LA Piston raised this issue on the Boston game thread. Max seems to have more hops and ferocity, but would the Zoo crew be the Zoo crew with Dyess coming off the bench? Seems to me, Dyess would prefer coming off the bench again. Sorry, had a little typo in the headline. Who should the Pistons' starter "be" at the 4?

Amir should start. JMAX should come off the bench. Dyess should be the fifth big, with Samb being our center for the 2nd unit. Dyess plays as needed, when we need an extra defender against the likes of Shaq or Howard, and gets spot minutes. (Just like Samb should have been getting all season long.)

Now, since this poll only gave the choice of JMAX and Dyess, I chose JMAX.

If what I think should happen happens, then we go into the playoffs with this depth chart at center: Sheed, Samb, Dyess, Brezec.

And this depth chart at power forward: Amir, JMAX, Hayes, Herrmann

After last night I agree with you.

As it stands right now we are #2 to Boston and with the current rotation it will be difficult to beat them come the playoffs.

By starting AJ now would at least find out if he can make us better.

If he doesn't, we lose nothing because worse case we are still the 2nd best team in the East.

Dice should start, but he shouldn't have the first 15 minutes of the game set in stone for him. On most nights, bring Max in for him at around the 5-6 minute mark in the 1st and 3rd quarters. If he's bricking early or the Pistons need a boost in energy, bring in Max even earlier. If he's lighting it up, keep him out there.

I just don't like how these starters have this many minutes guaranteed to them regardless of how they play.

Lee and Buddha: Sorry, boys, for the limited choice. Perhaps a forum moderator can add a third option. I wouldn't pick Amir over JMax but I think the option should be there.

my sentiments as well

I agree.

After some of his performances, Tay shouldn`t have started. Some of us called for AA to start in Rip`s spot a couple of weeks ago.

Replacing a starter will not contribute towards wins and losses IMO, in game adjustments will.

Let`s remember that old saying, it`s not who starts the game, it`s who finishes!

I`d like to add another old saying, "It`s not whether you start or come off the bench, it`s how you play when you play that determines future PT.

No problem really. Dyess and JMAX are the two current popular choices. If you really want to be complete about it, you would have to throw in these options too:

Sheed starts at power forward. Either Samb or Brezec starts at center. Very legitimite choices I might add.

Herrmann or Hayes could start at power forward. Hey, if you are going to have a jump shooting guy start, why not start one that has three point range. This would spread the opponents defense out more, and give us 3 points instead of just two for each made shot.

Going small, you could have Prince start at power forward, moving Mejia in at starting small forward. (or maybe Afflalo, or even Rip - which would mean Billups and Stuckey (or Afflalo) could start together in the backcourt.)

Dyess starts now. Sprinkle in some Max to taste. Give AJ some "Tay" time.........

Our rebounding is just not good enough.

No matter how we massage the numbers.

It hurt us against the Cavs last year.

It killed us last night

We need more rebounding

AJ is our best rebounder

Start

AJ
Sheed
Tay
C-Bill
Rip

2nd unit

Dyess
Maxey
Hayes
Stuckey
AA

That puts one of each of our two best rebounders on each unit. If AJ gets in early foul trouble then Dyess can come in for him early.