When you're having a bad day, when you're feeling down about the Detroit Pistons completely brain dead salary situation, just take a look at the Hawks. Atlanta owes Joe Johnson $107,333,589. Joe Johnson, who is not even Atlanta's second best player. Joe Johnson, who is due to be paid $25M for the 2015/16 season alone. To put that in perspective, that is the next presidential election season (Cuomo v. Rubio). I'm honestly kind of surprised that Atlanta didn't file amnesty paperwork the moment the lockout was lifted.

Game Tips at 7:30 P.M. EST

Atlanta Hawks: 13 - 6 (5 - 5 road)

Detroit Pistons: 4 - 15 (3 - 7 home)

The Situation:

What's more, Joe Johnson is already 30 years old. He's averaging 19, 4 and 4, but shooting less than 43% from the field. Is that kind of production worth another $107M? Of course not. But for some reason, Atlanta decided to wait another year to kill that horrible contract. While Atlanta currently owns a winning record and should be a second round playoff team, if I'm the Hawks GM, I blow it up and I do so before the deadline.

Let's explore that in detail. Let's assume that we'll use the amnesty clause to end Joe Johnson's contract. Johnson isn't the type of amnesty case that will clear waivers, he'll likely be bid upon by a handful of teams (like Cleveland and Minnesota, both of which could certainly use a vet wing like Johnson on the cheap). This will ensure that the salary figure Atlanta still owes is manageable. If they wait another year or two, this will not be the case.

Job one will be replacing Johnson's production. It won't be difficult. Take Ben Gordon for example-- he'd give Atlanta 80% of Johnson's production at only 33% of the price. Atlanta could bring in Gordon or another similar shooting guard by providing the salary relief of Kirk Hinrich's $8.1M expiring. I'd love to ship out Ben Gordon for Hinrich's expiring, but I'd imagine Atlanta would want a taller SG that would properly match Jeff Teague in the backcourt.

Step two: trade Josh Smith on or before draft day. Smith's contract expires next season, and no one should be shocked if he decides to bolt. He is Atlanta's best trade asset-- he's only 26 years old and he has a rare set of physical gifts. The goal should be to move Smith for a top 5 pick in the 2012 NBA draft. That means that Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, New Orleans, Sacramento, New Jersey and Toronto should be in play. Of those teams, Detroit, New Jersey and Sacramento are those that should seriously listen to Atlanta's offer. If Davis, Sullinger and Gilchrist are off the board, these three teams may want to consider this kind of trade. Atlanta should seek the draft rights to Andre Drummond from whichever team can grab him. (alternatively, Sacramento could draft Drummond for themselves and ship out Cousins and Garcia for Smith)

If Atlanta plays their cards right, they could start the 2012-13 NBA season with a starting lineup of Jeff Teague, Ben Gordon, Marvin Williams and Al Horford with either Andre Drummond or DeMarcus Cousins in the middle. I'd prefer a taller, younger shooting guard to replace Johnson, but their offensive production is roundly the same. Al Horford prefers power forward, and moving Josh Smith in a realistic trade that nets them Drummond could make this happen. It'd give them a cheaper, younger core with flexibility to make tertiary moves to keep them in the playoff hunt or better.

It wasn't my intention to write a wall-o-text on the Hawks situation here, but I did it anyway. Due to Johnson's age/contract and Josh Smith's soon-to-be-ending run in Atlanta, I'd be ready to squeeze the trigger by March 15th if I was GM in Atlanta.

Keys to the Game:

Start a Monroe/Jerebko frontcourt - With Monroe on Horford, it might be a bad idea to start Wallace on Smith. Jonas Jerebko can at least match Smith's energy and Wallace can be rotated in as Smith tires. The Monroe/Jerebko duo has had performances that suggest they could handle or best a frontcourt assignment like this one.

Stay in front of your man - Atlanta has one of the best isolation games in the league. They're also really good on post-up plays, but Monroe has been far above average on post-up defense this season. The problem will be those iso plays, where Johnson and Teague work to find some separation and toss up shots. It could be a great game for the long arms of Austin Daye...

Feed the Moose - well it's not like you weren't expecting this. Atlanta plays at a slow pace too, so let's see some half-court play with Greg Monroe in the high post.

Question of the Game:

Can Detroit string together a streak of moral victories?

[Ed. note -- lightly edited and bumped to the front page from the wonderful FanPosts. Fantastic, Kriz]

I would think it's obvious by now, but I don’t think people really hate Tayshaun Prince (although there are many little things to hate about the way he plays and carries himself with the team). Ultimately, this goes back to the same guy we always tend to blame, because it is his fault: Joe Dumars.

There was a chance for Richard Hamilton to leave on good terms with a fully positive image from the team and fans, but Joe held on for too long, allowed the situation to become toxic and, while I think many fans are oblivious to it all, many developed a negative perception of him. Myself included.

Same is happening, has happened, with Tayshaun. He’s nothing he has not been before. Joe has intended on making him a focal point on offense when he is a guy who’s effective only as a third, fourth option and works off others. He’s tried making him a leader and a teacher when he’s more of a quiet guy who simply is there doing his job. There is no shame on being that guy.

We could have parted ways with the 30 year old role player who could have pursued a championship with a contender while we remember him with appreciation for everything he contributed. Instead, he’s still here in clear dissonance of the rebuilding process, projecting to be overpaid (even if he delivers as he usually does) and to grow more exasperated with a group of young guys bound to make mistakes on a team bound to suck. Maybe I’m wrong.

Maybe, even though on the court he seems to have a short fuse with young guys and seems to treat their faults in a detrimental manner, he’s actually an excellent teacher and motivator when the cameras are not on. Maybe he wants to be part of the rebuilding process and sees it as an honor to be the guy who helps the young guys and the team transition to an era that does not include him.

But even if all of that were true, his $8 million contract, on a team tied up with an $11 million per year contract to Ben Gordon and $7.5MM to Villanueva, on a team that has sucked with this core for the past two years, and who is still sucking in a horrible manner, makes no sense at all. Add to that Rodney Stuckey’s contract and you are tied up, and maxed out, on a core that can barely produce wins.

"Assets," Joe calls them. But how can slightly above-average, flawed at that, players that do not posses all around abilities, while being obviously overpaid, be referred to as "assets"? Who can see another GM thinking “I have to get myself Ben Gordon at $11 million"? Or "I have to get myself Charlie Villanueva at 8 million"? Or “I have to get myself 30 year old Tayshaun Prince at $6-7 million"? Because clearly their production on this team bodes well to their possible performance on other teams. I have nothing against each player themselves. I’m not even particularly mad about their contracts (even though I believe they are all overpaid). But the fact that such a shitty team has managed to tie itself long term to such a terrible collection of overpaid contracts of one dimensional players astounds me and, quite frankly, infuriates me.

We live in a world were Darko got a profitable multi-year contract and was lauded as a Vlade Divac kind of guy. Meaning, sometimes shit don’t make much sense. So yes, a miracle could happen. A series of odd, unexplainable events could prompt GMs to trade for our overpaid shit and not fuck us over in the process. Stranger things have happened. Perhaps Tay, Ben and Charlie could end up being traded. And I fully expect Joe Dumars defenders to portray him as some sort of genius who had the foresight of stupid events unfolding and that as consequence freed this franchise of his own stupidly bad decisions.

Will I change my mind about Dumars then? No.

Because while I’ve defended many of his actions (it boils my blood when people claim the assembling of the championship core was pure luck) the fact is that not only has he created a mess, but he has proceeded to lock us further into it and has thrown away the key. Every bit of information (and I’m not only talking about stats) points toward his managerial decisions being stupid.

There is no explanation for locking up Tayshaun long term. NONE. As there was no explanation for locking up Charlie and Gordon at $90 million on the first day of free agency (although I have to admit that at some point I felt Charlie’s contract, by itself, could be fair due to his production). At this point, it's not purely about Tayshaun himself, but the thought process that has a conclusion of retaining him on a rebuilding team that's already tied up to plenty of dead weight. To come in an interview right after you sign Tay and Stuckey to about $16 million a year, to a team already paying Gordon and Villanueva $20 million a year, which adds up to, at best, a 30 win team and claim that your motivation is rebuilding, the possession of assets and FINANCIAL FREEDOM, makes me worrisome about the mind that put all of this together.

Joe getting out of this mess would be the equivalent of a person who’s sole aspiration for the future is winning the lottery and somehow manages to do so. Sure, he’s now a millionaire, but that doesn’t make him smart, just an incredibly lucky, stupid person (sorry I’m not very good with analogies). So if Joe manages to trade out of this mess, the only thing I could muster would be, “Congratulations, you lucky idiot”

The Pistons played one of their three best games of the season* against Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but the same two young guys that helped keep Detroit in the game ultimately could not propel them to an upset victory in front of a surprisingly packed house at The Palace.

It started with Austin Daye, who in his six previous home games was 6-for-36 shooting. He hit seven shots in the second quarter alone, four being three-pointers, which was four times as many threes as he had hit in 13 games this season. He finished with a career high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting (4-for-8 behind the arc) and also had six rebounds.

With every Daye comes Knight, Brandon Knight, who added 17 on 7-for-14 shooting in 41-plus minutes, including four or five big shots to pull the Pistons closer after Heat misses or turnovers. He also recorded two of his five assists on Daye's buzzer beater at the half and on Jerebko's three to put the Pistons up that many with a minute and a half left in the game.

Unfortunately, the downfall in the final minute and a half had as much to do with Daye and Knight as them keeping the Pistons in it. Knight started by missing two crucial free throws that would've put the Pistons up five. After LeBron knocked down two free throws following a Daye shooting foul, Daye missed a three about as bad as he missed them in the first 13 games; Knight grabbed the offensive rebound and then missed his patent floater. In the final seconds, with the Pistons having a chance to tie the game with a three, Daye walked and turned it over before he could get off what was playing out to be about as bad of a shot as you could imagine.

That shouldn't take away from their overall high quality games. With experience, these are games the young guys will hopefully close out, but for as exciting as the first 47 minutes were seeing them fight tooth and nail, the final minute was just as frustrating.

After the jump, I'll actually talk about Greg Monroe. I promise.

Continue reading this post »

Eddy Curry and the Miami Heat visit the Pistons tonight for a half-time T-Pain concert. There might also be some basketball before and after the show, although calling it "basketball" is kind of a stretch. Stay auto-tuned, Pistons fans, tonight's gonna be awesome!!

Game Tips at 7:30 P.M. EST

Miami Heat: 12 - 5 (5 - 3 road)

Detroit Pistons: 4 - 14 (3 - 6 home)

The Situation:

The Miami Heat are still not playing like a championship team. Nearly a season-and-a-half into the South Beach Talents experiment, the Heat are still facing the same old problems. Beyond Lebron, Dwyane and Chris, who is going to stand up for this team in the frontcourt? The Heat are getting good production out of Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole at the point, and Udonis Haslem is a solid backup behind Bosh. But the Heat are relying on Joel Anthony (who is receiving a lot more All Star votes than Greg Monroe!!) and Eddy Curry to hold down the pivot. On the wings, Shane Battier, Mike Miller and James Jones are just not producing, despite rotating to fill in for the missing Dwyane Wade. In total, it's a three man show in Miami, and beyond some decent options at the point, they've got a gaping hole at center and a bench that isn't getting the job done.

Oh, but they'll still steamroll the hell out of the Pistons tonight. Not sure if there is even a point in discussing that part. I'd much rather talk about the fun part here-- that Miami does not appear to have a championship recipe despite having some of the league's most talented players and Bosh. What's more, the only real way to build a sure-thing contender out of this crew is to trade one of the big three. Who knows, they might win a championship as is, but they've got some gaping holes that a great roster and a smart coach can exploit. Fortunately for the Heat, the Pistons possess none of those things tonight.

Keys to the Game:

How Moosey Got his Groove Back - seriously, for the start of the season, Greg looked like the hottest Monroe since Marilyn. Over the last five games, his offense has fallen through the floor. He turns the ball over more than he passes, he's not hitting jumpers or layups, and the only thing that appears to be working are the rebounds and free throws. I don't know what it's going to take, but Monroe needs to get ahold of the style he started this season with. If he can do that, he has the potential to own the frontcourt matchup tonight.

Dribble penetration - I usually hate this style of play, but since Detroit has plenty of it, it could come in handy tonight. Miami has Chris Bosh and no one else in their frontcourt, so driving for layups will bring whistles and force Miami to play the zero cards it has up front.

Be just as careful about dribble penetration - Detroit also has a terribly shallow frontcourt, so foul trouble for Moose could make this game even harder to watch than it already will be. LeBron lives at the foul line, or at least rents a condo there, so be extra careful tonight.

Question of the Game:

Greg Monroe is shooting 33% over the last five games. He started the season white hot. Is this an aberration that will soon be forgotten, or this level of usage too much for Moose? This is a rhetorical question. This is an aberration. I demand it to be so.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the NBA's elite teams, will host the Detroit Pistons who are ... not one of the NBA's elite teams. It is a classic David vs. Goliath story, only I think the Thunder are both David and Goliath and the Pistons are more like one of David's irrelevant, unused stones. Is there any good news? For reason we'll discuss below, not really. However, the Pistons are coming off of a hard-fought win against the Portland Trailblazers while the Thunder previously lost to the NBA's worst team, the Washington Wizards, just five days ago.

Game Tips at 8: P.M. EST

Detroit Pistons: 4 - 13 (1 - 7 road)

Oklahoma City Thunder: 13 - 3 (6 - 1 home)

The Situation:

The two teams are like polar opposites. The Thunder, after moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle following the 2007-08 season have had a coherent plan to slowly build a championship contender with superstar Kevin Durant as the lynch pin. The Pistons, after seven straight seasons of at least reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007-08, had absolutely no plan on how to retool and slowly chipped away at a championship contender. Now the Thunder are one of the five best teams in the NBA and the Pistons one of the five worst.

The Thunder have a great, efficient, versatile offense, and the Pistons have a horrible, discombobulated offense. The Thunder have a athletic, hard-nosed, hustling defenders and the Pistons can't communicate with each other and don't seem to know what their doing or where they should be most of the time. The Thunder have a passionate, committed fanbase and the Pistons are last in league attendance. The Thunder have one the game's premier GMs in Sam Presti while the Pistons have Joe Dumars. And I, an unabashed Dumars apologist, for the first time am wondering if Joe is going to be around to see this rebuilding process through.

Keys to the Game:

Run, Run, Run - OKC is one of the best, most efficient teams on the fast break, so conventional wisdom would say that the ideal plan would be to slow the game down and don't play into your opponents strength. Don't believe it. The Thunder use their quickness, length and smarts to force low-percentage jump shots and Detroit has shown all too happy to oblige in taking those kinds of shots against much worse opponents. With Ben Gordon questionable with a shoulder injury, the Pistons need to allow Brandon Knight and Rodney Stuckey to push the ball. The Pistons offense is not greater than the defense of Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha, so the Pistons need to force some transition opportunities and not let the Thunder get set on D.

In his excellent recap, Packey highlighted the biggest key to Detroit's win over Portland -- scoring outside of traditional offensive sets. While only shooting 7-for-20 on spot-up shots, the Pistons were 13-for-19 in transition plays, off of basket cuts, and after offensive rebounds. More of this, please.

Work the half-court offense through Monroe - The Thunder perimeter players are bound to give Detroit wings fits. If the Pistons have to run their half-court offense, they need to set up Greg Monroe in the high post and let him go to work. Monroe can be effective against starters Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison if he is able to face up and have more options at his disposal. Often when he attempts to back down his defender, Monroe leaves the ball vulnerable to the steal, and the Pistons can't afford to give the Thunder any easy transition hoops. And the best way to combat the Thunder's speed and length on defense is to suck the defense into the paint and kick the ball out to an open teammate or find teammates on cuts to the basket.

Let Walker Russell lead the bench unit - I'm as excited about the chance for Brandon Knight to learn and grow as anyone, but one thing he has shown is that he needs to have the Pistons most effective players around him in order to succeed. When Jason Maxiell, Damien Wilkins and Jonas Jerebko come into the game with Knight manning the point, the offense self destructs almost instantly. Knight isn't at a point where he can run the offense and put sub-par offensive players in the best position for them to be effective. He is still mistake prone and when things start breaking down he tries to do too much by himself.

Russell is not a great NBA player but against Portland he showed that he can run an offense and play largely mistake free. Knight is averaging more than 36 minutes per game since Jan. 6. BK should sit more, especially when the second unit is on the floor.

Rodney Stuckey, 3-point sniper - Rodney Stuckey has largely struggled this season, at least until Saturday's breakout 28-point, five rebound, four assist performance against Portland that included going 4-for-5 from downtown. Was the 3-point shooting in that game an aberration or a sign of growth in Stuckey's game? For the season, Stuckey is shooting 42 percent on 3s, and even before the Portland game was at a respectable 34 percent on the season. Before this year, Stuckey's three-point percentages looked like this: 18.8, 29.5, 22.8, 28.9. In other words, horrible. He's far eclipsed his career numbers and is on pace to triple the amount of 3-pointers made in any season of his career.

Stuckey has always been a terrifically strong, quick guard without a reliable jumper. If he can stretch his range out to 3-point territory, he will find it much easier to find open lanes to the basket and will probably even see a sizable bump in his efficiency at the rim. For a player that has flashed a number of great kills, Stuck has always been a low-efficiency player. If he can hit 3s and improve his conversion rate at the rim he could be an extremely valuable commodity.

Question of the Game:

Will the Pistons be down by more than 14 points at halftime?

Here, this is a video I was introduced to by my friend Brady and it really could should be a stand alone recap:

I believe everything in the above-embedded video.

And this was an exciting win not just because wins are fun, but also because the Pistons ended several losing streaks on Saturday night -- a five game losing streak at home, a four game losing streak overall, and a seven game losing streak to the Portland Trail Blazers that dated back to February 2008.

Rodney Stuckey was the major reason for this, as he was not Suckey, and scored 28 points on 8-for-15 shooting (8-for-9 from the line). Brandon Knight added 14 points and Greg Monroe had 10 points and eight rebounds.

More in a minute...

Continue reading this post »