Did you guys know Willie Green is from Detroit? He must know Jerome Bettis.

That’s a quiet arena.

Yeah, I’m regretting not going to this game. Too bad I had class after work, it looks like I could have just walked down and sat in some good seats. Pathetic effort, Philly.

I didn’t know that the 76ers play in a library. And Amir Johnson!

Amir sighting! quick take a picture so people believe us when we say Amir actually plays…

Anyone else a little scared to see Amir playing so early? Like we’re showing him off???

Artest for Amir straight up

Mike Payne- I hope that its only because of Maxiell’s foul trouble and that Sheed just got to sit.

after the poor effort in the last 3 losses, I’d take a lineup of Stuckey, Afflalo, Hayes, Amir and Brezec if they could pull out a win

wtf? i go to the box score and see “a.johnson” with 8 minutes played in the first half! i can’t wait to get home and watch this game! and the controversial +/- category has him at +11!

is twitch saunders reading this site? and if so, should i be worried that i keep calling him “twitch”?

ah, who gives a f***….AMIR!

Billups/Hamilton are 11/11 combined. I know Dumars isn’t giving ’A’s, but what the hell do those two have to do?

Then Billups misses an easy layup… For crying out loud.

“Did you guys know Willie Green is from Detroit? He must know Jerome Bettis.”

He was no Archie Tullos.

so, am i allowed to feel good about how good amir is playing, or do i have to temper it with the quality of the competition?

Good to see Afflalo getting some time out there. I think that kid has the potential to be just a valuable this year as Stuckey, if not more because of his defense.

Speaking of defense, good to see we’re playing a little tonight!

I think a good chunk of it has to do with the competition but then again, he brought some good moves and hustle tonight.

Anyone else watch Pistons live? Flip saunders said that Amir should start to get more time! I’m sure Matt Watson will be on this tomorrow but this is great news. Our pleas have been heard

Pretty bad fourth, but at least we were playing a pretty bad team. Good to see Detroit pick up win #30, though I think we all can agree it should’ve come sooner.

Just noticed that the Raptors knocked of Boston, always happy to see a Boston loss, even if they do only come 6 times every 40 games or so!

The Lakers, without Bynum, are looking pretty good against the Spurs right now, not that means much at the moment, as the Spurs continue to make their opponents look good with how average they’re playing.

Ditto re Afflalo. Didn’t see the game, but the box score says Stuckey was 0-4. How did the two rookie guards look? And wow, Hayes only got about 5 minutes of PT — not a good sign.

Stuckey was so-so. Good news is he made a couple of good plays to set him up for scores, and should have easily made them. But he at least 2, including an open dunk.

I think he’ll start to get out of his funk soon though.

I’m amazed. Pistons.com’s wrap-up section also indicates Flip is giving him a shot in the rotation. It sounds as if he felt Amir was ready, as opposed to orders coming down from on high.

thanks for pointing that out Keegan.. that’s truly amazing news!!!

Keegan- On Pistons live Flip said he told Dumars that they needed another big and that it was going to be Amir. How odd is that?

No one said it, but I will: Tayshaun got his groove back like his name was Stella.

I think we saw more Amir and less Jarvis because of the hyper line up Philly used…

I’m happy we’ve seen less Jarvis. I’d rather see more Herrmann… Jarvis knows the plays, that’s his positive. Herrmann’s positives are that he’s a better shooter, defender.

Hell, if we see more Amir at the 4 and Afflalo at the 3, I’d be happy with that too.

from pistons.com . . .

The biggest news? Probably that Flip Saunders said he talked to Joe Dumars and decided it was time to make Amir Johnson part of the rotation.

SAUNDERS: "I called Joe and said we had to establish another big in the rotation. The way Amir had practiced and the things he had done – his length, keeping the ball alive, blocking shots – I said I think he’s a guy we’re going to start giving minutes and see what he can do in the right situations. I thought he was dynamite tonight. He really did a lot of things."

Nice way to start the day

Matt G, Israeli Piston, apparently Rob Parker wasn’t aware of that phone call between Flip and Joe D. If this doesn’t send a message to CWebb that thanks, but no thanks, I’m not sure what will.

I just saw the 4Q, it looked like an ugly game. Was surprised to see the rooks get so many minutes, but it worked out ok.

I think V has a point. They’re saying that Amir showed his readiness during practice, so it sounds like any hope of CWebb coming back is stifled. While I want Webber back, I’m not at the practices, so I can’t see what Amir can do. But if last night is any indication, this could be really positive.

Amir!! I guarantee he’ll pull a Tayshaun in the playoffs and do something ridiculously amazing we’ll be talking about for years.

From Pistons.com: “Johnson finished with five points, five boards and two blocks. His best moment? Maybe stripping a rebound away from Smith and throwing down a reverse dunk to tie the game at 36, maybe flying from the lane out to the 3-point line in the corner to block a Gordan Giricek jumper that turned into a Pistons fast break, maybe grabbing Tayshaun Prince’s missed free throw to give the Pistons the last possession of the first half”

Man I wish I had seen this game!!

Amir displayed great potential last night,as he has before, let’s just hope he gets to start seeing more minutes as Flip says he will. One fear that I have that is that Stuckey will be the first priority over Amir and Afflalo. While I understand that Stuckey brings an element with his game that the Pistons sorely lack (a player that can break down the defense and finish at the rim), I think that Afflalo’s game looks more NBA ready than Stuckey’s from what I’ve seen so far. Afterall, he did play for UCLA, was the Pac-Ten player of the year, and showed he has both a strong offensive and defensive game. Plus, he has great size and build for a guard in this league.

And yes, he’s only twenty, needs to bulk up, learn to play defense without fouling, and develope a better offensive game, Amir Johnson still has the potential to affect the team THIS season. It sounds like he’s working hard at practice and his coaches are taking notice, so I’m not too worried about Amir’s lack of minutes lately, he’ll get his.

I go on the road for a week and they drop 3 straight. Get home and they beat a boring Philly team. I’ll take it!

Matt G – It’s completely out of left field. I suppose I’d rather have a young guy bust his ass to get minutes instead of them just being handed to him. Amir’s an athletic freak who’s being taught by some of the best, and he won’t quit working. It just seems like a winning formula. The fact that he’s impressing in practice during a lengthy stretch where he wasn’t seeing much action at all is pretty telling. That he’s apparently earned his time is just icing on a sweet, sweet piece of cake for an Amir degenerate like me.

Did Flip outright state that Amir could start? That bothered me all day at work…

All these young guys playing rules. It makes the season much more interesting.

For a laugh, check out Blaha shilling for Amir like you won’t believe:

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/blaha_blog_080124.html

Wait, I get it, “start to get more time.” I was like, WTF?!

Lemming- If you want to watch http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=lpintl&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nbacom/lp_archives/20080123_610.asx&gid=610
Just wait a minute for it to load. Its a stream.

This is great about Amir, especially since a few days ago on here I was saying what has Brezec done to earn time and that Amir hasn’t. I think Flip has learned that Brezec can’t really rebound, play D or score.

But I wonder if Joe Dumars got Brezec to light a fire under Amir’s ass. If he thought of that and it worked, then Dumars is fucking amazing.

I mentioned this last night, that I was a little scared that we might be “showing amir off”… I can’t knock this notion. I’m still worried.

Maybe I’m just paranoid, but it is quite the coincidence… Four days ago Dumars mentions he’s talking to Webber and that he won’t buy out any of our contracts to open a roster spot. A trade is the only way Webber will end up a Piston.

Four days later, Amir gets his first non-garbage minutes.

So here’s a can of worms: would any of you move Johnson to put Webber in a Pistons uniform?

So here’s a can of worms: would any of you move Johnson to put Webber in a Pistons uniform?

No Way, NFW

We are not getting rid of Amir – The Piston PR machine is rolling – flip saying he told Dumars, Blaha blogging, Langlois Blogging etc

IMHO, amir is the answer to the high pick and rolls that are killing the pistons – do you see him block the three — he was almost in the paint and still had the speed to get out and block the shot

Lets not get carried away, Amir will make mistakes and get pushed around — but he should be our 4th big and he can contribute

My perspective: nooooooooooooooooo. That would go against everything Joe has said and Joe has done. Joe signed Amir for 3 years for a reason. Joe didn’t resign Webber for a reason. He had a chance. Hayes didn’t come on until late in the off season. Joe repeatedly said that the Pistons need young legs, and need hustle. Webber does not bring that.

I think Amir all of a sudden getting minutes is due to the losses. The Pistons looked tired and slow. Trying to play only 3 bigs through 82 games is going to wear them out. Sheed, Dice and Max are not looking like themselves. Dice hasn’t had his normal touch. Sheed can’t hit threes. And Max has 1 dunk in like 5 games.

Hahaha— good. I didn’t think the DBB family would be split on this one.

IsraeliPiston: “No Way, NFW”.

I couldn’t agree more.

mike payne: f*** no with a capital U-C-K. the only help i can see from webber would be running the 2nd unit offense thru him on the block instead of burdening an already overwhelmed stuckey with it. like we do with tay from time to time.

i was pretty psyched to watch amir last night. there’s two problems i noticed though. quick darshan among others has pointed out before how bad the kid needs directions to the weight room. example last night was he was bullied out of position for a rebound by reggie evans. just shoved aside like a 13 year old kid in an adult pick-up game. also, you could hear the other guys on defense last night yelling to him where he needed to be. i just think his quickness and athleticism can make up enough for those failings to get him 12-15 minutes a game and as flip said about stuckey, getting better with pt “is the only way.” also, our bigs have looked tired over the past few weeks. max looks like he hit some sort of rookie wall. shaving minutes for our entire frontline would be nothing but positive.