Flip Saunders claims he’s thinking about using Amir Johnson in Game 4. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
Pistons coach Flip Saunders talked some about Rashard Lewis who has given them fits throughout this series. Lewis’ play is one of the reasons why Jarvis Hayes is out of the rotation, and replaced by Walter Herrmann. Saunders said he’s also giving some thought to putting Amir Johnson on Lewis tomorrow night.
“Just because of his (Johnson’s) quickness and his length and his ability to defend people out on the floor, but also if he gets beat off the dribble, he can make it up and contest at the rim,” Saunders said.
A.S.B. also has the latest Chauncey Billups update in the same article; not much has changed, though it seems Chauncey and Arnie Kander are getting to know each other quite well:
“I’m feeling a little better,” Billups said. “Y’all probably have a better chance of asking my roommate Arnie.”
As in Arnie Kander, the team’s strength and conditioning coach. Billups was up to about 1 a.m. this morning doing stuff with Kander, with treatments resuming about eight hours later.
“He doesn’t need a room,” Kander said. “He’s been in my room. We were up to 1 in the morning and started back at 9 this morning.”
No matter what Saunders says, I’m quite confident we’ll see a dinged up Billups before a perfectly healthy Johnson, which is actually pretty sad.
I really hope they use Amir atleast for 5 minutes tonight. I think it would only be right to atleast give the guy a shot.
It’s like the Odd Couple. Arnie is the neat control freak, and Billups is the laid-back messy guy. Wackiness ensues!
Rashard isn’t going to have another game like that. He earned his 400 million dollars with a tremendous effort, but it’s our turn to make adjustments (Orlando’s adjustment, of course, being to rely on a fast start and a freak injury).
We’ll win game 4, the close it out at the Palace. Chauncey plays, Amir gets 8-10 minutes, then resumes his spot on the bench for the rest of the Playoffs.
could johnson do what tayshaun did against the magic in ‘03?
I’d love Amir to poster-block Dwight Howard in those 3 minutes Flip gives him towards the end of the 3rd. 3 minutes being the time it takes Flip to bite all of his fingernails, wet his pants, and pace the bench lenght 7 times. Then he’ll leave all the starters in the rest of the game and pour broken glass into his shoes to penalize himself. “Bad Phillip! Bad Phillip! Momma said starters know best. Momma always knew best. Bad Phillip!”
Man, get over it. Amir is not the savior of the Pistons. If here were that good, he would be getting minutes.
matt…i’ve been suggesting and asking questions (to you, natalie and keith langlois) about who will be the ideal experiement on guarding rashard lewis other than sheed and hermann…i mentioned amir johnson. im glad that its finally in flip’s mind to see amir’s ability to guard a perimeter guy and at same time off the dribble. hopefully amir will hold his own….i guess the only concern is when lewis and howard switch to a pick and roll and amir might end up guarding howard in that play.
Charley Rosen’s analysis on the adjustments the Pistons need to make:
“What do the Pistons have to do to get back on track?
Put Wallace on Howard and double the youngster as soon as he puts the ball on the floor. Who do they leave open? Either Mo Evans or Keith Bogans.
Get Wallace’s head rewired.
Put Prince on Lewis.
Put Maxiell/McDyess on Turkoglu.
Pray that Billups is the beneficiary of a miracle cure.
Move the ball on offense, and move their feet on defense.
Have Stuckey make Nelson play as much post-up defense as possible.
Have whoever Howard’s guarding set up away from the basket and get involved in handoffs to a circling guard or wing. This is one of the defensive predicaments that Howard still can’t solve.
Be ready to play from jump-city.”
I love Amir and all, but I’m telling you guys, he can’t guard Rashard. He can’t really guard anyone from what I’ve seen. He gambles for blocks and falls for pump fakes and gets out of position WAY too easily. I think Rashard will be able to blow by him despite Amir’s naturally freakish athletic ability. I’d like to hope Amir is the answer, but at this point in his career, I just don’t think he is. Hopefully he can prove me wrong, though!
ADS, alternatively known as Amir Derangement Syndrome, afflicts individuals with the entirely irrational belief that Amir Johnson, a seldom-used reserve player for the Detroit Pistons basketball team, is actually the second coming of Jesus Christ and the solution to every problem plaguing the Detroit Pistons. Another aspect of this illness consists of believing that Flip Saunders is unwilling or unable to evaluate basketball talent. In severe cases, the illness manifests itself in the apparent belief in a conspiracy theory in which Saunders and other various dark forces would prefer to see the Pistons fail than recognize the incipient greatness of Amir Johnson.
seems to me that herrmann should be able to cover lewis rather well
J: I got a chuckle out of your description of ADS, but he doesn’t have to be the 2nd coming of anything for me — I’d be happy for a mere 5-7 minutes on most nights. If he got that, I’d be fine with the occasional DNP. But that argument has been made 10,000 times on this site, so I’ll drop it.
You still get a +1 for creativity, though.
Fair enough
— the +1 was exactly what I was angling for.
And to be totally honest, I would agree that Amir ought to be getting *some* minutes right now.
Great blogging, and this place has become a daily staple since I discovered it a few months ago.
I’m curious if anyone else is thinking the same way I am about this. Here it goes: I don’t think Chauncey should play tomorrow. Period. There is just no reason to rush this. We can beat this team without him. We WILL advance, so the real issue is ensuring that we have a healthy, 100% Chauncey in the next round. He would be essential against either the Cavs or the Celts. And still more so in the finals against the Lakers (my prediction). And yes I believe we will make it to the finals. Frankly, I have been underwhelmed by both the Cavs and the Celts in their series. But I digress… So back to Chauncey. Isn’t the strength of the Pistons team (operative word) its well-roundedness? Tay, Rip, and Sheed are our “big three” without CB. Maxy has been amazing (the last game notwithstanding). The bench is deep. And Stucko will be fine at the point. I think he played pretty well last game, considering that he didn’t know it was coming. If he knows at the outset that he’s starting guy, he’ll play even better. And if the other starters do what they are capable of, we should be set. I saw in a Freep report yesterday that Sheed said he had complete confidence in Stucko (my words, not his, but that was his point). If Sheed has confidence in him, can’t we? So in short, Chauncey should sit tomorrow. Period. End of story. This team needs to win the Championship. That is the goal. Not simply to beat Lando.
Dash Rick: I pretty much ditto everything you say, but I think it would serve the Pistons well to examine the roles Juan Dixon and Lindsey Hunter could play in the presumed absence of Chauncey. Both should absolutely be activated and Chaucey should be rested. As wily, veteran guards those two could provide some relief for Stuckey if things get rough for him.
LB: Agree 100%. I’d even be fine with Dixon starting and Stucko coming off the bench. Hunter I like alot in certain situations, but would rather see Stucko or Dixon start ahead of him. Hunter is like cilantro to me. A little bit in fresh salsa can be perfect, but too much gives me a tummy ache.
motion to abolish the use of the term “big three” for any purposes when describing the roster, or subgroups of said roster, of a basketball team.
people started resurrecting that term to refer to the celtics after they got garnett and ray allen, and now trying to describe the pistons. talking about the pistons “big three” and then talking about pistons “well-roundedness” is directly contradictory. its just a real pet peeve of mine.
first off, the pistons have four core starters who’ve been together for four years now.
the great thing about the pistons team is that they don’t rely on any one, two, or three players to carry them. chauncey has won games for them in the past. so has rasheed. tayshaun practically won the entire first round for them. the bench has been responsible for winnings games the pistons might have otherwise lost. they always need rip to get his shot going. but they are a team, in every sense of the word, more than any other team in the association.
I agree with the above sentiments that Billups should sit game 4 out. I thought they played well enough to win in stretches without him (until the 4th quarter.) Additionally, I did not realize that game 5 is not until Tuesday. So basically, Billups will have almost 6 days of rest to try and get back to 100% or as close as possible to 100%.
Obviously you risk having the series tied up at 2-2, and if you go up 3-1 the series is done, but the goal this year is at the very minimum a finals appearance, and that will not happen without Billups.
Also, you have to take into account the Celtics-Cavs series which I still feel will go at least 6, so the Pistons are still in good shape looking ahead, in terms of either team having more rest than Detroit.
“talking about the pistons ‘big three’ and then talking about pistons ‘well-roundedness’ is directly contradictory.”
PR: Agreed. And that was basically the point. The phrase wasn’t the “big three” alone, but “Tay, Rip, and Sheed are our ‘big three’ without CB”. In other words, our “big four”. Which was followed by commendations of Max, the bench, and Stucko in particular. So the team as a team was the point. Sorry you didn’t like the term “big three”, it was merely a communicative device.
It sounds like we agree on the substance, if not the linguistics.
Motion carried.
Maybe CB could play a Dice type role for the team next game. Plenty of rest, but he can be thrown in if it turns to shit.
I really want to see Stuck play point when CB is out. A purely selfish view I know, but it would be very beneficial for his development.
And now for something completely different.
I love how this site lets people have opinions and in many ways encourages alternative views. Its a real credit to Matt W that this is such a friendly and informed place to talk about our shared passion.
I usually don’t comment on forums and the like, but its here that I feel comfortable and able to express myself and that is due also to the FANtastic people that post here. Well done DBB and community, keep it up.
Amir has shown during the regular season that he deserves a serious chance to see if he ready for the playoffs.
People keep referring to KG making Amir look silly, well KG made the whole Cavs defense look silly in game #1, to say nothing of all the defenders that KG has made look silly throughout is HOF career.
I will leave it at that and let his play, if he gets a chance to play some serous minutes speak for itself and if does then we can all revisit his ability to help us win in the playoffs afterwards.
My only concern is that he has been sitting for over 3 weeks and practice time is not the same as game time, so if Flip does use him fairly, he can’t pull him after 3 minutes because Amir’s game timing is off.
ADS, alternatively known as Amir Derangement Syndrome, afflicts individuals with the entirely irrational belief that Amir Johnson, a seldom-used reserve player for the Detroit Pistons basketball team, is actually the second coming of Jesus Christ and the solution to every problem plaguing the Detroit Pistons>>
I am not sure how the use of this term applies to Amir.
Derangement Syndrome is a term that is applied to politicians not athletes or assessment of athletes to play well or poorly.
I am not exactly sure what Jesus Christ has to do with basketball. If we were talking water sports, like water polo, fishing then I could see the point.
On the other hand some people may say that Amir may be the third coming of Dennis Rodman, Big Ben being the second. On that point only time will tell.
Mike, why do they call it ovealtine, the cup is round, the jar is round, they should call it roundtine! I thought the ADS is clever, but you are takin it out of context in its technical meaning.
This blog is great, great insight from different venues.
I think the main thing in game four is not goin to be the precense of CB, rather it would be controlling tempo, taking care of the ball, and playing aggressice defance to take the crowd out…i think we can manage and play it safe without mr. big shot.
spelling errors brought to you by molson ice
I have to say I really like Turkoglu’s game. Especially on the pick and roll with Howard. Go under the screen and he’ll hit the three. Go over and he’ll use his long arms to get a “high percentage shot” going to the basket. Double him and he’s tall enough to find Howard for a dunk. Cheat over with another wing and again, he’s tall enough to find someone for an open jumper. He really creates matchup problems. Kudos to SVG for making him such a focal point in the offense.
“ADS, alternatively known as Amir Derangement Syndrome, afflicts individuals with the entirely irrational belief that Amir Johnson, a seldom-used reserve player for the Detroit Pistons basketball team, is actually the second coming of Jesus Christ and the solution to every problem plaguing the Detroit Pistons”
I think you guys might be getting a little carried away defending your point of view here. I don’t think anyone here believes that Amir is the panacea to all the Pistons problems, however what a few of us here are saying (including myself) is why not give the kid a chance to see what he can do. The fact is we do not have a player that matches up with Lewis quite as well as Amir in terms of stature. I agree that he has not shown the ability to be a lock down defender, however I wonder what the thinking was around the time of the potential Prince v McGrady matchup in the 03 series?
On another not entirely unrelated point, it seems to me that we are entering another era of the Jordan rules here. If you look at the stacked teams of New Orleans, Los Angeles, Boston and to a lesser degree Orlando it seems that a strategy of giving the main players their points and shutting down one or more of the supporting cast will have to be the way forward. Ergo - stop Turkoglu and/or Lewis and the Magic are done regardless of the 20/20 efforts of Howard.
Just my two cents, keep up the great discussion!
I would prefer resting Chauncey if that would make him better for the rest of the playoffs, but I think that would mean us coming back 2-2 to Detroit. Yes, we have other good players, yes we made a brave run in the third quarter of game 3. Still, Chauncey vs. shorter Magic guard was one of the most important, bread-and-butter plays for our offense in the first two games.
Coming back 2-2 isn’t the end of the world, and hey, maybe I’m wrong and we can win without him, but that’s my prediction.
Without the penultimate showing that Rashard Lewis had last game, assuming that we continue to play Howard straight up and let only Howard get his, I think the Pistons could probably beat Orlando with Lindsey playing 40 minutes out there. Tayshaun does a great job keeping Hedo Turkoglu near or below his average. This series Turkoglu has put in: 18, 12, and 18. Orlando beats us 111-86 and Hedo goes 7-18 (38.9%) from the field.
A while ago, I said that Orlando would need great games from 2 out of 3 to get a win. If Dwight Howard hits his 20 and 14 averages, I’d say that’s a great game. I think his 20, 12 and SIX blocks from Wednesday also qualifies. 18, 6 and 4 out of Hedo is nice, but I wouldn’t call it great.
The X Factor in this whole series is Rashard, as Turkoglu and Howard seem to be known quantities. Howard is going to get his; Turkoglu is going to have a nice game but not a stellar game. If Rashard is kept around 20 (I’d say no more than 22) and my previous Howard and Turkoglu assessments fall into place (feel free to dispute those), then I’d be willing to bet the Pistons win any game of that nature. For me, it’s not Turkoglu, it’s only Lewis. The question becomes: Is Lewis capable of more than one performance in this series like the one he had Wednesday? Many people think that he is. Personally, I suppose I think he’s capable of one more if the series were extended, but not back-to-back, so I rule out tonight. If the Pistons win tonight, most of us (if not all) imagine that we close it out in Game 5. My belief is, forget the PG drama, the only chance the Magic have rests squarely on Lewis’s shoulders. I just don’t think he’s up for 11-15 (5-6 from 3) and 33 again today.