you forgot the chauncey is our best post up player. he absolutely destroys pretty much all pg's except baron davis in the post.

also i don't think every lineup has to be great at everything or balanced one way or the other. this year our second unit will be very powerful offensively. this can work for us some nights and other nights we will have to have some starters play with the second unit to provide that balance. good post though well thought out rotations.

Yeah lee, that's why I never really countered your lineup coz my lineup is almost like yours and that's how I see the Pistons' state right now.

Anyway, I chose Evans coz I want him to keep developing his game from last year with the spark he showed in Sacto. He could blow up this year and if he does, watch out for sixth man of the year. That might be a stretch but hoping though.

Arroyo will definitely get to play but I believe Acker will get all the opportunity to fight for a spot on the roster and for playing time. I don't really know where Jmax fits in. He'd probably be slotted in for minutes at the 3 coz it looks like the front court is stacked. Sometimes the lineup on the floor could be Arroyo, Delfino, Jmax, Darko, Dyess. Or maybe Arroyo, Evans at 1-2.

bballjay, our rotations have to both work in general and work against the playoff teams we encounter. So whats best is never the same from year to year. You got to look at what your team has, how all those skills can fit together, and which ones are most important for getting past the teams you are likely to encounter in the playoffs.

bricalz, you know I will be rooting for Mo Evans big time. A guy who can defend is priceless but you add in some ability on the offensive end and its just that much more sweet. Now, I will be cheering on Delfino and Acker too. I want to see a fair fight for the minutes and in the end what maximized our chances to win some championships. Each of these players potentially has skill sets that can make us win. First and foremost, I want to see the Pistons win. Going to fun to watch how all this sorts itself out.

To both of you, as the season goes on, its these skill sets I will be watching for. Can Evans guard point guards at all. Can Evans handle the ball, move without the ball. Can Delfino defend better now with hopefully a healthy knee. Will Arroyo's defense improve. How good a shot is Arroyo going to be with a bit more ops to shoot. Just how dangerous is Delfino going inside. I'll be looking at all these things and adjust my rotations postings from there.

Only problem with Evans is his height at 6'5". May have problems at the 3. Looking at his career stats it looks like he was used mainly as a backup SG.

What about Evans being used mainly as a 4th guard and some backup SF ( depending on the matchups ) and going big at backup SF with Sheed, Dyess and Darko playing there?

That way we can integrate both Darko and Davis with a big front line. Remember Sheed played some SF at Portland.

backups ( in order of mins ). Arroyo, Dyess, Darko, Evans, Davis.

Thats going 10-deep which is very liberal for coaches these days.

I would guess Delfino can be given a shot at Evans spot in the pre-season.

I agree that he is a little too raw, despite his showing in the SL. He's the odd man out this season.

He needs more than natural talent to compete against NBA vets.

This seems logical. However, its simply not true. Amir Johnson is more ready than Darko to play in the NBA. And I believe Darko is quite ready. That Amir Johnson is ready to contribute to the Pistons is not just my opinion. The announcer for the summer league games worked Amir Johnson for a few weeks around draft time. This is his opinion. I just agree.

I watched a couple of summer league games, about 8 times mind you, and one time thru I just isolated everything Amir Johnson did. What I found is a player who never for a moment is at a loss for what to do next. You just would never guess for a moment that Amir Johnson was fresh from highschool. Just no sign of it at all.

On rebounding situations, he is not a rookie that wonders where to be, he has shot around the defense and gotten to the board and collected the rebound. Did I say collect it? Not exactly. What he did with the rebound is slam it back in.

You give him the ball. Does he hold it wondering what to do. Nope. He either puts a move on and scores or sees he is checked and smartly passes off. His 8-9 game was from just this kind of quick decision making. He just does not take bad shots.

So maybe you figure he can't handle the ball? For his size, he moves with that ball pretty darn good. Amir Johnson only shoots from the foul line in. If you give him the ball outside that area, he will smartly dribble to withing the foul line, throw a fake or two if needed to shake the defenders, and swish a shot. Nothing but smooth.

And "right out of highschool" leads one to believe Amir Johnson is a slight of build guy easily pushed around. Well, as a power forward this may be true. And if you believe the 6-9, 210 listing from ove a year ago, you might wonder how a highschool kid could do at small forward even. But Amir was last measured at 6-10, 220 and is continuing to grow. As a small forward, he has all the size needed easily.

Further, rather than having a body type like Tay, not prone to get big, Amir Johnson is projected to play center someday. He has a big wide frame, that while not yet filled out, is getting closer day by day.

Now, to give you a few more things about what Amir Johnson can add to a rotation as far as skill. 1)Rebounding. With his quickness and height, combined with being the most athletic player taken in this years draft (again, other people's opinion, not mine.) and what appears to be flawless timing, he has the potential to equal or even surpass Dennis Rodman as a rebounder.

Next, scoring. Amir Johnson can jump out of the gym. And he can nail every shot he takes inside the free throw line. He can fake you out of your shorts too to get that shot off. His post up moves are raw but very effective just do to his quicks and ups. He can score.

On defense, despite all the above, Amir Johnson's main rep is as a shot blocker.

So why would I want to see Amir Johnson end up as our starting small forward? Just use your imagination. CB, Tay, Amir Johnson, Ben, Sheed. We get all, every one, no exceptions, every rebound in site. Last I checked, if the other team can't get the ball, they can't score.

Yes, Pistons always come first man.........

Anyway, yeah Amir, as I saw it has tremendous potential and like Lee said is just as NBA ready as Darko or if not even more ready. The times I've seen Darko play, it just wasn't all out, so I wouldn't know what Darko really has except the flashes of quickness, agility and an outside shot.

So mostly, I'd also like Amir to succeed and maybe throw it back in the NBA's face that he was taken so late in the draft. Another guy with a chip on the shoulder for our team.

I hope you're right. It is obvious that he has the ability. I just have a feeling that they are not going to find the time for him. How many new players can a team possibly develop at the same time and still win the division? I would say 2.5 (Darko, Maxiell, and Ack...).

How many players you can develop at one time and still win to a large extent depends on how good those players are.

Other than that, there is also the fact that at the end of the season your team must know how to play together, and each guy who is going to be on the playoff roster needs to have had enough playing time to be ready to play close to possible to their best.

Guys signed to long term contracts probably don't care about padding their stats, so if the rookies are really good, they might end up playing a whole lot.

Meanwhile, there is this thing called competition. Maxiell could just simply beat out Mo Evans for playing time. Or Acker could as far as his shooting guard minutes. Or Amir Johnson at small forward.

Dale Davis has signed on to win a championship, knowing that he is not to complain about a reduced role. If Darko plays well enough, you might see precious little of Dale Davis until toward the playoffs.

Right now, we do not know how all this is going to go. But again, it sure is going to fun to find out.

Inspired by a post from a different thread.

Ok, lets say Maxiell is so good, he just ends up taking the starting job at small forward. Farfetched. Maybe. Maybe not. But lets say Maxiell is so good at scoring at small forward against the other much tinier small forwards of the league, while his defense turns out to be perfectly adequate with all that reach he has, that it just makes sense to start the guy. Yes, sounds far fetched, but so did Ben Wallace becoming a dominant starting player back when he played for Orlando. Way to short. No offense. Well, Maxiell is way too short, but has an offense that will astound a lot of people shortly.

So, starters are CB, Rip, Maxiell, Ben, Sheed.

2nd unit is Prince, Delfino, Amir Johnson, Dyess, Darko.

Prince also backs up Rip and Maxiell up to an extent and gets about 26 mintues a game. CB plays 30 minutes at point, while Prince gets the other 18, plus 4 minutes each at small forward and shooting guard.

This covers Point guard thru small forward. Mo Evans and Carlos Arroyo, as well as Alex Acker are left out. Lot to leave out. Mo Evans and Acker though would be kept around as defensive specialist, while we package Dale Davis and Carlos Arrroyo and either Ben or Sheed together to get Garnett. Got to do something with the extra players.