Rasheed isn’t making things easier

This Sheed mess is getting old. He really needs to grow the hell up. I don’t care if he does not like Flip or not he needs to stop it now.

Rasheed is becoming a disruption every game. He talks more than he plays. His play has been uninspireing to say the least. He looks lazy, he plays token defense 85% of the time. I believe that he wants to win, but I don’t think he’s willing to do what it takes to win every game. Who cares if you don’t agree with the coach. That has nothing to do with not playing hard when your on the floor. I don’t know what the piston can do so solve this problem. The better do something fast or this will continue to grow out of control.

I know popular opinion is that Sheed and Flip hate each other, but are we just caught in a loop. It seems as though people are using others speculation as evidence that they don’t like each other. Sheriden is just twisting the facts to fit his theory.

He thinks that benching Sheed in the 4th was a disciplinary move, but I think it was a calculated move by Flip. Because of his foul trouble Sheed wasn’t playing interior defense before he was pulled. He had just allowed several drives to the basket. I think Flip pulled him to allow the pistons to effectively extend their pressure defense to full court. It worked. We got a few steals and closed the gap, but our zone was leaky. We couldn’t stop the bigger Jazz once they made it past half court.

As far as walking away from the huddle… who knows? Maybe he had his marching orders and was done? Maybe he was pissed because his play is inconsistent and he’s hurt? It’s all speculation. He’s been doing it for a while now, and we are only focusing on it because we are losing right now.

The Sheed / Flip relationship isn’t the problem right now, execution is. We defend a little better, and execute the offense instead of settling for outside shots and we win more games. It was the case under LB and Flip. Play bad and you lose.

-Tim

I got great insight into ’sheed and the tolerance of NBA officials during that technical, because they made the grave mistake of allowing the audio to catch the argument…did anyone else hear this? This is my paraphrased version:

sheed: I was talking to my teammate!

ref: I don’t want to hear it(?)

sheed: I can’t talk to my teammate?!? Shiiiiit.

ref: (drops ball and gives technical foul)

…

(lining up for the following free throw, sheed says to ’dyees)

sheed: Can’t talk to ya. Can’t talk to ya. Can’t talk to my teammate.

This is the biggest story, it’s the one that everyone is trying to sweep under the rug. Sheridan nailed it.

I don’t care who is wrong. I’m seeing an underachieving star player with a bad attitude and lack od self-discipline battle it out with a coach bereft of emotion, personality or genius. It’s hard to find a sympathetic side to jump on.

Joe’s got problems.

Micro’s right. We all kinda keep hoping it’ll go away or at best we’ll start winning and Sheed will be happy again, but we’ve been noticing this for a while now. Last year he was fine, right? He was his usual arrogant self, predicting the win against the Cavaliers in the playoffs and all, but now he’s just surly. His game has really not been there for the past month or so. They keep talking about his ankle, but as far as I can remember, all he did was sprain it last May. Or was it something more serious?

Rocky, the real conundrum is that Webber’s knees are obviously shot unless Kander can play Holy Ghost to CWebb’s lazarus act. Without Sheed, this is not a championship contender. Whatever it takes to get him back to having fun and playing with (intermittent) passion, the Pistons have to find a way to do it.

Otherwise, we’re just spinning our wheels this season.

My concern is that Saunders seemed to lose the entire team last playoffs. We don’t stand a shot if that happens before the All-Star break.

I still think Sheed has a point there. Now he can’t talk to his teammate? David Stern is just fucking ruining the game for all its entertainment value, and at the same time is interfering with the performance of players.

Rocky, I think the point where we “lost” Rasheed was game three against Cleveland last May. He hasn’t been the same since. He’s been more cold than hot, and its been tough to watch. During the sputters of the season for the Pistons, a lot of my frustration has been pointed his way, personally.

On a MUCH lighter note, I just read this, linked to from Need4Sheed:
http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/story/2007/1/17/224514/190

I would love, LOVE if we picked up Matt Barnes. I’ve had him on my fantasy team for a month or so now, and he is a hot shooter.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3643/;ylt=AmKnS8jmX4oEznArH3sHVGkvLYF

Don’t let his career stats fool you, check his game log for this season. While he’s been cooling off lately, he put up some big numbers earlier this month.

And wasn’t there a point where Sheed yelled “ball don’t lie!” and one of the refs either told him to stop or just looked at him funny and Sheed replied “I always say that, I been saying that for years” or somesuch? Maybe I’m inventing that. I got so irritated during the game that I had to go to my kitchen and make chocolate chip cookies, the better to drown my sorrows in.

Different year, same old Sheed. Blazers fans saw the same routine for years. He’s fine when his team wins. When his team starts losing he just acts like a big baby. He will never change, because he honestly believes he’s never made a mistake in his life. When things go wrong and he flips out, the blame goes to the refs, the coach, his teammates, the media, the fans, the league, the oppressive white owners, etc. He’s basically a child.

Little known fact (this is true): When he was young, his mom used to tell him “Do as I say, not as I do” when she acted inappropriately. There you have it.

Tim: True — we know next to nothing about the nature of Flip/Rasheed’s relationship, but it’s easy to draw conclusions based on the little we see. I’m not convinced his benching was a pure disciplinary move either, but something is obviously not right in his game.

Payne: I mentioned that rumor last night in the alley-oops section on the front page (upper-right corner). I don’t know nothing about Barnes, but from what I hear his salary alone isn’t enough to get Nazr. I wonder who else the Warriors would include?

erin: I didn’t catch that, but I do still have the game on my DVR — any idea when it might have been? I’ve wondered lately if his yelling “Ball don’t lie” puts the refs on edge — most of the time he’s yelling it at the free-throw shooter, but I swear there are times when he’s looking at the ref.

Matt,
No way they’d ever consider giving him up, but wouldn’t it be nice to grab Andris Biedrins from Golden State? He plays like Ben Wallace did back in 2003. Without injury to Diogu early in the season, Beidrens may not have seen much playing time. Now he’s starting, averaging 10 and 10. Here’s his game log:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3828/gamelog;_ylt=AlQaaD5nW2x3KFq9JiH3g1ykvLYF

I haven’t read anything about the Golden State / Indiana trade, mostly because I don’t care, also because I’m too busy reading every printed word I can about Webber signing with the Stones. But I imaging that Golden State pulled that trade for one primary reason— a commitment to Biedrins.

Biedrins did renew his contract with Golden State in the offseason, before they knew how much talent they had on their hands. I believe he’s making about $1 mil per season.

Wouldn’t it be nice…

You guys are sitting here complaining about Sheed. Listen. The bottom line is that Flip Saunders is trying to turn a team that already knows how to play the game better then any other team and hes turning them into a strictly coached team and hes trying to take to much command. If the pistons are going to let anyone go, It wont be Rasheed, the players love Rasheed and the attitude he brings to the team. Flip chased Ben out of Detroit, but Joe Dumars cant let him chase out Rasheed, next thing you know Chauncey wont be happy with flip either. Pistons are the type of the team that can win without a coach. Bottom Line.

Dhrumil: They can win without a coach? Seems to me they were only able to win with one coach: LB. If the players think they can coach themselves, you’d like to think they know not to leave Horry open for a three — Rasheed’s gaffe in the 2005 Finals may have cost Detroit the chance for a back-to-back. That’s a low blow … but it’s still true.

i think whoever dont like sheed is stupid im sorry but if u people r complaining u gotta open up ur eyes and see what is really happening and i agree witn alot of others that flip is the 1 that gatta GO cause he did drive ben right out of detroit. cause all u guys r doin is writing BS and sayin all this crap about sheed i bet u half of u people dont know barly anything bout basketball, and how would u feel if sum1 just came up 2 u and asked u stuff then was turning everything u say inside out. so i dont care about what any1 says i say u guys r the 1’s that need 2 grow uo seriously.

Lets keep this civil…

Let me set ALL of you straight!! RASHEED WALLACE is the greatest..Let me show you some Portland Highlights, (you know, “when he got the ball” Every piston on the team says that he is there best player. Im not sure what Flip is trying to do anyway. Why would you even think about putting Webber at Center thats the dumbest move ever. lets bring Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi wells to DETROIT BABY!

That is a low blow Matt. That series was not decided in Game 5. It was decided in Game 7. There are plenty of scape goats to go around.