Chuck Daly, aka Daddy Rich, is healthier than LB. And he's already tan, so no way he gets a sun burn like Flipper.

Y'all gotta let Chuck Daly go. He will never, ever, ever coach NBA basketball again. And I suspect, he will not coach for the Pistons. Too much water under the bridge.

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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."

Flip & the Pistons, these are three of the biggest reasons we lost:

1. Flip did a poor job of developing a bench rotation
2. Flip did a poor job of developing a bench rotation
3. Flip did a poor job in developing a bench rotation
4. Flip did a poor job in developing a bench rotation
5. Flip did a poor job in developing a bench rotation

Remember the blowout wins during the regular season, how many times did Flip apologize for not playing his bench during these times?

How many times did Flip talk to reporters about needing to play his bench some quality minutes and in order to develop a consistent BENCH ROTATION?

How many times did Flip play anyone besides McDyess & Evans. McDyess mentioned earlier in the series about his lack of playing time.

You don't save an old man like Dale Davis sit all the way to the end of the season, then try to give him 1-2 minutes if he is going to be a significant part of your playoff plans.

After the Rasheed injury in the second game of the Cleveland series, we lost a whole lot. The pistons style and intensity did a 180 degree turn after that. The team knew that and with Rip not at 100% and now Sheed's ankle and Flip's nervousness they were in deep, deep caca.

Now the injuries have arrived and Flip had not DEVELOPED A BENCH ROTATION OH MY.

Flip did not lose the games, the players played horrible, if you take all the above statements into consideration, they simply gave up.

Dumars was asked a few months ago, "what would happen if Billups got hurt", I believe his response was not positive. Someone forgot to ask him what would happen if two other starters got hurt.

If any of you have ever experienced a bad ankle sprain, I would rather have a broken foot than a sprained ankle, it is just that painful.

We so easily forget when we want what we want, when we want it, we forget others hurts and pains. We simply blame the victim. I and most of us here wanted a win so badly that we could not and would not see the big picture or acknowledge someone else's pain.

It took me until today when all the fuzzies wore off and the agony of defeat had subsided, I was finally able to think objectively for the first time since the playoffs.

The reality is; if both Rip and Rasheed was 100%, we would have beaten the heat. In the finals, it is no way we would beat the Mavs because Flip did not develop a solid BENCH ROTATION which was exposed during these playoffs.

I saw some people on this board singing an entirely different song when bench development was under question the entire season. The story then was that championship team can't give time for rookies to learn through their mistakes. Win now club as I recall it. For the last 3-4 years all the emphasis has been on the starting 5, the bench was an after thought.

No one wanted to see Delfino or Darko get 15-20 minutes a game from the start. There was the circular argument that you don't get playing time if you don't earn it. On the other hand how can you get your confidence up if no ever gives you playing time. Darko was criticized for having a bad attitude. Now the players are excused because all their motivational/chemistry problems are attributed to Flip. Why didn't Darko get that benfit of doubt? He was a #2 overall pick. Is it remotely possible that LB was riding him too hard? Look at the Knicks.

That's not entirely accurate.

The Win Now'ers want to see Dale Davis play. They wanted to see late in the season if Kelvin Cato had anything to give. They expected to see Hunter play 10~12 and Delk play 10~15.

We didn't lose (from a bench perspective) because we didn't develop Delfino or Darko. We lost because we spent our Mid Level Exception on Davis and Mo, brought in Delk as a ringer and added Cato as insurance, and yet all of those cats gathered dust for the most part.

The Win Now club believes in having a "ready bench". Not wet napping player "development" of children. Particularly not those that wouldn't rise to the occasion. Delfino brought a much better effort this year, even in garbage time, but if our playoff hopes hinged on the 10th man, we were screwed anyways.

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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."

If I was Dale Davis, I'd be pissed. Dude sat on the bench all season, thinking that he'd sacrifice regular season minutes for a shot at a Ship all the while being promised that he'd be a vital cog in the Shaq Attack.

Well, so much for that....

I still think a #2 overall pick shouldn't have been given away without exploring what he could have done with consistent minutes. Let the kid sink or swim. I think Delfino has the talent to have been the 7th player in the rotation. Now we are hearing stories of him potentially asking for a trade. Where was Joe hiding when the bench was getting 0 minutes? I hope JMax and Johnson are not limited to garbage time next season. This is the only issue/philosophy I have a problem with the Pistons organization as whole about. Develop the YOUTH or trade away the draft picks for proven veterans. Larry, Mo and Curly coming of a bench is not going to scare anyone.

Yes he should be and with good reason. When he was not playing I think he was ok with it since he thought he would get a title. Now he wasted a year and got nothing.

Lets let Darko go. If he was so great than Orlando would have picked up his option. Opening up a rookie to Free Agency is saying that you do not value them and do not expect them to be part of your teams future. Darko has talent but something is wrong with the kidd - he ain't right in the head.

Maybe one of his bolts came loose?

Exactly. It's one thing to sacrifice PT for a ring, but I don't think he had this in mind.

Remember Sheed's sales pitch last year to get Dale to sign? "Either roll with us or get rolled".

Dale Davis ---> <----- he's saying "Dammit" and thinking: J.O. was right. Why'd I ever listen to Sheed?