I hope the Bulls series gives Pistons fans some closure. It's not healthy to root for, and against your team. That last sentence was not directed specifically at The Low.
I'm rooting for Viktor Khryapa to tear this mother up. If that means that Detroit loses, then so be it. Krapa, Krapa, Krapa.
Some of our biggest days in site traffic were when Ben left. I thought the season here started off very quietly considering the season the team had last year. I will own up to the fact that I had mixed feelings until training camp started. At the end of the day, I'm a Piston fan, whether that means I am cheering for Don Reid, John Crotty or Kelly Tripucka. I will always be a Pistons fan first. With momentary lapses in conviction.
I do appreciate what Ben did for us. I however lost a lot of respect for him on how he handled himself with Flip and how he let their differences effect the rest of the team. Come playoff time you have to put that stuff behind you and concentrate on winning - not how many offensive touches you think you deserve or when and how you think you should be playing and whatnot. Suck it up for the team. Then to go to the Bulls of all places. And Skiles has been doing many of the same things Flip did but now its fine, that really cheeses me off man.... If for some chance the Bulls actually win then its going to be like 1991 all over again. I hope that does not happen. A lot is going to be ridding on this series for the Pistons. BTW - there is not a whole lot of difference between someone hoping Ben sticks it to the Man versus the Darko fans who wanted a 1st round upset.
I dont' care how many times you say it man, Skiles is NOT doing the exact same things that Saunders did. I've watched a ton of bulls games this year (more than any other year I could stand) and I never saw a game plan or substitution pattern that remotely resembled Flip Saunders'. Just having substituted for Ben at some point in game is not the same as Saunders effectively removing a "non-scorer" from his gameplan.
Gotta go with Max on this one... Piston faithful for life irregardless of who does what... and certainly not rooting for any Bulls players. That said I don't blame Ben for bettering his family and personal situation.
We gave up much less than that, but it was 103 per 100 possessions. So, the pace we played was taken out of the equation. But even with that, I thought it was interesting that our D really didn't go to that next level until Sheed came along.
1) Ben Wallace and I have at least one thing in common. 2) After two straight trips to the NBA Finals, would YOU want things to change?
I don't think Dumars necessarily wanted things to change. Matter of how much butt kissing he was willing to do to keep Brown happy. Well, things did change and it was not up to Ben to decide how the team should play
...well, they had a fork in the road and they clearly made a decision to abandon our successful strategy. Hence, Ben Wallace realized they were no longer going to maintain a place for him in their game plan and he leaves. Why should I be mad at Ben?
If the players on the Pistons don't blame Ben, then why should we? They all think he made the right decision for his family, etc. I like that it seems to have worked out for all 3 parties so far... Det, Chi, and Ben. I think Chicago knew that this deal was not going to be great for them in the long run, so they are really banking on cashing in this year or next year with a Ship. It is our job to make sure that they wasted their money.
How do any of us know that that strategy would have continued to be successful? I grant you that it wasn't exactly hooked up to the respirator when it was terminated, but we still don't know that it would have gotten this team past Miami last year. The funny thing is, even Coach Brown wanted to abandon pieces of the championship team mere weeks after the parade was held. Do we know that Brown's proposals (which purportedly called for trades of multiple starters) would not have gotten us past San Antonio, or past Miami last year? In the long run it's sort of a gamble either way. I can't fault Joe for being the proactive GM he is. On the other hand, your point of a few posts previous concerning Ben is a good one. I'm not angry with him, I only wish he would have realized that he, Joe, and Flip were all fighting for a common goal and been more accepting of the change that two of those three felt needed to be made.
The Pistons would have gladly stuck with the successful strategy of having Ben Wallace on the team if we could have continued to pay him the same salary. However, paying the same player three times as much $ is not sticking with the status quo.
