Have faith. I tend to agree with your statements. Compared to previous years I found this past offseason "uneventful" so to speak. We really did nothing to make our team AGRESSIVELY better. The saving grace is that we know that with a limited rotation at the bare minimum we still have one of the best starting fives in the league. But, I still believe there is reason to be optimistic. There are two ways to look at this: Joey D. has gotten away from his existing formula of agressively finding talent that gives us an obvious potential edge against our competition Joey D. is continuing his formula of investing into those players he has confidence in with the thought that they will materialize into something special. Joey showed excellent patience with Tayshaun and Memo. He also took a risk with Chauncey who up to that point only had a productive playoff series under his belt. I think Joe has earned the privilege for us to have confidence in his decision making skills and believe that the latter is the case. Joe has done an excellent job of getting rid of talent that doesn't benefit/strengthen team chemistry in the past. That's why there is no Rodney White. We have yet to reep the benefits of the Arroyo, Darko and Delfino acquisitions. Perhaps this is Joe giving them a decent shot. The addition of another big name talent is not a vote of confidence for potentially one of these players. That said, my only question mark is just how well Maurice Evans will integrate into our scheme. If our previous untapped talent begins to show promise, I think it will be at the expense of Evans's minutes. I expect to see Tay and Delfino shifted to the two spot at times if Darko becomes a mainstay in the reserve lineup. I think Darko is agile enough to play the 3 at times which makes for some BIG lineup possibilities. Again, I can't wait till the season unfolds so we can get some of these questions answered. Miami and San Antonio do need to be congratulated for their agressive offseason. Realistically, I am more concerned with how we marraige our players with our coach than trying to figure out if Miami's team will gel together. In all honesty, I hope that they do gel. I want Detroit to face the strongest competiton possible. That way when we persevere there will be no doubting our legacy.
For instance, I was just reading at Hoopshype, and this is a small quote from the piece. I read stuff like this on forums regularly. Miami can't do it, not enough balls to go around, Shaq is too old, Shaq is too out of shape, Antoine Walker and JWill are timebombs etc. You know, people. Just everyday people. ;)
i like this from espn page 2: 'If nothing else, the Miami Heat have assembled the NBA's most impressive "All-Name" roster since the last time Payton joined a would-be title contender in L.A. And we all know how that turned out.'
Our opposition Yes, I am afraid/concerned about Miami. I was last year. I still think that playing Miami cost us vs. SA because we were tired. And, on paper, they may blow people away. But if you really look at it, they are scary for the same reason they were scary last year: Shaq and to some extent, Wade. We had trouble guarding those two guys. And really, it boils down to Shaq and his backup, Mourning. If you look at their pick-ups (I don't know Posey's game), they are not guys that I would want on the Pistons. Walker? I will say that at least he can rebound some. J. Williams? Not on my team. Payton? He stunk over here on the Lakers--I watched him all season. He is not the marvelous player that he was on Seattle. A big question is can Evans guard Wade some and can our greater depth in our front line help Ben with Shaq? Will we still need EC? Can our offense begin to resemble a threatening, modern NBA (with a little bit of western influence--the only thing they do well in the West is offense) offense or do we still need a scorer? If some of these last things take hold, the Pistons are still the team to beat. I really wanted Finley on Miami because I wanted them locked in for this year. I don't like the idea that they may make moves later.
You know why Wade, and Ginobili did so much better than Kobe did against us? Its because Tayshaun was worn out, and he couldn't play his stellar defense the way he usually does. The Prince needs to come in to training camp this coming season, and be ready for the tough road to winning a championship.
Actually, I don't think that Prince is very good at denying dribble penetration against fast guards with slick handles. Kobe got caught up in chucking a lot of jumpers which plays right into Tay's length. Wade had no problem embarassing Larry Hughes in the Washington series. He is that good and so is Ginobili.
Good Job Micro I was so tempted to come to bat for the Heat on this thread, but Micro you seem to have covered all the bases very well. Good Job!! Sounds like a man that knows his basketball thats for sure.
