Boston Jan 5th, 7:30 PM TV - TV20 Detroit, NBALP The Celtics come to the Palace looking for revenge from a loss a couple weeks back. This will be both teams third game in four nights. At the time of this post Detroit is 10-0, Boston 9-1, in the last 10 games. No injuries to report.
I'll be there. Of course I would love to see a win. But its not that important. More important to get Amir, Afflalo, Stuckey, and JMAX all in the game in the first half with meaningful minutes. In the long run, its like a hundred times more important to develop these guys vs. one more regular season win. Here is an example of what I am talking about. Conley has been out injured most of the season. A game or two back, Memphis clearly lost a game because they chose to play Conley, who was really not ready to play very well at all. But again, they stuck with him, took the loss, and let him shake off some rust. This last game for Memphis, Conley dominated the play on both ends as Memphis won. It is literally amazing how much better a player can look after they have gotten some extensive time on the floor. For the Pistons sake, they got to bite the bullet, play Amir, and just trust its the right thing to do. It is. (And I doubt it will cost us any games anyway. But even if it does, its still the right thing to do.)
Won't happen, but I am definitely agreeable to the concept of letting players fail (not that I think he would). To develop a guy like AJ, you need to let him feel the pressure of a close game. See how he responds when the goal is to win, not get himself shot attempts in the last 5 minutes of a blowout. There is about a 0% chance of us missing the playoffs, so we have about as much cusion as you could ever ask for. The only argument against sacrificing anything is that we can still get the top seed in the East. Right now it looks like Boston will be our biggest challenger in either conference, so getting them off their court could be the difference. Their schedule gets tougher, but so does ours. I guess if I were the coach, I'd sit Amir against Boston and then play him extensively in games that we should win during the 2nd Q and 4th Q.
You might be able to compare Stuckey to Conley as far as how much PT they can get, but AJ is just an inexperienced not eligible to vote citizen. I think AJ is being handled just fine and am satisfied with the minutes he is getting at this point. Playing him more at this time would be a big mistake in my opinion. Not only now, but also for the playoffs. We are not the Clippers nor the Sonics.
I think that whichever team does better in their game the night before the match (Pistons @Toronto and Boston vs Memphis) will have an upper hand.
It's going to be a back to back game for both teams. Whichever team can finish their game on Friday night faster will be able to give their starters more rest.
You're just being a contrarian. I know that deep down inside, you want to see him get some burn. 5 blocked shots in 8 minutes against Atlanta. 9 boards in 12 minutes against Inidana (and 6 were offensive!). Only 10 turnovers on the season (Sheed had 5 last night). Kid can bring it. He and Maxiell should be right behind Sheed and Dyess in the rotation. Bresec is a special situation backup/ insurance policy. Dale Davis, Chris Webber, and Nazr Mohammed are all gone. We are not overly stacked with big men right now.
Lots depends on Flip's substitutions. He could bring AA and Stuckey in earlier, and give them some extended burn. He can also rotate 4 bigs, even if it is Brezec since he doesn't trust Amir enough.
You have your opinion. I have mine. I say without Amir Johnson, we will not win a championship this season. With him, we will. He is that good, and he is ready to play for us right now. As far as how he is being handled, I say if it continues, Flip Saunders should be fired for it.
As I stated before (you didn`t comment) what if the Pistons win the championship without a significant contribution from AJ? What would you then say? Because I know if they don`t win it you will say AJ not playing was the reason.
I agree with what you are saying except for your first statement. Perhaps you don't personally perceive the posited position by the particular person as presented to the posters participating in Pistons Forum.
Gee, I'd be wrong. Its happened once before. Oh well. But what will you say. Are you willing to state clearly that we are going to win it all, without Amir? Now, I hope that neither of us finds out either way. I hope that Amir does play a significant part in our rotation this upcoming playoffs. Anyway, if you think we can win it all without Amir, then how? By using Brezec? By moving Hayes or Herrmann into our bigs rotation. By playing Samb? (one option by the way I think it is possible to win without playing Amir, though I don't have a lot of faith in it.) Or do you actually think a three man bigs rotation featuring two 33 year old players is going to hold up during the playoffs?
Lee - There is a delicate balance between developing players and trying to win games. However, we do need another big so something has to be done with Amir either way. In this game though, I think its very important to win it. Have to shake their confidence so they will be thinking about it in the post-season. Not a lot of playoff experience on that Celtic team for all the talent they have.
