That's the whole thing that you do not seem to want to understand...or are incapable of understanding.

Intelligent people do not need to deal in "absolutes". You can give praise and still find fault in some areas.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be offensive.

Stop beating around the bush...who do YOU want to have Mo's minutes?

I've seen much Mo bashing from you, but no solution to the problem you perceive in his playing time. Is it Delfino or Acker or what?

Instead of raggin' Mo, how about building a case for your favorite?

Cut the crap! What are you getting at?

I just posted several possible rotations leaving Evans out. What, about 4 or 5 posts back from this one.

Yes, lots & lots of rotations. Why do you wish to leave Evans out? Who do you want to get his PT? Why? Build a case for your favorite(s) instead of bashing Mo.

You obviously have an agenda. What is it, besides dumping on Mo? State your case in plain English....please.

"Only Siths deal in absolutes" - line from the last Star Wars flick.

Actually I have been pleasently surprised with Mo Evans play so far. Still not convinced that he is the correct choice over Deflino but from what I was expecting Evans has been better than I thought he would be.

May not get assists but he has been contributing on the boards. Not a bad shooter either. What do you expect for a guy making slightly more than the min? No one said he was going to be an all-star.

Bottom line - Evans is better than Dupree so Dumars made the right choice.

True. He seems like a decent fit for defending the 2. Definitely an upgrade. Mo and Dyess makes Arroyo more valuable as both need him to get them the ball.

__________________

An absolutely astute observation on the Star Wars line, Max.

Yeah, Evans is ok for now. Like detteam said, "Who would we put in instead, right now"? I'm hoping that once the Pistons stop playing the majority of their games on the road they will have a lot more opportunities to try out guys like Delfino and Maxiel.

There should be some lopsided victories at home or at least a few games where they can afford to try out a "new" guy out for a few minutes without risking a "W".

Big home stretch comming up. 10 out of the next 13 after the next 2 road games will be at home. Should be a good opportunity to tweak things on the bench. I am hoping Delfino gets more time. He may make some mistakes out there but he can really bring some energy into the game. Those mistakes will filter down with more PT.

Not sure about Maxiel. I just have not seen him play enough to really get a good read on him. When Hunter comes back in early Jan Maxiel is probably the most likely player to take his place on the inactive list.

As President of the "Jason Maxiel Hall of Fame" club (JMHFC), I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen.

**Picks up the red Bat-phone and calls Flip**

We got January, February, March, and most of April yet. Basically, one third thru the schedule.

According to Flip, we were not to see Davis much nor Hunter until the 2nd half of the season. Thats looking to be true in that neither Hunter nor Davis have played hardly any yet. Last we heard Hunter might be ready in two weeks.

Our starters continue to play a lot of minutes. Not really that many blowout games to keep the averages down.

The bench is not settled at all. Flip apparently has a theory that if us fans have no idea who is going to play in the 2nd half of a game, then neither does the other coach. Pretty helter scelter so far. Dyess has been the one constant this past month. His shot came around and his minutes are back up.

Just this last game, for the first time Delfino played over Evans in the 2nd half of a game. Still no games where Evans has simply sat out so Delfino could get some major minutes in a game.

Arroyo has pretty solidly established himself as our backup point, but no progress from last month in getting him more minutes.

Darko dropped out of the rotation. The info put out from Flip on that has been unliable. First he said Dale Davis and Darko would take turns depending on matchups. Neither have played hardly any though. Dale just a bit. Darko none other than a little garbage time.

When asked about an observation on Darko not doing his all in garbage time, Flip agreed rather than back up his player. More recently, on December 22, Flip gave an intervies on the Fan, which can be heard at mlive.com, in which he said Darko had a good attitude at the moment and that Darko would be getting another chance to contribute.

Evans has shown little ability to act as even a situaltional player as far as his defense goes. We have seen in a few recent games some ball handling ability here and there which had been totally missing earlier in the season. Maybe thats progress, but this last game Evans just got 6 mintues. Will that be a trend? Sometimes, its not about the player, but the players competition. Delfino just might have Evans beat in too many areas. One thing Evans has done very well in is offensive rebounding.

CB contiues his extraordinary assist spree with few turns. His 3 shooting remains on fire. Just basically not much to dislike. Tay continues to be aggressive on scoring but light on rebounding. He continues to statistically our most important player. Ben continues to be our 2nd best in that regard. Lately, he looks really healthy after having had some foot trouble. Sheed continues to hit an amazing percentage of 3's while doing plenty of post word too. Rip is transforming himself into a spot up shooter and a guy who goes inside a lot. He can still hit the midranger too, but the last couple of games or so has been getting away from that. Maybe he is tired from all the running?

Acker and Johnson have not dressed for a game yet, and Maxiell has not seen a minute of non-garbage time.

Here is what I would like to see right now.

Usual starters. 2nd unit of Arroyo, Acker, Delfino, Dyess, Darko.

To that, I would like to see Maxiell get some of Delfino's minutes at small forward on occasion, and some of Dyess' minutes at power forward on occasion. And Amir Johnson getting 4 minutes here and there at small forward too. Sometimes, Delfino can move to shooting guard to accomodate this.

Evans? Don't quit playing him. But reduce his minutes to a spot role. The guy has got to work on his defense extensively before going back to being a regular part of the rotation. Evans is a young, promising player. Just like any such player, I would not want him to just stay on the bench all the time. He would still need to get into like every third game to see how his practice is coming along.

Hunter and Davis can just sit on the bench until the last 20 games of the season. After that, let them play to get ready for the playoffs. If both are needed.

I can see the following for a 12 man playoff roster. It leaves out Evans and Davis and Amir Johnson.

Billups, Arroyo, Hunter, Rip, Acker, Tay, Delfino, Maxiell, Ben, Dyess, Sheed, Darko. Starters and 2nd unit as per above. Defensive specialists are Hunter and Maxiell.