I was going to say that the Pistons have been suiting up a bunch of scrubs, but you said it much more eloquently. Nice post.
Will Bynum has been looking like our best prospect out there. You can bash Curry for a lot of things but he has been giving some of the guys opportunities lately and they have not been stepping up. -2 points from your starting SG. -Stucky is more and more a question mark on his ability to lead the team in the future. -Amir Johnson is looking like a true 2nd round throw in. - Maxiel can't seem to figure out the concept of a defensive rebound.
All true. Given the opportunity to perform, the kids haven't exactly lit up the world. Bynum has been the best of the lot lately, but without a consistent jump shot with range his upside is still pretty limited.
This is so true. We are a not a very good basketball team right now. It is going to take more than just one free agent signing.
He has been doing the kind of things that I would have expected out of Stucky. Agressive - staying in attack mode all game, breaking down the defense to set other guys up and whatnot. He is still young so he can get better. I would say he is a keeper.
Right now, with the available roster, we are by far the lowest salary team in the league (if you exclude AI, Sheed, and Rip). So, unless our scrubs are drastically underpaid, it would be quite an accomplishment to beat any team in the league. It's been pretty impressive that we have a chance to win all of these games recently. It would have been interesting to see AI try to carry these guys without Rip and Sheed. That could have given him the confidence he needs going into the playoffs if he was able to do it.
Yeah, its hard to gather anything really from the stats, especially on defense. Suffice it to say, Amir was everywhere on defense, his usual whirlwind of activity, when allowed to play. Herrmann was nowhere to be seen. The Pistons have a lot of fine defenders, and sometimes they can hide Herrmann within that. But typically, its not long before the other team finds ways to exploit Herrmann's lack of movement. That is, if they are not busy exploiting our lack of movement around the basket when we pair two centers up like Dyess and Kwame, neither of who can defensive rotate all that well. For the game as a whole, you almost continually had either Kwame and Dyess paired up, or Herrmann was in the game. Always something for Chicago to exploit and get easy scores from.
I find it amazing how hurt we get this year. This team was phenomenally healthy over the past 4 years. law of averages or people not seeing a point in playing through it this go around?
I agree. It's just frustrating. I'm not saying Amir or Hermann are going to make us win the game, but at least put us in the best position to win. That is the job of a coach. If you want to take a positive out of this season though it has been Bynum and Stuckey. They both have been looking good this season. I know everyone has been down on Stuckey lately, but for a second year player (basically his first season this year) he's playing damn good considering the circumstances. Bynum is looking pretty good too. It's going to interesting next year to see who starts at PG.
These guys are all worn out from covering for Herrrrrman to be productive. It is not their fault. It is not their fault. Say it with me, It is not their fault.
Without a consistent jump shot?!?! Who out of the "kids" has a J that is even close to as good as Bynum's?
In your review did you see Max run out on Ty Thomas at the 3 point line like he was Jimmy Chitwood and give back when he blew by him to dunk? Was that good D or bad D? Do you think DET wanted Thomas shooting 22 footers or driving for dunks when they plan their attack?
The worst stretches of the games were when Tay tried to "take over". He just can't. For every good play he makes, and I use that term loosely, he screws up 2-3 possessions. I mean, I appreciate the guy attempting to "step up", but the entire team is more effective when he doesn't.
Enough with the Herrmann hating already. Yeah he sucks in D, but he's far from being the only one. There were so many possessions where Stuckey didn't even put his hand up to challenge a shot. There were so many defensive lapses with our bigs not protecting the paint. There's no reason why Hinrich can go layup after layup while our bigs just watch him. The collective defensive deficiency and sloppy ball handling cost us this game. Herrmann was only part of it. He did what he was supposed to do. 9pts on 4/7 shooting, 4 boards in 13.5 minutes. And he finished -1 on the +/-. The only dumb moment with him came when Curry put him on Miller. Seriously, WTF? My point is, blaming losses on Herrman is nothing but finding a scapegoat. The whole team just gave away the thing last night. Dice inbounding the ball half way the court to Afflalo who wasn't even looking. Tay losing the ball while trying to dribble around a double team and immediately following that play with a 24-second violation. Afflalo not hitting a single shot. Kwame not fouling hard when he was supposed to. It was all bad. We had the potential to blowout Chicago. Instead we just gave them the game.
Law of Kander being overrated. He's no magician. His creams don't keep guys healthy and when they get hurt, his methods aren't ahead of the rest of the medical community. It's the old snake oil trick. When someone is injured, if you give them a specific remedy, then when they heal they will believe it was because of that remedy (similar to what the gov does when there is economic trouble). Why didn't Kander limit Rip's play after he already had the groin injury? Why didn't he notice that it was killing Rip to play through it and he risked a setback? Isn't that his forte? Here are the main reasons for our prolonged healthy streak: 1) luck 2) we were a jump shooting team. 3) Solid players who relied on fundamentals, not athletic ability Now that our guys are getting to a certain age, they are going to have these wimpy internally caused injuries like tweaked back, strained calf, and nagging groin. These injuries are like problems that your car gets when it's over 100K miles. Just being a carmudgen.
True. As much as it hurt, Ben made a smart decision. I have to say the best part about this season has been seeing Ben make an impact for the damn Cavs. PS: Wow, it hurt to write that last sentence.
