Just a few months ago, it was like pulling teeth just to get some members of the media to admit Amir Johnson even belonged in the rotation. Now? There are calls to turn him into a starter. From Terry Foster at the Detroit News (update: now, with new and improved fixed links!):
I love the idea of Antonio McDyess coming off the bench for the Pistons. He plays better off the bench, is more comfortable coming off the bench and can be a major spark against opponents’ second units. That is why the Pistons should entertain the idea of inserting Amir Johnson in the starting lineup.
He is ready. He has averaged 6.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, blocked 16 shots and shot 64 percent from the floor in his last nine games. He is a guy who makes things happen whenever he is on the floor.
Is he a top five player for the Pistons? Probably not. However, McDyess is a guy who can come off the bench and also finish games. To me it is more important for a guy like this to finish than start.
First and foremost, it’s not going to happen. McDyess is comfortable in the starting lineup and the Pistons have posted the second-best record in the league with him there. Plus, the argument that he can’t start and finish isn’t valid — he’s been doing it all year and is already playing the fewest minutes per game (30.5) of any of the starters. And while his shot’s been streaky, he’s still shooting over 50% and leads the team in rebounding at 9.0 per.
But for the sake of argument, if McDyess did go back to the bench, I think Jason Maxiell would get the nod as a starter over Johnson. Max has “earned” it a bit more, and he’s rugged enough that you wouldn’t really have to worry about matchups very much. Plus, I like keeping Johnson paired with the rest of the youngsters — he and Stuckey are building great chemistry together, and the Pistons can really fly up and down the court when they’re in the game at the same time.
Not to mention that Amir would be close to fouling out by the end of the first quarter in most games. He’s looked great, I’m pumped about his future, but starting him would be a huge mistake.
I think its a wee bit premature.
Maybe the Pistons can give him starts in April, when they have a cupcake schedule.
Another reason to hate the local news writers. I rarely read anything of intelligence from the Freep or DetNews. Stupid stupid stupid for the same reason Matt said. He would have too many fouls too early. Also who said McDyess is NOT comfortable starting? He seems to be when he is the most consistant grabbing DBL-DBL’s.
Things are going great! Yay! Let’s change it!
dyess is quietly having an amazing year and flip’s excellent rotation (gotta give credit where it’s due) has done an amazing job of giving the kids the opportunity to succeed. i see no reason to mess with it.
besides, after dyess dried up in the playoffs last year, i don’t think it’s safe to rely on him as a primary bench scorer. Truth be told, unless either were particularly hot, i wouldn’t rely on dyess or tay as the lone starter with the bench players.
Agreed. I love Amir, but he hasn’t earned the starting spot yet, and shouldn’t this season. He brings a nice energy boost when he comes off the bench. McDyess has had a great season as a starter, grabbing rebounds and finishing games.
If any change needs to be made, Flip should start letting Walter play in Hayes’ spot or at least give him some minutes. I know he played well in Phoenix, but he hasn’t done much else this season. It wouldn’t hurt to give Herrmann a shot….
I would say Dyess is having an absolutely amazing year on the boards and secondarily as a defender. I think his trademark mid-range jumper has been a little iffy for the better part of the season, but in light of his phenomenal rebounding and the increased offensive production and general reliability of the bench (I think we all know they still lay eggs on occasion), I’m not really going to take Dyess to task. As a fourth of fifth offensive option of the starters, this is seriously picking nits.
I hope Foster is talking about next year with this Amir-starter business (assuming Dyess re-signs). If he’s not, he’s absolutely off his rocker. As the community has pointed out previously, go figure. As for Dyess wanting/not wanting to be a starter, I’m not sure we really know, but if we even try to obtain an answer before the end of this season we’re undoubtedly doing ourselves more harm than good.
Amir has been freed. We’re satisfied with that.
Am I the only one who gets a “$14 an hour” story when they click on the link for Terry Foster?
Kinda surprised he’s not putting Amir on the Olympic team too. I watched the Nuggs game and still don’t have enough to say how good he could be, but starting him would be silly. Good ol’ local writers. Always impartial and objective.
If it weren’t for the fouls, he would be spot on. Amir’s numbers look a lot like those of Tyson Chandler, who is unquestionably a starting-caliber player.
My dad always says “If my grandmother had balls she’d be my grandfather”. Kevin, the fouls are a big problem, so him being “spot on” outside of it is kind of a moot point if it’s even uncontested. I contend that the sample size of Amir’s work is way too small. This is the first month that he’s even played in every game (assuming that he plays tonight, which makes sense). The guy is just getting his feet wet and showing some impressive talent, but he’s also suffering from overzealousness and hasn’t proven to be terribly consistent on the offensive end either. Can we please not start to fawn all over him again just yet? Max has hit a wall of sorts, get back to me in 1-3 years if Amir still hasn’t hit his and I’ll say you were right.
I agree 100% with what Shinons says. More wise and brief than I’ll ever be.
Didn’t either Flip or Joe D. specifically address McDyess coming off the bench? I believe they said as a player with an injury history it made sense for McDyess to come off the bench but that he’s in good health now and as a veteran player it doesn’t make sense to bring the older player in as a energy player.
I’ve been travelling and missed the glorious last two games (although I did see Shaq’s nasty foul on Amir, what was up with that?). Sounds like Amir’s really progressing. Hopefully this will take some pressure off Maxiell.
The great thing is that I’ll be able to catch the Pistons game on Friday with my favourite Clipper announcers. I love how Ralph Lawler and his color commentator rip on each other all game.
Two things in our favor:
1) A veteran starting lineup with balance and continuity like no one else’s.
2) Athletic reserves capable of injecting a sudden change of pace that other teams haven’t seen enough to prepare for.
Now what was the question again?
Kevin, you don’t mention that Chandler is 25 and in his 6th nba season (and has been getting 20 min. a night his whole career). Give Amir a minute to get used to the game. I don’t think the comparison is a bad one, but a little premature.
The local writers have to write something — that is what they get paid for. Since the advent of this blog and need for sheed, along with Langolis from pistons.com — there really is no need to read what the local writers prepare.
Remember when Mcosky wrote that bloggers were amateurs and not professional journalists? Ha Ha Ha — his stuff is so ordinary - right out of Piston press releases.
I predict that in a few years or less — there will only be bloggers and internal, in-house bloggers like Langlois at Pistons.com
Not only are the Freep and detnews worthless, their forums are a joke as well
Before the season, I predicted here on DBB that Maxiell would be our starting PF within a month and Dyess would be back on the bench. Wrong I was, and happily so. 42 wins later, I still wouldn’t change a thing. If it ain’t broke… don’t fix it.
I’d like to echo a few of the comments above and laud McDyess for being a solid starter this season, a consistent asset on both ends of the floor. Sure, Dyess may not have the automatic 15-20 foot jumper that was bookable last year, but I’m not worried that we won’t see it again soon.
As for Amir, my “man crush” has been a little spooky at times, but its not blind admiration. He’s got plenty of work cut out for him before he sees a starting nod even in late season garbage games…
…he’s still my hero though. dammit.
I just fixed the linked — my bad. It was from Foster’s blog, but I originally read it in the sidebar to this article.
QD, shaq was being made to look slow all around and worthless on offense. maxy and amir had been doing some nice things so when shaq saw amir was about to dunk on him he tackled him instead. what you didn’t see was in the second half when maxy sent shaq down hard on all fours. it was beautiful. shaq wanted to be mad, but he knew he deserved it so he blew up on his own teammate trying to help him up. they quickly cut to a shot of the announcers so we didn’t get to see what happened after that.
the only thing we need to do now is make sure that stuckey has a handle on his game before the playoffs. if he can get better at picking when he should kick it out and when he should finish we’ll be golden.
The only thing I don’t get is when people say “earned” it. If Amir is better than Maxiell, he should get the nod whether he’s “earned” it or not.
If you mean that Amir isn’t as good as Maxiell, then I can accept that… but if you mean that Maxiell should get the nod because he’s been in the rotation longer then I reject it.
When Amare Stoudemire was 20, his stats were 31.5 mpg, 13.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.1 bpg. Did he earn his playing time? I guess he “earned” his playing time after 11 whole games where he came off the bench.
My first question is what’s the risk vs reward? I think it’s fairly low risk while the reward could be fairly high. If he starts lowering his mistakes and improving his offense, we could have another viable weapon to go to come playoff time.
I think it’s pretty ignorant to call this a stupid idea. Its something that should be considered even if it’s not acted on.
Amir is a much better shotblocker than Chandler, but much of Chandler’s defensive value comes in altering shots with his length rather than swatting everything away. I just hope he doesn’t have Chandler’s learning curve (it basically took a trade from Chicago for him to realize his actual value).
Regarding playing Amir or Maxiell - the Piston’s success does not come from individuals - it comes from how well they play together as a TEAM. This means moving the ball and making that extra pass on offense and rotations and helping out on defense.
The key to the Pistons success will not be who is better - Maxiell or Amir, but how well Flip can mix and match them with the starters (and reserves) for the best results.
Flip will earn his pay and lead us to a ‘Ship if he plays the right combination at the right time
I would also love to see Flip bring Herrmann into the mix as well
McDyess has a better rebound rate than Yao Ming, shoots 50% and doesn’t turn the ball over. He’s done nothing to lose minutes. Flip Saunders has a challenge to find minutes for Amir and Max and so far Coach has been doing a great job of it. The concept of starting as a reward is outdated. It’s minutes that count and aside from secondary concerns like who is more versatile or who gets warmed up more quickly it should matter who starts the game or comes off the bench.
Foster’s high.
Israeli, I really like how Flip’s addressing the mix-and-match with Amir and Max & Dyess and Rasheed. Amir really benefits pairing with Rasheed, since Rasheed can bang with whatever big body’s down low. Also, Rasheed’s going to command much more attention on the block, letting Amir jump over people for put-backs.
Amare Stoudamire shot jumpers all over us Sunday, and hope Amir takes note. That’s a player that many people said could only dominate with his athleticism, but he’s added a very reliable perimeter game in a short period of time (He’s forgetting how to rebound lately, though).
I think Amir should get the Democratic nomination to run for president. Oh wait, he isn’t 35 yet. Yeah, hopefully this time next year, the DBB readers will be 50/50 on this issue.
Yak, I wonder if he’s old enough to be Vice? I’d love to see him randomly slapping his political rival when they’re trying to debate, you know, like a blocked shot. “Get that sh!t out of here, McCain!”
AJ has the 3rd best plus/minus of all Pistons players. C-Bill is first and Tay is just a hair of AJ. I expect AJ to pass him Tay in plus/minus by the time the year is done.
Our best unit by far is when AJ is on the court with Sheed.
I do think the political scene can do with some flagrant fouls.
to chime in: you keep mcdyess as a starter. i don’t know if i’ve seen many players on any team board as well as he has this season.
Correction: My Bad
AJ has the third highest Roland rating on the team.
He also has the third highest Net Production on the team just a hair behind Rip with C-Bill being first
Celts sign P.J. Brown; I quake in my proverbial boots. Or I don’t, because he’s like 100 and fills no holes on their team. He does provide 6 extra fouls though and gives them a Detroit native. Does that count for something?
Eh, he can play D and probably fouls less than the other Boston frontcourt guys. They have more problems in the backcourt. I’ll be pissed if they can pick up Cassell, because even though he’s ancient even by the standards of his species, he can still fill it up and he always turns it on in the playoffs.
Defensive Specialist on the campaign trail has a nice ring to it.
McCain- “Your healthcare reform suggestion is a joke.”
Obama- “While I respect your opin”
Amiiiir- “Get those facts outta here! As a wise man once said “Ball don’t lie”".
McCain- “What about foreign policy? Your views on Iraq seem naive”.
Obama-” As a former POW,..”
Amiiir- ” We have backing from all over. Palace Prince has my back.”
Paul: Agree completely. I think what you’re saying about the Celtics w/Cassell vis-a-vis P.J. Brown is the general feeling within the DBB community. While I think the Celtics (if they were) snatching up Cassell certainly helps them where they have a great disadvantage (no one who can check Chauncey and also a proven playoff leader at PG), I think it merely levels the playing field, ie: makes for a tougher series. I’m not sure it necessarily tilts the advantage in favor of the Celtics.
giggity giggity game thread?
Kyle: just posted! C’mon, have I ever been late? (Don’t answer that …)