After last years disappointing loss, the Pistons organization declared three goals for this season: reduce the starter’s minutes, develop its youth, and find a scoring option off the bench. As the starters stayed in games many fans thought they shouldn’t have, it was easy to get the feeling that this was business as usual all over again. Fellow forumite BillLaimbeer compared the minutes per game versus other championship teams so this time we’re going to step back and take a look at the total minutes played and see how we did.



Aside from McDyess who went from sub to starter, we’ve got a general reduction in minutes. Rasheed’s minutes are roughly the same but we see roughly 10% reduction in overall minutes for Rip and Tayshaun. Chauncey had the same total minutes but sat out eight more games in ’06-’07. Is this enough? If you even believed the tired legs reasoning for last year’s collapse, Bill’s piece highlighted that we’re in line with other championship teams. So for goal #1, reducing the starters minutes, we’re going to check that off.



Rookies Afflalo and Stuckey got significantly more minutes than any other doughnut fetching first year player of the Going to work era…except for Mehmet Okur. Aside from Okur, no rookie got more that 450 minutes - that includes Prince and Delfino. Milicic’s career minutes for the Pistons doesn’t even come close to Afflalo’s first year total. If you add in Amir’s 764 minutes which is comparable to a Delfino and Maxiell’s developing seasons, it’s a wonder they were able to find the time for all three. While you can argue that more time would have been more beneficial, the team is trying to balance winning and development. This year, over all previous years, the staff has managed to do just that. Goal #2. Check.



Dumars spent the offseason looking for a scoring punch to come off the bench to keep the team from bogging down while the starters sat. The answer was the affordable Jarvis Hayes. Hayes is your typical Dumars’ diamond in the rough player. He’s got the college/ lottery pedigree. He’s gone through some unfortunate events and hasn’t lived up to his potential and he’s cheap. Sure he can’t shut down Yi Jianlian any better than a sofa recliner but after watching uber athlete Mo Evans spot up for three and Delfino spot up for nothing, you had to figure our expectations were roughly the same. Ok so he’s better than Carlos but so is like 90% of the NBA and probably 75% of the NBDL. I like Hayes but, by the numbers, we’re going to have to say: Goal #3….brrrrt.

Well there it is. With Maxiell emerging as a bona fide bench presence, we’re in as good a position as we’ve been in years. Will it be enough to git er done? That’s what the playoffs are all about.

Nice work slippy!

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

Awesome stuff Slipster!

Tays reduction in minutes really surprised me. I figured he had a bit less this season, but that was more than expected.

Of course Dice's minutes are up due to his promotion this season, but that worries me more than anything else. Will he (and his knees) be able to hold out in the playoffs?

I think Flip has done an OK job of getting the bench/youngsters some minutes this season, but I think he has had the opportunity to get them even more minutes along the way. Keeping the starters in the game with 15-20 point leads late in the game, pulling the non-starters at the first sign of trouble, etc.

I actually really like the way he distributed the minutes and rested the starters the last month or so of the regular season.

Overall, I'm willing to give him a passing grade for the regular season, but the playoffs might be an entirely different story.

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That was written before game 1. What the last game proved was: none of this BS matters if we don't start playing like champs instead of talking like one

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It also proves that what happens in the regular season; stays in the regular season. So much for trusting the bench.