MLive's A. Sherrod Blakely suspects a lineup change is coming:
Detroit Pistons coach Michael Curry hasn't decided when he will make a lineup change.
But if a change is made -- and there's a very good chance of that happening -- it will likely involve Richard Hamilton coming off the bench and Amir Johnson being re-inserted into the starting lineup.
I've grown to detest the three-guard lineup, and even though I'm convinced bringing Allen Iverson off the bench is the best move, that would be a hard sell on the heels of a game in which AI exploded for an efficient 27 points (11-18 shooting). And, for what it's worth, Hamilton played pretty well with the second unit during a lengthy stint in the second quarter, even if the Pistons won that quarter by a single point.
If Johnson returned to the starting lineup, it'd come exactly one game after he picked up a DNP-CD. That's just a matter of circumstance, though; as much as fans (including myself) rag on Curry for not playing Maxiell in this game or Amir in that game, he seems to recognize the inherent unfairness in it all. From my post on FanHouse:
"One of the big reasons why I struggle with playing the small lineup is that it's tough to play more than three bigs when Tayshaun [Prince] is a 35-minute-a-night guy and he starts at the four," Curry said before Saturday's game. "So you consider him a starter as a big, you're really playing four bigs: Tay, Sheed, Amir and Dyess."
The solution, of course, is to bag the small lineup. So far, Curry hasn't gone that route, apparently because he wants his next lineup change to be his last one:
While Curry wouldn't say that a change was definitely going to be made, he did say whatever decision that's made will be "what's going to be the best way to play for us to compete and be an elite team. Once we make that decision, we'll kind of stick with that for the rest of the way."
I'm all for continuity, but I wouldn't mind if the power forward spot remains a revolving door between Amir, Maxiell and yes, even Kwame on occasion. But Tayshaun? Put him back at the three and leave him there; it's a disservice to the guy to keep trotting him out as a make-believe four and then complain afterward about how the team got crushed on the boards. This team's frontcourt depth is supposed to be a strength, so it makes no sense to keep using a rotation that makes it look like you're hiding a weakness.