Simple comment. I would rather have Samb playing, failing, and learning, than Mohammed just plain making my watching the Pistons sad.

The more I read, the more I am convinced the Pistons need to go with a 12 man rotation this season. D-League? Sure, use it, but not to bury anyone down there. Just to give them a month of continuous playing to keep them in game shape.

We have several players eligible for D-League time. One of them, Stuckey, for sure belongs up with the starters all season, but maybe even he would benefit from some added playing time, maybe early in the season. But Samb, Mejia, and Afflalo can take turns doing stints in the D-League to add to their minutes for sure.

I believe all the minutes this year should go to the following group of players:

point) Billups, Stuckey, Mejia

offguard) Rip, Afflalo

small forward) Tay, Hayes

power forward) Sheed, Amir

center) JMAX, Dyess, Samb

Start the year off with Mejia and Samb in the D-League
While they are down there, play the above rotation.

After one month, send Stuckey and Afflalo down, and play the following rotation:

Start the usual, Billups, Rip, Tay, Sheed, JMAX.

After 6 minutes, have Tay go to shooting guard, Amir come in as the small forward, giving a unit of:

Billups, Tay, Amir, Sheed, JMAX.

Start the 2nd quarter with:

Mejia at point, Rip at shooting guard, Amir at small forward, Dyess at power forward, and Samb at center.

Etc.

During this month, Stuckey and Afflalo are getting major minutes down in the D-Leauge. You got November, December, January, February, March, April. Enough time to go thru this twice, so each of the four players gets two months in the D-League. After this is done, these 12 guys are all on the active roster and ready for the playoffs. The 12 man roster would be set by March, plenty of time to get everything set for the playoffs, and nobody on the 12 man roster would be all that rusty.

I will take a stab

Starters: Billups, Rip, Tay, Sheed, Maxiel ( at center )

2nd unit: Stucky ( both guard spots), Dyess ( PF/C), Johnson(SF/PF/C),
Hayes (SF). - That completes a core 9-man rotation.

Sheed also switches over to Center at some points. Prince sometimes
at SG and Rip sometimes at SF.

Spot mins: Affalo or Murry at both guard spots (mainly point). And Mohammed for 5 or so mins/game at Center ( depending on matchups )

Rarely playes: Hunter and whoever else is on the team.

Going to be a little short but athletic. Inside game should improve with Maxiel and Johnson in there. Plus Stucky is supposed to have a post game for a guard.

I find this all perfectly reasonable. The only slight changes I would make is Samb getting the five minutes or so instead of Mohammed, and Mejia getting some spot minutes along with Afflalo, not Murray. Otherwise, I think this scenario is good enough to win it all.

I am open to Samb, have to see what he does in the pre-season.

Another reason to play Mohammed is to be able to trade him. That ship may have already sailed and if it has then Dumas will just have to bite the bullet.

It worries me how small and inexpenrienced we are up front. Unless Amir really is 6'11", I don't know. Maxiel also has the wingspan of someone around 6'10".

What may save us this year is that ref scandle just may clean up the superstar calls enough to keep someone like Johnson/Maxiel on the floor long enough to be effective against someone like Dwight Howard. Plus hopefully Sheed will find more tolerance.

What this thread had bothered me was every time when I checked the thread list and something like "relation" cmae to my sight. Please don't be offened.

One option.

Start Billups and Tay in the backcourt, with Amir at small forward, JMAX at power forward, and Sheed at center.

Second unit. Stuckey, Rip, Hayes, Dyess, Samb. (With Dale Davis signed to help shore up the defense on our 2nd unit.)

Mohammed, bought out. Flip bought out. Dupree bought out. Hunter retired. Mejia and Afflalo taking turns going to the D-League with the other being the 12th man on the team.

Why this starting unit? It takes the advantage we so often get with Tay and makes it happen even more. And Tay can feed the post too, and he would be in with 3 guys up front who can all post up. All Billups has to do here is spot up and knock down 3's.

The 2nd unit would feature a lot of one on on play, and a lot of Stuckey getting inside the defense and either finishing or finding an open shooter or a cutter. With Rip on the 2nd unit, our bench for sure won't lack for fire power.

The Pistons won't take Rip out of the starting lineup. I know the Spurs do that with Ginobili, but they have Tim Duncan as their first option. Rip is the Pistons first option and they depend on him early out of the gate. If anyone of the core 4 is coming off the bench it's going to be Tayshaun, but the Pistons depend on his defense as well. It's worth a shot at mixing it up, but I don't think it will happen.

I doubt it will happen, but not because it is a bad idea. Just a bad coaching staff that won't do what works. Rip is for sure a scorer, but he does not help you any in a power inside game, which is exactly what we would be featuring with four guys able to post up, and post up well, in the starting unit. Lets put it another way, SA has it right, they have a post up guy as their first option. The Pistons got it wrong, having a jump shooter as the first option. Check which team just won the Championship.

Whats the story on Davis anyway? Has he officially retired, or have the Pistons officially ran out of cap space to sign him?

Seems like a good guy to bring back.