Miami Heat. Oct 5th 7:30 PM Pre-Season

Team more energized with Sheed gone.

Pistons won. Iknow, I know it's only pre-season, but there were some things that were clear.
The Real Good:

1. Will Bynum, what he showed last season was no fluke, HE IS ABOUT TO GET P-A-I-D!!! Next season.
2. Chris Wilcox. While his post defense is not even close to what we are accustomed to seeing from Sheed and Dyess, his ability to catch and finish above the rim in traffic is something that we have not had in Detroit in a VERY long time.
3. Austin Daye. He is going to be a very good ball player he's tall and freakishly long, shoots the 3 with an effortless-smooth stroke, and surpisingly rebounded pretty well in traffic, taking the ball off the rim with that long 6'11" frame of his - Good Pick at 15, I think he will eventually be better than Rashard Lewis.
4. Ben Wallace, looked good out there, remember when Ben began to display a more complete game under LB? Well it seems as if he was determined to make last nights display one big I TOLD YOU SO!!! Ben is not what Ben was, but he still has some gas in the that tank of his, he is going to make some plays for us this season, he very well may challenge Kwame for the starting Center position because Wilcox is clearly a PF.

The Good:

1. Ben Gordon, the shot wasn't falling last night, but he's going to be OK. His poor shooting on some nights won't hurt the team like AI's used to, Ben doesn't have to dominate the ball or the offense to get his.
2. Rip and Tay, were, well, Rip and Tay. Like someone mentioned earlier (long sigh) Tay is going to handle the ball ALOT this season. It really is time for BOTH of them to go, as long as they're here we will be the same ol' team, that most of us are tired of, at times they seem to negate the positive progress of the new players.
3. Jason Maxiel, looked OK, but nothing new; he is what he is, an undersized PF capable of making plays in a game, but not equipped to just play a solid and consistent game, he really is expendable given our current roster.
4. Kwame Brown, **Disclaimer- I like Kwame** Looked solid last night, he's big, strong and mobile. If Kwame can shoot a better FT%, he's a guaranteed 10 & 8 everynight. Don't sleep, we can win with Kwame, had he been the #1pick in the 2nd rd -straight out of highschool- folks would be raving about him.

The OK: Dejuan Summers, he can do some things, unfortunately he was played out of position for most of the night, they actually had him playing some 2guard last night, right now he's clearly a mobile PF who is capable of giving us spot mins at SF depending on the matchup.

The BAD: Rodney Stuckey. As of right now, Will Bynum is SUPERIOR to him. TAYSHAUN looked better facilitating the offense than he did! Based off of last night, Ben Gordon even looked better bringing the ball up. Let me say this with an honest sincerity: Rodney may be the odd guard out in this 4 guard rotation if he doesn't get a clue and get it quick!!! I think Will Bynum is a great weapon off the bench so for that reason I would leave him there, but as time goes on don't be shocked if folks start clamoring for Ben Gordon to start over Stuckey at the Point. The more I think about it, that's not a bad idea; start Ben and Rip, then bring in Bynum as the backup PG and Stuckey as the backup SG. Based off of what we saw last season and what I saw last night, I would begin grooming Ben G to be the starting PG.

My exact sentiments KGreg. I said before in a post that BG played some point while at UConn, I remember it very well.

I've always said that we may end up playing BG & Rip as our starting guard. All Chicago wanted BG to do was score, score and score, his skills were under-utilized.

Stuckey will never be a PG even a Hybrid PG, he is SG all the way.

WOOOHOOOO!!!! GO BIG BEN!

So the possibility exists that Ben had to give up his # for a guard who might not be able get off the bench?

...bigger luggage.

Very nice post KG. Very encouraging stuff. I see I don't need to watch any games (again) this year to keep up with the team.

Yep I didn't see the game either, but I heard it and KGreg's points gave me the real visual...I surely hope that Stuckey lives up to Joe's expectations...other wise we gave up a lot to go in this direction with him as the future focal point.

I only watched a few minutes of the game, but thats discouraging to hear Stuckey still looks lost out there. Not good. I was hoping he would come into this season looking better. It's only one game though, so we'll see.

That's why I was and still am so upset with JoeD throwing the cash into BG's throat - Stuckey is no PG and it will take a very long time til he becomes one and it's still not sure he will ever be one. Yes, people bring up the "CB struggled and became an elite PG after some seasons" - that may be true, but CB mainly sucked at other teams and finally excelled in Detroit. With Stuckey playing out of position at PG, it may be the opposite.

I know we want to forget last season, but worst thing about showing these final standings is that three of the teams that didn't make the playoffs had a better home record than we did....If we can at least improve upon that stat by 8 games, I would feel a little better despite how bad we may stink on the road.....

Will Bynum is the franchise player. Good win. They were competitive.

Bynum should be easy to keep with the franchise. I don't see him commanding much more than $2 million with a decent season as a backup PG.

Daye is Prince with offensive skills.

Prince has scored over 1000 points in 5 straight seasons. He is not your conventional player, but he certainly has offensive skills.

wasnt this just a practice game???

This is gonna be a LONNNNNG season in the forum, Rascoe. Hope u have ur prescription filled!