How does Flip Saunders rank as an NBA Coach?

EXCELLENT post Roscoe.

I think the truth within most issues lies within the gray. It frustrates me when the forum becomes so polarized. I think it makes for interesting discussion at times, but more often is like running on a treadmill after a while.

Anyhow, very well done. Glad I finally rubbed off on you. Old age suits you well.

Your like the Benetton of basketball.

Nice post. I was sad to see Ben and LB go, but I am very happy to see the Pistons winning. For every Okur and Darko lost, there is a Maxiell, Delfino, and Johnson developing. Tayshaun is a post season monster. Rasheed is focused. Hamilton now has a 3 point shot and post moves! Our coach has a defense called the hyperbolic parabaloid multi-foci something or other.

These are still great times to be a fan.

So, do you think Flip is now better than one of the worst 3 coaches in the league?

Excellent post, especially the part regarding the Bulls being identified as as potential Eastern conf. finalist. What the Pistons have accomplished so far has been impressive at the very least. The Bulls are running into a focused team of savvy veterans and the difference shows. The point difference is irrelevant to me, just the fact that they have shown that they can take over the game when they lock down shows they are the better team at this point. I am eanjoying every bit of the Wings and Pistons as they do Detroit sports fans proud.

The Heat aren't that good anymore. Shaq is good for 15 - 18 solid minutes in the first half of game at the most and that is it. He has gotten too old for this bulk.

On the other Hand Wade tried to play as a "one armed guard". That I think accounted for the Bulls winning 4 straight. A healthy Wade and that series goes 6 or maybe even 7.

Just curious. Did you say the same thing about Brown?

Thanks

No. He is better than Rivers. And maybe Karl. Thats it.

Since he inherited a team that won it all, and fell a quarter of basketball short the next season of repeating, just how does that really equate into how good he is?

You got to give some amount of blame to Larry Brown for taking a championship team and starting the teardown process. Too interested in getting to his next job. But Flip Saunders certainly stepped in with his own recking ball the next season.

In two seasons, Flip has managed to take a championship team with lots of upside, and did what? Not much. Look at the last game. Lets make Ben a neutral subject for the moment, and just say we had our five starters plus Dyess and Hunter. Sound familiar? The same crew pretty much that lost in 7 to SA. Delfino played 5 minutes at the wrong position. Jason Maxiell got 40 seconds to end the first half and about 2 minutes in the 4th quarter. It certainly appears that the team has not improved much in two seasons. Pretty much the same crew, with Billups, Sheed, Dyess, and Hunter all varying in age by two years in the wrong direction. (and Webber is older than Ben too.)

Flip has managed to undo some of the damage he did last year. We were very fortunate to get Webber. (Philly blundered. They got rid of AI, good, but threw out Webber with him, stupid.) Maxiell has played some at least this year, and replaces what Darko could have given us with those minutes to some extent at least. Arroyo being gone means we have no backup point. That has not been fixed. (To those Arroyo detractors-hey, we had the best record in the league last year-and that was all with Arroyo in our rotation. Look what happened after he left.)

The fact that Delfino is playing, in the playoffs, makes up for some things, and just maybe makes us about as good a team as the team that won it all. Not quite, but close at least.

You got to judge a guy by what could be. What is 100% If Amir Johnson had come in last night, with some NBA experience behind him of course, and guarded Deng those last five minutes of the 2nd half, that would be nice. Instead we put Delfino in even though we have all seen he can't guard Deng.

If Delfino had come in, at shooting guard where he is suppose to be, that would be good. If Hunter had played zero minutes, and Murray zero minutes, and Flip had used one of several other alternatives for backup guards, that would have been nice.

If Maxiell and Dale Davis together were a regular feature of our 2nd unit, that would be nice.

So he could call all of the games you watch on television..right?

I figured you would rather he was off coaching somewhere than breaking down tape to us like we are 10 year olds.

If we look at the last game, then we are looking at the greatest comeback of this year's playoffs to date. We're talking about a use of zone defense that shut the Bulls down. We're talking about leading the Pistons to their 7th consecutive playoff win. Are you interested in victories or would you rather just see your favorite players get a few more minutes? I'll take the "W" any day.

Welcome aboard and what took you so long in having some insight that that is not good with players psyche or having any perceptive way of motivating his players? Rules you get...that should have been your first clue.

Bill, we are talking about our starters making a great comeback in this game. That does not change what I am saying one bit. We don't have a bench. We have great starters. Mostly the same ones who won it all a few years back. Great, and what credit does Flip get for that. None. A coach is suppose to improve the team. Where is the improvement?

How many "experts" picked the Pistons to win the East this year? With the loss of Ben Wallace, hardly anyone thought the Pistons would be where they are right now. Look how successful the team was in the regular season. Look at how the team is rolling in the playoffs. Does the coaching staff get any credit for this success? Just a little?

I think Flip and the coaching staff have made believers of most of us at this point. I'm a bit worried, though, that I've looked at Roscoe's avatar so much that my thinking may be clouded.

Dude, none. I picked Detroit to finish first in the East. Tay, Rip, Billups, and Sheed are just that good. Its not the coaching. Any coach who could not get this group to finish first in the East right now would be absolutely pathetic. Rolling in the playoffs? Orlando? Just how much "rolling" did we have to do to beat them? And Chicago? We beat them in all the matchups. Other than avoiding horrible coaching like in the last game's 2nd quarter where he let Hunter play, its pretty hard to muck things up.

The Mavericks have good players. Why are they done? Was it the coaching or the players fault?

Coaching had precious little to do with it. With Baron Davis healthy, GS is simply the better team. Indeed, I am hoping somebody knocks off Golden State cause they would give us fits.