During the off-season, the Pistons pee pawed around and picked up who, yes grasshopper, Dale Davis & Maurice Evans, to do what? Take us to the next level. I think Joe went for the gamble this off-season, I even thought that our bench was solid based on the way they played during the pre-season, silly me.

During the off-season, what did the spurs do? They picked up two old antiques in Nick van Exel and Michael Finley.

We see where they are sitting right now. So, you have two teams who were playing for the championship last year, one is at home, the other one is getting ready to get sent to their room.

Bottom line, the Spurs are already somewhere soaking up the sun. Yhis was the team that the Pistons were supposed to meet in the playoffs, They also have issues.

Similar mindset in the off-season you say, the Spurs and Pistons with arguebly the best starting five, their game now is non-existent.

It will interesting to see what type of changes the Spurs will be making to their lineup, this may be the barometer of what we will be doing in the off-season.

I am not asking for wholesale changes with the pistons, but the lineup definitely needs tweaking, I will go as far as saying, we need to make some changes in the starting lineup.

This is not a good comparison.
Spurs (how much I don't like them), lost a 7th game overtime against a great team. And Finley contributed a lot. Pistons problem is not the quality of their bench, it's how the bench is used. Still, this is a minor problem now. The major problem are untouchable 5 (maybe untouchable 1?), their attitude and ruined chemistry inside this team.

Well said Mrcina. I would feel a little bit better if we lost in OT of game seven than go down like we are going now. I have no doubt that a part of the real Pistons will show up tomorrow night and win. I am just wondering if we have enough stamina, drive, and hustle to get the job done on Friday to get us back to Motown for game 7.

Agree with Armygirl that at least 1, maybe two starters should be considered trade bait (one of the Wallaces) and definitely a retooling of the bench...some big man who is not affraid to go inside and can hit FT's and a slasher not affraid to attack the rim. The Spurs are already looking at their retweaking process, so they got a couple weeks headstart on us.

Normally this is time JD would be using to assess the draft and market. With the recent drama, and his (probable) need to step in as an intermediary, the headstart "could" be significant.

What concerns me is that regardless of the outcome this season, the public discord may affect our ability to attract talent.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

Can you please do me a favor and at least aknowledge that you either agree or disagree that the pre-season game plan was to reserve PT for Darko/Delfino for their pending "breakout" seasons? Because thats what I recall as the reason why Dumars did not break the bank signing vets for the bench.

I too am interested in what will happen in the off season. But who will be out there to be had? Who would Joe trade for? KG will not be dealt until he is a shell of himself (I think). We would have to gut the squad to get him anyway. I am soured on foreign players nowadays. Fool's gold in the NBA. The only one wiht any balls was Saruna Marcelonus. At least he could drive. I think our bench stinks. We need the guys that Dallas has coming off of their bench. They have some guys that make an impact when they come in. Evans, Delfino, etc. don't do that and are not trusted.

What a waste of a season!

They could not break the bank. All they really had was the Mid-Level Exception which they used on Davis/Evans.

If anything, signing Evans and Davis was a sign that the Pistons did not have ultimate confidence in their younger players.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

I think the Pistons started the season with over 20mil commited to the bench. Thats not cheap. Our payroll is cheap because of Ben/Billups making half max. We had 2 guys Dyess/Darko making over 5mil/yr and Arroyo at 4mil. Thats how we started the season anyway.

SA went down fighting. But yes, I agree that they foolishly went old and got burned. But we are old too--older than Wade, Le Bron etc. Not a coincidence that Tay has been our best player--he is the youngest starter. We stocked up for Shaq. But Flip does not play Davis or Cato who can guard Shaq some.

But no, we didn't get someone for Wade. And, we don't have anyone on the team that can take someone off the dribble. In this day and age, that is a problem. We need a few young, speedy types and maybe a scorer to add to the mix.

is to break up the starting 5. it's what hurts us the most. nobody is allowed to crack it and thus the pistons aren't allowed to get better. we can only be as good as the 5 are. those times when mcdyess was really lighting it up and outplaying ben/sheed he should have been moved into the starting lineup. darko should have been playing this season. he is exactly that inside outside threat that can hit free throws (look at his orlando games for evidence). delfino is that slasher off the bench. the problem isn't our bench it's the use of our bench. tony delk can still put up the points yet he is barely seeing minutes. arroyo went to orlando and that olympic scorer came back. he could have been doing that for us and he if anything was a willing passer while in detroit. why upgrade the bench if you aren't going to use it.???

we also need a star. someone that will go to the hole at crunch time and if he misses he gets the foul call. in todays nba the lack of a star is hurting us.