so MCIAFI admits thats smallball is bs
however, he´s still gonna use it to loose games

Good articles- AI has seemed to put in a better effort in chasing people to the 3 point line (which is a big improvement from some of his early season disasters, like the Atlanta game). The points he gives up now are basically from his being severely undersized, not from a lack of effort or focus- so that is a relative improvement.

On the Sheed article, I largely agree with Curry, and still think he is a total idiot. What the hell was the point of “chasing some wins,” (Curry’s own words) early in the season, at the expense of playing Sheed huge minutes? Whatever it was, the blowback from that awful decision has now helped cause Sheed to begin sucking, thus giving back any of the wins we might have chased down earlier. How obvious was it to everyone that asking 34 year old Sheed to play 40 minutes a night for a stretch of games, would have serious consequences later in the year? I guess it wasn’t obvious enough for Michael Curry…

Interesting, but instead of saying “’Sheed getting worse,” I would say, “’Sheed getting put in worse positions.” He was (i) the only big man on the court; (ii) playing too many minutes; and (iii) dealing with other guards blowing by Iverson (before AI started “getting better”) and having to rotate when taller SFs and PFs were posting out-of-position Rip and Tay in small ball sets.

Detroit needs to figure out how to get back its chemistry on defense. Playing a normal-sized lineup is a necessary but not sufficient part of that. Again, even in the Pistons’ best years of the last five, they were never an offensive juggernaut. In the B. Wallace era, they played 4 on 5 offense, and even in the later Flip years, they were primarily a jump shooting team with one of the least productive benches in the NBA.

But those Pistons teams played effective, intimidating team defense, so when their offense went through one of its not-infrequent droughts (and yes, that happened in every season from the championship season on), Detroit could often still pull out a win because they would keep the other team from scoring.

Detroit only does that occasionally now. ‘Sheed was a huge part of that equation, but not because he was the best one-on-one Bruce Bowen / Lindsey Hunter – type defender. Yes, it was partly because he was smart, cared about playing defense, and had good skills (and size), but it was also because he was part of a good defensive scheme with other players committed to playing good defense. We need more of that. And much as I love it when Amir and Maxy block shots, there’s more to good defense than shot blocking.

McCosky’s got a new(ish?) article up, it’s pretty wide-ranging and a good one:
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090124/SPORTS0102/901240453

Um, why does Curry feel like he needs to tell us things that we knew already? Maybe he’s just realizing this now.

AI as my all-time favorite. And I think he should be coming off the bench, not Rip. Rip doesn’t have to “improve” on defense. He’s already there. Plus the idea that Bynum is going to catch Rip coming off screens is nuts. To think we’re going to run a cohesive offense with the bench team is fantasy. Stuck wants to shoot! Putting AI out there with him means we have two guys who are going to make offense by themselves. All of Chauncey’s tutoring goes out the window. Put last year’s team on the court and let them play. AI should come off the bench as a one and make sure he’s always be paired with Afflalo to work with AI’s kickouts and Max and Amir to crash the o-boards. Play Sheed less and Max more. Amir in the first half, Brown almost never. Finally Joe needs to dump Couch Curry. I’m sure Curry says all the right things after games and ingratiated himself to Joe last year, telling Joe what Joe wanted to hear, but Joe needs to snap out of it. Curry can’t get it done. It’s starting to look like no one even wants to listen to him anymore. The time to be a coach in the NBA is during games, not at a practice here and there.

agreed. ai off the bench to spell stuckey particularly if stuckey is stuck. ai and affalo, the obvious rotation. let’s hope curry gets it before the playoffs. although it would be nice to hone it.
   and why not some plays to amir in the post. it seems post scoring is one of his strengths but he rarely gets the ball or the call. he and kwame are night and day as to their skills. agility versus strength. but the agility is wasted in the current offense. why?

Iverson is 6 feet at the most and 160 lbs.

When Curry says his defense is improving he mean that Iverson is giving an effort.

However Iverson is a midget and midgets in the NBA just can’t guard anyone.

Dumars is looking to trade Iverson, although apparently only for cap space. I hope he does a deal. I am convinced that the Pistons will be a better team if Iverson is simply removed, even if they get nothing back for him. No offense to Iverson. He just isn’t an elite player anymore, and his game is and has been completely opposed to the Pistons’ team philosophy.

If Dumars isn’t a moron, he’ll be on the phone to Steve Kerr trying to land Amare while Amare’s stock is at an all-time low. Besides, Amare will almost surely opt out after next year, which is when Dumars wants to have money available anyway.

Yet Dumars reportedly tried to trade Tay for S-Jax also! It’s reports like these that make you wonder whether everything good Dumars has done has been an accident. Does the guy just not get it?

See below for the reports from HoopsHype:

Maybe the East squad can pawn off Iverson on the West preceding next month’s All-Star Game in Phoenix. Don’t be surprised if Pistons president Joe Dumars trades A.I. before the Feb. 19 deadline, the same team executive e-mailed. “But only if he can get back a similar expiring contract.” New York Post

Like the Knicks and Nets, the Pistons are all about accumulating mega cap space for the two upcoming classes of free agents. So hooked on economics is Dumars, an agent testifies, he was prepared to deal treasured Tayshaun Prince for Stephen Jackson (or maybe it was Ron Artest) whose contract was set to terminate after next season. When the Warriors committed to New Jack City for a three-year extension, Detroit’s purported proposal came off the table. “That’s absolutely false! I’m not trading Prince, period,” Dumars fumed. New York Post

Sheed is old and can’t carry the minutes that Curry loaded on him. As a result Sheed got injured.

Bottom line is that our bigs suck, all five of them.

Dumars made the the HOF as a guard. Guards are what he knows. The Pistons have never developed a solid big under Dumar’s watch.

1. Okur came pre-packaged and Brown did squat with him.
2. Sheed was already and all star when the Pistons got him.
3. Wallace never improved that much after he came to the Pistons. He just got a lot more minutes and was on a very good team.

A. Darko’s development with the Pistons was a disaster. Brown totally screwed him up.

B. Johnson’s development with the Pistons has been worse than a disaster. Here was a kid with game who could score a ton. So the Pistons sit him for 2.5 years and when they finally decide to play him try and turn a kid with no college experience into the next Rodman. What a joke.

funny part about Bill Higgins’ quote is it’s missing this nugget:

“You can clearly see the negative impact Allen Iverson is having on this team…”

hhahaha

It was time for a change but, acquiring a “talent” like AI and then sitting Rip on the bench is by far the dumbest thing since “with the 2nd pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select Darko Milicic”

I’m just wondering,how many bigs in the nba can defensivly cover the paint by themselves? At any age?

the dumbest thing since "with the 2nd pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select Darko Milicic">>

I don’t agree with this at all.

Darko was a good pick. Was he a #2 pick? Given the other guys that came out that year he was not a #2 pick but he was definitely a lottery pick.

The problem was the Pistons did squat to develop his game. Brown totally messed up Darko’s head.

Right now today when Darko is playing, he is injured now, he is one of the top #5 low post defenders in the league.

He has develop a better than average low post game on offense.

He does a great job setting screens.

No is not as good a rebounder as he should be given his size and he has never developed a mid-range game, due mostly to Brown preventing Darko from shooting anything from beyond 2 feet, even in practice.

Yes Darko was not a #2 pick that year, but if the Pistons had done a good job of developing him right now he would a very good player and starting for us at center with Sheed at PF.

NO ANSWER FOR PISTON FAILURE

“They are playing with no emotion,” says a long-distance viewer. Allen Iverson “has killed the team’s spirit with his style of play”

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01252009/sports/moresports/no_answer_for_piston_failure_151908.htm

Odom Investigated For Grabbing His Crotch

The Clippers have called the league to complain after Lakers’ forward Lamar Odom hung on the rim with one hand and grabbed his crotch on Wednesday night.

“Wow. I’ll have to look at that,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “I missed that. I wasn’t aware of that.”

A league spokesman said NBA disciplinarian Stu Jackson was reviewing the incident.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/56810/20090125/odom_investigated_for_grabbing_his_crotch/

Watching the Celtics – Mavs game.

All of Dirk’s shots are from 20 feet under pressure, none of the 15 foot post up jumpers like he had against the Johnson or layups like he had against Prince.

I’ve been slightly impressed with AI’s defense as of late. While he lacks the physical tools to be a bothersome 1 on 1 defender, he still has remarkably quick hands. His quickness is a great asset for doubling down on big men.

I’m still concerned about the offense with him on the court. Too often, he hits the “screw it, I’m going alone” button, and that leads to a jump pass turnover or bricked jumper. If he went to the rim every time he had the ball, I would be happy.

We can only be hopeful that Rasheed will bounce back to being a serviceable big man. He is our only low-post scoring option (Kwame’s hands are awful, Dice only shoots fadeaways, Max doesn’t have many 1 on 1 moves going toward the rim, Amir… just doesn’t,) and even then he’d rather launch jumpers.

From McCoskey:

“Iverson is caught in the middle. It’s not his call, obviously, but he can’t change who he is as a player, either. He can’t all of a sudden be a Billups-like point guard or a high-percentage shooter and high-efficiency scorer.”

Why can’t we ask AI to change his game? Why is it necessary to ask an entire team, a team which has had tremendous success, to adapt to one player? That makes no sense.

Why isn’t the reasoning thus: AI, who has not had playoff success in the last 5 years or so, might be a wonderful complementary player for a squad whose fucking job for the last six years has been getting deep into the playoffs. Why should the Pistons change, when it’s AI whose game doesn’t fit?

I want AI to be successful, but not if that means he puts up great individual numbers and the team loses. Every time I see commentary from the Freep or national media, it’s about how you just can’t change AI’s game. Maybe that’s true, but AI can change AI’s game. He’s apparantly learned to be a better defender, so why can’t he learn to drive and dish? Why can’t he use his famous speed to run around screens and get some open shots? Why can’t he run a damn play?

Plus, isn’t asking a player to do things differently than they normally would for the good of the team known as, you know, coaching?

On a side note, Samb got some heavy minutes against the Thunder Friday, and looked like he played pretty well. Stat-line was nice, despite his ice-cold shooting. Oh Cheikh, we hardly knew ye…

Mike, I’m not sure you can say you disagree with Boney and then remove the “with the 2nd pick” part of Boney’s statement. Had he said “any team in the NBA drafting Darko in any round was stupid,” I would understand your point. We passed on Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade. They are among the most valuable players in the league. Darko is a replacement level big man. This was a mistake of epic proportions, one of the worst GM moves in history.

Given that we’ve currently built our payroll structure such that we can hope to make a run at paying several of these elite 2003 draftees a max contract, it’s fair to say having had them the last 5 years, most of those on rookie contract, would have been wildly better.

Mike,

There were many “can’t miss” prospects at the #2 pick in that draft. Many.

To assume Larry Brown could develop a 17-18 year old big man was a mistake by Joe D. Perhaps hiring Larry Brown was Joe D’s biggest mistake of all of them. I loved 2004 as much as the next guy but to have him coach the team in 04 and then have a drama filled 05 (with the brawl in there too) just totally set the team up for excuses from 05-now.

“so why can’t he learn to drive and dish?”

Because Curry has been repeatedly asking him to shoot instead of dish on his drives.

“Why can’t he use his famous speed to run around screens and get some open shots?”

His speed advantage is with the ball, not without. His strength is his handle, not Rip’s game of running off screens and playing catch and shoot. And for the most part, (with some notable exceptions), Curry has been having him play Rip’s game.

I don’t know if you caught any of the games in the long win steak when Rip was injured, but Curry was having Iverson play to his strengths during the fourth quarters during the win streak.

The offense was geared to letting Iverson penetrate early in the shot clock, and the results were productive. We haven’t seen any of that in the past couple of weeks.

If you want Iverson to adopt Rip’s game because that’s what you’re familiar with, you’re going to find that he’s not particularly good at it. His skill set is very particular, and the key for the Pistons is finding a way to get the maximum benefit out of that skill set.

You don’t acquire Shaquille O’Neal and ask him to be a spot-up three point shooter. Instead, you put your players in a position where you can get the most from their particular talents.

yeah guys, you don’t ask Allen Iverson to shoot a respectable percentage from the midrange or from 3… jesus, what were you guys thinking

I can only hope that the AI trade rumors are true.

Nothing personal against AI. Before he came to Detroit, I thought he was a total ass. He’s definitely shown I was wrong, with the exception of him skipping one practice.

He’s been a team player, as much as he as is able. Unfortunately, his style of play just doesn’t mesh with ours.

As always, Petey, your ubiquitous defense of AI as a player is seamless and well-reasoned. Perhaps my point wasn’t clear: Does it make more sense to build an entire team around a very particular skill? It seems that every decision MC has made has been in response to AI’s presence. It definitely makes sense to utilize his very specific skill set, but not at the cost of the rest of the team.

Playing him from the bench utilizes his skill set without hurting the team. I know that Petey has been a broken record about being okay with AI coming off the bench with Afflalo. My problem is the meme that is prevalent in the media that the Pistons only option to build the whole squad around AI. We haven’t built the team around a single player during this run (with the possible exception of Ben Wallace, because his defense was the foundation for the lockdown philosophy of the last…forever). Now it’s imperative that we change every element of our success to accomodate a single player? It doesn’t make sense.

As for Shaq: You don’t ask him to shoot the three-ball, but you ask him to make quick outlet passes, you limit his minutes so that he can run up and down the court, and reward him with dunks for doing so.

Caveat: It seems AI is more focused on defense. Great. Really. My problem is not with AI, as long as he is actually making a sincere effort to fit in. My problem is that AI is the sole reason behind every decision that has been made this season.

“As always, Petey, your ubiquitous defense of AI as a player is seamless and well-reasoned. Perhaps my point wasn’t clear: Does it make more sense to build an entire team around a very particular skill?”

It’s a borderline case. Iverson is 33, so obviously the clock is ticking.

But I don’t see why not.

I’ve long been of the opinion that the most valuable asset a player can bring on the offensive end is to draw multiple defenders to himself, leaving the rest of the team playing 4 on 3. And Iverson can still do that.

The only reason I’d see for NOT giving an Iverson oriented team a chance is if it would retard the growth of the Pistons’ young players, and I don’t think it would do that – if anything, I think it would help Stuck, AA, Amir, and Max. Plus, it provides the only opportunity for the Pistons to win a title this year or next.

“Now it’s imperative that we change every element of our success to accomodate a single player? It doesn’t make sense.”

Bring it up with Joey D. He pulled the plug on your old team in November. You now have the roster that you have. Trying to make the current roster work with the same mechanics that your ‘02 – ’08 team had simply isn’t going anywhere.

The Pistons are in much of the same place that the Suns are. A team has a long run of success, but the roster changes in fundamental ways, and you have to play differently to take advantage of the new roster. Maybe you don’t have enough time to integrate Shaq or Iverson successfully enough before they get too old to be effective, but it’s worth the try.

You guys are going to have beaucoup cap space in 2010. In the meantime, why not see if Iverson and Wallace have enough left in the tank to stun the world? What’s the downside? It’s not like you’re going to do anything otherwise.

“As for Shaq … you limit his minutes”

I’m a broken record on this one too. Play Iverson fewer minutes, but let him be Allen Iverson when he is on the floor. And that means letting him probe the defense early in the shot clock. It means playing him some minutes with someone like Afflalo who will help space the floor.

If I were coaching this team, I’d be playing Iverson 34mpg, but letting him attack when he was on the floor. If he’s not attacking on the dribble, he’s not attracting multiple defenders, and he becomes an average player at best.

Because you are clearly drawing a check from AI to act as his most rational and persistent proponent, I dub you Public Relations Petey, or PR Petey for short. Now if only you could get a lunch meeting with Curry and convince him of how to use AI…

IT’S TIME FOR A NEW COACH BILL LAIMBEER! THE PISTONS NEED SOME FIRE AND MIKE CURRY IS NOT THE ONE WHO CAN DO IT!!! BILL LAIMBEER IS, JUST ASK THE SHOCK!! BILL LAIMBEER AND RICK MAHORN WOULD BE GREAT FOR THE PISTONS. THE PISTONS NEED SOME FIRE THEY LOOK DEAD!