Pistons host Bucks (Finally! A game we can watch!)

I know we’ve been talking about it for weeks, but part of me was still shocked to see Amir Johnson actually on the floor for tip-off. Just saying.

And there he is getting an easy dunk leading the fast break!

Does anyone know if I could watch this game online somewhere?

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/22668

Paste that into your browser and hope for the best.

Amir with the defense and then the hustle!

Shout out to the Portland boys and girls if you’re on here. I can host at my place this year (assuming a nationally televised game and the patience to actually sit through commercials).

The PISTONS is down 17-9?

WTH? Let’s not win this pre-season game too in overtime boys.

Um, 25-12 after one. Not quite what we waited all summer for …

Way to go guys, let’s make Malik Allen and Gadzuric look all-world out there.

@Matt Watson I was saying in the Sunday’s game about Billups turnovers but now I say TRADE THEM ALL. It’s either that or replace them with Shock players.

Allen again! Come on!

I see that whole “emphasis-on-Rasheed-in-the-post” thing has fallen by the wayside, two games into the preseason.

I know I shouldn’t complain while he’s making them…but still, didn’t I read that?

Thanks for the link, PDXPistonsFan!

Except for Rasheed, groan at our 4s and 5s, so far.

@HB: It’s a little premature to call for everyone’s head, no? First half of the second preseason game?

@Keegan: I had the same though re: Sheed’s three-pointers …

Afflalo had a great 1st half. In 11 minutes he played very good defense, shot 4-5 with 1 being a three pointer, had 4 boards, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

On the plus side, Amir settled down in the 2nd half, AND A BS CALL ON THAT BLOCK.

He isn’t mistake free, but I’m liking what Amir did in the 2nd half.

64-58 good guys after three. See, that slow start was nothing to panic about… I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the deep bench guys (Sharpe, Samb) since we’re definitely not going to see them come November …

Ask and ye shall receive — Sharpe just entered the game.

Ya know what I love about this site? It’s the 2nd game of the preseason and already we’re looking for barometers of the conference finals. I am, anyway.

If I can talk my GF into it, I’ll pop down to the Rose Garden in a few minutes and see if I can buy a cheap seat to see Oden and Fernandez. Full report tommorrow if I make it there.

Is it me or did hollinger’s per projections for some of our regulars look too conservative. Tay as a below average player? Rip suddenly regressing? He also seems too negative on stuckey…

Being out of market, it sounds like Afflalo has been nuts tonight. Anybody who’s been watching care to weigh in?

85-71. About time they beat a team into mud. I was about to call for trading everyone.

Box score don’t lie! Afflalo looked really good. He seems much more confident with his shot — there’s no hesitation at all.

I think I just got the SOPcast feed but I don’t have sound. :( Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

Maybe it’s not the game. Sounds like it’s over. :( I’m watching something with Blaha and Bill Bonds (anyone remember the “Don’t Mess With Bill” ABC news promos from back in the day?) and some other guys. Boo-urns.

Yeah, you’re watching Pistons Motor City Memories, some kind of special on the team’s early years. It started on FSN after the game — I had it on in the background before changing the channel.

My first MC complaint and confusion

MC stated that he thought Maxiell was better coming off of the bench because he plays better when he gets fewer minutes

So in the first two games

Maxiell is averaging 28 mpg – high on the team
Amier (who was not in foul trouble tonight) is averaging 15 mpg a lot less than Dyess and Maxiell

It seems to me that if he is going to give all those minuetes to Maxiell then Maxiell has to play a good chunck of those minutes with the starters.

So why not cut out this charade of starting Amir and just start Maxiell and put Amir on the end of the bench like Flip had him?

Well, Amir did get in foul trouble early — he didn’t go to the bench until he picked up his second foul in the first. Had he avoided that second foul, he probably would have stayed in the game a bit longer.

(That said, who cares about players getting into foul trouble in the preseason? I thought he should have stayed in longer …)

Here are the average minutes after two games among the 5 bigs

This year vs last year
-——————————
Maxiell 28 vs 21.5 + 6.5
Wallace 24 vs 30.5 – 6.5
Dyess 21 vs 29 – 8
Brown 13 vs 0 + 13

Amir 16 vs 12 + 4

So in effect what MC has done for at least the first two pre-season games is

Given Maxiell the 6.5 minutes he has taken from Wallace
Given Brown the 8 minutes he has taken from Dyess

Left Amir with basically the same minutes ( + 4)

I am sure that there is some reasonable explanation for it.

However if you are going to give Maxiell 30 minutes a game then start the guy. Is MC trying to turn Maxiell into a a Manu?

The problem with that is you got the starters basically playing with two PF’s Amir and Maxiell which is horrible for consistency and just not in my opinion the right way to handle this.

If you are going to start someone then play them or else start the guy with all the minutes.

Amir does better with Stuckey anyway and right now the way the MC is handling it Amir is not getting any court time with Afflalo or Stuckey

It just seems really stupid to me.

Play him or trade him but don’t got through this dumb charade of starting him and only playing him 6 or 7 minutes in just the first and 3rd quarters.

I think Max played so much more than Amir tonight because during the 4th MC needed another scoring option on the floor. amir is not an offensive option yet and he also needed to get kwame some burn, which made Maxiell the only option to go with, without playing the vets

First of all

The first foul called on Amir he was pushed into the defender by Rip when Amir was setting the screen

The third foul was most likely not a foul but a clean block.

Sheed and Brown both had more fouls than Amir tonight.

As far as the first game goes, Amir only had 5 fouls and was taken out immediately after the 5th foul. Stuckey fouled out in game #1 so clearly MC was comfortable playing Stuckey with 5 fouls.

As I recall Amir played a couple of games last year after he got his 5th foul and didn’t wind up fouling out. He fouled out of only 1 game last year. Its only exhibtion. The kid needs experience who cares if he fouls out. Let him get the minutes and learn to play with 5 fouls. All starters learn to play with 5 fouls.

I think MC is handling this entirely wrong, worse than Saunders handled Amir and for me to say something like that means that I think MC is really screwing this up and on top of it not be honest about the whole thing

It’s only been 2 pre-season games, so you can’t read too much into the playing time breakdown. It’s an extremely small sample size, especially when considering Amir was in foul trouble the whole 1st game.

I think Max played so much more than Amir tonight because during the 4th MC needed another scoring option on the floor. amir is not an offensive option yet and he also needed to get kwame some burn, which made Maxiell the only option to go with, without playing the vets

What you saying is possible.

But that is the same dumb thinking that Flip used. Ignore the rebounding and defense and when you feel your back is against the wall go with someone who can score a little more but give up the defense, rebounding and hustle plays.

The fact of the matter is that I don’t agree with you on this.

He had Afflalo and Stuckey on the floor. Its only a pre-season game. Instead of playing Sharpe on the perimeter he could have posted Sharpe up which is what he did in college as a #4. So that would have given them 3 scoring options along with Amir and Brown.

It would be good to see what those two could do together.

Flip always had his excuses for not playing Amir and it seems like we can start a MC list of reasons for not playing Amir.

I say trade him to some team that will give him a chance to play.

Um, these games literally mean nothing. The Lions were 4-0 in the preseason, people. Some of you need to chill out.

Nice

Our “no-name” answer to Kendrick Perkins had a lovely 5 fouls in what, 13 minutes?

fantastic

let me rush out and reserve brownisabeast.com

Sigh

This is going to be a long season around these parts, isn’t it?

It’s only been 2 pre-season games, so you can’t read too much into the playing time breakdown. It’s an extremely small sample size, especially when considering Amir was in foul trouble the whole 1st game.>>

What is the problem with fouling out in a pre-season game?

Answer: None

It would have been better to leave him in and let him learn to play with 5 fouls. All starters in the league have to learn to play with 5 fouls.

MC left Stuckey in when he had 5 fouls and he fouled out so why not let Amir learn to play with 5 fouls.

Sorry. That was dumb of not letting him play with 5 fouls in a pre-season game in my opinion.

My last post on this.

The biggest problem of I have this is not that Amir is not getting the minutes per se though that does bother me.

The biggest problem is that I think Maxiell is no Manu and I think it is just a big mistake for MC to start Amir with the intention of only playing him in the 1st or 3rd quarters and only part of the time in those quarters.

It is just horrible for the consistency of the team and continuity. It screws up the offense and defense because Amir does not play like Maxiell so the other 4 starters have to continually adjust during every game to starting out playing with Amir and then finish up playing with Maxiell.

It is easier for Manu to do it because he plays guard and handles the ball a lot so even though he comes in off of the bench the other starters are not impacted so much by that because Parker handles the ball when Manu is not in and Manu handles the ball when Parker isn’t in.

The starter of the year whoever Manu comes in for that year is of no consequence at all in the the Spurs offense and not that much in the defense.

This whole thing to me stinks because MC has stated that he doesn’t think Maxiell can handle starting because he can’t handle the starters minutes, which has in fact been true. However after saying so much MC turns around and gives Maxiell not only the most minutes of any of the players but starters minutes in the first two exhibition games.

MC is talking one thing and doing just the opposite.

Max isnt going to be finishing the games. Dice will. The starters know how to play with Dice, so you dont have to worry about that.

But you gotta think that MC is just messing around and seeing what works. I’m a huge amir fan too and bitched about Flip not playing him but this is different. This is preseason. Plus he did take out stuckey like half way through the quarter which was why I was thinking Max stayed in.

Hey Mike, maybe Amir is dinged or recovering from a cold or something. Maybe Max has been tearing it up in practice and… gasp he’s being rewarded.

It’s been TWO, count them, TWO preseason games. Maybe Amir pissed in Curry’s cornflakes this morning. I don’t know.

What I do know is that Curry isn’t going to announce Amir as a starter, play him like 9 minutes a game, and then tell everybody he’s getting burn. He’s not going to pull the plug on the Free Amir experiment TWO PRESAESON GAMES in. That’s an awful fast way to lose credibility as a first time head coach.

We can all agree that Flip’s lack of faith in the young guys is a pretty substantial reason he isn’t here right now. Curry is not going to make the same mistake. And if he does, we’ve got WAY bigger problems to worry about, like maybe Dumars sucks or something. And since we all know Dumars doesn’t suck, then I think you’re just kind of crazy.

Um… Mike? Relax. I’m pretty sure Curry is going to try as many different combinations as he can during the pre-season. And probably during the early part of the regular season too.

On a positive note?

Spellcheck:

3-3 from three point range.

He hit ten threes all of last season.

O/T

On the off-chance that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute becomes a real force, how do we condense his name?

L-Moute?

LURMAM?

Meebah Meebah Andelayyyyy?

Captain Unpronouncable?

Also, Chauncey didn’t turn the ball over. On the basis of this one game, I think it is safe to assume that he will win the MVP award.

Fire Flip!

Clearly, some people need to settle down. We shouldn’t consider MC a ‘failure coach’ after only 2 pre-season games.

I think MC’s method of madness, has to do with the fact that he is trying to teach Amir a lesson. We all know Amir can be a little jumpy and will react defensively to slightest things. So anytime Amir gets into foul trouble, MC is showing that he will not hesitate to pull him from game. Which should show Amir, that he needs to play more controlled and with a leveled head while balancing out his active play on defense.

Aaron Afflalo, looked like a changed man. During the open practice I attended, he looked out of it. Today, was a completely different story. Hitting jumpshots, driving to the lane, and playing solid defense.

Walter Sharpe, looked off. He still has great confidence in his shot, willing to shoot with a hand in face. But almost every one of those shots were bricks. From the looks of things I think he might be moving further down bench because I’m still noticing him miss defensive assignments.

Also, I actually was able to attend this game and the Palace got nice little make-over. Me like. :D

(On Arron Afflalo’s performance)
"I thought Arron (Afflalo) played really good but he struggled. He actually had struggled some throughout camp. We been getting after it defensively but he struggled to find any type of rhythm offensively throughout camp and what we have been telling him is same thing we’ve been telling the rest of the guys, let your defense keep you on the court and the offense will come to you."

Since he says that defense is what keeps you on the court we have learned from our coach that despite all of his ravings about Amir’s defense Maxiell who is on the court twice as much as Amir must be playing 2 times better defense.

Sure and it will snow in August in the Amazon.

HB: “I was about to call for trading everyone.” You were about to? You already did. 1 1/4 games into the preseason… Relax!!!

The 3 guard line up worked pretty well in the second quarter when we outscored them 25-17. It’s going to be a very interesting battle between Herrmann and Afflalo for those back up SF minutes.

Okay I think I have figured out what MC is doing with Amir and Maxiell

I thought about this on my morning walk and this is what I have come up with. If indeed MC is doing this it is really brilliant.

By starting Amir in the 1st and 3rd quarters and playing Maxiell in the 2nd and 4th quarters as well as minutes that Amir doesn’t get in the 1st and 3rd quarters MC is doing the following.

1. He is giving Amir consistent minutes every game with the same group of players. MC has stated that it is important for Amir’s development, and I would imagine any young player, that they get consistent minutes at some point. Spot on.

2. He is giving Amir the opportunity to succeed or fail. It is up to Amir. MC is saying to Amir. You get to start in the 1st and 3rd quarters, but how many minutes you play in those quarters is up to you. You stay out of foul trouble and play well you could get up to 20 + minutes a game. This of course would be a big increase from last years minutes. So MC is giving Amir the opportunity and it is up to Amir to make it work or not. Spot on.

3. He is giving Amir minutes against the other teams best players, not the scrubs or second stringers but the starters. Again a challange for Amir but an opportunity. If Amir like any baller is going to be really successful they obviously have to be able to play against the other teams best. So MC is giving Amir the opportunity and the experience to do so. Spot on.

4. By playing Maxiell and Dyess in the 4th quarter in close games he is removing the game on the line pressure from Amir which at this point given the other growing pressures MC has laid on Amir is I think a good idea. Spot on.

5. He is keeping Maxiell and Dyess the more experienced guys fresher for the 4th quarter when the game is on the line. This is better for the team and will also I think mullify Maxiell somewhat for not getting the starting job. Spot on.

If eventually Amir can show by his play that he deserves a shot in the 4th quarter during close games then I believe when he is able to do that then he will get the 4th quarter minutes.

So now that I have thought it thru it seems what MC is doing with Amir is spot on.

Another example of me speaking (writing) before thinking through the subject matter.

Didn’t catch the game but saw the box score. FWIW, even though it’s only a preseason game I was encourage to see Sheed had 7 rebs in ~28 minutes. No reason if he’s not playing the 5 and banging against bigger 5’s he can’t average a double-double. Especially if MC gets him to stay down on the block.

Wow, people are over-analyzing. In the preseason, the bench players often play more minutes than the starters, or at least they get more than usual. Come the regular season, that balance of minutes will usually shift to the starters to prepare them for the regular grind of 82 games that matter. At this point, MC is just experimenting with lineups.

For example, the fact that he played Will Bynum the past two games doesn’t mean that he’ll be playing in all 82 games this season.

to respond to MarkButter, Sheed looked great last night. He was rebounding aggressively and well, and he made a great outlet pass to Chauncey past 3/4-court for an easy uncontested lay-in. It was definitely a highlight, and it reminded me of our championship year.

Thanks PM. Gotta get hooked up with the NBA package again this year, unfortunately to pay for it month-end and quarterlies took precedent last nite. lol

What’s wrong with Samb? Acker? Why are they not playing!?

Afflalo’s jumper looked good. If he can hit shots with any kind of consistency, he could carve a Bowel/Battier-like niche in the league.

That was supposed to say Bowen, but close enough.

Didn’t see the game since I’m on the west coast (Seattle), but ultimately I think there is only one thing we can really agree on after 2 pre-season games.

Pistons fans/Detroit sports fans are DESPERATE for Pistons basketball. The ridiculous amount of over-analysis going on in this thread is mind-blowing. Roughly 5 pages of posts from one guy all on how many minutes Amir has played in 2 pre-season basketball games? And I thought I was bad…:)

I think the biggest strength this team will have is in it’s benches ability to have multiple scoring threats every night. Stuckey and McDyess will be consistent, so we just need Afflalo, Hermann, or Maxiell to have a solid game off the bench to push for the best bench in the league. If Sharpe and Brown end up contributing as well, even better.

Are there any Pistons fans in Portland that will be going to the game when the Pistons make their west coast road trip that includes Portland? My roommate and I are in Seattle and plan on taking the train down for some ridiculous seating at the Rose Garden…I hear its a sweet place to catch a game.

curry is tied into the “free amir” plan. it’s his first true stamp on this team. amir ain’t watching tip from the bench for a long while. the plan would have to be an absolute catastrophe in many, many games that actually mean something before he changes direction.

watched the sixers/celtics preseason game since they should/could end up being our main competition in the east. the c’s ended up losing, but their starters pretty much had their way with philly’s starters. brand looked ineffective in his first game. there’s going to be growing pains there. garnett pretty much ate him up despite what the box score would indicate. before i go on about the c’s, i will say this: thad young looked outrageous. added a TON of range, which was his only glaring weakness. only made 1 three, but another few just inside the line. if he makes the leap, sixers are going to be tough.

here’s my observation with the c’s that i wanted to address here. because they have jammed packed the important components of their squad effectively into 3 big pieces, 1 medium sized piece (rondo), and then a lot of vet min, rookie salary cogs, they have all this room to take roster spot gambles on castaways and 3rd chance guys. if those dudes pay off, it’s just another piece of armor for them to defend their crown with. if they don’t, who cares about a minor to negligible hit on the salary cap? kwame would be our version of this method if he wasn’t being paid 8 million dollars. but there were 3 guys on the c’s last night that made me worry:

patrick o’bryant: here’s a guy who golden st gave up on because he never averaged more than 2 ppg at never more than 8 mpg. last night as a starter, he had 10 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks. and he’s 7 feet tall. still in his rookie contract. $1.5 million.

darius miles: 3 for 3 last night. everybody knows how athletic he is. dude was a double digit scorer in this league. if his head is on straight, that’s a pretty nice bargain for 1 million.

bill walker: all the knee questions, head questions, whatever. the celtics can afford to take that gamble at 700K. dude dunked THROUGH theo ratliff last night. (how much better would you feel about our draft if we had sharpe AND bill walker? that was a scenario.)

i guess my point is that we’re locked in and invested into so many important pieces that we don’t have the wiggle room that the c’s do to make these gambles. and it makes me wonder if dumars’ instinct wasn’t right this summer to take 2 strong pieces and turn them into 1 HUGE piece. certainly having the wiggle room isn’t why you make such a deal, but it’s kind of a nice byproduct. nonetheless, just thoughts and observations from last night that i wanted to share.

Aside from Laimbeer and the Shock, if you don’t like Hockey, and you wanna watch a contender, the Pistons are your sports obsession.

I got no idea what happened to the Tigers, don’t care what happens to UofM, and know all too well what’s happening with the Lions.

So yes, DESPERATE in all caps is apt.

Man I can’t wait till there’s a nationally televised game. No fair for all u guys to be satisfying your pistons high while I sit here shivering like a heroin addict.