FORMULA WON? Pistons hope dash of youth + veteran core adds up to a title If he is as assertive in the playoffs and makes the adjustments the Pistons may be playing deep into the summer.
The captain is requesting more discipline from the coach??? This all seems to validate our point that he has been weak sauce. Not sure if a personality trait like this can be changed. He can fake it for a while, but won't be convincing.
A coach can change if he works at it. Not saying Saunders will change, I'm just saying it's possible.
MLive.com: Everything Michigan I am going to watch to see if he's going to pull non-producing starters.
All the talk prior to last season was that Flip was more forceful and direct with the team after being afraid to change things his first year because they were so successful prior to his arrival. We know how that turned out. Seems like more pre-season drivel.
Glad to see he is starting AA and not Murray or Hunter tonight. That is a positive sign that he is willing to give a young guy a chance right from the git go when Flip has other options. But the fact of it is, is that AA is probably better than Murray and Hunter so it only makes sense to start him tonight.
In terms of shooting open shots from the perimeter and playing defense, Afflalo is probably the better option. We'll see. It's not like he's going to have a killer assignment tonight against the depleted Heat.
AA played like I thought he would in his first NBA game; i.e., a rookie. But he got some minutes and did hit a three so it is a small start. We may see a new Flip Saunders but it looks like it will be the same old Flip Murray. Maybe AA will progress enough between now and when Hot Rod returns so that Murray can start accumulating butt rot on the bench.
He got real minutes, played poorly, and yet we won the game. That's how you develop young players. Just throw them in the fire and let them focus on adding value, not getting their shot off. If he's any good at all, he'll figure it out.
I wouldn't say AA played poorly, he gave it his best but he's not up to speed of the NBA players yet.
Except for the 1 shot he hit, it was pretty sorry. He got blocked rather badly and picked up quick fouls. The first was when he bit on an unconvincing pump fake. Only 1 rebound. I really think that he will play better than this 9 times out of 10. His best attribute was probably that he didn't make any passing mistakes. Dyess was pretty sorry too. But hey, I love that Alf got the start. Play him off the bench, and give him a start every 10 games or so to boost his confidence.
It appears to me that the comments below sum up AA's play in his first NBA game fairly accurately. He adjusted fairly well in the 2nd half. He played 9 minutes without any fouls, one three point goal and had none of his shots blocked. It appeared that he also did a better job defensively in the second half. ]PISTONS CORNER: Afflalo steps in for Hamilton, checks Heat's Davis in opener
AA is fast. That's what stands out to me. He's fast with the ball, without the ball, and recovering (sometimes with too much zeal) on defense. He's a fast guy. Like Mike James was.
I like the way it sounds, as long as he can stick to it throughout the season. Magic message brings none
It seems to me that the best combinations in any one game depend on a lot of variables including. 1. Foul trouble 2. Physical condition of the players 3. Matchups especially on defense. 4. Whose hot and whose not 5. Defensive scheme being played (Players do better in certain defensive schemes than in other schemes) 6. The score 7. The minutes played by players up until that point in the game. So a player that may be a good choice to be among the closing 5 one night might not be the best choice to close out the game on another night. On most teams this doesn't vary too much from game to game unless there are injured players because most teams aren't deep enough to vary the closing five that much night to night and coaches usually want their best five active players out there at the end of a game. However, if you are deep and have flexibility with your players, the closing five can vary game to game depending on how the variables are playing out for that game.
But Flip struggled with his adjustments before. His only adjustment before was to put his starters in when in doubt. That's what I am concerned with - him reverting to the old habits. I am just hoping he trusts the bench guys more this time around and doesn't hesitate to put them in when the situation calls for it.
