Bout time Q tuned into the forum for line up suggestions. Only thing I would change is dropping Bynum and Max from the second unit and playing Daye and Wilcox in their places. Daye will get his shot back with time on the floor and then you have TMac at the point with Rip and Daye on the wings. Monroe mans the middle and Wilcox helps with the rebounding chores. Wilcox also gives us a leaper with quicks that may be able to run the floor and gets some easy dunks.
Isn't last nights Ben/Rip thing the epitome of the Pistons? They finally put their foot down to make a switch and get the same results - 7 shots for BG and 20 for Rip - as before. It seems every time they take a step forward something will pop up to muddy the rotation. (I would die if Q came out and said of Rip, "How can we not be starting this guy, might be time to switch the line-up around.) The 1st Q is Stuckey-time so I'm not sure where Gordon's shots are supposed to come from. I'm interested to watch this going forward. At some point the lack of shots has to fall on him. Starting CCG cuts down on the quality of his shots but might make him work a little bit harder at being a player. Will Piston fans instinctively boo T-Mac next year if he's playing for another team?
Stuckey is our best penetrator. Playing with Bengo and CV (FINALLY!) results in a very spread floor. Ideally, down the road, he'll also be playing with Monroe and Daye, instead of Wallace and Tay - and possibly an upgrade to a top true PF, so CV can come off the bench. But as it is now, Stuckey now has a lot more room to operate. And his assist numbers will go up a lot as Gordon gets his rhythm back, and CV keeps playing well. I'll bet a lot that Stuckey will kick the ball out much more regularly with better % guys to throw it to.
A few times, maybe as many as four, CV got the ball at the 3 point line, sidestepped defenders running out to him, and hit a shorter shot. No assist since CV moved before shooting - but still, a good pass set up the points.
By the way, while I'm a Stuckey slappy (I love having a physically imposing super fast point guard - there is no PG in the league that can check him - he just pummels them in the lane - and who is strong defensively in terms of keeping guys in front of him - and who can really rebound), I'm pretty clear now that having him at that position requires that we surround him with the right kind of players. First, with Stuckey at point, we need high quality long distance shooters - Bengo, CV, Daye are perfect. So is McGrady. Second, given Stuckey's propensity to be a Stackhouse like SG, we need guys who can run the offense and/or who we can run the offense through. McGray is more than perfect there - the guy is easily the smartest guy on our team in terms of moving the ball. Daye will be perfect, IMO, in that role in time - great handle on that kid and very high BB IQ. Monroe will ultimately also be perfect in that role. Since I'm convinced we'll trade McGrady this year and get something really nice back in return, and since Tay is a goner - the future in that role belongs to Daye and Monroe, and perhaps a guy we pick up in the draft, and/or in the McGrady and Tay trades. What I've seen from McGrady convinces me that our team runs better with him than with Stuckey trying to orchestrate things. Stuckey is totally wasted on a team with Rip and Tay running the show, and without a low post outlet once he penetrates - having him play with Rip, Tay, Wallace and Maxiell was pretty dumb: that was NEVER going to work. Stuckey ends up either being passive, and handing the ball off to the "human rain delay" (Tay) or hitting Rip on a curl, (a play my grandma could complete), or he ends up forcing the action in a very crowded paint area. Meanwhile, even on this heretofore dysfunctional team, Stuckey is right up in the top 10 in PG PER. Watch that PER ranking climb as he gets more and more time in lineups that fit his skills.
Ideally in the realm of imperfect information, players must strive to ascertain a simultaneous flow towards the goal state. Instead, the asymmetrical balance in their talents leads to sequential performances that all too often result in a zero-sum gain.
Totally sucks that after such a fun game we gotta wait until sunday for the next one, which will probably result in us getting blown out at home and the forum (myself included) will go overboard in blaming players, coaches, gm's and ownership, we'll be demanding everyones head on a platter on sunday evening.
I attribute it to what I call "the pass effect". Some of us have been left behind but others are posting profound, yet puzzling posts. Some have graduated with college degrees even. Even Charlie V's tweets seem to be inspired. Here is a recent tweet from Charlie:
---------------- zero-sum gain ? zero-sum = null, no gain. superfluous But Erns was talking about Q getting Bengo more play time. If I was Rip I wouldn't take a back seat to Bengo because I might be the better player asymmetrical talents be damned.
One of the biggest positives in that game was Rip and Tay were almost never on the floor together. As a result, they were forced to play with the other players on the team. I counted at least three assists by Monroe that were botched by JMax and Wallace. TMac/Monroe are really clicking well in the pick & roll game. The reason why Gordon got so little shots were because Stuckey was in full-score mode to start the game. Why no Summers in this game? Daye looked disgruntled.
All good points to ponder two days after the fact...hopefully after Q opens his presents tomorrow he will be thinking the same...
I noticed that too. If T-Mac continues to progress, do we start him in place of Tay? Do we get VERY aggressive in trying to move Tay? T-Mac can give you Tay's production in his sleep. Can't fault Stuck though, he really had it going good, and when BG was on the bench Rip was playing INSANE making it hard to pull him off the floor. There's just going to be nights like this where a couple of our guards get going and the others have to sit back, watch, respect and support, credit Gordon for not wrecking the flow of his teammates who were having a great night. Why no Summers in this game? Daye looked disgruntled.[/QUOTE]
