Also its a lot tougher being called up to run the show like Acker had to. Its different when you have to set the tempo and not just be called to blend into it.

We need a combo guard a lot more than another backup for Prince/Rip and that will factor in.

Lets see what Acker has tomorrow. Maybe he will have another 13 point/ 9 assist game.

1st Re-broadcast starting now on WB20.

Lee, does JMax have the footspeed to play small forward at his current weight? Or would it be more of a situational position based on the type of opponent? I have not had much of a chance to see him move on the floor so I just can't make that judgement yet... Knowing how much Flip likes the "O", Maxiell may play himself into a role if he can stay in front of his man on D.

Yep, all the talk about lack of height should slow down soon enough.
JMax= beast

One pleasent surprise - he has a nice mid-range jumper. Tempting to think of him as another Corliss but he has nice range for a big guy.

Yes. in fact I was talking about you. When you talked about his game you "forgot" to mention the limiting factors of last season: came at the middle of the season to a whole new system ander a respected coach that put him on a leash and benched him to brake him down.

Perhaps you should slam him here too. Why don't you open a trend called " My daily slam on the backup PG"? It might earn 5 stars...

Its only 8 mins worth of play. I am still far from convinced that Arroyo is up to the task but we will see. Played kind of crappy in that Miami game.

You are right he did have a hard time comming from one coach that was on his %%% to another.

I am want him to work out. Thats not my intention to hope a Piston player fails. It is getting to that time where he has to start producing on a regular basis. 4mil/yr for a backup guard. For that I do expect a lot.

Tally, I know this question was addressed to Lee... but I'd like to pipe in on this good question.

I'm not ready to endorse the foot speed just yet... then again it's better than Corliss's.
When we first drafted Jmax Joe said "we see him as a PF"... that was kinda dissapointing to hear... and I haven't seen them back down on this stance yet (unless he played some SF tonight).

It only makes sense against some of the big/strong SF's to match their physical play.

I wish a beat writer would ask those intellegent questions to Flip.

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Several things really popped out tonight. Of course, the way Arroyo played before being tossed. PRBaller, in fairness, Flip did not have time to pull CA. The things happened too quickly and was all over in a few seconds. There was no warning.

Ron Dupree deserves to be a Piston. He, dos Carlos, JMax and Evans all played well. If he has to go to make room for Acker, I would really hate that. I think it is time to let Lindsay go if they insist on keeping Acker. I have been a LH fan for years, when he came up with Alan Houston. But even then, he was supposed to be the 1 and Alan the 2. It really did not work then because LH was not a 1.

For me, of course, Darko's 6 blocks were way too low. He got at least one more when someone got called for a foul on the play and two of the three he made but got called for a foul on could have easily not been called fouls. I think when he gets some repect in this league, they will cease to be called fouls. I do hope he will get a little more balance in his game. I would sacrifice a couple of blocks for a couple more rebounds and points. He is not committing as many fouls and had a couple of more assists lost due to missed shots by the recipient.

I am not sitting here with my adding machine but I do not see how the bench lost ground to the Dallas bench. In the first half, they ran a two point lead up to thirteen at halftime. After, they took over with a pretty close game and lost it by six. I don't understand that big deficit that was reported by ESPN.

In the excitement of talking about the bench, I realize that the starters played pretty well, too. Rip had a very high percentage and although we did not have but 20 assists for the game, it looked like we were playing together pretty well.

I think the Dallas management maybe wanted the win more because they had Dirk in there against our third stringers till pretty near the end of the game. And Chauncey and Sheed were horsing around during a halftme interview. During the season, I can't imagine them doing that. They are way too focused.

I surely would rather have won tonight, but I saw many good things.

Thanks Merc. It just seems that, in pictures anyway, JMax may be carrying his extra college 20 lbs around and with the conditioning that comes with being a pro he could shed some weight. At 235-240, he might be able to extend his ability to play sf/pf depending on mathcups. Just a thought because it really does look like he has NBA talent and we should try to find a role for the young man. Although Flip probably still has so much on his plate right now that molding this rook into something is still a ways down on his "To-do" list.