Pistons Training Camp Notes

A collection of MLive.com posts from A. Sherrod Blakely:

i know the off-season has been dull as far as player trades/signings/etc....but i'm GEEKED to see this team in action!!

Hunter

The Pistons announced that Lindsey Hunter had succesful surgery on his ankle today. They don't know when he'll be back.

Good to hear!

Thanks for the good heads up Himat, it's much appreciated guy!

Thursday night report from A. Sherrod Blakely on mlive.com:

Lanierfan,
Thanks for that piece... it was one of the best behind the scenes reports we've had so far... coming from Blakely, I'll trust it to be a true analysis.

How can you read that and not get fired up for the season?

Holy crap, check out the pink hat!

I guess it's OK since it's for a good cause.

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/rookiediary_051005.html

A.S. Blakeley's Saturday report

From yesterday's mlive forum:

Almost

About only 2 days till it all starts. This felt like the slowest summer because I have been waiting so long for this team to get revenge, and for some reason the days feel longer. I hate that.

Some more ASB (Blakely) thoughts on Camp:

"Surprise player I believe will be Mo Evans. This guy is going to really make a lot of teams realize they totally missed the boat on this kid. I think he will give McDyess a run for being this team's top Sixth man this year".

"Flip has tried a lot of different combinations, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are times when he'll experiment with playing a big lineup of ben, sheed, dice, with tay and chauncey in the backcourt, or tay and rip in the backcourt. i could definitely see something like that happening from time to time. as far as darko at the 3 spot, i don't see that happening much, if at all. but if he's thinking about it, now in the preseason would be as good a time as any to try it out".

"Jason will be the best player that you won't see much of this season. He's undersized for the 4 spot, but he's got such a nice touch inside the lane, and is a much better leaper than he looks. ... before all is said and done, this guy is going to be a really good player in this league".

"He's (Glynny) here, in training camp, but he hasn't looked real good. This team already has a lot of depth inside, and Andreas has done nothing thus far to warrant him sticking around much beyond the next couple of weeks. Don't be surprised if he's one of the first players waived from training camp".

"He's (Amir) got the athleticism that reminds you of Amare Stoudemire, but he has yet to develop that killer instinct. He's great at catching the ball in traffic, and finishing. But his lack of strength is a huge problem for him. He's just not strong enough to play the kind of game at this level that, skill-wise, he's capable of playing. I see him at least a year or two away from being a guy that could help this team".

"Flip has been mixing his lineups a lot in the preseason, which isn't unusual. All three have been running with the second unit at some point during the preseason. I believe when all is said and done, Evans and Delfino will be on the second unit. Dupree has been really solid thus far in the preseason, but I just don't see the Pistons keeping him around. It has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with numbers. Simply put, I think they feel they need Acker as a reserve point guard behind chauncey, carlos arroyo and lindsey hunter, more than they need ronald as a reserve small forward. The best thing for all involved would be to trade ronald, probably some time shortly before the season opener. He's good enough to where Detroit could at least get a second-round pick for him, I believe".

Review of preseason

Ok, there was some debate about how Flip should run the preseason. Some said he should use the last few games to get his rotation down. I said no, he should be using the time to continue to evaluate players, so he would get things right. Well, we did not see any real step up in the regular starter's minutes, did we? Flip did the right thing, continue to evaluate players. And I believe he will continue to do so into the start of the regular season, and to some extent thruout the season.

What a contrast between one preseason and the next for Darko. With Brown, Darko's minutes were limited last preseason, while this year Darko played more minutes than any other player. Less some think I am slamming Brown here, I will point out that Carlos Delfino got the most minutes in camp last preseason.<br><br>By the numbers of minutes played, the top ten guys in the rotation look to be our starters, then Arroyo, Delfino, Evans, Dyess, and Darko for a second unit. However, two other players, Dale Davis, and Jason Maxiell, could easily end up playing a whole lot. By the playoffs, Hunter could be in the mix, Amir Johnson might start playing, and Alex Acker as well. I won't make any assumptions at this point. Some might choose to dismiss any of the rookies ending up being a big part of things this year, but I will not. We got a coach who apparently is willing to keep an open mind on such things.

No real surprises with our starters or Dyess for the preseason, although I will say it was great to see Ben really get up for those rebounds like he was truly full of energy. This season, I bet he stays that way all season, because he will not get overplayed. With Maxiell, Darko, and Davis all getting some mintues in the big position, Ben simply won't called upon to play anywhere near the minutes from last year.

Darko led the league in blocks with 23. Evans led the league in 3 point shooting percentage, and shot 13 for 21. Acker led the team in assists per 48 minutes with 13.3. Ben was up there just under 20 bounds per 48 minutes, pretty amazing. Arroyo got 9 assists per 48, just beating out CB in this. (Though neither was half as impressive as Acker.)

Arroyo shot 50%, pretty darn good for a guard. No three's though. What, a backup guard shooting 50% and getting all those assists? Yes, that 4 million a year is looking like a pretty darn good deal right now.<br><br>Dupree is the big question mark at the moment. He shot just over 50%. But made only half his free throws, really cutting down on his effectiveness in going inside. (7-14) His rebounds per 48 were good at about 9. He had a few blocks in his 87 minutes. Just 4 assists though. Not too good. No steals. More turns, 6, than assists. Good perimeter defender, not too good guarding around the basket though as he is slight of build and does not have really good height.

Little noticed, Maxiell did get 71 minutes of play in. He shot ok ,45%. (14-31) This was a mix of jumpers and dunks. I'd say a lot of those jumpers he missed out of nerves. He can shoot those midrangers quite well. Rebounds, 14.8 per 48 minutes, not bad at all. Four blocks. I don't think he showed any weakness on defense.

Amir Johnson only played 19 mintues. He made 2 of his 4 shots. His 48 minute stats on rebounds was 15.1. He also hit 3 of 5 free throws. In case anyone missed this fact, Amir Johnson was signed to a two year contract, with the first year being guaranteed. He is projected for this year to play small forward for us, although in the future he will be first a power forward and then a center. Why didn't he play more? First, he already made the team. 2nd, Dupree needed to be fully evaluated at small forward. Dumars does not intend to send Amir Johnson to the NBDL, so expect to see him play. At least some. After that, it will depend on how he does, what promise he shows. Could be a little or a lot. But don't be surprised if it is a lot, because this guy can really rebound.

Dale Davis got 12 rebounds in his 38 minutes. Thats 15.2 per 48 mintues. Not bad at all. He hit one short jumper, got a dunk, made one of two free throws. He is capable of being a major part of our rotation, but right now, nobody knows just how much he will play. I believe Maxiell and Darko will get lots of ops to get playing time, then Davis will come in and do what the kids can't, if anything.

Acker did not show ability to stop quick guards from getting inside our defense. Sound familiar. Last year, it was Smush Parker who impressed with his scoring, but could not play good enough respect in this same respect to stay on our team. With Acker, it is a bit different. One, we signed him, to a non-guaranteed contract, one which automatically becomes a full year contract if he stays beyound January 10 (I believe that is the right date-not sure though.) In other words, we signed him when we did not have to. He was our 2nd round pick, so no other NBA team could sign him. We could have given him a camp contract, evaluated him, and let him go if we did not like what we saw. And we would then still have his rights. So why did Joe sign the guy to the non-guaranteed contract instead? Joe expected Acker to make the squad. Which is why we did not see much of Acker, in my opinion. His slot was safe from the start.

Back to Dupree. So why the evaluation? Simple. There is another player besides Acker who might not be part of the team. Joe Dumars has to weigh how good Dupree is with how healthy Hunter might be by the end of the season. Tough choice. I belive either Hunter gets let go, or Dupree.