Detroit Pistons fire John Kuester, begin search for replacement

(although I still don’t see what great offensive flow we would have had if he hadn’t

This was as much a failure of Kuester as it was Prince, although Kuester didn’t have much else to work with at small forward. Detroit had one of the absolute slowest paces in the game last season, but they were a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of offensive efficiency. Increasing the pace could have added more wins, and it appeared that Tayshaun was the lynchpin of this sluggish offense.

Tay sported a career-high usage rate this season, being a central factor for nearly a quarter of all possessions when he was on court. Tay also logged the most minutes per game (and total minutes played). Given both, no player had a greater impact on pacing than Prince.

Of the 17 possessions per game where Prince made the final play (loosely estimated as fga’s + fta/2 + assists), let’s say 8 or 9 of those had Prince playing a point role and attempting either an isolation play or a pass out of a locked position just inside the perimeter (the actual number was higher, because we can’t say for sure how many passes didn’t result in a basket). On those possessions, Tay either dribbled out shot clock or held the ball at length before dishing it off to a player with little time left to execute. Either that or he attempted an isolation play against a defense that had set itself four or five seconds before. Logically, that doesn’t make for a very productive playbook, especially given that pacing was one of our greatest weaknesses in 2010-11. He was simply not the man for the job as an offensive centerpiece or point forward.

The problem with using Tay as the Pistons’ top option on offense is the opportunity cost. Namely, Greg Monroe. You have a guy who is shooting at a blinding level of efficiency, killing it on the offensive glass and is well-known as an astute passer. Prince may have been the Pistons most used player (top in mpg and fga’s), but Monroe was clearly more effective in the time allotted. Take some of that burn away from Prince, increase the pace and push the ball through Monroe on more possessions, and many problems with this team would have been lessened, albeit marginally.

Furthermore, Tay wasn’t just over-rated on defense this season, the team was at its worst on defense with Tay on the court. His defensive impact was so poor and his offense was so average that he didn’t do the Pistons any favors during his time on the court.

Then you’ve got Greg Monroe. In terms of on-court production, Monroe had the greatest impact on the team’s offense and it’s defense. His o/d-ratings were the team’s best in both directions, and he was one of two players on the team with a positive margin between o-rating and d-rating. His o-rtg/d-rtg margin was +11, and everyone else on the team had a negative impact, save for Chris Wilcox. Tay, for example, was -7.

The guy just didn’t do much to help our offense this season, and was given way too much burn when there were better options on the team.

with him?

Yeah, Sampson also has over a decade of head coaching experience in college. Mark Jackson is the only one without ever having had a head coaching job…or any coaching job whatsoever for that matter…well, I guess we know who our next coach is gonna be!