As long as he sticks with it he'll be alright.

From his lack of increased playing time; these numbers must not be as impressive to the coaching staff as they are to us.

We look at them and say' "Why wait til next year; get him in the games now and by the end of the season he will have Maxey-like numbers this year."

Or from the other POV, bringing Max along slowly got him prepared for the expanded role he is playing now. He just may not have been ready to play more earlier, could have gotten frustrated by his free throw shooting, and may never have developed into the player he is now without the practice time and game watching time he spent without having the pressure of an expanded role.

One problem with the above POV. JMAX was as good as he is now at the beginning of last season, any time Saunders let him play continuous, regular minutes. Heck, he was for the most part as good as he is now in summer league the first season we got him. This is his 3rd season. Forget last season, JMAX should have been playing two seasons ago. He was quite ready. He came here with an NBA body, a terrific skill set, and was ready to play.

Jason Maxiell had that steady jumper in college. The only reason it ever became unsteady is that we kept him from playing basketball in his rookie season, and continued destroying his game by playing him irregular mintues last year.

The only aspect of JMAX's game that has improved any is his defense against individual players, as he gains experience playing those players in NBA games.

If Maxey is no better now than last year then why did he lose 25 plus pounds over the summer? If he was as good last year as he is this year, he certainly could use 25 more pounds to clear more space on both offense and defense.

Maxey's defense was mediocre last year and even worse at the beginning of the year. It seems to me that his loss of weight has made him quicker and helped improve his defense. That along with the additional NBA experience has made him a far for effective Pistons player this year.

a little OT to the conversation going, but i was watching the Blazers/Bulls game, and TT barely plays for them, and he's gotten way more minutes than Amir, and actually (from a coaching perspective) has/should have proved he can play.

Amir/TT are similar in the fact that they are raw, athletic players who get by more on talent that fundamentals. It's like some coaches have no idea what to do with a player like that.

It takes the Phil Jackson or a Greg Popavich's to get it. Jackson has Ariza who for the most part is an offensive liability if he's not near the basket, he's inexperienced, he makes mistakes, but he's talented as hell. Thomas couldn't see it, Van Gundy either. He gets to LA and now he's STARTING. Pop has Manu Ginnobli, and admitted that he had to adjust to the way Ginnobli plays not the other way around, and live with his mistakes b/c he makes things happen.

I'm not saying Amir is on the level of a Manu, but i feel like given the time he would be a positive regardless of his mistakes, and i feel like that's just not going happen under the coaching regime we have now.

It sucks because i don't see how him sitting on the bench is helping him. I'm not advocating major PT, but 10 min of valuable game time seems perfect not only for him, but to also cut min off of Dyess/Sheed.

This debate is getting more frustrating than the Great YKW Debates of a few years ago. With all due respect, alot of you all have some real moronic perspectives. His time is coming, he has a lot to learn, and he's shown that he's up to the task.

I'll also give Flip Saunders a ton of credit also, I have to admit that Flip does a better than average job of letting players know exactly what the team needs from them. With coaches like Pop, Skiles, Sloan and LB, they drive young players crazy because they have no clue as to what to do, to get and stay on the floor.

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Play hard, Play smart, Play together, share the ball, have fun....Play the right way!!!!!!

Weak. JMAX lost the same weight to start last season. Next.

Last year he added the weight and was slower. This year so far he has kept the weight off and it has helped him become a far better player this year.

At the beginning of last year he had a total of 159 minutes of NBA experience. He now has close to 2,000 minutes of NBA experience. That plus his keeping the weight off have made him a far better player now than he was last year at this time.

PISTONS: Lean and Hungry

NBA.com : Jason Maxiell Career Stats Page

Is AJ our best outside shooter or just our best half-court shooter?

Celtics rematch isn't a big deal