I'd love to see a change in the philosophy- good points about the comparison Mavs bench - Pistons bench. It's not as if the material wouldn't be here. The potential is here as well. The only thing we lack is a solid backup PG, that's it. Fino, AJ, JMax, DD, Dyess, Evans should make up a pretty decent bench if there given the minutes.

Well if the Pistons do what I hope they'll have a 9 or possibly a 10 man rotation. If that happens I can see the team starting off to a slow 7-6 or 10-9 start. If the bench plays and thats what happens so be it.

I'd like to see a different rotation as mentioned above where every game is not started with the same 5.Get the others some burn in meaningful minutes,get Flip more trusting in the bench guys.We need a deeper more rounded team.I think if we keep our defense solid the offense should gel with the different guys being utilized.We don't need 4 all-stars again just another ship.

What happens if we use 9-10 players and reduce or starter minutes and still come up short... why do we assume that playing more guys will make all the difference?...
Is that going to be acceptable or are we gonna blame the coach for not playing his proven players.

I'm saying do that in the regular season. Of course you give the starters more minutes in the playoffs, but a 10 minute reduction in 82 games can make a big difference. I would like to see 30mpg in the regular season, but 40 in the playoffs rather than 40 in both. It will only help if the bench gets better through the regular season and the starters get rest.

Playing more guys just to play more guys probably won't help in any way.

But making players accountable for their playing time is a win-win. CB stinking? Sit him. Rip turning the ball over like crazy? Sit him. Sheed looking lazy? Sit him.

But you need a coach with a pair to do something like that.

This season was a wakeup for all of the ankle biters who claimed that anyone could coach this team to a title. Entirely untrue. Coaching is important, depth is important, style of play is important.

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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."

This team needs a strong coach. We have to go deeper but a good point--going deeper does not guarantee a success. One question I have is can we win without a true superstar? The rules gives the Wades and the Lebrons a free ride to the hoop. Who do we have as a go-to?

Chauncey is also very good at drawing fouls, but he just didn't have it in him. Micro you have to hope Flip toughens up and sits these guys down. Ben got sat down because he was stinking it up on offense, but Flip needs to sit guys down if they do bad defensively as well. Ben had to sit and watch his team fall apart that last quarter and it sucks because before even though the team would shoot bad their defense would give them a shot. Maybe Sidney Lowe moving is good because we can get a a tough minded defensive coach on the sidelines. No way is Joe looking for an assistant coach thats not like that. Maybe we don't have to pull off an amzing deal, but get a guy who can get this team ready defensively as well as offesively with the Flipper.

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

Flip did play his proven players and look what happened.

Anyway, I'm not saying the bench is a panacea. I am saying it's something that needs to be addressed.

As micro alluded to, there were definitely times this season where one or more of the starters -- for whatever reason -- just aren't bringing game. Instead of sticking with them regardless as was Flip's wont, they should be on the pine. In the long-term, the benefit of this is that if we need to draw on the bench in the playoffs -- because of injury, fouls, suspension, matchups etc -- it won't be a totally unknown quantity.

The bench isn't our only problem of course. (I also believe we need a renewed commitment to defense.) But I do think it's something that needs fixing.

Have to agree with this 100%. The number of players that Flip plays is not as important as to who's playing. Flip's worst move was during the season when Evans was having a bad run, and Delfino was playing well. Flip's response, sit Delfino, and play Evans more. Well, suprise, suprise, Evans got out of his slump, and when Delfino was given another chance he blew it.

Flip needs to stop basing PT on what he wants, and instead on how players play. If Delfino plays well, then he's deserved more pt. If Ben refuses to go into a game, then he's deserved a one game benching. If Sheed starts playing like crap, then Dice needs some of his minutes. If Dice starts playing like crap, then bring in Davis.

Do this for the entire season, you end up with starters with a sense of accountibility, and a bench that knows they've been given a fair shot, and a coach that knows what every player is truly capable of, instead of what he hopes their capable of.