Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Another loss

Hey guys,

The Pistons are in the midst of an 8-game losing streak. Next game up against the Chicago Bulls. A win would feel good at some point. During my last post I was still talking about possible playoffs, now it looks like we are heading straight into deep lottery land triggering me to look, which possible draft pick we might get although I don't think of next years draft class features a real good big man but that's definitely what Joe Dumars should go far. I usually say go for the best player available, but Detroit doesn't really have a need for another guard or forward, we are good in those departments.

The Pistons have been digging themselves into deep holes of late. I know they are tired and since Rip and Tay have returned they have to figure everything out. What looked like a promising start now looks like a season of adjusting and hoping that'll get better soon. The team has shown lots of potential especially during the 5-game winning streak but most of the time they get behind, try to recover and fall just short which is a lot harder on your body than being in the game or losing by 30. Comebacks take a lot of effort and the Pistons aren't deep enough to do that night in and night out even with Rip and Tay back.

We get more out of the positions 1-3 than we thought we would. The backcourt production has been great and when everybody's healthy I think we have one of the best and deepest backcourts in the league.
It hurts me to say this, but Charlie has been a huge disappointment. I wasn't as much a fan of his signing than with Gordon's. I see C-Nuv as a Sixth Man on a championship team but he's not a go-to-guy everygame, he takes games off, maybe he'll get better and more consistent, but basically at this stage of his career, he is what he is. He's similar to Rasheed, just not as skilled and competetive. Ben Wallace has been great, but if you wanna go back to the East's elite, do we wanna put our faith into a 36-year-old, undersized Center? Keep him, but we need an upgrade, we can still use him as a sparl defensively. A bench that consists of Bynum, Gordon, C-Nuv, Jerebko and Ben Wallace would sound pretty good to me. All we need is two more players and we are good if everybody stays healthy, which has been the biggest problem.

We also need a leader. Nobody could foresee the impact the Billups trade would have and we aren't gonna get another Mr. Big Shot who's floor general as much as him. Stuckey is nice but he's not gonna be like Chauncey.

I still don't see the Pistons being that far away from contending. All we need is bigger bodies to switch it up once in a while and give defenses different looks once in a while. Or, to put it another way, we could be one Lebron, Bosh or Wade away. If we keep playing like this I'm sure Joey D will try to create cap space for next summer.

Give me your thoughts on it!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

A little Sunday treat! - Great stuff on Will Bynum, makes you like him even more!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Why the Pistons will probably trade Rip

Great win for Detroit last night against Denver! Check out Natalie Sitto's summary at Need4Sheed (or maybe Need4Swede soon).

I want to get into other stuff today: Why I think Rip Hamilton is going to be traded this season or during the offseason. It pains me as much to write as for you guys to read it, and this is just an assumption but looking at our roster right now, there's a good chance Joey D is thinking alike.

My assumption is based on the current roster and which player would be most dispensible and has the biggest value. We don't have a lot of big men and some of them aren't playing well (I'm talking to you Chris Wilcox, actually the rest has been great, I used the plural to make you feel better).
So it wouldn't be good to trade one of our big men plus it's highly unlikely we'd get a scoring big men for Chris Wilcox. Ben Wallace is untouchable, mainly because the league has probably accepted he can only play at an all-star level for Detroit, although his dollar for dollar production should be among the best in the league.
At Power Forward we have Charlie V, Jason Maxiell and Jonas Jerebko, Jonas at Small Forward too along with Austin Daye and DeJuan Summers. Although the latter two have shown flashes of good play, they still remain rookies, so when Tay returns I wouldn't mind having 4 Small Forwards in the rotation.
Then we have this heavy guard rotation! Will Bynum, Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, Rip, Chucky Atkins. Chucky doesn't need minutes, but still Rod Stuck feels more comfortable at the two, WAY more comfortable, Ben Gordon is a 2 too, and Rip, well, yeah, you guessed it, a Shooting Guard. Joey D won't give up Gordon and Stuckey, so Rip might be the odd man out. We have too many two guards and Rip has real value on the trade market so we might have to exploit the option and get used to a line-up without Rip. We've gotten good play from our guards even without him so we aren't dependent on him anymore, I'd look to trade him for a glaring need in our rotation, a scoring big man. Ok, I know, lots of teams have thought that kind of player would get them into contention (Philly anyone?).

So here are my Big Men to watch!
Elton Brand - I know, he currently sucks! But he's been starting to show flashes of his old self, if he keeps getting better until February and remains uncomfortable coming off the bench and keeps coming off the bench he might be a great catch. I know, the Iverson signing makes it unlikely, but who knows if he'll still be there in February ...

Jermaine O'Neal - Yeah, I know he isn't the best PF in the league anymore, he's slower and everything has decreased but he's still more capable of scoring down low than any big guy we have right now. Plus Miami is desperate to get Wade a little help. Rip could let Wade handle the ball and be a catch and shoot guy like he was with Chauncey, boy, I miss that! Also, the Palace brawl stands in the way.

Nenad Krstic - He's one of my favorite big men in the league. The Thunder might have to throw in another player, either a guy like Etan Thomas (great for the locker room) or a young player like James Harden. Krstic could space the floor, allow dribble penetration, he has a great shooting touch and go to moves in the post. He would actually be a good fit in my opinion.

Mehmet Okur/Carlos Boozer - I would just like to see Memo back. I like shooting big men, but I don't really think it's going to happen. With Boozer it's a different story, Joey D might be able to get him and Utah could use an uprade at the two-guard position.

Free Agency - If the Pistons should not be in the playoff hun in February you could trade Rip for cap space and the current set-up of the team could lure coming free-agents like Chris Bosh or Amaré Stoudemire. Detroit has a lot of pieces in place to be a contender again, there's just a little bit missing.

I don't think the Pistons necessarily need a back-to-the-basket player à la Elton Brand, I think Chris Bosh or Stoudemire would actually be perfect for the Pistons, but let's be patient and I'm sure Joey D will do the right thing!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Other thoughts on the night

Did you see Trevor Ariza's reverse slam? - To me, that's the dunk of the night! Yeah, Josh Smith was nice, and Shannon Brown, but come on! It's an in-game, no fast-break, reverse slam dunk? If Lebron had done that it would've been the Top 10 play of the year. Show some love for this guy, he's really doing a fine job for that Houston team.

Mike Brown's ejection
- at about the 0:48 mark in the highlight video you see the play Cavs coach Mike Brown got so upset about. I'm thinking, really? You think that's a foul. To me that's great defense and a superstar trying to get a foul call. I just had a refereeing workshop, so I'm looking for this kind of stuff. Shane Battier is standing straight up, arms straight up (not all straight, but ok) and Lebron is trying too hard to create the contact. He's going into Battier for the contact although Battier has a defensive position. The Cavs seem to get more fair-skinned again. After winning so many games they've dropped two in a row to Memphis and Houston! All I want to say is, great job by the ref! It needs to be said from time to time!

Why the hell didn't Manu's play (at 2:00) get into the Daily Top 10??? - Look how smooth it is. Dribbling down the court, turning around, reading the defense, crossing it over and slamming it home. If that's not Top 10 worthy I seriously don't know what is!

Pistons beat the Sixers!

Ok, the Pistons beat Philly's Double-AI-Combo! Detroit now owns a 9-12 record and is back in the playoff hunt. The game came down to the wire and I guess we've found ourselves a new Mr. Big-Shot in Rodney Stuckey! Boy was that a shot! Getting rejected by AI² and then grabbing the loose ball, turning around and hitting the close range jumper. You know, some players lose confidence in their shot after being rejected so I really admire him just grabbing the ball and just draining it for the win!
NBA.com Highlights

Huge night for Jonas Jererbko who went 7-12 from the field for 17 points and 10 boards. Joey D really picked a good player there at the 39th position in this years draft. Kudos to him, I'll never forgive him for picking Darko back in '03 (this topic is gonna come up every now and then) but getting players like Bynum or Maxiell or Stuckey really soothes my burnt soul.
Big Ben had a huge 12 rebounds and 4 steals but put on goggles for blocked shots and points, but we won nonetheless so I won't complain!
Stuckey, definitely the man of the night! 27 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists! He was everywhere! I can't 'til Tay and Rip come back to see what this team is really capable of doing. If we should happen to get the Magic in the first round we might have a shot at an upset! I even think we could control the Cavs every now and then. We know Shaq's kryptonite is Ben Wallace, we know Tay and Jonas are capable of guarding Lebron to a certain extent. Wouldn't that be the payback Detroit wants! Taking the Cavs out??
Second part of a back-to-back tonight against Denver. Chauncey is coming for a visit but we won't hand out gifts. Gotta find a way to forget about slow legs and make Melo slow down, then we've got a chance! Go Detroit!