WoW ! no CV no Rip and a road win. I know how a tease works. I'm not falling for it. Maybe if we go 8 for 13. Low expectations.
Three-pointers: Austin Daye's earning trust of coach, teammates in crunch time | MLive.com Pretty decent writeup by Justin Rogers.
Fun game. TP & T-Mac were +17 and +15. No one else beat the whole game spread (Daye was even). It would have been nice to have seen a lot less from Bynum who tried his darndest to give the game away. 0-7 and -10 for the game, worst on the team. He's going to have to play some, but take ten of those minutes and give them to Gordon and see if he can get something going. Good game from Daye I admit, though one that also showed up a lot of what he needs to work on. His offense is one dimensional, either take a three standing still or take one dribble and move inside the line and take a 20 footer. The one time he dribbled more than once he ended up behind the backboard and got his shot knocked back in his face. I thought he had a better floor game in the first half than the second. Defensively he's still more or less as likely to be in the wrong place than the right one. 20 points for Daye, but 21 for Anderson who played at more or less the same times and was Daye's primary assignment. Anderson ends the game at -1, second best on his team.
In terms of Austin Daye, as DBA said we saw the good and the bad of his game, him scoring 20 points has not made me forget about the 4.75 (he had a good 4th qtr against Phx) games prior where he totally stunk up the joint. I was impressed by how much quicker he is getting his trey off, I also like the fact that if you run him off the 3 point line he still has a very reliable long range 2pt shot off that 1 dribble. My biggest problem with Austin right now is the fact that he does not seem to know how to use his length. As a 6'11'' player who can put the ball on the floor and shoot - he's special, but Austin seems to be the only player in the gym who doesn't know how tall he is because he plays like a 6'6'' player with no athleticism and that is NOT special. Second issue is knowing where to be on the floor, but I'm hoping that comes with familiarity and experience.
The Pistons are in 2nd place in the Central!!! This was a better win than the PHX game (not because O-Town is a better team etc) because the Pistons showed some resiliency when their lead was cut to 4 with 9 or so minutes to play in the 4th. This game also showed Joe's "vision" coming to life with different players carrying the team at different points of the game. Last night was the 1st time I thought about making the playoffs. If they do make it these last 2 wins will be a big reason why. I thought Wallace played great. Daye has a knack for defensive rebounding that I like.
Response to a couple of people actually. (kgreg the other I think - I don't pay much attention to who posts what really.) Anderson was burying 3's from 3 feet behind the long line. What you going to do about that? Daye's defense is largely what won these last two games. As far as him not being able to get his shot off, you misread that - he is being unselfish - its not that he can't shoot the ball quick enough. Fortunately, he was a bit less unselfish last night. Versatility? Daye has shown he can hit jumpers from the 3 line on in. His crossover for a shot last night was top notch. His step in shot has been solid all year. So he is not a post up player - neither are a lot of players. Not being able to do one thing does not make a guy not versatile. As far as playing short - you are again talking strictly about his post up game. The rest of his offense is fine, and on defense, he uses that legnth to bother the heck out of the other teams perimeter shooters.
You seem to be conflating a couple of posts. For mine... Yes, Anderson was shooting well from behind the arc. Once a guy shows he can do that, if you're guarding him seems like getting out there on him would be a better choice than letting him run free and keep shooting. Look at the end of the Celtics game last week, down the stretch when it mattered, Garnett was picking CV up as soon as he crossed halfcourt and not letting him go. If someone had done that with Anderson last night the game wouldn't have been nearly as close. And yes, Daye has shown he can shoot jumpshots from a variety of spots on the floor. But, he's eight feet tall, he ought to be doing more. It's not like Ryan Anderson is a stellar defensive player. When Daye can do that crossover in traffic and on the move I'll be more impressed.
Nope, I'm talking about the release point on his shot and his inability to simply shoot over shorter guards, you know, the way EVERYBODY easily shoots over Will Bynum.
This impressed me greatly. I fully expected them to wilt away when that happened, instead, we pushed the lead back up to 9 or so. Then Orlando made another mini-run, but by then I was pretty confident that we would hang in there, which we did. Very different results than what we've seen from these guys most of the year. Agreed. There were a number of times in the second half that we were leaving guys wide open on the perimeter and getting lucky because they were missing shots. Anderson in particular.
Let's be realistic, if Daye could do that he would've been the 5th not 15th pick and he would have never been a Piston. Now I would like to see him be able to finish (at least) as well as Tayshaun does inside, near and around the basket.
I don't think there's anything on offense Daye won't be able to do. He's going to continue to get a lot stronger over the next few seasons. And he's already shown that he's willing to work and compete hard - witness him battling for rebounds, even though he's not physically strong yet. I think he's going to prove to be a guy who, if there were a redraft, would have gone 6th in a strong draft. 2009 Final Draft | NBADraft.net JJ would have gone top 10 as well. BTW, good call on Tay - he really is a great finisher; one of the best in the NBA at that.
I like Daye, but if he continues "to get a lot stronger" like his brother Tay, then he's not going to be winning any bodybuilding competitions.
I see Daye being less "Tay" and more of a 'Shard lewis type. I don't think that Austin will make any all-defensive teams during his career. He'll be a nice shooting "big SF" with an overall soft game. Don't get me wrong, I think he'll be very useful as a solid rotation guy. His rebounding will continue to improve but he isn't gonna lock any body down on D.
Tay is unusually good on the defensive end for his body type. Most guys who look like that get blown by and pushed around. So, I agree that Daye doesn't have some of the special abilities that Tay has in that regard. His shooting form is superior though and his handles are similar. Maybe he'll be a better offensive player and a worse defender, but similar overall. Tay never made an all-star team.
Daye right now is a better rebounder than Tay ever was. And I'm not talking about his body looking like Big Ben's. but he will get a lot stronger. Kander talks about it as functional strength, and learning to use angles and leverage (or something like that. Arnie's a fricking genius. At least I think so since I can barely understand him - so he must be super smart!)
I agree that A-Daye could very well have the same positive impact that Tay has had for the Pistons org. He'll just do it on the other end of the floor. Tay has been All-D 2nd Team 4 times. Daye might team up with John Sally and some chick to win the "Shooting Stars" competition during All-Star weekend someday.
Didn't he have a huge growth spurt the year before he was drafted? I seem to remember that he played guard most of his teenage years because he was short and he grew 4-5" when he entered college. Maybe his mindset has not caught up with his physical size.
Guys, he's a very willing rebounder. He doesn't play with a soft mindset at all. Now, that said, he's not strong enough yet to hold his position well enough to be a consistently good rebounder. (That will happen within the next 2-3 years.) And he's significantly stronger this season compared to last season - so the kid does the work to improve.
