At the beginning of the season, I started a thread entitled "Not Very Encouraging" Well with almost 1/3 of the season behind us, I think we all have to be encouraged somewhat with the direction of the Pistons.

Flip has started playing the bench (for reasons nobody can explain) and they are playing quite well. The defense has actually looked better, and the emergence of the Brahma has brought energy and excitement to the fans and players alike!

The only discouraging issue in this encouraging atmosphere is Sheed`s injury. How bad is it and will it heal without surgery. I guess those questions will be answered soon.

Let`s hope this winning, 9-10 deep rotation continues, and Flip doesn`t return to his former sins!!!!!!

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"You got to go wit da flow" Rasheed Wallace responding to Rip Hamilton's disbelief of him becoming a Boston Celtic.

It's not natural for posters to respond to a positive thread... why should this team be any good... the coach kinda sucks cause he doesn't play our preferred guys.. and we're stuck with our "not Ben"... never mind that we're winning.
The Sheed injury is a blessing (he'll be fine)... but this gives Joe a chance to eval the other guys... guess we're OK for now... not to diminish Sheed's playoff presence but we've been catering to his disappearing act to long...
I like the tone of the thread... this team is on track to do some nice things come playoff time... even 16 is on board lately (rare indeed).
So what happens next... is the bench as good as the masses are portraying... maybe the schedule has been soft... or just maybe this team is capable of kickin' the East ass.

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Big or Bust

I agree Merc. Looks like the Piston's D is back, even without Ben. Lots of talent, blossoming bench... I see great things in the future.

Good things: the team seems to be united behind Flip, which would eliminate a factionalization. I'd like Flip to be outta here, but I'd rather the team be united and listening to whatever coach they've got. Also, Chauncey and Sheed appear to have been moved by what happened to them last spring. There's reason to hope they won't sleepwalk through Games 1 through 4 of all playoff series anymore. We'll see in the playoffs, but the death of the ``ain't rough/ain't right'' syndrome would be a huge development. Also good: Davis has shown he will be useful in the playoffs, and maybe even Max too.

Bad things: ultimately, Flip Saunders is still coach. If last year taught us anything, it's that no conclusions can be made from regular-season play. If we want to look at what will happen in the postseason, it's silly to look at the games the Pistons have played so far. So it's hard to know. Flip's met with no playoff success, either because his teams in Minny were undermatched or because he as a coach was overmatched. IMO, the biggest factor in the playoffs, if Flip makes it that far, is whether he's capable of learning from his failures. He's not going to suddenly rid us of the flawed system we're running, but our players are possibly good enough to get past that. So the question is whether Flip can learn how to play the matchups and make adjustments over a 7-game series. We have nothing to go on save his past failure to do so, but it's arguable that last year could have been a better lesson than his Minnesota experience.

Encouraging things Hack, encouraging!!

I agree with what you are saying, however, that`s too many bad things to mention here.

It`s true that Flip`s post season failures has defined his coaching ability. Maybe this year he plans to take a different approach with his team..ie, PLAY THE BENCH!

Something he didn`t do last year. Maybe, just maybe, he has the respect of his team this year and they are responding to him.

The playoffs are another level of play, but let`s wait it out and see what develops. At this point in the season, I see Miami and Chicago as our biggest opponents in the EC.

IMO, Orlando will not be in the first 4 seeds in the east and will not be a threat to the Pistons at all.

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"You got to go wit da flow" Rasheed Wallace responding to Rip Hamilton's disbelief of him becoming a Boston Celtic.

yeah, I love to see the bench play. It's simply more fun to watch more than the 7 players every night. It's fun to see different faces, different styles and to know you always have something left. Loved the game when DD played like a young god, grabbing 10+rebs in about 20 mins. Or when Maxiell came out nowhere to crash the Sonics' boards. I love to see Delfino prove he's a solid NBA player. To see Mc Dyess show you can never count him out. See that young kid Ballock being happy like a small child at christmas to get some burn with one of the league's elite teams despite being drafted as the last player of the draft.
That's how it should be. Play the bench as much as possible and still keep winning

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I'm a wannabe- GM, but I stand to it.

i wouldn't mind sheed taking 40 games off and come back 10 games from the playoffs a la lindsey hunter. with the east being so weak it wouldn't really hurt us that much, and it would allow our bench to get a tonne of playing time.
hopefully dice can get back in his groove - cavs game was a good start.

i like the way flip has played the bench the past week, but im still not that high on him because his hand was forced into that decision - either by sheeds injury or joe - this guy is too reactionary. hopefully, hopefully he is learning something from the exercise.


i think i know the point you're trying to make, i'd say the 2 are quite related to each other.

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Once it was clear we were in trouble against Miami, Flip played the bench -- he threw Delfino and Davis in there in the first half. I guess that was his idea of mixing things up. Certainly didn't work, tho. I doubt Delfino or Max get serious run in the playoffs, the bench always shortens then. But Flip will need to understand the progression of strategy, move-countermove, if we're gonna have a chance in the ECF or finals.

People don't like the Zone and there are times when it doesn't work too well but when the pistons have gone into it late in games, its thrown WAde and LEbron off their games.
Like a bench player, the zone needs to be used in games regularly so late in the game its effective.

The current pattern of getting guys in the game is encouraging to me. Delfino is looking more and more comfortable and despite what some people say, is contributing well; especially in the rebounding department.

and Maxiell...just hang on brother.

Not always- til recent times, Flip tried to play the bench as little as possible because he didn't trust them. The Pistons were and maybe still are a team with a weak bench compared to other teams. It's been questionable for quite a long team if they still win with the starters not playing 35+mpg. I wouldn't say you need a good bench to win. Miami didn't have a good bench last year, the Jordan- Bulls only had Kukoc coming off the bench and maybe Kerr to shoot some 3's. The Lakers also hadn't got a good bench during their 3peat.

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I'm a wannabe- GM, but I stand to it.