have mentioned would help. But Ish is more valuable off the bench.

I'm guessing Milwaukee will be a handful. Casey must really be pondering his limited options.

Sparma, you are correct that Blake needs playmaking help.  Hopefully Casey can find it and more.  The hope is also that someone else can step up in a two-man game.  That is all that is needed till we can make a trade or somebody else can grow a pair.  Who will step up to offer some synergy.  

Like last year when other teams figured out the SVG Dre dribble handoff after 20 games, teams have decided to collapse on Blake and sink our offense.  Go figure Casey...
It is clear he doesn’t really trust Weggie making plays.

[BallinD]

Sparma, you are correct that Blake needs playmaking help. Hopefully Casey can find it and more. The hope is also that someone else can step up in a two-man game. That is all that is needed till we can make a trade or somebody else can grow a pair. Who will step up to offer some synergy.

Like last year when other teams figured out the SVG Dre dribble handoff after 20 games, teams have decided to collapse on Blake and sink our offense. Go figure Casey...
It is clear he doesn’t really trust Weggie making plays.

[Sparma]

BallinD: "As for Casey, he needs to draw up some new plays for when they triple team Blake and all we can get off is a Blake impossible layup, or a bricked three.  It shouldn't be that hard, whether it is mid-range action or not, just get a good play off the overplays, a new strategy."

Agreed, also with your earlier ideas concerning diversifying the O, eg, including more of the Reggie-Dre pick 'n roll.

In order to gain a bit of distance, I'm going to compare Blake to Calderon in his earlier Piston incarnation (rather than comparing mainly with Reggie J).  I was a big fan, albeit not blind to Jose's defensive deficiencies [and I'm not making a pitch here for the much older Calderon to return as PG.]

Blake's much of a scoring threat than Calderon ever was, especially because he's such a bull near the basket, but a bull with real skills and smarts (contra Don).  And he's able to provide help on the offensive boards that Calderon could only dream of.

BUT, as point forward Blake's also significantly limited compared to a genuine, traditional, PG like Calderon.

1) Blake's excellent handling the ball for a PF, but he's not on the level of Calderon (or Reggie J).  This really matters, partly because he often needs to back in to protect the ball, limiting his view of play.  Blake does a great job with this limitation, but it is a limitation. Calderon (and Reggie J) could face the action directly more often, corresponding with better sight of what's developing.

2) Blake moves really well for a PF, but he doesn't have the quickness or body control of a traditional PG like Calderon, or Reggie, let alone Ish.  Again, this matters.  All three PGs could find creases in the D and exploit them in a way that Blake can't.  (Granted, Blake's able to do something they can't do either in battering into the D.)

3) Blake's really good at finding open shooters as the D closes in.  BUT so often that happens late in the clock.  Calderon was a master of using the clock effectively (unlike Reggie, who too often leaves things late), sometimes holding the ball waiting for a cut, sometimes going for a quick pass.  This is one of the way that Blake's spearheading the O brings loss of versatility.

4) Blake's a really good shooter for a PF (and a better than league average shooter this year), but he's not a really good shooter like a Calderon.  This again diminishes the range of the O, making it more predicable.

5) Blake's a really good passer for a PF, but he's not on the level of a Calderon.  Calderon's passing excellence allowed him to run more imaginative, more complex, plays than Blake who often goes for the single pass to the shooter late in the clock.

I love the use of the power forward.  Blake's having a fantastic season.  I'm not trying to find fault with him by way of an unfair comparison. But there are built in limitations to the use of a point forward even as skilled as Blake in comparison with relying on a traditional PG like Calderon.

I wish Reggie were the answer in mixing things up, but he's, at best, an average shooter (unlike Calderon), heavily inclined to bouts of selfishness (unlike Calderon).

Reggie's got to be part of the answer though.  Again, I agree with BallinD that much falls on the coach here.  He's done a nice job of finding a niche for Stanley even if he hasn't been able to get him to take a more rational approach to shooting from distance.  I'm confident he can bring more out of Reggie as passer.  I think he's got to reintegrate Reggie as distributor more during this December stretch.  That's not THE answer to Blake's limitations qua point forward though.  Not sure that we have one.

[BallinD]

Failure to compete from Dre and Weggie.  They have been the self proclaimed team leaders for the past three seasons and one consistent theme is their maddening failure to compete at critical junctures.  Dre through mental errors, sulking, Fts and insane shot selection, Weggie maybe partly due to selfishness, conditioning, asthma decrepitude, and ditto on the shot selection.

I saw Blake fighting, but that was it.  Even Stanley looked lackluster and over the past few games we have held our breath hoping his fire would not go out once again.  Luke was hopelessly passive and tentative, a big Zero.  Galloway reminds me of a Stuckey, streaky-sometimes better shooter.   GrIII head is not in the game, at all! Leuer played and scored but looked like hot garbage in for a blowout.  Who wants it.  Who will step up?

As for Casey, he needs to draw up some new plays for when they triple team Blake and all we can get off is a Blake impossible layup, or a bricked three.  It shouldn't be that hard, whether it is mid-range action or not, just get a good play off the overplays, a new strategy.

[Oracle]

I saw a team that didn't come prepared to play any defense.

Your shot can come and go, but there's no excuse for the defensive effort I saw last night.

Stanley gets the biggest blame, mainly because he's supposed to be our best defender. I saw guys easily going around him, taking him off the dribble like he wasn't even there and throwing it down. He was horrible!

IMO Sparma saw more of the game than Don did, because even when Don watches, he somehow sees a different game than the one being played.

Murph was right about Drummond, and I'm not sure how a dude that big and powerful doesn't impose his will more often. Granted Adams is possibly as strong or stronger, but you have to get in there and compete. I wish the coaching staff would focus more on Drummond's technique in the post, because better technique can offset the advantages other players may have.

[Oracle]

Get rid of coach, management and owner!

Get rid of all the players... except the ones I like... and God Bless America... except for those places I hate, and bring back the 50's.

[Sparma]

Don: "This insane criticism of Stanley Johnson is getting pretty funny especially from a poster who didn't see the game. Yes it must be Stanley when the Pistons lose. Sorry Sparma but facts do matter and you have condemned the wrong man ...."

I didn't give Stanley the blame for losing the game, Don.  Where do you get that?  

Murph's analysis sounds like a good overall analysis of what went wrong.  Bad distance shooting -- including Stanley's 1-6 -- does play an important role.  Credit to OKC's D, but you've also got a very stoppable offensive plan.

I've praised Stanley to the heavens when he's deserved it recently, eg, in the game v GS, a game that I did watch, along with most games (yesterday's was nationally televised so I was prevented from watching on my NBA Pass plan).  As I remember he shot 3-7 from three that game, so that's solid, but still part of a three game pattern of chucking it up at Steph rate with sub-Josh success.  This after a couple of games that I called superb!!

Evidently, a striking pattern does not register with you: Stanley tends to deal with success in a self-destructive way.  I've merely provided the latest quantitative evidence.  If you've got some counterevidence concerning that pattern, I'm all ears.  A number of posts ago, I provided an in game, eye witness, account of the same pattern I'm discerning.

[cool breeze]

Could only listen.

Sounded like the Pistons weren't able to break down a really tough Thunder D.  Not so surprising.

Leuer made good use of his minutes.

Did I hear Dre with 6 rebounds?  

And a familiar refrain from me: Stanley needs to learn to deal with success.  4&5 games ago he went 4/6 (2/3 x 2) from 3 (66.67%): superb!!!  During the last 3 games -- including his excellent game v GS -- he nearly doubled his average number of 3 point shots taken, from 3 to 5.67 all while his % sank from 66.7% to 23.5%.  Call it having trouble living with luxury, pride cometh before the fall, or just plain low BBIQ, it seems like such a correctable problem!  But a recurrent one.

This insane criticism of Stanley Johnson is getting pretty funny especially from a poster who didn't see the game. Yes it must be Stanley when the Pistons lose. Sorry Sparma but facts do matter and you have condemned the wrong man like many others seem to have the need to do. Johnson is 22 years old and when he reads this stuff, I'll bet that he is already packing his bags ready to find a new home. So thanks for those comments. Johnson scored 9 points and played only 14 minutes in this game. He was 4-10 and 1-5 with 3 pointers. Why doesn't the coach create weak side plays for Johnson to show off his mid range game? Again coach Casey doesn't like to reward Johnson with more of a role when he does play well the game before.

Here are the players Casey did trust more than Johnson in this horrible game. Casey was correct to be critical of himself. He was a horrible coach in this game. Casey counted on the players who do not like to play defense again. He sure loves the specialist shooters.

1. Smith scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting. Smith couldn't defend anyone at any time.
2. Galloway played 25 minutes with zero points and couldn't defend anyone at any time. Did you look up Galloway's age compared to Johnson and did you look up what the Pistons are paying Galloway compared to Johnson? Amazing that you mentioned Johnson in your post.
3. Luke Kennard - played just 2 minutes less than Johnson and shot 0-5 with no points.
4. Robinson - drum roll here because somehow he has beaten out Johnson for the starting role at small forward. In case any others are obsessing on the failures of Stanley Johnson but didn't watch this dull game maybe you should focus on Robinson's stats. He played 32 minutes and made 3 points while shooting 3-12 and 0-2 from the 3 point line. He didn't draw any fouls either so he didn't shoot any foul shots. Why is Robinson starting. He cannot play effective defense. He cannot drive or shoot it well. He doesn't pass the ball well and the killer is that he is not a good defender much like most all the players on this team with the exception of Johnson, Brown and Thomas.
5. Reggie Jackson scored 10 points in 28 minutes of play and he couldn't defend anyone as usual. But I get it. Johnson has let you down way too many times.

None of you will have to worry about Johnson for long. Who wouldn't leave this team when he has fans like most of the posters on this forum. Make sure you don't get behind him when he has a tough performance. Blame this young guy. Way to go Sparma.

The Pistons took the 3rd quarter off. They didn't provide any effort on defense especially in the paint. George was 7/8 - Grant was 5-6 - Adams was 7-8 - Noel was 6-9.

Trade Andre Drummond to reduce payroll and try to include Galloway in that trade to get rid of his crazy contract. Get a high draft pick and a defensive minded young center. Trade Drummond before he goes into the winter blues again. By the way Leuer played 9 minutes and scored 12 points. The problem was that he couldn't defend anyone either. Way to go Mr. Casey. You are playing the contracts just like the owner suggests.

[Murph]

I'm sure word is going to get around the league fast that the way to beat the Pistons is to double and triple team Griffin, and force him to pass out to the perimeter for a 3 point shots. And if we want to counter that, we're going have to have shoot 3 point shots better.

Last night, we shot 19% from the 3 pt line and 33% overall. It didn't help that Bullock turned an ankle and left the game early. Kennard was finally back, which was welcomed, but he was 0-4 from the 3 pt line. GRIII was 0-2, Galloway 0-2, Jackson 1-5 and Johnson 1-6. We aren't going to win any games that way. Our perimeter shooting has to improve.

It didn't help that Drummond was thoroughly befuddled by Adams. And Zaza didn't fair much better.

[Oracle]

Good post from a forum vet!!!

This happens to every team in the NBA and every team that's ever existed, so there's plenty of blame to go around, but none of it is important. 

What is important is this,

1. How the team responds to losing like this. IMO, you take it out on the next opponent, and
2. They should have a STRONG desire to avenge this loss when we play these guys again.

Other than that, the best thing to have right now is a short memory and get back to work!

[deusXango]

After a 5 game win streak the Stones took a drubbing from the Thunder...bound to loose to someone so why not to the #1 defense in the league?

It's refreshing, to me at least, that we have a coach that's willing to fall on his sword and take the blame for the drubbing, instead of a puffed up, finger pointing, politician, masquerading as a coach, who appears to be badly in need of an antacid.

There was plenty of blame to go around in that snoozer, if you're deeply into the blame game, but I'm liking this team, even the much maligned Reggie Jackson, who I've campaigned heavily for his removal from the team in the past....he's balling for the most part and showing some basketball smarts.

As it stands today, this is a solid 4th or 5th seed in the playoffs and make no mistake about it, this is a playoff team and it won't be backing in as a lowly 8th seed! From top to bottom this franchise is evolving into something special, but to expect 55 wins (coming from two 30 something win seasons) as an indication that Casey deserves to be coaching this team and there is a marked, noticeable, improvement in the teams spirit, culture, and overall fight and grit is an insult and formula for failure. Stan Van Gundy, who was Mr. Everything and had his way for 4 years, never had the expectation of a 55 win season why Casey? SVG is gone and I for one am glad; listening to players and reading between the lines they're relived too. It wouldn't be professional to rip a past coach but, the way they support their current coach, through their play, is a testimony of who they favor.

It has been reasonably suggested that if the Stones can get through December playing .500 ball, we'll be in great shape going into 2019 and I totally agree. I'm enjoying this season and watching the positive uptick of this franchise (champions have to start somewhere, particularly when they were mediocre, also rans, as we were not to long ago); the eye test tells me that the time is past for cynical, bitter, negative, observations about a team that's clearly trying. I'm praying for their continued good health, that's what I'm going to do.

GO PISTONS

[Sparma]

Could only listen.

Sounded like the Pistons weren't able to break down a really tough Thunder D. Not so surprising.

Leuer made good use of his minutes.

Did I hear Dre with 6 rebounds?

And a familiar refrain from me: Stanley needs to learn to deal with success. 4&5 games ago he went 4/6 (2/3 x 2) from 3 (66.67%): superb!!! During the last 3 games -- including his excellent game v GS -- he nearly doubled his average number of 3 point shots taken, from 3 to 5.67 all while his % sank from 66.7% to 23.5%. Call it having trouble living with luxury, pride cometh before the fall, or just plain low BBIQ, it seems like such a correctable problem! But a recurrent one.

[Oracle]

A funny thing is happening on the way to the championship

[lemonpen]

It's all redundant t sounds like to me   I'm still expecting to see a team capable of 55 wins which I don't see.    Yeah I'm in a foul mood with those damn Lions and UM with another Peach Bowl bid    but hey I do smell a Final Four for UM Basketball which is far better than an 8th seed.

My prediction holds at 39 wins.

Giddy feels good. But, like trash talking, it only works when you are up. So now is the time.

As a Leo and Blue backer you ought to know this by now.

[WTF]

It's all redundant t sounds like to me   I'm still expecting to see a team capable of 55 wins which I don't see.    Yeah I'm in a foul mood with those damn Lions and UM with another Peach Bowl bid    but hey I do smell a Final Four for UM Basketball which is far better than an 8th seed.

My prediction holds at 39 wins.

[lemonpen]

Don...isn't there an Arizona Wildcat blog you should be posting on?

They keep him back over here.

[lemonpen]

Oracle, good stuff, keep it coming. I’m loving the coaching direction. Can’t wait to see how the front office rolls.

2017-18 v 2018-19: Yea, folks are saying we were in the same place a year ago, record wise. But this feels different, really different. After seeing another solid defensive performance this years version of our Stones is beginning to pass the smell test. I haven’t seen them draw charges and challenge at the cup like this since, well, Ben and Sheed. Hold up, HOLD UP !!!!!!! I’m not say we’re as good, but there has been a decade long drought since the last honest attempt.

Stanley is beginning to look like a real lottery pick. By that I mean an impact player. A great sixth man is as valuable as any man.

GS Warriors. They are without a doubt suffering from years of success. They used to bring a formidable 2nd unit. Salary cap and drafting around the 30th spot has taken its toll. Iggy and Livingston have become long in the tooth. It looks like the road will be long for their big three.

Hummmm??: Could the Warriors be planting seeds for future seasons. What is the probability that Cousins can be of value to them this year. Is it possible that his time there is intended to be a maturation initiative, letting him experience how the best players in the best organization go about their day to day. Allow him to understand leadership & teamwork, both on and off of the court. Presuming DeMarcus is 100% by 2019-20 He would provide pretty good downside protection in the event KD opts out. He might be inclined to resign and reshape the Warriors into a 2.0 version.

Cherry on Top: Watching every one of those Warrior fans leave LCA butt hurt and silent.
I’ve never seen anything like them. Every time Curry rose for a jumper there was an audible (rather loud & annoying) gasp in anticipation of string music. Not to mention a groan when he missed.

Brown: Tip of the cap to the Rook for not backing off of Curry after picking up a couple of quick wistles.

[Sponsored content]