The Amir Johnson Bandwagon is filling up

Soon there wont be enough spots for everyone. Oh well. I guess the Samb wagon is my next stop

I like the dig on McCosky, I’m surprised you didn’t mention him by name! Maybe the job title forces diplomacy over a nice, forceful “I told you so.” :)

The best part of this Amir Johnson Is a Starter project? If it fails in 15 or 20 games, we’ve got Maxiell or McDyess to slide into that slot. Not a bad problem at all… Let’s see what this boy can do.

I’d be pretty surprised if Amir gets moved back to the bench. The only way I can see that happening is if he plays consistently bad…and I don’t see that happening. One thing to remember is that 8 of our first 12 games are on the road (including a west coast swing), so we may need a little more time then usual to fairly judge Amir, as well as the team.

I’m so happy the season is starting today!

I’m happy to say that I may be wr-wr-wro-wrong. I’ve been an Amir slappy for awhile (hell, I was even screaming to start him over McDyess last year), but I was thoroughly disappointed with his Summer League games. And I did say the Pistons would take a step back, but maybe I’m wr-wr-wro-wrong.

Amir and Afflalo are making their counter-points… and I’m very, very, very happy to see it. This should be a fun season.

I hope that Curry let’s Amir play through mistakes during the regular season in the same way that he has during the pre-season. And I’m sure there will be plenty of mistakes.

I’m know that there will still be lots of nights where Amir is foul-tastic. On those nights I’d like to see him benched after his 3rd foul in the first half, have him start the second half, and be benched again (obviously) after his 6th foul.

All your Amir-ing made me take him in the office fantasy basketball draft last night. I’m hoping this works out; as the only girl in the league, I need to not be last.

If Amir can stay on the court he will become a heck of a player.

Right now he is a better all around player when he is able to stay on the court than T. Chandler could ever dream of being.

Downside he he can learn how to stay on the court in Big Ben

Upside is low maintenance much higer scoring version of The Worm. Accoding to an interview this morning Amir now has 14 tatoos. By next year he could be ready for his first body or ear ring and hair dye job. LOL

“Right now he is a better all around player when he is able to stay on the court than T. Chandler could ever dream of being.”
Madness. I’m not sure whether you’re just way overrating Amir or underrating Chandler, but this is crazy talk, and I’m a big Amir fan. His ceiling, at least for this season, is actually probably similar to Chandler’s… a big man who shoots a high percentage and can rebound (Amir’s probably a better shot blocker). Chandler can do this ~30-35 minutes a night, all with a low foul rate.

Long term, Amir probably has a higher ceiling since he has better offensive skills. Looking ahead to this season, though, I would be shocked (but thrilled) if Amir played like Chandler.

I agree with Paul M. It would be a really pleasant surprise to see Amir produce at a level that Tyson Chandler did last year, but he could do better in future years. I’ve done stat projections for the Pistons over the last 3-4 years based on per minute stats, and this year I’m pegging Amir at about 9ppg, 9rpg, 1.5apg, 3.5bpg and 1.5spg, all in about 25 min. It’ll all be highly variable; some games he’ll look like an All-Star, other games you won’t remember he played. But he’ll get more consistent as the year goes on.

BTW, from the 2009-10 season onward, with continued improvement on his offensive game, I see Amir as a Jermaine O’Neal/Marcus Camby hybrid.

@MP: I didn’t want to single anyone out by name since (for the most part) all of Detroit’s mainstream media guys were down on Amir’s chances last year.

@Mike: Amir is certainly a better shot-blocker and grabs more steals than Tyson, but the fouls thing can’t be completely overlooked. Even as a young pup straight out of HS, Chandler’s per-36-minute foul rate never approached Amir’s. I think it’s something Amir will grow out of (like J.O’Neal did), but it’s worth pointing out.

@peterock: I wouldn’t taking a peek at your projections for this year — if you have some kind of spreadsheet or whatnot, hit me up on email: matt at detroitbadboys.

Peterock, if your Amir projections for this season are accurate I would be a very pleased Pistons fan.

I think this is more of the detroit sports media kissing up to whoever is coach of the team. Don’t get me wrong, I thought amir needed playing time last year and I believe he will do very well this year.Its just that any time saunders was critized for anything, a story would come out how people didn’t understand how -stupid-lazy-lax-ect.-take your pick, that player was.It seemed like backstabbing then and it still does.My point is,curry seems to be a more upbeat, straightshooter kind of guy, so those kind of stories will follow.
Buy the way,I think Amir’s fouls will decline when he learns to get better positioning in the defensive sets and that will only come after considerable playing time,but it will come.

I hate all things Boston, especially the Celtics. However, watching their ring ceremony and how much it clearly meant to Paul Pierce, that was awesome. Total validation for why we spend so much time obsessing and rooting and living and dying with our team. I can’t wait until we’re watching the Pistons do that again.

Also, I think it might be really unfortunate for the league that LeBron sat there and watched that ceremony. He’s going to freaking kill it this year. That team scares me the most, I was originally cold on the Mo Williams deal, but I after a summer of thinking about it, I think he helps them. Bring it on.

anyone know whats going on with the dbb fantasy league?

@Matt Gibson,
Every day, posting a sidebar alley-oop about the fantasy league was on my list. It was my intention to put together a post to invite the community to create a second league. I set up the first league, but it quickly filled up with players from last year. I’m sorry if I missed you, I was a bit overwhelmed. I apologize for not getting people started on that second DBB league, it kind of fell through the cracks each day. It isnt too late to set up a second league here, however. Want some info on that?

Upside is low maintenance much higer scoring version of The Worm. Accoding to an interview this morning Amir now has 14 tatoos. By next year he could be ready for his first body or ear ring and hair dye job. LOL

- if he starts hanging out with Madonna or wearing dresses I’m officially off this bandwagon!

Also, i’m watching the CLE/BOS game and I’m torn because I hate both teams… i just keep praying for turnovers and technicals….

:(

MattGibson,

We can always start our own league since I was one of the players who was in the league last year that is not in the league this year.

“Also, i’m watching the CLE/BOS game and I’m torn because I hate both teams… i just keep praying for turnovers and technicals….”

I was praying for injuries… :-|

I’ll join as long as theres enough people.

Other Matt,

I let out a sincere and emphatic groan when I saw PP crying. Now, instead of hearing people analyze basketball, I got to listen to garbage about how PP was so overcome with emotion, blah, blah, blah… for the whole game. I’m not saying it was premeditated or manufactured, but I definitely think PP was willingly stepping towards attention for dramatic effect.

At the beginning of the ceremony I was like “I don’t mind Boston winning it. Good for them. They earned it.” By the end I was like “For the love of GOD! As if Boston hasn’t had enough helpings of praise over the last year… Do they really need some sappy attention grabbing for the media to cling to?!?”

By the way, Boston doesn’t look so scary… and the Lakers look like the team to beat.

can’t. f-ing. wait. for. tomorrow.

pleasant dreams, dbb-ers. may visions of amir dunks alley-oop through your collective heads.

see you in the game thread.

I’m glad I didn’t see Pierce crying. If I did, I probably would have thrown the closest dog available at my new TV. Against any of our nemeses in the last five, six seasons (artest, ginobili included), Pierce and his shitty popped jersey are the most deserving of my angst. If we meet him in the playoffs, I want him on the fucking hardwood on every other play.

As far as ring ceremonies go, I only watch one team get their rings.