IMO, that is TP's only weakness(?) to date...he is not a leader. He has a quiet demeanor and doesn't want the spotlight. He will play his ass off and do anything at either end to help the team, but doesn't want to be put at the helm. If he doesn't want to lead...that's okay with me. It would be nice if he took it on as a challenge, but I don't think it's in his nature...yet.

The beautiful thing about this team is that there are no prima donnas...not even Sheed. CB is a leader, but not a PD.

The Pistons DO need a second floor leader. So far, Arroyo ain't it. I'm not sure Lindsey will be up to the task when he returns, but not from lack of heart or floor intelligence.

I was sorry to not see Acker get playing time last night. Tho not a pure PG, I'd like to see what he can offer in the leadership role. Last night was one of the probable few times this early season that he could have played that role.

Acker & Johnson should have both had time last night.

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I was mining for quotes in this morning's stories. Here's one from Sheed, which is great as always:

The Pistons were impressed with Darko Milicic on Friday. In the second quarter, he got entangled with Dikembe Mutombo. Mutombo stuck a finger in Milicic's face. Milicic never backed off.
He then went on to block two shots, one of them Mutombo's.
"I'm telling you, Darko is a Serbian gangster," Rasheed Wallace said. "Darko's got some bodies back there (in Serbia-Montenegro). He can go psycho on guys."

darko is much more of a team player than jmax in my opinion. when jmax touches the ball it's going up no other player on the team is going to touch it. darko plays the team game a little bit too much i wish he would be like jmax sometimes and look to score everytime he touches it. but often darko runs the offense sets picks and looks for the nice pass to an open teammate.

delfino played pretty good defense. the young athletic players of dallas weren't driving right past him like they were against the other piston players. i think dice is making a bid for being the 4th big off the bench. is dice "earning" his minutes??? it's time for jmax or darko to get a look at the 3rd big.

woohoo an irregardless sighting!!

detteam, acker and johnson couldn't play last night - they are on the inactive list or whatever. by the way, for those that didn't get to watch the game, Maxiel had 3 clean blocks but was called for a foul on every one of them. The kid played absolutely fantastic - made an 18-footer, a turnaround jumper, and abused people on defense (just didn't get the benefit of the calls).

mcdyess is still not getting the shots where he wants them and is forcing the shots anyway. arroyo was inconsistent as usual but didn't play that poorly. everyone's shot was off because they were trying to force it rather than run the offense, but that's what happens when you're down by 25. it also caused extra turnovers, like rip and sheed driving the lane, having nowhere to go, and passing it out *right* to a Dallas guy.

i think you guys misjudge how the media is going to react to this - it's barely a blip on the ESPN page (and thankfully they all had college games to talk about ).

listen, shiz happens. indiana lost to charlotte by 33 and had trouble with them a couple nights ago. dallas shot 17/21 in the 1st quarter and ben was out for most of it...i mean what are you going to do? i watched most of the game and dallas made about 10 circus shots *while* getting fouled - they just couldn't miss. the bench got to play all of the 4th and it was really good experience for them, especially on the road for a fired up dallas crowd.

on a sidenote, my buddy and i were at Hoop City Grille last night to cheer on his stepsister for the unveiling of the Automotion Swimsuit Calendar - and WOW the girls look great this year!! the calendar is much better than last year's, and it helped to erase the smell of last night's game.

so the pistons lost, u of m lost, msu lost...a bad day for michigan sports, which can only mean...a LIONS VICTORY TODAY!! woohoo!!

Darko's not aggressive enough period. I think he gets let off the hook with the "team game" stuff.

Marquise Daniels took Delfino and whoever else guarded him to the hoop all game. I like Dallas and I like when he does it to other teams. I did not enjoy watching him do it last night.

DMC & Playstation both need to start bringing their A-Game. Before I read anymore Dice for Darko nonsense, Darko needs to actually impact a game. Delfino too. If Dice and Arroyo are not going, DMC and Delfino need to start stepping up and playing like important pieces of this team.

Plenty of blame to go around, but the young guys are showing very little, and they were supposed to be the backup plan.

It's obvious to me that Dallas is much further ahead with their youth movement from Harris to Diop, Daniels to Howard than the Pistons are.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

darko is very aggressive on the defensive end. he is a great pick and roll defender and a great shot blocker. he also sets great picks on the offensive end.

he needs to be more aggressive on the boards and looking to score that's about it. these are coaching areas. i think he is deferring to mcdyess to score on the second unit.

what impact is dice having on the game besides the impact of his bricks hitting the rim? darko and delfino need the minutes to have an impact on the game. delfino has played very good this season but still his minutes have been limited. dallas isn't much further ahead on thier youth movement they just have to put thier youth on the floor. our youth isn't even really into our rotation yet but they will be integrated soon and then we can better judge how they are.

Yeah, he's aggressive with blocks. He's not aggressive on the boards. Defensive rebounding is the primary responsibility of the bigs. Not trying to block every shot.

I don't think coaching has anything to do with chasing boards or going hard to the hoop with the ball. That sounds a lot like an excuse.

We'll see. I'm seriously doubting that our youth is as good as advertised. Delfino played 20 minutes and came up with 2-5 shooting for 4 points. Lindsey Hunter can do that.

__________________
To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

I'm inclined to agree with Micro on the overrated youth on our team (production being the ultimite gauge)... however as you might expect a very green bench will play like a yo-yo... typically playing bad on the road and better when the crowd is behind them (let's track road vs home stats).
We're gonna have to wait till near the 2nd half of the season to see which way the 2nd unit goes... we've been very fortunate so far to be able to let them get some on the job training and still get W's.

IMO, They are hiding Acker's skills for next years contract when HUnter is gone.

If it came down to a close game and you needed some scoring from the bench who would you put your money on ...Jmax or Dice?.. I'm not ready to give up on Antonio yet (besides I want his trade value to go up for next year)

At this point Dallas has a better bench (possibly best in the association)... most of those guys have at least one year under their belts... I think we should just stay the course and monitor any improvement (or lack of) before making a move...

Wonder if Joe will make a move before the deadline.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

In reading the various posts, I find that I agree with a lot of them but sometimes my feelings get in the way.

I agree that the bench needs to score more but I also feel that the bench usually holds whatever lead they are given, and I think that even last night, when the bench was in there, they did not fall further behind.

I really wish Darko would go into the games and look to score. I note that he is constantly passing quickly to a more open teammate but they do win games by points, not assists. He sees the floor pretty darned well because he does not hesitate at all in getting rid of the ball, like clear across court to Delfino who then made the open shot. But I still want him to look to score.

I note also that when he is trying and actually blocking shots, it takes him out of position for the rebound. The ball virtually always comes down somewhere else than where he is because he is blocking the shot. I guess they better decide if they want the blocks or the boards.

It may be my letting him off the hook, but it seems that quite a bit, he does work well to box someone out and has good rebound position and virtually always when he does, the ball goes into the basket. Seems like everytime he is open for the rebound, the basket is made.

I still come down to the feeling after DMC plays that I am disappointed that he did not look to score more. I am not sure whether his two buckets last night in Dallas were good looking shots because I was busy trying to reformat my hard drive on this %&*%#M*&<% computer to watch the game as well as I needed to. Also, it was only two shots in what, 15 minutes? Can't see them all. I wish he would do something to rid me of this vaguely disappointed feeling when he plays during the earlier parts of the game.

in your opinion defensive rebounding is the primary responsibility of the bigs. but when darko is in the game he alters the game. people have to think twice about coming to the hole against him. he alters lots of shots and blocks lots too. don't underestimate the value of a shot blocker down there. yes rebounds are important but darko creates lots of rebounds for his team just by shot alterations. in my opinion sheed isn't exactly a good rebounder does that mean he isn't a good defender?

coaching has a lot to do with the way darko plays on the offensive end. if flip called the plays and called darko's number every time and told him he was the # 1 option to score when he's in the game darko would look for his shot. what is sheed's excuse for not going hard to the hole?? i bring up sheed often because lots of the things dmc is talked about for sheed shares the same weakness in his game but noone speaks on it.

delfino also rebounds and throws assists making his teammates better something lindsey doesn't do. delfino is shooting a high percentage and is unselfish so he isn't just jacking up shots to get the numbers. he's been much better on defense this year too. he's great in the passing lanes.

evans is shooting a good percentage from 3. he's rebounding and providing energy. i haven't seen the lockdown defense just yet.

darko is a shot blocker and a great pick and roll and post defender. he's more than held his own against some of the best bigs in the league. bigs that were dogging ben didn't get the same shots against darko. just needs to work on rebounding. darko has also raised his shooting percentage. he just needs to start believing he is the go to guy in the 2nd unit.

arroyo has brought his shooting touch with him this year. the guy is a scorer and he makes great passes to people in scoring position. he makes his teammates better. he's also worked on his defense and he's another energy guy. he just needs to work on getting rid of the ball sooner.

jmax is the sleeper of the bunch. although he won't pass to save his life when he does shoot it goes in. he also is aggressive on the rebounds and defensively.

dallas has one of the best benchs in basketball. it's not fair to compare ours to them. lots of thier bench players had time as a starter and played heavy minutes. our bench players haven't exactly had that luxury. being developed on a piston bench is one of the hardest things in basketball.