@Mike Payne

I’m flattered that you google searched me. Sincerely, good for you. You are not only capable of typing, but also posting incessantly long comments into the wee hours of a friday night on the previous thread. It was Mike Payne overload. As to your sexuality, I don’t believe it was ever called into question— whatever side of the fence you aim for, I’m all for it. To each is own, I got no qualms either way. If it is a sensitive issue for you, perhaps this isn’t the particular forum for that discussion. As to you being a wee bit weak in the britches and all shaky, wobbly knees, this probably is the forum for that.

@wolf:
You’re trolling. Add some value to the discussion re: pistons, or avoid commenting at all. I didn’t need to spend my free time writing this game wrap-up.

Dude, this is not what Al Gore invented the internet for. As for the Mike Payne overload, there’s no such thing. I even got Mike Payne on my Gameboy yo.

To Las El Pistones, que paso mijos?

You know Jack Lessenberry said Joe Dumars should run the state of Michigsn on NPR today? Shit was awesome.

Ok, I just finished the game… MP covered everything in his wrap but I must take a moment and rant.

 Tonight our new look Detroit Pistons took the home floor for the first time this year sporting… Pink Headbands? You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me. This is a new low. I understand the cause and everything but get outta here, Pink Headbands? Why is there a need to promote anything other than Detroit Pistons Basketball? Especially on opening night. I cringed every time I saw them. Call me heartless but what good does wearing pink do for a cause anyways? If you ask me it just makes everybody look like a bunch of ass clowns.

The Bad Boys never wore pink headbands.

The Dream Team never wore pink headbands either. Just Sayin.

Another crappy thing is all the shitty advertising on the basket. The last thing we need to distract Villanueva’s flabby ass is a gigantic hamburger plastered under the hoop. Just another example of corporate America ruining the essence of anything worthwhile.

Also, I like Mr. D just as much as the next guy but damn, permanent patches on every players jersey and the name on the court? I don’t think he would have even wanted all of that. The name looks cool on the court but as a player I wouldn’t even want to step on it. I’d avoid it like a grave site and that would make for tricky defense.

I know man. That’s like putting a gianormous kit kat bar under the Lakers’ hoop for Odom to ogle.

that game was really frustrating, but that’s going to happen sometimes with a completely new team. I guess the good news is that they played shitty and were still in the game with 5 minutes remaining.

ball movement, non-existent in the second half, seemed to be a lot better the other night. I hope rip doesn’t miss too many games.

I was impressed with james harden even though he missed all of his shots. he passed really well, which was surprising, and generally looked like he knows what he’s doing.

Excellent recap, MP.

In the beginning of the season (aka last game) I was surprised by how much chemistry this team seemed to have and how comfortable they were playing together. After seeing the third quarter of last night’s game though, I think it is obvious that they do not quite trust each other yet offensively yet. Once they do can do that, and CV finds his shot, this is going to be a wicked offense. Its nice because we have seen that they will be able to make it work, but not its ceiling as far as effectiveness goes. Kind of hard to be pessimistic at the moment (about the offense at least).

re: the pink headbands

October is breast cancer awareness month, so maybe that’s why?

I second the kudos for Tayshaun. He was clearly limping and did a decent job on Durant and a good job on Rudy Gay.

My hope for next year is that Daye bulks up enough to handle some minutes at the 4.

Stuckey had a bad game but I feel comfortable with our PGs and SGs. I’m comfortable with Tayshaun and Daye. I’m comfortable with Ben and Kwame. It’s the 4 spot that needs to pick it up. CV and Maxiell.

I’m confident that CV is a huge upgrade over Sheed on offense simply becuase he can put it on the floor (however slowly). It’s enough of an added element to put pressure on the defense. But, he’s every bit the bad defender he’s reported to be right now. It’s going to take a season of Ben Wallace to get him where he needs to be.

As for Maxiell, I don’t know what to say…

Also, did you guys see this? Looks like the Bynumite thing is working out:

http://www.garrettelliott.com/bynumite.jpg

I am pretty pleased with Little Ben’s defense thus far. CV on the other hand…

CV’s defense is as good as advertised, unfortunately. His screen setting seems to be hit or miss. He whiffed on a few of them but on one of Little Ben’s baskets CV put somebody on his ass. Didn’t see who the victim was but it’s good to know the man can set good screens when he wants to. Now we need him to want to more consistently.

I’m also at a loss about Maxy. He looks completely lost and has no confidence in his game. Good news for pro lifers, bad news for the Pistons and those of us who want to see babies eaten.

I think one good thing can be taken from Stuckey’s bad overall performance – he’s learning how to get calls.

I can’t remember the last time he even had 7 free throws, let alone 13 (and he made 12 of them). We’ve all established that he needs to take a page from Bynum and Gordon on how to finish his drives (I think he should lose a few pounds – just look at his cheeks – and dunk more, but that’s just me), but at least he’s finally getting to the stripe. Perhaps its better officiating, but I can’t even fathom to remember the countless times he would drive to the rim, crash into a defender, miss the layup and get nothing in return.

Mike I think you should also note that ball movement was pretty bad. A collective 12 assists speaks for itself. Also pump fakes, that game would have been in the bad if OKC didn’t get all those blocks in the 4th. I think Stuck alone got his shot blocked twice in the fourth quarter.

How about rebounding? It seems a bit concerning that in 61 minutes, Maxiel, CV and Sir Kwame got only 10 boards. I didn’t actually watch the game except for the 4th quarter, so I can’t really speak as to how active they looked. But seriously, this is ridiculous. Hopefully Big Ben can teach CV how to use the force and command rebounds into his psyche.

This is a bit off topic, but what do you guys think the chance of Dyess returning as a mentor when he retires is? With Big Ben and Dyess as mentors, I think even The Hairless Wonder can become an above average rebounder with his hops.

@bmr007

Agreed, CV should be averaging 8 boards a game as a starter with his length and athleticism. He needs to learn that doing the dirty work is just as important as scoring. I hope Big Ben can teach him how to attack rebounds instead of waiting for them to fall in his lap. I don’t know if he has the will to become a good rebounder though.

Joel, I concede you were right on the Thunder convo. They’re not beating themselves and they’re playing efficiently. I dunno if they’re in the playoff picture in the West yet (there was a huge gap between the haves and have-nots in the West last year), but they’re on the right track.

Wolf, you’re somehow managing to be a bigger douchebag than the real Wolf Blitzer. And come back at me with your “Oh no you didn’t!” attack if you want, I’ll just ignore it. Your shit’s played out.

I think CV is still a bit behind because of the time he missed in preseason. If he catches up and gives the Pistons what he gave Milwaukee last year at PF it should solve a lot of problems. If he improves, Detroit can be very good.

TrueHoop has been talking a lot about ‘teams with two players who can’t shoot on the floor are bad’ with stats guru Wayne Winston and I think Detroit has lots of those combinations with Kwame, Big Ben, and Maxiell. I had hoped Maxiell would develop that little elbow jumper like McDyess but it doesn’t seem to be there on a consistent basis.

Individually it’s not a suprise if Kwame, Big Ben, and Maxiell don’t score. If they don’t score 15 pts. collectively, the Pistons are probably going to lose.

Joe I think 15 points really isn’t a reach for this team. Problem with last night was lack of ball movement, not just the frontcourt’s offensive weaknesses. If the ball was moved across the court frequently, it would have opened holes in the lane for easy passes to the post. I think Kwame is generally strong enough to finish once he gets the ball, the trouble is getting the ball there in such a way he can handle the pass. He is much better with lobs and bounce passes than bullets, and those will only result in a turnover if the lane is clogged.

bmr007 – I think the ball movement is harder when the frontline defense can cheat into the passing lanes knowing the guy their guarding can’t shoot. And Big Ben and Max aren’t that tall so you can front them easier with a bigger player and still deny the entry pass so it makes ball movement even harder. It’s just hard to be great on offense when the defense knows only 3 players can create and shoot well.

At least this year’s draft is supposed to be laden with big men. Should this team make the lottery, even the #10 pick would bring a solid player. I believe Brook Lopez was taken 10th overall, so you never know what kind of talent could slip a few picks.

I was at the game last night…great crowd.

The officiating was terrible…

The Pistons could of played better but if the officiating was more even we would of won.

I missed the game last night so thanks for that recap.

One question. I noticed Daye only logged a minute or so of PT. I would think having him on the court could help with the lack of scoring problem from the bigs (it’s strange that I refer to Daye as a big). That said I suppose the defense liability of having him on the court might outweigh any damage he could do on the offensive end.

I don’t think that was a good situation to put him into. There’s no way you can put him on Durant, that’s just not fair, and he doesn’t have the quickness to keep up with a shooting guard just yet.

I expect to see Daye play more tonight. Delfino is stronger than he is, but at best is an average player and Mbah Amoute is more of a defensive stopper than scorer. Really all you can expect of him is to hit open jumpers and use his length to harass weak 3s; anything else is bonus until he gets to around 220 pounds or so.

I really don’t want to complain about the refing after the replacements during preseason, but wtf guys?

“Boston’s Big Three (Rondo, Pierce and Allen) continue to dominate, while that familiar looking fellow in jersey number 30 with the afro hasn’t appeared to mean much in the regular season.”

- spot on hah, ’sheed already took about 21 3 point attemps in 3 games, I guess Boston is content paying him MLE just to stand behind 3 point line and launch the bombs, I watched celtics game last night, he doesnt even jump for rebounds anymore, its funny.

No Rip; CV had a bad shooting night — actually, the whole team had a bad shooting night (37%); a horrid assist-TO ratio of 12-15; total rebounds close but still lower than the opposition (and even in offensive rebounds despite the bad shooting. The bright side definitely was Ben Wallace.

I’m hoping CV gets into a groove, at least offensively; Rip coming back will help; and it’s realistic to think that Daye and Jerebko will help some down the road.

The worrying signs are what we all know about: too much of the offense is one-on-one guard play, which is inherently streaky even with good guards; and the defense is suspect, especially when Ben W. isn’t on the floor.

“I just know this: He texted me last month that Chase Budinger was for real; two years ago, I would have mocked him. This year? I nodded. Absolutely. Chase Budinger. Why not? I have learned not to bet against Dork Elvis.” – bill simmons talking about rockets GM daryl morey

I sure hope budinger isn’t the second rounder who develops into a real player.

it says here

http://www.fanhouse.com/news/main/durant-stars-in-thunders-91-83-win-over/745936?icid=sphere_newsaol_inpage_fanhouse2

that the pistons had zero assists in the fourth quarter last night.

So, for those who worried about the low number of assists during the preseason, is it OK to be more worried now?

Nah, I say wait until they’ve played 10 games with Rip in the lineup. There was much better ball movement in the first game, I think people underrate him as a passer and an impact player in general.

@TJ:
I still think it’s too soon. In spite of a terrible second half last night, I’ve been impressed with the team’s ball movement under Kuester, even if it hasn’t been reflected in a large number of assists from our guards. Once CV assimilates and the guards get used to using him in the post and perimeter, we’ll naturally see a few more assists per game. Charlie himself is a good passer, he averaged 2 assists a game last season.

Let’s assume Villanueva will average 12 attempts per game (he had 14 last season, Sheed took 13 in his heyday). Let’s assume he converts on 5.5 of them. Last season, 65% of Charlie’s baskets were assisted. That means Charlie will receive 3.5 assists per game this season. Since he averaged 2 per game last year, it’s safe to assume Charlie will represent a total of 5.5 assists per game.

Having only made six shots so far this season and having dished out just one dime, Villanueva is far below filling that 5.5 assists rep’d average.

Tangential, I know, but still— just one example on why we have a low assist number, and how it’ll likely improve in time.

Also, the Denver Nuggets are averaging less assists per game than the Pistons are in 2 games this season. And they have that one guy.

I now feel somewhat better, although M.P., please tell me you had already done some of that number crunching before and didn’t just come up with all that in five minutes.

@TJ:
I’d like to say that I did the number crunching before, but I just did this now. All the details are easy to look up though, just a quick visit to 82games.com and a stats llc publisher (in this case yahoo sports), and you’re golden.

Brandon Jennings gets 10+ assists in tonight’s game. Calling it.

I think Charlie V’s defense will get better when his offense kicks into gear. He’s probably just frustrated that his shots aren’t going in. Or hitting the rim. Or the backboard. Offensive-minded guys like that always get fired up if they can get a few and get in the groove, and suddenly their D picks up as well.

Mike P., you are the man. Now let’s hope you can crunch some really good numbers after the game tonight.

@Garrett:
I’m expecting 20 and 10 out of Villanueva tonight. Well, I’m hoping for that anyway. A week ago he said, "I’m definitely looking forward to October 31, it’s a date circled on my calendar." His first game back in Milwaukee could be the push he needs to show us why we paid him, at least on offense.

After missing most of the preseason and coming out sluggish, right about now would be the perfect time to break out.

@TJ:
Now let’s hope you can crunch some really good numbers after the game tonight.

No doubt, man. It’ll be awesome to see what this team can accomplish when, well… ahh fuck it. When it’s pistons are firing on all cylinders. (hate that expression).

@MFMP: That would be sweet. He’s on my fantasy team. :D