PLEASANT EXCEPTION: Billups a star after being set up to fail, says Raptors coach

I don't think we're putting too much pressure on Amir. As somebody mentioned, most fans don't even know his name. He was a low pick and sat the bench/ went to D-league for 2 years. Now, in his 3rd season, he's getting GT minutes only.

At some point, you gotta take the training wheels off and see if the kid can ride.

Regardless of what some say including 82games.com AJ is not going to play the #3.

That leaves the #4 and #5.

Right now he is not strong enough to play the #5

That leaves the #4.

The Pistons are trying to give Maxey as many minutes as possible to help develop his game some more. This is very good.

There are no minutes available for AJ at this time.

1. He needs to continue to improve his man to man defense which he is already doing.

2. He needs to continue to get stronger.

If he can bulk up over the summer, he will get minutes at the #5 next year. That is what they are grooming him for.

Maxey at the #4
AJ at the #5
Tay at the #3????

That is the future.

I think he's big enough to play the backup 5. We just need to run a bit and take everyone out of the half court sets. He's like an Amare/ Bosh type build. If you need a little more bulk, slide Max over and have Amir play help D to contain their C.

The only other answer is Big Bird. That dude is 90% energy, 10% results.

I've said, and still maintain, that if AJ were indeed 6'11 he would be playing now. That said, you can still sneak him out there for 5 minutes with Sheed or Dyess somewhere around the 2nd quarter. Let him go against reserves and buy some time.

Rasho Nesterovic looked like Jordan next to Brezec the other night.

I suppose none of this matters anyway. Flip spoke at length about minutes yesterday and, as always, it broke my spirit. I don't even know why the papers all had to run stories about the rotation (?) being trimmed? They got a big game against Sacto tonight. Of course the rotation will be paired.

Amir Johnson of the Detroit Pistons, stats by playing position from 82games.com

This is sort of interesting. It looks like Amir has played about 40% of his minutes this year at the 3-spot, where he has had a lot more success, both offensively and defensively.

When he plays the 3, he is taking less shots than his man, but is shooting 17% higher, and scoring more points. He's outrebounding his man by 7 rebounds per 100 possessions. He's also getting more assists.

Granted, these are GT minutes, but maybe we need to start thinking of ways to get him in there at the 3-spot, since Hayes and Herrmann have been shaky backups so far. It would such a different look, that it might throw teams off. We could combine that look with a zone on D.

Stuckey/Rip/Amir/Maxiell/ Sheed

Bodies would be flying.

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"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

I am not sure how they get these numbers.

I have listened to just about every game AJ has played in while he is playing.

He almost always comes in to replace Maxey and is on the court with Hayes or Herrmann and Bezec (used to be Nazmo)

AJ is never on the floor with a #4 and #5 besides himself.

I think that their breakdown is just plain wrong.

Here is a list of every starting center in the league with their corresponding height and weight. Data collected from ESPN.com roster section for each team:

Perkins: 6'10 280
Collins: 7'0 260
Curry: 6'11 285
Dalembert: 6'11 250
Bosh: 6'10 230
Biedrins: 6'11 245
Kaman: 6'11 245
Bynum: 7'0 275
Stoudemire: 6'10 245
Miller: 7'0 261
Wallace: 6'9 245
Illguaskas: 7'3 260
Wallace: 6'10 230
O'neal: 6'11 260
Bogut: 6'11 245
Chandler: 6'11 245
Dampier: 6'11 265
Ming: 7'6 310
Duncan: 6'11 260
Milicic: 7'0 265
Horford: 6'10 245
Mohamed: 6'10 245
Shaq: 7'0 340
Howard: 6'11 265
Haywood: 7'0 263
Camby: 6'11 245
Jefferson: 6'10 256
Pryzbilla: 7'1 255
Thomas: 6'9 245
Okur: 6'11 263

The listed statistics for Amir Johnson from th same source are as follows:

Johnson: 6'9 210

Granted, the height and weight may be a little low right now, but clearly Amir is NOT BIG enough to be a 5 at his current size. Even Amare who Amir is most compared to outweighs Amir by 30-40 pounds. What is Amare's biggest weakness ( a weakness many blame on the Sun's never being able to advance farther in the playoffs) ? Post defense. Basically, Amir cannot even be considered a center until he puts on much more size. Taking a cursory look at the 4's in the league, Amir is still quite light in the pants.

On a side note, take a look at some of the SF's in the East:

Pierce: 6'9 230
Prince: 6-9 215
Deng: 6-9 220
Butler: 6'7 240

Clearly, Amir is the absolute correct size to be a 3 or a 4. Neither too small or big for either. Time growing and learning a particular skill set may push him toward a specific positions, but using his size to exclude him from these two positions is completely farce.

AJ has played almost exclusively power forward this year. He has had one appearance as a small forward, a couple at center.