As much as I'd like to get excited about these guys, it's kind of difficult based on the past few seasons of seeing the new guys ride the pine or getting shipped away to another team. Does anyone think any of them will actually get a shot this year? Why or why not?

I'm hoping they will. 2 reasons they might play: Ben is gone so there is a "hole" in the geat starting 5, and Flip knows he needs to play the bench more if he wants to keep his job.

I really think these guys can help and they should get pt.

They may not say it now, but by the middle of the season it will become clear that the goal of the season is really to get the youth involved, develop the bench and build a team identity. At the beginning you will here, "we think we have an opportunity to be more solid offensively" as the spin. After the losses pile up, then they will talk about how they are doing "pretty well considering they lost a 4 time defensive player of the year" and that they "think we will be better positioned for 2007-2008".

Hey, I'd love to win a championship this coming year, but most likely we are simply looking at our best opportunity in quite some time at getting our new talent involved now with the goal of making another run in the next coming years. Flip will ultimately be evaluated on how successfull he is in that endeavor rather than how far he advances in the playoffs this season.

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"Great coach, this team wins the title. Average coach, they get to the ECF repeatedly and fail. Crap coach, this season happens" - The Low

It's hard to vote/guess on this topic right now since I believe/hope Joe D still has a move or two up his sleeve.

If I had to guess today, though, the current depth chart with a 10-man rotation looks something like this:

PG - Billups, Hunter
SG - Hamilton, Delfino
SF - Prince, Maxiell
PF - Wallace, McDyess
C - Mohammed, Davis

Out of the rotation: Acker, Blalock, Johnson, 2 other guys

Perhaps Acker will see the floor some this season, but I don't think Joe D wants Hunter or Acker to be the backup PG in 06-07.

We'll have to see how Mohammed pans out, but if Dyess comes off the bench, we may see another 3-man rotation at the 4/5 (hence, leaving Davis to rot on the bench once again).

If we don't give Jmax, acker and delfino serious floor time to develop, I am going to personally fire flip.

Motown, I think you're spot on.

I think we'll be seeing davis ahead of Nazr until NM can take the job away from him. Overplaying Mo Evans was dumb and it was made worse by getting rid of the guy. We needed delfino to step into a solid backup role. Instead he's at roughly the same place Acker is. Too many guys are left underdeveloped if we are trying to make a youth movement.

I disagree with your post. I think Joe D and Bill D want this team back to the NBA Finals. Not in a couple of years.....this upcoming year (06-07). This is not a rebuilding year. The Pistons won 64 games last season. The goal for next season should be nothing less than a championship....the same goal as last year.

By the way, I think Flip can get the youth involved and contend for a championship. You don't have to pick one or the other.

I have to share your pessimism on this one Tater.

I think MAYBE one or two of them will be given a LEGITIMATE shot at making a difference.

I don't think Ben leaving will have that big of an impact on the young guys. It should give DD more minutes though. Samb is nowhere near being NBA ready, and will most likely be either overseas or in the DL. Max is too small to play the 5, unless they moved Sheed over and slid him into the 4.

Hopefully Delf will be able to get Mo's minutes, but that's assuming Joe doesn't grab another vet - which he's looking to do - and that Flip doesn't give all the minutes to the vet - which he's likely to do.

I'd love to see what these kids can do. But I'm really skeptical of the opportunities (or lack there of) that they'll get to prove themselves.

Will they be so afraid to make a mistake and get burried at the end of the bench that they'll play poorly?

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I forgot about Delfino when making the poll.

I'm not voting until I get more feedback. I honestly don't know what to think. IMO, good arguments can and are being presented for both sides.

What Pistons fan or person vested in the Pistons wouldn't want them back in the NBA Finals? Again, the original spin will be that we think we have a shot, of course. But honestly, the identity of this team is going to change dramatically with the loss of Ben. We have no idea what we are going to see on the court. Hell, the players don't even know. This isn't a matter of replacing some pieces with younger parts.

The point I'm making is that if Flip flops in the playoffs again but the youth become an integral part of the team, I don't see Flip being fired. He can always fall back on the fact that he loss an all-star center. But, we ARE attempting to predict the future here so I could be wrong...I highly doubt it though. Just don't be shocked when you here the masters of spin, Joey D. and Ole' Bill explain away a season where we will be less competitive than last year.

I can't say with a sound mind that we are actually better right now or will be better than Cleveland, Miami or even New Jersey. New Jersey owned us in the regular season as well.

By the way, if you think Flip can develop our youth AND win a championship then you have a helluva lot of confidence in a guy who hasn't proven he's good at either. I see a man, who took one of the most well-rounded teams in NBA History and turned all of them into one dimensional players.

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"Great coach, this team wins the title. Average coach, they get to the ECF repeatedly and fail. Crap coach, this season happens" - The Low

WHAT!!! That's it! I guess delfino is really out of the rotation...at least in your mind