At Chicago Jan 6 8:30PM

Looks like the spin doctor is in full spin cycle :nerd2: making their pets look good (despite what we all saw) and their stepchildren look bad (even though Mohammed had a decent game)... what a tangled web we weave when we endeavor to deceive.

Tashawn were you close enough to the action to hear any of the trash talking?

I have a friend who was there, about 3 rows behind the Piston bench and according to him Ben Wallace was yelling at the Piston bench, perhaps, at Flip Saunders........"in the flow, in the flow" after each of his made jumpers.

When Flip is at the point we play 1 on 5. When Blalock is at the point we play 4 on 5.

Not a good choice either way for a team that is a contender or suppose to be.

In reserve is a 36 year old guard who isn't a point and who is a poor shooter.

Whether Blalock can make it or not isn't the issue. We need someone this year who can keep defenses honest.

Sheed isn't what we all want him to be. A leader of men. Sheed isn't just another rifle toting grunt either. Sheed is a company man, who when directed is able to go out and perform masterfully with occasional added direction. A sniper if you will.

Mr. Wallace knows very well where he excels. When angered he heads straight there, to the post, looking to inflict as much embarassment as humanly possible. Last night was another of those instances, only this time our PG iced his anger by throwing the ball elsewhere.

I blame our All Star PG and offensive guru head coach for failing to make Sheeds post game a staple of our offensive scheme. LB4LB learned that involving Ben in the offense early & often paid great dividends in all area of his game.

I sure would loke to see some of the alleged genius of FlipS.

Gee, if I mentioned Rip coming off the bench, well, lets just say I have a history with a lot of these posters. But yes, Rip coming off the bench, early in the first quarter mind you, is a good idea. Our starting unit should be totally geared toward post play. Anyone who is not part of that should come in as a sub.

I'd say a very effective setup would be for Billups and Delfino to be in the backcourt, with Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell, and Rasheed Wallace up front. Billups has proven he will give up his offensive stats for the good of the team. Of course, anyone knows Delfino would as soon get someone else an easy score as breathe.

Now off the bench you have Blalock, Rip, Tay, Dyess, and Dale Davis. All kinds of fire power from a fresh Prince and Rip.

You are seriously proposing having an NBDL player moved into the starting lineup?

Dude, he would be replacing Mohammed. Now, what would we lose there? Amir is a shot blocker, and a fine face the basket post scorer. Who cares about experience, the kid can play. With poise way beyond his years. In case you don't know the story, Amir was projected to be a top pick in the draft, but his academic problems made most teams shy away. I see why he did poor in school. Amir Johnson was too busy studying the game of basketball. He knows how to play the game and has all the physical tools. Also, in case you missed it, Amir Johnson has grown considerably since we drafted him, and is could now legitimately be listed as a 7 footer. A seven footer with serious skill and athleticism. You bet I am proposing he play. Immediately. In the starting lineup, why the heck not if Flip Murray and Mohammed can start.

I was on the opposite side of the court from the benches in the 8th row. When the crowd was quiet, I could here the players yelling for help and screens, but no trash talking.

Lee- I can see the argument for a big man having a +/- affect on the game without showing stats by discouraging penetration, but I really don't see how an undersized guard like Blalock could be doing it. The Bulls quit guarding him after a few minutes and it made it tougher on our other players. The popcornmachine site gives lots of other good information too. WB's 'help value' was ZERO. That was the lowest on the team. His 'production' was ZERO. That was the lowest on the team. His efficiency was NEGATIVE THREE. That was the lowest number for that category that I've ever seen.

This is like saying Rex Grossman played well when the Bears beat the Packers even though his QB rating was 0.0

And Blalock's +/- stats are not even that good. On the season, the Pistons have scored 216 with him in the game and we have given up 216. He's dead even.

When you compare the same time-frame for the other players on the team, there are only 3 players who are worse: Sheed, Dupree, and Flip Murray. Chauncey is +63 in this span.

Most of the time when Blalock has been in the game, so has Maxiell. Maxiell is +45 in the games Blalock has played in.

@Lee
Amir is still 6'9, I guess. In every picture (or that Christmas vid) you see him next to Sheed he's clearly smaller. He is no starter material yet.
But that doesn't mean he shouldn't get at least about 5 minutes on a regular basis. Sheed doesn't mind about minutes, hand his mins to DD, AJ and Jmax and everything's fine. I wouldn't mind if Sheed only plays about 20 mins the next 10-20 games.

I don't believe in +/- for a single game... other teammates could have radical swings in that game which effects the rest of the group... using this stat for more than 10 games may have incremental value.

Amir should not be considered a center... unless you like seeing 220 LBers being used as a floor mop and like to see career ending injuries due to knee stress.... it's a shame that the Raptors had to use Bosh at the 5 (how's that knee injury doing?)... Joe has made it clear that Amir is a 4 (not a 3 or 5).

I just saw him at a game; he is definitely a 7 footer. And with his frame, for sure he will be a center in this league before long. For now, Sheed can play center and Amir the power forward.

Here is something we surely agree on. Amir Johnson should be getting 5 minutes a game. Of course, then you and I would not be having this same discussion. We could look at some actual results rather than speculate.

19 year olds are not supposed to have the bodies of Centers. Even Dwight Howard filled out a ton in the last year.

Johnson will get bigger. The great thing is when you have the skills of a PF in a Center's body. Hopefully that is what we get out of him in 2 years.

I'm down with the 5 MPG plan. 2nd quarter action is preferrable. That way it is not garbage time, but it is not overly pressurized. And it is usually against the other team's bench.


And I took a good look at him at the Chicago game because I was wondering if the growth spurt was true. He looked pretty close to 7' to me in comparison to other players.

He was sent down today.

Review of game (thru the time Blalock came out of the game in the 2nd quarter.)

I have been reviewing the game, with a close eye on how much effort Sheed is giving in the game, vs. Mohammed. All I see from Sheed is effort, effort, and more effort. Effort posting up. Effort covering the inside. Great effort matching up in transition D. Constant effort is setting picks on the offensive side. Meanwhile, Mohammed, for most plays, on both sides of the floor, closely resembles a tree stump, firmly planted in one spot. Sheed had 3 blocks in the first quarter. There was one play where he could have played up on Nocioni a little tighter, but that is a decision. This was early in the game and Nocioni had not hit his first shot yet. Sheed was there, playing up on Nocioni, just playing him for the drive more, not the shot.

I see Blalock had a fine first half. Delfino's triple got us to within one point. And then very poor coaching by Flip Saunders took the game away from us from there. Rip Hamilton, five minutes plus into the 2nd quarter, still no rest. Hinrich drives in, Rip, being exhausted, way overcompensates, letting Hinrich pull up for an easy jumper. Then Rip, again, exhausted, gets called for a silly offensive foul. What does Flip do? He takes Blalock out of the game and puts Murray back in. Yeah, a fine piece of coaching, if you are trying to give the game away.

It's now a matter of him getting the ball. Whenever he got the ball good things have happened.