On top of all of that Evans is messing up on D also. Last night Arroyo should not have been the only one back in transition to perform what is becomming the all too commonplace AND1. Mo sagged into the lane looking for an O board off of a Ben TO or miss (can't remember which), surrendering his position up top. But, Mo wasn't alone in bench sucking.

I think we could find MJ 20-25 minutes by swapping CB to the 2 & Rip to the 3 occassionally...it would give Tay a few minutes off AND might be a blast to watch.

Mo Evans is the reason we haven't been playing good "D" in the paint... he's also causing our bigs to miss rebounds... see he forgot to shower again and he's scaring the boys outta the paint... Noone else on the bench has any problems...It's Mo's fault!

In all seriousness, obviously Evans is not the source of all of our problems.

My question was geared more at whether Delfino ought to be seeing more time than Evans. Except for his offensive rebounding, I don't see Evans contributing a lot. He's scoreless in the last two games and the Pistons' post-game host after the Memphis game mentioned that he looked "lost" out there.

He really isn't much of a ball-handler or passer and his defense frankly hasn't been much better than CD's. He is also not able to create shots for himself. That being the case, it would seem that Delfino, who can at least handle and take his guy off the dribble, might be the better option.

Since I'm listening to the games on radio, I would like to know if someone watching can give an objective viewpoint about what they're seeing that may differ from what I am hearing and looking at in the box score the next day.

isnt lee's recaps enough to sway your opinion ????? no well i am in the same boat as you having only seen like 4 games and listening to the rest but imo delfino should be getting the minutes not mo.

I've seen every game on except for Utah and last night. From what I can see, I have to say that Delfino certainly looks more comfortable out there on both offense and defense, and not just individually, but as part of whatever group he's out there with (though especially with some combination of 2 or 3 starters). And this seems to improve with every game. I really like Mo's energy, on the one hand, but it seems that it too rarely actually translates into results. He's reminding me a little bit of Ronald Dupree. Both are players I liked because their athleticism and energy always brought the promise of something about to happen, but then neither really made it happen with enough consistency. So in my opinion Delfino should definitely be getting more of Mo's minutes. In fact, I'd say Delfino could be getting as many as 25 mins a game subbing in different combinations for Rip and Tay. There'd obviously be a drop off, but I really don't think it would even amount to costing the Pistons a game.

Some people may not want to hear this, but I thought I would point out one thing Evans did that completely baffled me. He was guarding a guard out on the left baseline, and inexplicably just left the guy. The guy nailed a shot, uncontested. Just what did Evans think he was doing on that play? Now, I have seen a guy like Ben Wallace back off from a guard figuring to position for the rebound instead, but look, we are talking about Mo Evans here, not a center. He had no business curling into the paint as his guy went to the corner. Anybody else see this and have any theories on why Mo did this? (Besides simple incompetence)

I like Delfino, but I also think the Pistons should explore other possibilities for backup small forward minutes. Even using Amir Johnson some. Maxiell is a guy I'd like to see out there, recomprising Corliss' old role as a dominant small forward.

Here is the bench I envision at the moment: Arroyo, Delfino, (Maxiell and Johnson sharing minutes at backup small forward), Dyess, Darko.

Both Maxiell or Johnson would give us better rebounding vs. Evans. (Not that Evans has not been doing good on offensive rebounding.) Amir Johnson is much more polished a basketball player, despite his young age, vs. Evans, from what I can see. At least in the summer league, what I saw were snap decisions from Amir Johnson and consistently good decisions. The guy had an 8-9 game where he simply did not take bad shots. (Except he did one time test his range a bit and missed. All his inside shots he nailed. He knew instantly when to shoot, when to pass. Impressed the heck out of me.)

Maxiell would give us less perimeter D than Evans, but you know what, not that much less. Sure, you put a shooting guard at small forward and Maxiell is going to have to leave the perimeter D to someone else. But he is not that slow, and has great hops with timing and instincts about when to stay home and when to go up. For absolute sure he is going to provide more interior D than Evans. Maxiell is a swat machine, and has great strength. On ball handling, not much there. But since he can post up, it does not matter. He would be a good, consistent offensive weopon for us just from his postup game, freeing up the perimeter just by that.

i have to agree with you there, but what i don't understand is why the bench is doing so bad, arroyo and dice would be good starters on other teams. darko is actually a second pick, and delfino and evans are good too. it confuses me.

Mark me down for Delfino being ahead of Evans in the pecking over. Defensively Evans has definitely been a letdown. I think Evans might be a better fit on a team like Phoenix where the offense is more wide open and screens are the norm since he does appear to have difficulty creating his own shot. I agree that he seems to have become very Dupree like in effectiveness. I don't think that Amir Johnson is the solution though. He needs more development. Delfino has earned an opportunity to have a more prominent role with the team. I really like the intangibles he brings to our squad: outside shot, ballhandling, offensive creativity. (Credit bballj for his hindsight on Delfino's potential)

Frankly, I think the identity and success of the second unit will be more solidified once Delfino becomes a regular in the rotation. I think Flip is slowly beginning to sour on Maurice (playing time is slowly decreasing), so a Delfino push may happen sooner than we may expect.

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What about Lee? He's all about Delfino.