AJ still needs to show that he can be an offensive threat when he is being blocked out from the offensive glass (Which will happen eventually). Max really turned the corner when he solidified his 12-15 footer as a consistent option. This made him a threat in all of the Pistons offensive sets, and won him extra playing time. Not too mention it made his teammates more confident in passing him the ball.

Unfortunately, being a young guy like he is, he won't get many opportunities to score in the half-court offense, so he must take advantage when he does get the chance.

He needs plays run for him. Once he gets stronger he will hit the jumper and hook shot in the paint with regularity in addition to put backs etc.

His biggest problem on offense is that he is still not strong enough to get and maintain position in the paint. I am sure he could sit outside and shoot jumpers while he is in and make his fair share, but that is not going to happen at this time, or he would be on the bench again, because we need his offensive rebounding not his jump shooting.

Right now he is working very hard and making good progress in getting stronger and bringing his defensive game up to snuff. I am satisfied with that.

As he gets stronger and maybe even taller he will get even more efficient at put backs and blocked out even less off of the offensive glass as long as he continues to play down low and not at the arc.

The bench needs to concentrate on getting the O in transition off of solid D. In the half court our coaching guru with the thick playbook will hopefully figure a way to take advantage of the rules and get Amir touches while on the move. Amir will be just fine.

"I'm not looking to score"

Not yet.

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That practice must've been pretty intense.

- Detroit Pistons Basketball: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com

if they play up and down ball for practice i'd pay to see our starting 5 go up against our 2nd string....

Flip,


Thank you for playing Amir a reasonable number of minutes.

See, the world did not implode when we played a young explosive player.

I'm glad that you have chosen to get him experience now instead of next year so he will be ready for next season and possibly (bonus) this years playoffs.

Thanks again,

Me

Billups elbow is bothering him from all the elbows he throws into guys when he attempts to go around screens and/or drive to the basket.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Laimbeer who broke some Zeke's ribs during a practice ?

Pistons finally have an extended home stay. This means more practice time than they got in January. I look for the Pistons to start working on some plays for AJ to run during the games.

Once he starts getting over 20 minutes a game on a regular basis I expect him to start putting up double doubles. How often will depend on how many minutes he gets, which will be dictated by his defense and ability to stay out of foul trouble.