WW, be innovative? I'm waiting. Maybe Martz can be with the Lions.

Not that this is really an issue anymore since Rasheed almost never seriously attempts to post up, but Chicago had success with Luol Deng fronting him tonight - Deng being somewhat more athletic but without the strong base of Andres Nocioni, who Rasheed abused last year. Deng is a ridiculously huge mismatch who the Pistons were able to exploit most of the time when Rasheed got the ball on the block in the first quarter, but went away from later in the game, confused by the fronting defense.

Flip Saunders blames Flip Murray:
while Rasheed disagrees, stating that the problem is with the offensive sets:
Guess who's lying more?

Note that this is without Ben Wallace clogging up the lane. Nazr Mohammed hit a few 10-15 foot jumpshots tonight, but he's never been consistently able to hit that shot and the Bulls don't care much if he can - still, while he neither has the jumpshot of David Robinson or the passing skills of Sabonis, he and the other two players on the weak side do have advantages to exploit if the ball is moved quickly enough after the fronting defense is employed, or (I know this is a radical concept) the players are moved before it.

(Note that Delfino, except for a turnover coming from a Ben gamble, never had problems feeding Maxiell after crisply coming off a weakside baseline pick and getting an immediate swing pass from Blalock. Maybe Flip is right and the only players on the team who can solve basic, decades-old defenses are the second and third stringers, but as far as I can see, he's the one with the whiteboard and the very successful adjustment, if it had been made sometime in the first quarter unstead of in garbage time, might have done something to control the pace of the game and keep it more competitive.)

Have to agree with Sheed. An NBA player should be able to give an entry pass. You can't only depend on Chauncey. What if he fouls out in a game 7. You're not going to even look to post up anymore?

A post entry passes is one of the rarest skills in the NBA. There are really only maybe 20% of the players who can do it effectively.

Don't ask me why. It's just one of those skills that always seems to go underdeveloped.

You could depend on Delfino. This is why I am loathe to give CB the big bucks. We've avoided having the team screwed by one player's ineffectiveness or injury (cap wise) until now.

By the way, Billups is no Leonardo Da Vinci either. When people front, it is a more difficult post entry pass. I doubt he would have had the patience to feed anyone over their man for a length of time.

__________________
Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

There were a couple of times last night when a guy was wide open and Blaylock did not even see him. One play Maxiel was 5' from the basket wide open with someone behind him in sigle coverage and Blaylock hot potatoed the ball to the guy next to him. Couple more passes later the posetion ended with someone missing a long jump shot.

I have come to the realization that Blaylock in not ready yet. Good try for the 60th pick but its time to send him back to the D-league and find a real backup point. Maybe he needs to play oversees for a couple of years to develope some offense. We don't have the time to mess around with him now.

Interesting that Delfno was brought up. Would it have been anymore crazy to start him at point? Murry had never played it professionally until this season.

PISTONS: A Slunch, Three Fouls, a Pop, a Slap, One Flip, Two Flip
The Pistons honestly believe that Flip is a point guard. It's depressing since pretty much no one else in the league (fan or management) seems to think so. No one even wanted this guy for the bi-Annual Exception for crissakes. That's basically saying, we'll try Europe or the CBA before looking at Flip Murray. Maybe invite Canada's dwarf basketball team to camp and see what they have.

I'm pretty fired up this morning. Haven't had a chance to break down Blalock's game, and don't know if I will. I know he isn't good, but it is damn sad that he is outplaying a veteran guard. This experience will either end or kickstart his career.

__________________
Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

I don't think it would be crazy but who is going to hold the gun to Flip Saunder's head in order to make it happen? For some reason Flip seems to hate to see Delfino initiate the offense.

When Delfino is trying to feed the post and the opposition has taken away the passing lanes, he takes a hard dribble to create a passing lane. What a radical concept. Why has no one else(on the Pistons) ever thought of this?

TT, I think it is pretty simple. Flip doesn't like any PG who doesn't run his system by the book. The only one capable of doing this due to past familiarity and experience (in Minnesota) is Chauncey.

Flip lives and dies by his system and offensive philosophy. Where he is running into trouble is that guys like Delfino/Maxiell/Davis can go out, just ball and have some success. It totally undermines his position of offensive coordinator if the QBs keep changing plays at the line of scrimmage and have success.

For the love of all that is holy, we don't even have a P&R offense. The Pick and Pop is not the Pick and Roll. We don't swing the ball from one side to the other, we don't run cuts during isos to create passing opportunities, ARGH!

This offense is so stagnant, so predictable, so brainless it is crazy. We play outside in, we shoot 3s like it is competition, and no one moves around with or without the ball.

It must be noon somewhere. Time for a drink.

__________________
Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

Who would value control over success?

(Pause while I put on my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker)

Flip's neck twitches look eerily like mild tourettes syndrome. Tourettes is often accompanied by OCD. No one values control more than someone with OCD.

In any case Flip is too rigid. He really seems to have problems making adjustments to incoming information. What other coach would not want (and play) the in the paint wrecking crew of Davis and Maxiell? Bob Hill in Seattle must be scratching his head and wondering. Last years playoffs; Flip kept calling the plays for Rip and Sheed even though they were on one ankle and couldn't get it done. Now the Flip Murray point guard fiasco.

I think it is time for Joe to step in and have another talk with Flip. Flip may be incapable of resetting the agenda as situations change and may need Joe to do it for him. The Pistons offense has to run on spacing and movement and to make it work you need a fairly high basketball IQ. Delfino brings this and Murray does not. Someone please hit Flip Saunders over the head with this fact until it sinks in.

That is why I thought Porter, and Cowens would be valuable. Looking at our starting lineup we shouldn't be a jumpshooting team. Why does everyone say this team is a jumpshooting team?

Chauncey great outside shooter. One of the best. He also manhandles 99% of point gaurds in the paint. He should be driving and posting his man 9 times out of 10.

Rip is one of the best shooters in the league. He should look to drive more though. He is also very fast and he should look to penetrate more. Penetrate & Dish, or Penetrate & Score that's what Rip should do more.

Tayshaun is the most obvious. Flip keeps him outside like he's Ray Allen. He can shoot, but he's better at taking the ball inside. Tay should get more cuts and post ups in the offense.

Sheed's shooting touch is used in the worst way. He's is still a big man. He could be one of the most dominant even at this age. Dirk gets ripped on because he doesn't play defense. Tim Duncan doesn't have an outside touch. Ben's great at defense, but he can't score. Sheed has the whole package. In the offense he should post up his man every single time. If the defender tries cheating than Sheed gets in a pick and pop play.

Nazr is the only starter I'm not pissed at. He's doing the dirty work, rolling inside, and hitting the occasional jumper. Good job.

J Max. Give him the ball inside that is it.

Flip Murray can't shoot. He can drive. Start creating on penetration or get traded.

Delfino can make plays from others and get to the hoop. Like Tay he shouldn't be roaming outside. Delfino is doing the hustle plays, if he was used correctly in the offense he'd be a 6th man candidate.

Dice can shoot, but like Sheed he's a big man. He may not be as dominant inside as he once was, but he can still dunk on someone. He can do so much better.

Dale was doing nice. He supposedly has the flu. Once he's over his sickness he should get right back on the court because he helps this team a lot.

Looking at all these problems it's time for Joe to get involved. Either with moves, or he should knock some sense into these guys.

__________________
"That's the end, man." Rasheed Wallace