We're at 15 wins right now. The team picking 9th also has 15 wins...they just have less losses. May be time to adjust our lottery goals. The 8th seed of the playoffs has just 3 more wins than we do. It is nice though to see the team play well. Stuckey had the kind of stat line, and game that could put a smile on my face.
I think for the first time in a while the Pistons are getting a clear message from their coach. If you can defend (save for Gordon) you will play. Wilkins is their 9th man. Sometimes he plays, sometimes he doesn't. His D has kept him in the coaches minds. The Pistons are a poor defensive team still, really poor honestly, but everyone who plays (again save Gordon) has some level of physicality to them and doesn't look ridiculous assuming a defensive stance. I think you should be giving Coach Frank more credit for this. Think of what this team could look like if he went by the book ($$) and played lottery pick Austin Daye, free agent coup Charles Villanueva along with Gordon. That would leave Max and Wilkins out.
Both sporting 3-game win streaks, the Pistons and the Heat are the two hottest teams in the NBA. I've jumped off the lottery bandwagon and onto the playoffs bandwagon. I don't think there are any surefire picks in this draft anymore. Anthony Davis - what's the difference between him and Hasheem Thabeet coming out of college? (http://nbadraft.net/players/hasheem-thabeet) Meanwhile, the Pistons gaining post-season experience and then picking up a shot-blocking big in the middle of the first round (Leonard/Henson/Melo), amnestying Gordon, signing a couple hard-working free agents, and putting the youngsters through an offseason together may well have a more positive impact on the team than tanking out, drafting high, and having to keep the losing culture from destroying your team the way it poisoned the Lions for decades.
I'm guessing that you haven't watched Anthony Davis play too much. I think the Pistons are pretty much out of the Davis race, but I do think that he is the perfect player to match with Monroe. A front court with Davis and Monroe would take the Pistons to the next level, and be the foundation for the next decade of Pistons basketball.
Odds at 11th pick are about 1%..same odds that Rascoe has at winning the PF.com NCAA tourney bracket.
I totally agree. I will even go as far as second-guessing myself on minimizing the effect a coach can have on a team. Perhaps Rip didn't to go. Perhaps Monroe needed experience. Perhaps toughness was lost with Jerebko out last year. Perhaps Stuckey can now play more SG with the addition of Knight. A lot of things are falling into place. You still have to give Coach Frank a lot of credit for making it all gel. I'm not going to go as far as some (cough...LA Dre...cough...LameBrane) and start talking about playoffs, though. Perhaps they are setting a foundation for winning...
Now it's on the road. Don't expect to win too much. It would be great to make the playoffs with this crappy team. It would say a lot about Frank
12 of the next 16 on the road, but some poor teams. Here is how I would calculate our expected record: @ SAC- .5 wins @ PHO- .25 @ LAC- 0 @ DEN- 0 MIA- 0 @ NYK- .25 @WAS- .5 @ CLE- .5 @ CHI- 0 CHA- 1 ORL- .25 WAS- 1 @ ATL- .25 @ MIA- 0 @ ORL- 0 @ CHA- .5 Total expected record over this stretch = 5-11. There are 3 games that we should win, 4 games that are a coin flip, 4 games where we have a chance, and 5 games where we will for sure lose and the other team won't break a sweat. That would take our total record to 20-37. We'll be feeling suitably miserable about ourselves again.
At Atlanta at 0.25? That looks like about 0.15 to me. Charlotte at home will be a trap game. I'd give it a 0.3, not a 1.
@ SAC- .5 @ PHO- .25 @ LAC- 0.25 @ DEN- .15 MIA- 0.25 @ NYK- .25 @WAS- .5 @ CLE- .5 @ CHI- .1 CHA- .75 ORL- .4 WAS- .75 @ ATL- .1 @ MIA- .1 @ ORL- .1 @ CHA- .5 Sorry to steal your graph Tashawn. I am a little more optimistic than you @ home, and less so on the road. Ill dip my fingers and say we have a change of going 6-10. Possibly 7 if PHX don't really turn up, and .500 if Howards numbers dip on the back of frustration, or if he gets traded. CHI and MIA away are no fly zones, but its not unheard of. Madison Square is a wall short of a fortress, so an upset there will not be unexpected. .
I only rounded to the nearest .25. The method works, you'll see. Keep in mind that I'm assuming that Villanueva plays and is spectacular.
Not much to watch, as this game was over mid 1st quarter for all intents and purposes. But I still watched it. And still saw JJ be totally out of place as a power forward, and Gordon just plain play horrid basketball. We are a few games out of the playoffs, lots of time to gain ground, though this very long away streak won't help matters. What would make us more likely to win games during this streak? Drop Gordon from the rotation, add Daye. Move JJ to backup, or starting, small forward, dropping Wilkins out of the rotation. And above all, do not start playing CV. Using Macklin as another big would help all the above.
JD sent Macklin to the D-league...probably cause he plans to play CV........... because of this..........I think JD needs to hear from you.
Remember how good Villanueva was at the start of last season? Our expected number of Championships this year is exactly zero, so I don't mind tossing him in there and letting him show us what he's made of. Maybe is he shows that he can play really selfish basketball, the Knicks will want to trade for him.
