Ack must think that he has some remote chance here. Otherwise, I'm not sure why he would do it.

He has played in Europe and could surely make more money there.

From Joe D's standpoint, I think it is pretty cool that he is giving the guy the chance after we held his contract and recommended European development.

The best argument I have seen for Amir not to start: Maybe he would be better off running with the subs. Maybe the starters are too slow as a group. But hey, Amir can play in all the quarters. Last game, he only played in the 1st and 3rd quarters. He only had one foul. Obviously, he could have played some with the subs too.

Starters: Billups, Rip, Tay, Amir, Sheed. But JMAX and Kwame come in for Amir and Sheed with 4 minutes to go in the 1st quarter.

Bench: The unit that starts the 2nd quarter: Stuckey, Afflalo, Amir, JMAX, Kwame.

Stuckey and Afflalo play the whole 2nd quarter. Sheed comes back in for JMAX for the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Tay comes in for Amir for those 5 minutes. Dyess or Samb play 5 minutes here. Sometimes, instead of Tay coming back in, Sharpe gets five minutes.

The unit that typically plays the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter:

Stuckey, Afflalo, Prince, Sheed, Dyess

Minutes after one half of play:

Billups 12, Rip 12, Tay 17, Amir 15, Sheed 13, Stuckey 12, Afflalo 12, JMAX 11, Kwame 11, Dyess 5.

This is a ten man rotation, with Samb and Sharpe being the 11th and 12 guys.

Herrmann, Bynum, and Acker do not dress unless someone is injured.

Dyess has the smallest role among the top 10 players, but he is available if needed vs. larger centers, or in case of foul trouble on any of our bigs.

The 2nd half, for the most part, is played with the same rotation. Billups and Rip of course can come in for the last 5 minutes of the game if its a close game. Dyess can play his minutes earlier if we need Amir (or JMAX) to finish the game.

For averages in minutes, I would guess that this would result in Billups and Rip would be getting 26 mintes while Stuckey and Afflalo get 22. In close games, it would be Billups and Rip getting 29 minutes, Stuckey and Afflalo getting 19 minutes.

Against a very fast team I would bring in the bench at about the 6 min. mark. Maybe run them for 3 min. Then back to the rested starters. See if the other team wilts.

back to the Bron v Amir.
We could win the game, Bron could get 24 and 11, and Amirs stats would look something like this: 24 min. 5, 6, 2, 2, 5 fouls, and everybody would be "Oh Amir got laid open !" "Bron abused him".
Mean while I'm looking forward to Celts.

Ok, there has been a change in the official line. The change is not even acknowledged as a change, but its a change none the less.

Last time the rotation was "spelled out" there were a top 8 - our starters plus Dyess, JMAX, and Stuckey. Afflalo, Kwame, and Herrmann would also play some, situationally.

Now today, yes, there is still a top 8, but Afflalo is now clearly an everyday player. His minutes may fluctuate, but he will always play.

Now the only two situational guys are Herrmann and Kwame.

This is a step in the right direction.

Other steps to come, hopefully:

1) Sharpe, who has a lot of potential as an NBA player, should dress everyday, at Herrmann's expense.

Sharpe should actually be a situational player, not just sit at the end of the bench.

2) Dyess should not be an every day player. Instead, he should be a situational player, as should Samb (who should dress every game instead of Bynum)

3) Kwame should play every game, with one goal in mind - get a little tougher, go inside a little stronger, every game he plays. It does not have to be a lot, but he should play every game.

So in sum, I think the everyday players should be:

Billups, Stuckey

Rip, Afflalo

Tay

Amir, JMAX

Sheed, Kwame.

The situational players should be Dyess, Samb, and Sharpe.

The 3 guys on the the inactive list most nights whould be Herrmann, Bynum, and Acker. But not every night. I believe if a guy is on the squad, he should get played in a game at least once a week, even if only for 4 minutes. And hey, if they are not good enough to get into any games, replace them with other players.

Back to the nine man rotation.

On many nights where we just see the top 9 players, Afflalo backs up both Tay and Rip to some extent, giving him a good solid 22 minutes a game.

The rest is pretty obvious: Kwame spells Sheed, JMAX spells Amir, Stuckey spells Billups.

I am going to use 30 minutes as the time Sheed, Rip, Billups, and Tay play on average, on these nights where we just use this nine man rotation. Stuckey plays 18 minutes at point, 14 minutes at shooting guard, for a total of 32 minutes - playing the highest minutes of anyone.

Afflalo plays 18 minutes at small forward, and 4 minutes at shooting guard.

Amir and JMAX split the minutes at power forward exactly 50 / 50 on these nights, getting 24 minutes each.

Kwame plays the 18 minutes Sheed does not play.

But then you have nights where the rotation is expanded to 11 players. Dyess or Samb plays. Sharpe plays. Maybe Rip and Billups take much of the night off. Maybe we see the following for a spell:

Stuckey, Afflalo, Amir, Sheed, Samb.

Maybe next time we see:

Billups, Rip, JMAX, Sheed, Samb.

or:

Stuckey, Rip, Tay, Amir, Dyess.

Lots of nice possibilities.

As expected, it is Sharpe, Samb, and Acker in street clothes to begin the season.

Rookie Walter Sharpe won't dress for Pistons' season opener | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

I can't tell if you like Herrmann or not.

It looks like Michael Curry knows what he is doing with Walter Herrmann. The guy can play. Without Walter, the Pistons might be 0-1 right now. The key to keeping Herrmann productive for Detroit is to match him up defensively against someone that doesn't have perimeter quickness.

CB
Rip
Tay
Herrmann
Sheed

The finishers!

AI
Rip
Tay
Amir
Sheed

Team just got a little faster to keep up with Amir.