You know how we’ve more or less accepted Nazr Mohammed’s return as the de facto starting center? That may not happen. According to Chris McCosky, Flip Saunders is actually learning toward using Rasheed Wallace in the middle, with Antonio McDyess starting along side him. From McCosky’s blog:
Nothing is etched in stone, of course. But, after talking to Flip Saunders, the plan going into training camp is to have Antonio McDyess playing power forward alongside Rasheed Wallace on the first unit. McDyess, who turned 33 last Friday, has already been told to prepare for that possibility. He has come back to Detroit a month early to get a head start on his conditioning, something he hasn’t done since his knee surgeries.
The move makes sense on several levels. Wallace needs a high-energy player alongside of him, particularly early in games. We saw that last year, as the team consistently sputtered out of the gate with Nazr Mohammed and Chris Webber.
Honestly, that’s my ideal starting lineup, I just figured it’d never happen given Wallace’s reluctance to play center and McDyess’ preference for coming off the bench. Plus, the news that McDyess has a head start on his conditioning should help him avoid opening the year ice cold until he plays himself into shape as he’s done in the past.
As McCosky notes later in his post, Wallace has been working out at the team’s facility all summer and has lost 25 pounds since the end of last season. That’s impressive and should certainly help his mobility, though here’s to hoping it doesn’t affect his ability to bang with the bigs down low.
The most obvious benefit, though, is that this should open up that much more playing time for Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell:
Also by starting McDyess, it allows Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson, the young guys, to provide the energy off the bench — which makes sense. To accomodate (sic) Johnson’s talents, the Pistons might have to turn that second unit loose. Because Johnson struggles in structured sets, Saunders may have to let loose the reins and allow Johnson, Maxiell, Rodney Stuckey and Jarvis Hayes to run and gun a bit. That will be fun to watch.
I haven’t seen Johnson enough to know how much he “struggles in structured sets,” but I do know that he runs the floor extremely well for a big man, so playing to his strengths with a little run-and-gun would probably be the best thing for the second unit no matter what. Earlier this week, McCosky theorized that Maxiell might actually be a starter, but it seems that’s been superseded by Saunders’ latest comments.
On a side note, big thanks to the up-and-coming PistonsBlog for pointing out McCosky’s post. Turns out he’s actually been writing all week, and I have a feeling I’m not the only one who missed it due to his blog’s lack of RSS. (You’re almost there, Detroit News! Adding links to individual posts was a huge step, don’t give up now!)
Not a bad idea, just too bad that the first game of the season he won’t be playing because of his antics in the Conference Finals with Cleveland.
Thanks Matt for posting this. I don’t really read McCosky, so this just made me feel alot better about the season. I was really worried that Flip was going to start Nazr and that would make Amir only have 5 or so minutes per game.
It also appears Flip isn’t afraid to try other things and seems to be commited to the young guys. Since he said last year was supposed to be the year of the young guys but that was a lie. So hopefully we’ll have 4 or 5 guys coming off the bench (I hope 5 since I like Afflalo).
Can I admitt that I just touched myself in a bad place in response to this news? (okay just kidding but still this is freaking AMAZING)…
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE say this is true rather than just McCosky talking nonsense because I freaking swear this makes us favorites in the East and gives us even footing with the top teams in the West, at least in my mind.
This is without a doubt the best Piston’s news I’ve heard all off-season…
I’ll believe it when I see it but it for sure gets me excited. I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed for this to happen. It will really make it easy for Maxiell and Johnson to get minutes.
This is fantastic. We’d literally have 2 teams. The first would probably regain the “best starting 5″ status, and the second would be a sloppier version of Nellieball (hopefully). We could seriously change gears and go grind it out or go run and gun. Want to run with the first unit, change out McDyess and Billups with Amir and Stufkey, done. This unlocks a lot of advantageous player combinations. This makes my tingly bits… um… tingle.
This sounds like a great idea, but I’ll believe it when I see it (or hear it from the Pistons coaching staff or front office). It does, however, make a lot of sense…
You know what else is awesome (and yes I lie awake at 3 AM thinking of things like this and then run down to post about them on internet forums… no really)? The fact that this could revive Nazr’s career. Think about it for a second:
A) Wallace + Dyess means the Pistons can primarily employ the celebrated collapsing inside defence we used to call the Wallace Wall. This type of defence is particularly effective vs the types of players Nazr has trouble dealing with (read fast and with moves in the paint)…
B) If Mohammed is willing to accept a backup role he’d likely be checking in against players who were tired OR backups who are less likely to be as athletically gifted. That should make it WAY easier for him to stay infront of the guy he’s guarding, which in turn accents his strengths (his physical size, power and rebounding).
C) There’s absolutely no reason we couldn’t play Nazr more when facing an opponent with a “Strong as a bull” power center. Those types of players can be tough to collapse on anyways because the ensuing contact could be called either way (charge or blocking). Nazr would ideally be fresh come playoff time to wear out someone like Shaq for 30 mins of every game just by banging with him.
D) If he really wants to go someplace where he can start full time, that means we’re going to have to trade him. Joe doesn’t seem prepared to do that for “nothing” which means Nazr is going to have to prove he’s worth “something” before he gets a ticket out of here. There is no WAY he can reasonably expect Detroit to just buy him out. Being a key stopper off the bench and having ABC tell everyone that you’ve been brought in just to stop player XXX did wonders for Kurt Thomas’s career, why coudln’t a high profile role like that help Mohammed’s value?
Now all the team has to do is convince Nazr to buy into coming off the bench in a specialist role and using his energy to his advantage. Sounds like rings all round to me, seriously… Nazr might not be a great starting 5 but DIZAM if he isn’t the best backup 5 in the East at least on paper, if he buys in.
A non-rhetorical question: Is this move right for Rasheed? Rolling out to the three-point line is a major part of his game. I’m in favor of clipping his three-point attempts a bit, but starting at center will eliminate them right? Is he gonna get crabby?
I’m getting more excited the more time I have to dwell on this. Come on Sheed make it happen. Do it for your movie at least.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0906727/
Didn’t Nazr used to be a backup center to Rasho in San Antonio? If he weren’t willing to accept such a designation (assuming it came with a return to reasonable minutes in the rotation), he would lose all the credibility he gained as a sympathetic victim when getting all the DNP-CDs. I don’t really care who starts as long as Dice gets more minutes (including clutch minutes) than Nazr. The most important thing that I believe we’ve all touched on, is for the first time in a long while we feel like we have a handful of bench players that we (and hopefully Flip) feel comfortable putting into the game in place of the starters who can handle business.
There’s something else I think we all can agree on, how awesome is it that Indiana University football is 3-0?!?!? Seriously, I don’t have to care about that team we all care about (and as a kid I did, believe me), because my alma mater is finally showing signs of a program that can be .500 (and beyond?). Bring on Illinois next week. Yeah, we stole Eric Gordon from you in hoops (and man is that gonna suck for them), why don’t you cry? It’s probably the only thing good about the state of Indiana, it’s Indiana University.
@saikiin,
I think the bigger issue is Rasheed’s willingness to defend the 5. He’ll still be able to free lance a bit on offense because the other team will dictate the match up. For example, against teams without a mobile center, they’ll likely stick their 5 on Dyess and put the more athletic man on Rasheed. If Sheed comes into the paint, they’ll probably switch off.
This would also be advantageous against bigger guys like Biendrins to draw them away from the rim and keep them from doing what they do best or the other team risks putting too small a man on Sheed.
Fwiw, what Other Matt just said is pretty much Okur’s entire game and it seems to work fine for him.
I think Saunders is on the right track with this decision. It’s not always as easy as just tossing your best 5 players out there to start the game. In the Pistons case, however, their best 5 players are fully capable of filling each of the 5 positions, and doing it well. Even if Rasheed Wallace isn’t a true center, he’ll do a better job of it than Nazr. As far as Wallace banging down low, maybe he has lost 25 pounds, but hopefully that means he’s just toned up a little more and maintained his strength. I also think McDyess will get over his “starting-superstition”. All that being said, a lot of what is going on here also depends on how well the young guys play. If Johnson and Maxiell aren’t logging quality minutes, you have to think about going back to Nazr as the starter and Dyess off the bench. I’m certainly excited to see what happens, but I like where Flip’s head is at, and I think the starters will do well.
Didn’t you all see how Rasheed played defense in th epaint against Lebron? Many times he just stood and watched, or took a step back and watched. He may not be willing to mix it up and punish drivers to the rim.
can Rasheed protect the rim? I don’t think he’s interested!
This really makes little difference. Its who finishes games not who starts them. Many teams have nominal starting centers (like R.Nesterovic) who play till the first break and then are functional backups for the rest of the game. Nazr was headed for this role. Starting Dyess is just a symbolic move of little importance.
So when is Joe going to trade Nazr for 3 nobody-level players with 2 or 1 years left on their deals which equal Nazr’s amount in trade? If they’re not using him, this needs to close. Tick-tock, Joe.