Earlier this week, Antonio McDyess said this about the Pistons’ needs:
“We need a pretty much another energy player, you know, Lindsay we are pretty much saving him for the playoffs or whatever. You can tell Lindsay is a big difference coming off the bench with his energy. Just having another energy player, probably another big, that can be the fourth or fifth big or whatever. I’m not the G.M. I’m just talking and throwing things out there, who knows. I’m pretty sure that is something that can help us because when we have lack of energy that’s when we’re in trouble. When we have that energy we’re at our best.”
Enter Amir Johnson. If one game is any indication, he appears to have officially cracked the rotation. He came into last night’s game in the second quarter — mind you, only the second time since November that he’s played before the fourth — and put up five points, five boards and two blocks in 15 minutes. He also had two fouls, but you can live with that (or at least I can) given everything else he did. From the Freep:
“Every time I come in — I don’t get a lot of opportunities to play — but every time I come in, I’m just looking to play hard no matter what,” Johnson said. “Just do the garbage stuff. Grab rebounds, block shots and just work on the shots I take in practice.”
He may call it “garbage stuff,” but his teammates love what he brings to the table:
“What he brings, we need,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “We need somebody who is keeping the ball alive on the glass. Putbacks. Those are things he does in his sleep. He’s just a blessed enough athlete that he can do that.”
Granted, I’m not sure what finally clicked and made the coaching staff notice, but it seems that even Flip Saunders is convinced that more Amir is a good thing:
“I called Joe (Dumars) and I said we need to establish another big in there,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said, recounting a conversation from Tuesday. “I just thought the way Amir had practiced, things he’d done, his length, blocking shots, I thought he was a guy we’d start giving some minutes to see what he’d do in the right situation.
“I thought he was dynamite.”
What’s with my silly title? It’s a nod to George Blaha, who’s also officially on the bandwagon. DBB reader Keegan pointed out Blaha’s column today at Pistons.com:
He doesn’t have the same game as Rasheed and Dice and Jason have. It’s a little bit different. He is the kind of guy who – much like Jason Maxiell in this aspect – is full of boundless energy. And here’s a guy who is absolutely thrilled to be on the court. He is like a young pup just rarin’ to go. At this stage of the season, when the opposition has somebody like that unleashed upon them, it’s got to be very difficult for them. This guy is like a bolt out of the blue. He’s going to be helpful more often than not.
…
I just think his upside could be so terrific that we might not see the top of it immediately. He has a chance to be a guy who’s not your average bear. He has a chance to make headlines. And – on some nights – he has a chance to be a game-changer right now.
I’m not sure I’ve crammed this much positive press about one player in a post in years (and I admit, I’m probably over over-doing it), but this is something a lot of fans have been waiting for (just so long as, you know, all this PT isn’t coming because he’s being shopped or something …)
Let’s hope my paranoia is just that. Fears of shopping aside, let me tell you that all this news has made me even more excited to watch each and every Pistons game that is on its way.
As a fan, I catch the same January doldrums that our team typically goes through. With 82 games, I don’t get nuts about each and every game we play. But this news has led me to clean out my Tivo, fire up my League Pass schedule, and start giving my girlfriend more excuses as to why I can’t do dinner with her friends…
Amir for President.
I know what you mean — I’m pretty bummed that I’ll be out of town and missing tomorrow’s game …
I feel you, Matt. If its any consolation, I know a great website where you can read smart live-game commentary by Pistons fans when you’re on the road. Check it out here:
http://www.detroitbadboys.com.
Amir’s play might decide whether Joe deals for another answer. If the Amir experiment goes swimmingly, then they have a partial answer to those energy problems the P’s periodically have. If it doesn’t work, then it’s time to deal.
The Need For Sheed girl is apparently going to be on WDFN’s Off the Court tonight, for anyone within earshot.
Question: Can you only put 12 players on the playoff roster? If so, who would you leave off? Cheick and Flip are locks barring and injury. But who would be the third?
Lindsey’s D will be too valuable in the playoffs.
Hermann is too versatile.
Brezec is one of the few true centers on the team.
Hayes? Afflalo? Stuckey?
My guess is Brezec.
Amir is the sixth-highest paid player on the Pistons.
I guess being a victory cigar comes at a premium in this city.
Sauce, that was almost a haiku…
Amir Johnson, man
who gets a ton of love here
Billups plays for who?
This is OT and a bit random but doesn’t Delfino look like Jude Law in enemy at the gates minus the sniper rifle.
He resembles Jude Law a little, but I always thought he’d make a good Edward Scissorhands if it weren’t for the nose. He’d also play a great vampire, just has that gothic look down pretty well.
ON MLK day last year, I came home from my internship and threw on the highlights of the Stones game…and I got chills seeing Cwebb in street clothes sitting in the front row. He was going to be the next piece in the Pistons’ puzzle. He was going to act as a catalyst just like the mid-season Sheed acquisition proved to be. Cwebb’s first 8-10 games got me excited….then as the season progressed, we became a stagnant offense as we routinely dumped the ball down into cwebb for his patented 6-8 second back-down hook-shot over the already set double-team.
While he was an exceptional passer and hometown boy, the unfortunate injuries and wear & tear on his knees really hurt his ability to play any form of what is known as ‘defense’ in the game of basketball. He was a sitting duck in the paint, consistently attacked by opposing players. His defensive weakness really lead to the whole elephant-in-the-room issue that when the Pistons players asked at work if they had “Geico”, their HR department told them that Geico didn’t have any insurance plans that extended coverage to employees who worked with co-workers that had such open and obvious dangerous liablities.
I’m a Michigan guy, so I have a soft-spot for Webber and what he did with the fab five and that whole little minor time-out deal that occurred a few years ago– but there is no way the organization moves Amir to make room for webber.
Amir being only 19-20 years old, (pardon the Bilas moment) his upside is tremendous. He has the ability to positively affect and completely change the dynamics of the game- and you can tell by the way he plays the game that he’s not doing so for personal glory or stats. Amir plays with a determination to prove himself to a veteran core of solid teammates and to earn their respect. You can’t ask any more of a kid.
Don’t look now, but I’m loving Blaha’s take on the situation.
I also would not be surprised in the least to find out that despite the Saunders’ pseudo-mullet making the claim that he went to Joey D requesting more playing time for Amir, it’s more like the other way around. Dumars (like the rest of us), cringed at the staleness of the team, and (unlike the rest of us) he quietly made a move to expand the rotation of players from the team that he so carefully assembled. Dumars likely even told the Pseudo-mullet to spin it any way he wanted to, which is why we have that little quote nugget of Saunders floating around with him playing off the Amir decision as one of his own.
Sorry for the long-winded opinion on the scenario, but my passion for everything Stones kinda makes me not just a hardcore fan, but a professional, just like the pro’s at Wall-side windows.
Very well said Wolf Blitzer. And tayshaun is a pro just like the pros at wallside windows http://youtube.com/watch?v=QtA0v2Wd4lM
Matt Watson- I was listening to 1130 AM a couple hours ago and founder of “Need4Sheed.com” was being interviewed (I believe her name is Natalie). And she kind of promoted your blog on the radio, just thought you should know you got a “Free” promotion. haha
Diablo: oh nice, thanks for the head’s up. Natalie is good people, that was nice of her …
Wolf Blitzer - I like most of what you said. I grew up on the Fab Five as well, so I share that soft spot for Webber. And everyone knows that the people at Wallside Windows are pros when it comes to insulating homes for that tough Detroit winter. But I have to disagree on the Joe told Flip conspiracy theory. I take the Flip-Joe exchange at their word and I am heartened by the whole thing.
If there was an NBA coach who wouldn’t get in the way of adjustments that create success for the team, Flip Saunders would be high on my list for that coach. Maybe he doesn’t make the best in-game adjustments, but he’s not a “my way or highway” type coach unwilling to listen to others. He’s never put himself in front of the team (*ahem* Larry Brown *ahem*) and although he is oft accused here of not getting fired up enough, he could never be called a quiet, strict disciplinarian, man-of-few words type (*ahem* Rick Carlisle *ahem*). I admit it (for the millionth time), I kinda like this guy.
I’m starting to genuinely believe that Flip Saunders didn’t play a huge rotation in the past because he got tentative with its below-average production. Now the bench carries immense depth and (once again thanks to Amir) signs of life. Is it impossible to think Flip changed his stripes? I’m willing to believe he did. He’s not Larry Brown.
OT: Phil Jackson was the guest on PTI today and in a complete 180 from his position he took post-2004 Finals in his book “The Last Season”, when asked who he thought the best team was in the NBA he said the Pistons. Absolutely floored me. If you ever read “The Last Season”, you’d know Phil essentially goes out of his way to blame chemistry and injuries for the Lakers’ loss. He generally says anything that takes credit away from the Pistons. I’ve always really admired Phil Jackson’s coaching methods, accomplishments, and liked his style, but I always found his dismissal of the ‘03-’04 Pistons’ achievements troubling. I’m willing to give Phil a second chance on this one and I’m happy to hear him give us some much deserved praise. I mean, maybe he just hated Ben. Could you really blame him? I kid, I kid.
You give a guy dap
for everything he could do
his name is Maxiell.
Flip the script he has
Causing you to consider
Cheikh Samb is he next?
I want to win now
We don’t need no Chris Webber
Maxiell is the man
The season began
with a five word hopeful chant:
bench. bench. bench. bench. bench.
not my best one.
It’s okay Rob G
I have clacked a bunch of shit
back at my e-house.
All of you are safe
provided you give Maxiell
a much larger cut
sauce, your wisdom is
like water from a fountain.
It flows forever.
Jason and Amir:
glass cleaned, boards scraped– victory.
small humans consumed.
Call played (mullet twitch).
Chauncey pump fake for the win,
Boston youth weakness.
and one for Laywer Boy:
So, Perk is a beast?
Bad rhymes meet Piston haikus:
Boston falls in six.
Leftover babies.
Hey you guys, can I eat those?
It’s Amir. Welcome!
LB,
i’m afraid i agree with Wolf Blitzer on this one. i’m not sure joe is right now forcing flip to start playing amir, but two years of ignoring the bench, followed by a pretty well documented ultimatum doesn’t really lead me to believe that flip has changed his stripes.
WB,
totally agree with your assessment of webber. that is exactly how i remember it too. be careful though. you say anything bad about him and people are bound to point out his great passing and situational iq. despite the fact that these two attributes seem to routinely escape him when it really matters.
“I called Joe (Dumars) and I said we need to establish another big in there,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said, recounting a conversation from Tuesday. so I guess it has been joe d that’s been nailing amir’s tail to the bench these last couple of years.does anyone really believe that?
everything thats happened so far seems to indicate joe d has taken some control and explained to flip the need to find out what players can and can’t do.
if this is true,i think it will be funny if flip finds the success hes been looking for because joe d forced him to be a little less stubborn
And, look, we know Sacramento got hosed in its finals series with the Lakers (enough to bring Mr. Nader out of the woodwork to complain), but we also know that if CWebb had shown up to play in the second half of that series, the result still might have been different. If maybe he had considered doing something whenever passed the ball other than look scared for 4 or 5 seconds before desperately passing to somebody else in lieu of taking a shot himself, in lieu of taking control, in lieu of taking a risk or two. And, years later, I don’t think that’s changed. I’d rather develop Johnson and Maxiell and hope for youth than rely on Webber.
Sure, maybe Webber could be useful in an advisory capacity, but I can’t see either
1. Paying him.
2. Allowing him to play.
3. Making room on the roster for him.
But, then, if Our Holy Joe D doth decide that it’s time to bring Webber back, then I’ll give him every chance I can. I won’t stop hating on him for destroying UM’s basketball program (and not with the timeout, either) or for spending last year’s playoffs unconscious, but I’ll give him every chance to show me he can still play.
I just don’t get what Flip accomplishes (even if it’s with Joe’s blessing), by reversing the chain of events. Call me naive, I’m still buying Flip’s word.
ok ,lawyerboy,you’re naive.lol.looking at flips record ,in minny and here, of not playing his bench, or going more than 7-8 deep with his bench, it seems something has motivated flip to adopt and hopefully prosper.
I’m not sure what Flip would get out of lying about telling Joe he needed another big man, but why would he have to go to Joe to put Amir in the rotation? If anything, the conversation probably went something like flip asking for more help, and Joe telling him to use what he had. I like that Flip has inserted Herrmann and Brezec to see what they can offer the team, but it’s classic that he tightened the rotation as soon as tough times hit. I love that we’re playing so well now, but I’m seeing the same conclusion to this season as last, with Flip turning to a 7 man rotation come crunch time, and chauncy and tay running out of gas in the play offs. I would really like to see a more confident 2nd unit. Which means letting them play through funks and maybe losing some january/february games.
It may not be about what Mulletman gets out of being able to say that, even if it isn’t true.
It’s what Joe D gets. The ability to continue talking to CW in case Amir isn’t ready.
One theory, anyway.
while i’m not saying he is being dishonest, i do think he has a lot to gain from making it look like his idea. he makes it look like he has faith in amir (despite all season thus far displaying blatant surprise at calls for amir to get playing time), and it directly attacks the critics that say flip is hesitant to play the bench.
lastly, this part of the quote just constantly sticks in my head:
“I called Joe (Dumars) and I said we need to establish another big in there,”
ok, let me get this straight. Joe famously told Flip this summer to play the bench or he’s done. Joe famously told amir johnson that this year he wouldn’t see any more DNP-CD’s. Now, months later, we’ve struggled a tiny bit, Flip has decided Joe was right, but it’s all Flip’s idea? Either he’s smartly taking credit for a move he has little choice in, or he’s an incredible fool who seems (at least) three months behind the learning curve.
3 months behind. Although 2nd all time for pistons wins? That’s gotta count for something, although on a respect level, he’s light years behind Daly. Does anyone see him coaching here in another 3 years?
One thing to consider: we’re not at practices, only at games. How has Amir done in practice? Or (shades of Iverson) doesn’t that matter?
no way he’s here in three years unless he wins a championship.
i know he’s won a lot and it’s weird to criticize a coach who wins so often. However, this is a team that could make the playoffs in it’s sleep and should have at least one more championship under it’s belt. Besides, when the coaching job is such a revolving door, as it is here, having that many wins is more of a testament to opportune timing than anything else.
i’ve never bought the practice argument. it’s virtually un-verifiable and therefore an easy excuse. how many practices have they even had in the last month? Haven’t they only had one or two since Stuckey came back? Does it really take only one practice to overcome what must have been months of bad ones?
Sorry to be the ardent devil’s advocate guys, but I’m still not convinced. If Joe set the mandate to play the bench out in the first place (during the offseason) why wouldn’t Flip consult Joe if Flip wanted to add Amir into the rotation? It’s certainly not a stupid move in terms of respecting hierarchy. If Joe has the power to make the mandate, he certainly has the power to veto Amir into the rotation. I don’t recall Joe making an Amir mandate this season other than “He’ll play more”, which he already had anyway before the last game. Amir was selected by Joe, and perhaps Joe wants to aggressively monitor the role Amir plays on this team. I think it’s totally plausible that Flip was just covering his bases. The last thing Flip would want is to get blamed for throwing Amir too early into the fire when he wasn’t ready and ruining another much-talked about draft pick the way Darko was ruined here.
Maybe he’s taking credit for something he didn’t do, I just don’t think he is. Maybe it’s just the LawyerBoy in me, but I’m still sticking to the word.
Also, to address what Kyle was saying, I’m fairly sure that teams essentially practice 2-5 times/week depending on how many games they have, so it’s utterly implausible that they’ve only had one or two since Stuckey came back (Dec. 21st, more than a month ago).
LB,
i appreciate your advocacy, it’s helping me rationalize this. The overwhelming story line since last summer was of Joe finally pressuring Flip to use the bench, which Flip has always resisted. Amir said himself that Joe told him over the summer he wouldn’t get any more DNP-CD’s. Now, Flip feeling the need to call Joe and request permission (or whatever he was doing) to play Amir seems a total illogical flip-flop of everything we know.
while it could certainly all be true on face value, it still doesn’t make sense to me. joe tells you to play amir for months, and then you decide to take his advice. so you call him and tell him that you came up with the idea?
and i could be totally wrong about the practice thing, but I was under the impression that the day before the Philly game they had a practice and made a big deal about it because they hadn’t had one in so long. i also thought that i’d read somewhere about how little practice time they had to integrate Stuckey and how he’d have to struggle through games without running over to Flip after each play to see what he did wrong.
i guess it’s this:
“If Joe has the power to make the mandate, he certainly has the power to veto Amir into the rotation.”
true, but if playing amir was part of the mandate (which, unless Amir is a liar, it was), why would you need to ask permission? is joe going to veto a player he’s been trying to get on the floor?
We must be reading the same articles, Kyle, since I was under the same impression. Maybe Matt could clear this up? And the DNP-CD’s were said to be over for Amir after a directive from Joe-D. Flip shouldn’t have to ask to not DNP-CD Amir.
Just another wrinkle, but no less than Chuck Daly said in the Freep that he didn’t agree with how much Flip was playing the bench: “I would play to win now, not to develop” (I might be paraphrasing).
yeah, i read that too. i also thought it was strange and short-sighted. Maybe there is a reason he’s not currently coaching.
interesting to me that daly might say that.when he was coach.he developed a bench 10 deep.in the 89-91years,when the “x” factor bench entered a game,usually as 1 unit, it was often a better unit than the other taems starting 5.they got that way by playing.not practicing.also, i read the same reports about limited practice time due to the hectic schedule.
It is sort of a big decision, though. You’re essentially moving this kid into the big-time, not just the mop-up minutes he’s usually relegated to. Amir missed a couple months of time where he could have been on the court gaining experience in Summer League due to the contract crap, and missed on-court experience in practices and preseason games due to his ankle. It probably really did add up to him being a couple of months behind physically and mentally (i.e. - the blown defensive assignments, general uncertainty). If he’s beyond that, and can consistently play with the energy he had in Philly the other night, this is all gravy for the Pistons.
His sound bytes are incredible. It sounds like he’s had hard work and optimism burned into his brain by the coaching staff and the other players. That’s probably what’s most exciting about him.
i’m hoping he gets time with the 1st unit,especially cb.it does no good for anyone to be on the floor with murray jacking up every shot in garbage time (maybe thats why lately its been murray dnp-cd).i would like to see this team continue to grow so come playoff its bench is able and confident.
I don’t remember anything about a mandate about the DNP-CDs being over. If that was stated, I missed it, or quickly forgot about it. It probably did happen seeing how little I trust my memory, but it would be a stupid mandate in my view anyway because even Maxiell got a number of DNP-CDs last year and everything is all fine on that end. Plus, it’s kind of silly to make a sweeping mandate like “no DNP-CDs” for Amir when we never knew what personnel moves we were going to make. We already traded Nazr for two guys who could legitimately take minutes (even if it’s a bad choice, especially Brezec) from Amir. Why make a mandate when you don’t even know who’s going to be on the team?
Anyway, I think we all agree that this is a good move and it’s coming at a good time and we hope that Amir sees solid burn tonight against the Magic.
one thing i’ve been meaning to bring up though is that Amir looked bigger to me against Philly than he did earlier in the season. Maybe the 76ers are small or he shrunk in my memory, but this is the first time i saw him play where i genuinely believed he could play the five.
shopping amir… really people Im disgusted. Amir is a great young talent and if we traded him we would get something huge in return. Darko sucks not because we “threw him into the fire” but because he has no fire. You need to play to get better bottom line.
I just don’t like flip as our coach. I think our success is in spite not because of him. Flip is just so status quo. he wins a lot of regular season games but never the whole enchilada. He doesnt develop young talent. my guess is that the debated quote is either a lie or more likely some sort of reverse ass kissing attempt. Geee boss I was just thiking today that your right.
We need to keep play the young guys more. if that is flip chaning his M.O. great.
I cant wait to see what happens leading up to the deadline… hopefully the cavs don’t get Kidd. Its looking less likely that we make a move… Should we consolidate some of the end of our bench? or do we let flip, herms, brezec, and hays contracts expire for some cap space. what do you think?