if we regularly get beat in the playoffs by dumber teams, obviously our greater iq doesn’t mean much. does a losing team with a high iq impress you?

Really though, you seem like a cool dude for the most part, we both love the same team, no reason to go back and forth like this. I appreciate basketball IQ, apparently you don’t. That’s cool, now let’s get on with the season. What do you think about this Mavs game coming up?

webber’s basketball iq didn’t help him from becoming a black hole on offense in the ecf’s. it didn’t keep sheed on horry in the ‘05 finals. it didn’t help sheed back up his big mouth against the heat in ‘06. it didn’t help him keep his composure against the cavs. we’ve had the most collective basketball iq in the league for years and it hasn’t helped us win any more championships. a better coach and a better bench did.

besides mr. “dumbest thing ever,” if sheed’s “high basketball iq” is so damn significant than why is he the current poster child for wasted opportunity? why hasn’t he learned how to deal with refs? why does rasheed hurt our team as much as he helps us? if that is what makes for a high basketball iq, then a high basketball iq evidently means nothing.

the last two years we were dominated in the playoffs by players with less than five years nba experience (d-wade, lebron). they didn’t dominate us because they have higher basketball iq’s than we did.

“basketball iq doesn’t impress me” -Kyle

Could be the dumbest thing I’ll ever hear a Pistons fan say in my life.

again, i’m not saying sheed isn’t great. he is, and he makes the entire team better. but sheed is a jack of all trades, master of none. i think a more one-dimensional, role player like a dwight howard or young shaq, somebody who lives and breathes in the paint, might help the team more.

As for a post guy that is willing to live in the paint for the whole game, well, there are a lot of those around the league. Question is, which one would you pick? IMO, Sheed’s “tramp ball”, interior defense, and general basketball IQ make Sheed, even at an old age, better than the rest of those guys. His ability to shoot from anywhere,along with McDyess’ 15-20 footers, give the Pistons what is essentially the most versatile starting front court in the league. Having some guy whose offense only comes in the paint would be giving us less options. Sure we have shooters, but no one else has a seven-foot shooter like Sheed. Plus, his post game is as solid as any other big man’s in the league, minus perhaps Tim Duncan’s.

Unfortunately, the question then becomes, with such a talented big man on your squad, why is the team not using him to the fullest advantage as they should be?

Your guess is as good as mine.

and just to throw this out there to stir the pot a little. on a team dripping with shooters i’m not sure that sheed is the best fit for us. wouldn’t someone willing to bang down low for an entire game help us more?

As far as someone else being able to “fill the hole” as Kyle said in Sheed’s absence, yes, I do think there are other big men that would give us enough to make us title contenders. As far as another big man with a skillset that can be compared to Sheed’s? Nope, not one comes to mind, no matter how long I think about it.

However, seeing how dominant we tend to be when we play inside out (this game and the Spurs game), it just seems stupid that we don’t do it more often. is that sheed’s fault for not getting low and demanding the ball? chauncey and rip’s for not getting it to him? flip’s for focusing too much on the perimeter players initiating?

also, i don’t think there are a lot of centers in the game today who bring what Sheed brings, but I’m not going to pretend that he’s the only one who could fill that hole for us to be successful. i also don’t let sheed off the hook for his temper. it’s great that he’s passionate and many refs (cough cough javie cough) obviously have it in for him, but too often his passion becomes a negative at the worst times. every time he has a melt down in the playoffs he might as well be putting up a white flag.

I’m not trying to make it sound like I worship the ground Rasheed walks on or don’t think he can do any wrong, but I will say that if Rasheed were to leave this team, we’d be up the river pretty far without any pattles in sight.