Blakely: Change likely coming

Channge happens today! In Washington and the Pistons realm

Certainly Rip understands this deal is for the rest of the season only, unless by some freak chance we actually win a ring.

I really hope this is the final change. Get rid of small ball, set a rotation and stick with it…it’s the only way we can develop some chemistry on the court.

CHAAAAAANGE! Change is coming!!!!!!1111eleven

Can we get rid of smallball? YES WE CAN!

I still think the best way of determining the SG starter is to hold a duel to the death between Chuck and Rip and televise it on pay-per-view. Pistols at ten paces.

Think of the ratings.

Manu Ginobili could be Chuck’s second. Lamar Odom could be Rip’s second.

“This team’s frontcourt depth is supposed to be a strength, so it makes no sense to keep using a rotation that makes it look like you’re hiding a weakness.”

This sentence makes zero sense to me. We have a lack of frontcourt depth, not a surplus.

Between Roscoe and Dice, we only have one and a half bigs due to minute limitations. Between KwaMirMax, we have one full big if we’re lucky. That means we only have two and a half bigs, when we really need three.

Assuming we straighten out the telenovela, and assuming we get Afflalo back on the court, the two big problems we have in trying to compete with Cleveland and Boston are the lack of frontcourt depth and issue of where to get three point attempts from someone besides Roscoe.

Did anyone see what Kenny Smith said on TNT last night? Tayshaun should come off the bench. I never heard anyone say that. Interesting but I don’t think I like it as the Pistons most consistent player

I read the headline and almost wet myself. I even said a prayer last nite after the Memphis game admonishing myself, hoping the pistons would win, it wouldn’t be all that good.

Micheal Curry: Man. Myth. Coaching Legend?

@ Petey- I’m not following your math here:

“Between Roscoe and Dice, we only have one and a half bigs due to minute limitations. Between KwaMirMax, we have one full big if we’re lucky. That means we only have two and a half bigs, when we really need three.”

Suppose Sheed and Dice each play 32 minutes. Is it unreasonable to expect another 32 minutes from Kwame, Amir, and Max combined? This team was very successful last year with the exact same frontcourt (but with Nazr/Ratliff in place of Kwame).

rip cannot play well in the small ball lineup because tayshun cannot set strong picks like DICE, Sheed, Maxiell and kwame

Also, when Amir plays with Rip he picks up stupid fouls trying to set screens

with Rip playing with Dice, Maxiell and Kwame – they can set better picks and he will get better shots

If anyone watched the full TNT broadcast last night, Webber broke it down perfectly— he’s played extensively with BOTH Rip and AI, and he basically said— “NOBODY is better at playing with four ‘stiffs’ than Allen. And that’s no offense to anybody out there, but if you got guys that just want rebound and putback, there’s no better player in the game to be out there. I’ve seen this guy outscore whole teams in a quarter by himself. The starters, they’re all familiar with eachother so they need to be out there.”

So basically what I’m saying is that we’re not alone.

No matter what the fanboys think, I’ll support whatever decision is made.

My “I told you sos” have a lot more sting than LB’s though… just forewarning you donks before your messiah steps on the floor…

“Suppose Sheed and Dice each play 32 minutes.”

Management seems to believe that Dice is best limited to around 24mpg. (I think this is likely a wise strategy.) So we’re not going to get 64mpg out of Sheed/Dice.

“Is it unreasonable to expect another 32 minutes from Kwame, Amir, and Max combined?”

The real question is whether or not it is unreasonable to expect 36 QUALITY minutes per game out of KwaMirMax. And I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that particular question.

Amir can’t stay on the floor due to fouls. Kwame can’t touch the ball. Max has mostly looked awful this year.

I’m not saying we CAN’T get 36 quality minutes out of KwaMirMax, but the Issue of the Third Big really is one of our biggest problems going forward, assuming Curry/Dumars solve all the easier problems.

Are we still humpin’ that Max-has-regressed meme? Cuz i don’t see it. Do you, Petey, master of digits, have numerical evidence to back that up? When Max plays, he strikes me as the same ol’ baby-eater we know and love.

Some sort of TD% (true dunking percentage)?

I’m gonna have to go George Costanza here, and say the opposite of what I think is right- start AI, bring Rip off the bench. It doesn’t make sense, but I think it will work. Coming off the bench would be a major embarrassment to AI, and make him even more inconsistent than he already is. But with any luck, he’ll be someone else’s problem next year. Remember, when it’s all said and done, he was only brought here to take 20 mil off the books. I think Hamilton can handle being a team player, and will get his shots whether he’s with the first unit or the second unit. I do agree that we need another quality big if we’re going to make any noise in the playoffs though. I suppose another option would be to start AI with the second unit … whatever it takes to keep the superstar happy …

“Are we still humpin’ that Max-has-regressed meme? Cuz i don’t see it. Do you, Petey, master of digits, have numerical evidence to back that up?”

Well, the numbers are here in the +/- column, but hoops stats can lie just as often as they can provide real “evidence.” But just through eyeballing the games, I have VERY often winced this year when seeing various of Jason’s on-court decisions.

I didn’t watch anywhere near all 82 Piston games last year, so I really can’t tell if the “regressed” tag applies or not.

Max has some definite gifts, and I’m truly not opposed to him getting tick. I’m just saying that what I’ve seen from him so far this year on the court hasn’t made Petey happy for the most part.

Baby-eating is all fine and good. But a rotation that can compete with the elite is an altogether different topic. I like Amir, Kwame, and Max. If we could roll each of their strong points into one player, we’d have an all-star big…

“Some sort of TD% (true dunking percentage)?”

Heh.

"One of the big reasons why I struggle with playing the small lineup is that it’s tough to play more than three bigs when Tayshaun [Prince] is a 35-minute-a-night guy and he starts at the four," Curry said before Saturday’s game. "So you consider him a starter as a big, you’re really playing four bigs: Tay, Sheed, Amir and Dyess."

“But hey, what can I do about it?!?!???? My hands are tied!”

In our last 16 games:

We’re scoring 88 ppg.
They’re scoring 87.9 ppg.

What does this mean? Well, our offense is HORRIBLE. But thankfully, this can be worked on and fixed, and can only get better.

BUT, 87.9 ppg on defense? THAT is Dee-Troit basketball. Over that span of games, it’s the best in the league. And remember how bad our defense was in the beginning of the year? We’ve somehow crept back up into the top 5. #4 to be exact, in both points allowed and opponents’ FG%. #2 in 3pt % allowed. And as always, we’re at or near the top in fewest turnovers (just behind San Antonio), and #2 in ast/TO ratio.

My point is this: the defense is BACK. The efficiency on offense is there. We’ve just been shooting so poorly that it’s hard to notice. Once we get any remote semblance of an offensive rhythm, which should come if we’re going to have a concrete lineup here in the next afternoon, we’re going to be scary. Not like 60-win juggernaut scary, but like “no one wants to play us in a 7-game series” scary. Kind of 2004 scary.

“Well, the numbers are here in the +/- column, but hoops stats can lie just as often as they can provide real "evidence." But just through eyeballing the games, I have VERY often winced this year when seeing various of Jason’s on-court decisions.”

Petey, look at his split stats. In November when he was a regular part of the rotation, albeit playing less time than he was last year, he was effective with 6.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg (2.3 of them offensive!) and 1.1 bepg (baby eaten per game). As his role got jerked around and he started seeing fewer minutes, more DNP-SBs then he started taking fewer shots, rushing his game, and looking like he was trying to force his way back onto the court. Last year when he had earned his spot in the rotation and wasn’t worried about getting jerked around, he was killing. Look how he finished the year last year.

The moral of the story is that when you jerk around young big men’s roles and minutes, they play badly. When you put them in a position to succeed, they play better.

“BUT, 87.9 ppg on defense? THAT is Dee-Troit basketball. Over that span of games, it’s the best in the league.”

BTW, have folks noticed how good Iverson’s defense has been since the Bibby/Atlanta debacle?

Dude’s only 5’11" tall and only weighs 87 pounds, so there are always going to be defensive problems, but he’s an amazingly good post defender even when giving up 6 to 8 inches. And last night, he had two amazing steals and drew two offensive fouls. Chuck flops on defense as well as Ginobili or Varejao.

Viva Iverson the disrupter. Viva Rip the Masked Avenger.

Shinons: thank you for that. Other than “looking awful,” I haven’t seen anything that says “Max is ineffective.” It looks awful when a monster truck destroys a school bus. But it is effective…

“BTW, have folks noticed how good Iverson’s defense has been since the Bibby/Atlanta debacle?”

I will give you that. I’ve been impressed by his ability to push bigger players away from the post, and to of course get steals. He doesn’t seem to be gambling as much, and his D seems to be more within the system as opposed to on an island.

“Other than "looking awful," I haven’t seen anything that says "Max is ineffective.”

Well, again, there is the +/- number, which contains a lot of useful information, even if it’s not true “evidence” of anything.

But I fully agree with Shinons that the rotations employed this year have not been conducive to putting our young bigs in the best position to succeed…

The D as a whole is back. Completely back. I can live with these losses as long as it’s our offensive ineptitude that’s losing the games and not our defense. That’s what this team is about.

Just imagine, we the offense gets settled down and AI plays like he did last night EVERY night, who’s going to want to play us? Stifling D will keep us in every game, and then AI the assassin can close it out. This is what I imagined when the trade first happened, and yesterday’s game, even though it was against the Grizzlies, was truly the first game all season where I said, “This is what we do. This is our identity.” Keep it close, let the little guy go for the jugular.

@Petey – You’d just have had to have been around last year to see how well Max was playing. He was knocking down the ten-foot jumpers like he was Dyess, able to create shots for himself in the post, all along with his standard baby eating and terror on the offensive glass. He was looking like a guy who was definitely in our long term plans and deserved 25-30 minutes a night.

@Joel – I’m with you, but I couldn’t help thinking during the third quarter last night about how Curry went on about how we need what Amir brings to our defense, yet he didn’t go to him as the Grizzlies (The Grizzlies!) dropped 30 on us for the quarter. Sigh.

We give up 30 points in the third, and they STILL only score 79 points. Without that (relative) offensive explosion, it would’ve been a blowout and we probably would have held them in the mid 60’s, which is stupidgood defense.

Relatively depressing stat:

We only have one win ALL SEASON of over 14 points, and that was the third game of the season when we “shallacked” the Bobcats by 18. I would like a blowout some time. Just once. They make me so happy.

The change we most need to see is Curry’s worthless ass being shipped outta Detroit. FIRE CURRY.

I think re-inserting Johnson into the starting lineup would be a big mistake for the team and for him.

The reasons are.

1. He fouls too much because Curry wants him to be the next “Worm”
2. With the exception of Stuckey occasionally and Iverson rarely no one ever passes the ball to him when he is open in the low post or when he is cutting to the basket. Whereas, with Maxiell, Sheed and AM and even Kwame the other guys on the court will pass the ball to them when they are open. All of this nonsense despite the fact that Johnson has the highest shooting percentage by far of all Pistons players and has shown that he can score in the low post even when double teamed.

Trade Johsnon Now!!

The real question is whether or not it is unreasonable to expect 36 QUALITY minutes per game out of KwaMirMax. And I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that particular question.>>

Johnson will put up all kinds of quality minutes once he is on a team that passes him the ball and encourages him to shoot it.

Johnson didn’t become Mr. Basketball in CA, or make the all time Sioux Falls first team because of his defense.

What the Pistons have done to him by trying to turn him into the next “Worm” rather than encouraging him to use his greatest strength which is shooting and scoring is a crime worse than what Brown did to Darko.

The fact is that Dumars has never shown the ability to develop big men to become scorers but ony wants them to play defense with the majority of the scoring comring from the guards and SF positions, just like with the Bad Boys, though Laimbeer and Buddah did score a bit.

Trade Amir now.

For what it’s worth, Maxiell’s PER was 16.65. This year it’s 16.00. His free throw shooting has declined.

Also, I have no problem with Rip playing some minutes at SF. He can be effective there. But I want him at SF to spell Tayshaun, not as part of a small ball lineup.

Walker Russell Named D-League Player Of The Week
More News
  
Jan 20, 2009 12:26 PM EST

Walker Russell, Jr. of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants has been named NBA D-League Performer of the Week for games played during the week of Jan. 12, 2009. Russell is the first Mad Ant to earn the honor this season.

Russell averaged 28.5 points and 16.0 assists in two wins over the Sioux Falls Skyforce last week, including on Thursday when he scored a season-high 30 points while adding 18 assists. He returned on Friday to score 17 points and 14 assists in another victory.

A 6-0 guard, Russell is leading the NBA D-League with 11.6 assists per game this season. He also ranks fourth in the league with 2.5 steals, while averaging 16.9 points.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/56709/20090120/walker_russell_named_d_league_player_of_the_week/

Mike, I know you get sick of Amir talk, but you’ve become a broken record with trading him. Joe is not going to. Amir is too young, too athletic, and with too much up side for that to happen. He has faults, but a lot has to do with the team excluding him as you said. Even if it stays that way all season, it has to change when Sheed, Dyess, or both are gone next year. And at this point, we would not get anyone that will contribute much more than him anyway.

“The real question is whether or not it is unreasonable to expect 36 QUALITY minutes per game out of KwaMirMax. And I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that particular question.”

That’s exactly right. Obviously, Detroit wasn’t going to advance in the playoffs starting three guards, a thin SF, and a center who doesn’t go in the paint much. Bringing Rip (or AI) off the bench gives us a normal sized starting lineup and more scoring punch from the bench, but Detroit still doesn’t go anywhere in the playoffs unless they can gets some good and consistent minutes from two of the KawMirMax (I like that) trio.

Can they? I say the jury is still out. All have had good games and bad games, all have strengths and weaknesses, but given the odd lineups, rotations, and DNPs, I’m not sure any has been given a fair chance. We now have about half a season left. Rip, Stuckey, and AI all having good games is enough to beat Memphis, but not enough to beat the Cavs, Boston or Orlando.

regarding Amir – the pistons are running way more than when billips was here and Amir can constantly beat his man down the court and is a great trailer on the break – he has a great upside and when he plays with Sheed both are much better in this case 1+1 = 3

Mike, I know you get sick of Amir talk, but you’ve become a broken record with trading him. Joe is not going to. Amir is too young, too athletic, and with too much up side for that to happen. He has faults, but a lot has to do with the team excluding him as you said. Even if it stays that way all season, it has to change when Sheed, Dyess, or both are gone next year. And at this point, we would not get anyone that will contribute much more than him anyway.>>

Johnson needs to be traded because by staying with the Pistons it is ruining his career and costing him millions of dollars.

Trade Johnson now.

he has a great upside and when he plays with Sheed both are much better in this case 1+1 = 3>>

Johnson has no upside with Pistons unless they start passing him the ball and encouraging him to shoot.

He will never succeed in the NBA as a defense first type player. That is not is skill and never has been.

Trying to turn him into the next “Worm” is like putting the proverbial square peg in a round hole.

It would be like trying to turn Iverson into a defensive stopper.

Trade Johnson now.

The problem with most Pistons fans regarding Johnson is that other than in his first NBA start back in 2007 against Boston when he was allowed to shoot and compiled a 20-10 for that game including making 2 three point shots, no one has seen Johnson be allowed to play his game on offense.

4 years of non-playing time or play like a garbageman time is already too much. They have messed up his career big time.

And there it is:
http://www.freep.com/article/20090120/SPORTS03/90120082/1051/Richard+Hamilton+will+come+off+bench+for+Pistons

“Johnson needs to be traded because by staying with the Pistons it is ruining his career and costing him millions of dollars.”

I don’t disagree with that.

@Mike:
“They have messed up his career big time.”

This isn’t about Johnson’s career, and they’re not going to trade him because it’d be “fair”. This is a business, this is a team, and unless he figures out his foul issues, he’s not going to make an impact anywhere— trade or not. With every foul he commits, this incredibly talented player is sewing his own fate.

Once he gets his sea legs in consistent minutes and gets control of his fouls, he’ll be involved in the offense. If I were Stuckey/AI or otherwise, I wouldn’t pass to him either— until he’s earned himself a consistent spot on the court.

Well, maybe Curry isn’t such AFI, after all.

If it takes him what, 15 games to do what we’ve been calling for on DBB— he’s still AFI. (and he didn’t even do it right, btw)

@MP

Preaching to the choir, friend. I would go back and find my (most) prophetic post from a couple weeks ago concerning this exact issue, but I don’t feel like it. Suffice it to say, if Chris Webber, one of the only people in the world to play extensively with Rip AND AI, agrees with us about the bench situation, I think that says something about general quality of basketball talk that floats around the DBB.

We am jeenyuses.

Amir is 21 years old. His career is far from over, regardless of his time spent with the Pistons. Most guys don’t even begin their career until they are his age or older.

As for moving Rip to the bench:

I have two criticisms. First, it’s shortsighted. Unless Joe D has plans in the works that we are unaware of (entirely possible), AI is here for this year and this year only. Assuming Stuckey and Rip are here to stay, then it only makes sense to play them together as much as possible. If they are the backcourt of the future (and maybe Joe D has something else planned), then why not put them together as much as is possible?

Second, Rip plays well with the group as it is, and he’s proven that time and again. He has chemistry with Sheed and Tay, and he benefits from a point guard like Stuckey — even though he’s still learning to run the offense. Chris Webber is exactly right about AI as well; he can play well with anyone — particularly guys who would be scrubs elsewhere. Petey has outlined how well he plays with Afflalo time and again, and when you consider the rest of our second unit, inserting a create-his-own-offense like AI just makes sense. Afflalo, Dice, Max, Hermann all become better players when the defense is forced to focus on a scorer like AI. All of those guys score as benefactors; they don’t create their own shot. And most of the time, Rip doesn’t either. So why throw a bunch of guys out there together who can’t get their own shots? Not to mention how similar AI and Stuckey play in terms of being ball hungry. They both need the ball to score, or at least to score most effectively.

I wish Curry would grow a backbone and think about the future of this franchise as much as he is the present. If Rip, Stuckey, and Tay are the core of the franchise — and that’s the message I feel we’ve been given — then this move makes absolutely no sense.

The only good thing to come out of this is that we will have an all-star caliber shooting guard on the floor for 48 minutes of every game. That could prove to be potent; I just think it’s backwards.