Who else appreciates a shooting guard who busts the ball to the basket as his primary weopon? I don't miss Rip's jump shooting game, and just maybe Q does not miss it either. Perhaps the trade thing is just a coincidence.
No, unless we got a player in return as good as him. Rip can be a good NBA player - if he tries to round out his game beyond coming off picks all day. Like learning how to finish a fast break at the basket. How to drive inside. I am sure if he studied this kind of stuff, he could pick it up. Meanwhile, Rip was playing some of the best - and sometimes just about only - defense for us the last little bit he did play for us. As a guy who is content to come in and be a defensive sub - Rip is quite valuable. What I absolutely don't want to see is the team going back to Rip's style of offense. Now, actually, there were signs earlier in the season that Rip was going to actually change up his game toward what wins - but for some reason - don't know if it was the coaching staff or Rip himself - the good stuff dwindled away and we started only getting the shots off screens from Rip. In Sum, yes, for the right player in return - sure, trade Rip. Otherwise, sit tight, and wait for his expiring contract to be valuable. Or just keep him. PS, the more I read about this proposed trade, the more it looks like just a cap move and nothing more. Nothing to help the team get better. Nothing for us fans to look forward to. I say, hey, if you can't improve the team, don't do any trades. This team has plenty of talent. Lets see the Pistons, even Pistons management, just concentrate on getting the fans some wins.
yes, cause when rips coming off all those screens our guys are all standing around setting screens. The offense is stagnant. When he isnt in there our guys are moving and cutting ie.Monroe especially. great hands and makes a nice target for whoever has the ball and its been tmac usually. This has forced the opposing defense to pay extra attention top their men and not help out as much as they were which in turn opens some driving lanes for our crash test dummy. Notice how well he has been playing recently as well.
Same thing applies with Tay's post-ups. He never passes to cutters. At the most he'll pass to someone camping out on the perimeter. Either way, not much movement. He's been good this year, but I'm honestly looking forward to moving on from that as well.
There was an and-1 for BenGo in the last game and Prince gave him an obligatory high-5 afterwards. It was a thing of beauty. The look on Prince's face was "you jerk, go ahead and have fun while my BFF rots on the bench" and Gordon didn't even look at Prince.
I know the time you speak of. On one hand I feel bad for rip tay and ben...theyve been there in the hard fought battles together, theyve made it to the top of the nba together...that is gonna bond players on a different level for sure, they had each others backs in all situations. What they have to realize is that this isnt the same team, no matter what face they see when they look down the bench. They have to understand and accept the new roles of mentor and try to teach these young pups what kind of effort it took night in and night out to be champions, not only on the court but also in the locker room and in training room. When they came in and took someone elses spot in the rotation were they sorry for that person?I mean the shot isnt always gonna fall for ya and thats understandable, but the effort needs to be there at all times. Rip hasnt brought his a game in quite some time. Ben just doesnt have it anymore physically. Tay is the one that in my mind can still be a leader on the court and should assume that role and straighten out his former champion teammates.
" . . . a dragon lives forever but not so little boys painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys . . . "
The announcers tried to make a lot out of Bynum not playing but keeping ready. This ain't exactly what happened. Actually, Bynum has hardly been out of the rotation at all. Wilcox becoming a starter is pretty significant. Of course, if Wilcox can stay healthy, and return to somewhere near his peak form, he can be quite a player. (Still not sold on him being so good though that it was worth dumping both Afflalo and Amir to make the cap space for his signing.) Monroe starting was already tried earlier in the season. Gordon and CV coming off the bench together - that has occurred most of the season. Rip not playing at all, now that is new. This is the 2nd time we have used TMAC as the point. The first time, it was during an illness for Stuckey. So anyway, TMAC starting is not all that new. On the whole, four things have happened of significance just lately. Big Ben Wallace is injured. JMAX is completely out. Rip is completely out. Wilcox is in. That is still a lot of change. If this team keeps winning, and the trade does not happen, and JJ and White heal, we could be going into the playoffs with 6 players capable of being rotation players in the NBA sitting around. A darn good thing for depth.
Soooo, how's everybody feeling about the new lineup changes now that we've had a larger sample size? If I had to make one adjustment it would be to start Ben Gordon instead of Stuckey and I just might even consider switching the roles of Rip and Stuckey. I'm not in the group who feels as if Stuck's game is total garbage, but an undersized SG (at 6'4"/6'5" he is short for a SG) who can't shoot and avg's about 15ppg come a dime a dozen therefore I don't feel as if we should re-sign Stuckey in the off season and so I'd put Rip back into the rotation, it's the only way we'll ever trade him and we REALLY need to clear his salary off the books ASAP and it's hard to do that with him DNP-CD'ing.
The inside game is what wins. Stuckey busts the ball to the hoop. Rip shoots outside shots. The only adjustment I would make - have Stuckey play some point guard, spelling TMAC, eliminating Bynum from the rotation. Last night, the only function of Bynum was to guard the opposing point guard, something he decidedly could not do when that point guard was Gilbert Arenas. And sure, Bynum could guard Nelson for a couple of minutes, but Rip can guard a guy like Nelson in his sleep. Rip would have been by far the better choice to guard Arenas, and would probably have made a few outside shots for us at least.
In a perfect world I would get Rodney some minutes at the point also, but he's awful at that position, and even worse, so is the team. He just clueless in terms of knowing how to run an offense, not that Bynum is any better.
Awful or not at running the point, Stuckey for sure can defend the position. We would be a better team with Bynum out of the rotation. (Better yet, find another point guard. Heck, it seems Denver was about to trade Billups away - Billups would be a fine backup point. Just for instance.)
I agree with you. If the Pistons could get a pick in the 20-30 range next year for Stuckey I would take it. If they could get a legit slightly better then a journeyman PG I would do that also. The Pistons might be stuck with Rip and we might have to come to grips with the fact that the Pistons will not be truly rebuilding. They could make "some" hay with the T-Mac, Rip, Gordon and slightly better than a journeyman PG.
too easy to point at stuck for that....whats the record since cbill was traded and rip lost his mojo....? now that rips out of rotation we're winning with stuckey in the starting lineup. So maybe the problem was rip? and not the forum whipping post.
