Will Bynum: Starting Point Guard?

He isn't. I'm sorry, but he just isn't.

He's been a solid starter for many years, but that ship sailed last year and he's continued to decline by a lot this year.

I'll venture to say that Fisher is the worst starting player in the NBA.

I think the biggest thing we should be keeping in mind when we are assessing Bynum's recent good play, and this is something that KGREG has pointed out, is who Bynum was playing next to. He's doing great as a starter because he's playing next to Rip, and not Gordon. The bench unit with a Bynum/Gordon back court consistently digs us into big holes, with no fault to either player. That's just not a good pairing. These recent games just show that Bynum/Rip complement each other very well.

This has been stated numerous times, but Will/Rip and Stuck/Gordon back courts are decent combos. It doesn't matter which tandem starts or which one comes off the bench really. Our problem is the inability to separate the Rip & Stuckey back court since they both have to start (due to primadonnaism and politics).

In my perfect world, we'd start with Stuckey/Gordon/Prince/JJ/Wallace and have Bynum/Rip/Daye/CV/JMax come off the bench.

No doubt. Just because a guy doesn't put up gaudy offensive numbers doesn't mean he isn't valuable. With Fisher starting every game, the Lakers have been the best team in the Western Conference for 3 straight years. If "he is not a good basketball player", I'm sure Coach Jackson would have replaced him with one by now. When your backcourt mate is putting up 28 points a game, your role is to compliment, and that's what Fisher does.

The Lakers can get away with starting Fisher because they are immensely talented at multiple positions on the floor. They are the ONLY team that could get away with starting Fisher.

I'm not saying he doesn't bring some leadership qualities (and he can still hit the big clutch shot), but he is simply NOT a good basketball player anymore. The (horrible) stats only reinforce that... I've watched him plenty this year.

Cliffnotes:

Jackson don't plays his best players.
Quester plays his best players.
Alas, Quester > Jackson

Thank you, that's all I'm saying, I've never said that Will was better than Stuckey, I've never said Will should start over Stuckey, but to not even entertain the thought well.......

The fact remains that we still need a PG in the worse way, we need a band conductor like yesterday, because as of right now a bunch of individual brass players blowing their own horns sound like a bunch of noise.

Add a young PG and a young scoring big man and at least we have a playoff team next year with some future promise:

PG _________, Bynum
SG Stuckey, Gordon
SF Daye, Summers
PF Jerebko, Maxiel
C _________, Wallace

I don't know Laim, I think we are another lottery trip or three away from putting together a playoff team.

"Back in it" is possible after we sort out our roster a little and add a true big man to anchor the paint -- but it's also relative. We've a very young team, so even if we add a great player from the draft this year and next, we're likely going to take a few seasons to develop our core guys (Stuckey, the 3 rookies, Gordon, the 2010 and 2011 picks, plus whoever we get or keep for/among Tay/Rip/Maxiell/CV).

Champions are both assembled and developed over time.

And that's why I think it'll take a while. We don't have a PG, we don't have a potential all-star upfront, and we don't have a #1 option, we have a team full of 2nd and 3rd option type players. I don't see us getting any of these needs filled anytime soon. The best thing we can do is develop these 3 rookies right now.

You know it's funny, if we would really focus on the rooks, we'd have a BIG and versatile lineup on the floor, but because of the decisions made by mgmt we end up playing a ton of midget ball....go figure.

Darn right it'll take a while. Nothing is happening this summer. With the contracts that expire this summer, we'll have $6.5M freed up. If Wilcox exercises his PO, then you're looking at $3.5M. We are less than $1M under the cap right now, so we have little to no money to spend this summer. We have two rookie contracts from the draft and Bynum to resign. That's where all the money will go to. Maybe, just maybe we'll have enough left over to resign Big Ben. So next year we're back to where we are now.

In 2011, we have Tay & Wilcox expiring, but so do Stuckey, Daye, JJ and Summers. So, we'll have some spending to do there as well.

In 2012, we only have JMax expiring. That might bring us another complimentary piece.

In 2013, we have Gordon, Rip and CV expiring for close to a whopping $30M. Post new CBA, that probably will be enough to land 2 top tier players easily. We don't know yet as to who those players will be, but we'll be major players in that market regardless.

So, as Brap has said over and over and over, in 2014 we'll be in a position to be in the hunt for a 'ship.

The next 3 seasons will suck. We're a lottery team again next year, and a first round exit the two years after that. Hopefully, this will translate into the Pistons dominating the East for 2014-2020.

PISTONS: 'A Bright Future'

Really nice article on Summers from our developmental coach. He reiterates what we've been saying - all 3 rookies can play together.

I disagree about Stuckey. I think there's no reason he can't develop into a Billups level PG. I'd love to see us draft a legit center, and have Stuckey, the 3 rooks and the drafted center as our core guys, with Gordon off the bench plus whoever we get for Tay.

What's the issue? Those people sure look like they adore Stalin.