ummm delfino is solid, i never wanted him gone… ill be estatic if he was back… it was the same bunch that hated delfino that thought afflalo was better than stuckey and that stuckey was a bad choice after watching stuckey play only for a few months… truth is, stuckey was given the opportunity to grow, delfino wasnt given the same consistent PT because when he screwed up he was yanked… in toronto he was given the time, and therefore he improved so much
christ… what a big change dumars good job buddy.. bring back an old horrible face… ur the man joe in you we trust pffft.. i stopped trusting joe when he hired flip saunders.
I have to agree with Steve. Joe lost my full confidence when he let Flip sit there for 3 straight years. If he can settle for Curry as a coach he could’ve easily found someone to replace Flip.
Lol… if we get Delfino back i will die laughing… I hope Joe makes a small run at Trevor ARiza.. He is an atheltic small foward who would be a great backup for TayTay…. He plays pretty good defense and is an amazing dunker haha… Looks like Miami got James Jones which I thought we were going to get…… guess not.
NO, why would we get any provin 3 point shooters? we dont need them, we got GOD i mean dumars behind the desk hes the man alright! in joe d we trust.. hahaha that was hard to say with a straight face..wish i was a mavs fan with a gambler for a gm.
oh pleaseeeeeeeee no delfino. he can not play any defense and all he does is post up by the three point line and refuse to try and drive or do anything else to create a shot. it was so nice not hating anyone on our team this year, however when we had delfino I could not stand him. Hopefully this whole delfino rumor is just a really sick joke.
hey i thought everybody trusted joe.. jus a reminder Pistons,2004 was almost 5 years ago get your ass out ya head… wow another day another night i go to bed hoping when i wake that joe d has used some of that magic everyone talks about “que”??….i mean i feel like a kid on Christmas who comes down stairs to find absolutely nothing under the tree…hey nat u still trust joe? wheres the little dollar pic wit joe d and the Lamont Sanford mustache…i told u joe d played his cards wrong by coming out nationally saying everyones a victim blah blah blah….he actualy thought he could trade chauncey and tay for melo the guy he passed on lmao…..”carmello who” yea i bet u regret sayin that mr.no shot…….well at least i can finnaly go to some pistons game this year because the pistons will probally finish 3rd in the central and 7th in the playoff seed…and probably putting them in a first round match up against the orlando “who” Magic!!!…who will finish whats left of this dynasty rrrrrrrr….so it was nice the window has shut the door has closed and work whistle has clocked out for good thanks joe d
Actually I have to say, Carlos is pretty much an above average defender. Is he the best? no. But he was solid. Anyone saying he can’t play d can just take it back. There were problems with Delfino, but his defense was not one of them. The problem I had was 1. he never had a clear role on the offensive end, and sometimes on defense. 2. His playing time was so limited. 3 Him and Tayshaun are VERY similar players in how they play, the bench needs to bring something different (toclark77 how can you hate Delfino but like Tayshaun. Tay stayed on the 3 point line a lot when he should have been driving the lane, and his defense was not up to par this year. 4. I don’t think he thought he was deserving of being a scorer with all the other players. If he does come back with the mindset of being a slasher AND PLAYMAKER ESPECIALLY, he might be able to help.
Not saying he was my first choice, but I do wonder how much his game has evolved in this one year. He’s probably still a streaky shooter. I’m still kinda hoping for James Posey.
Plus it’d might be cool to bring back Carlos and Walter. Start of the Argentinian express. Maybe get Manu (would love that) Andres Nocioni or maybe Louis Scola. That’d be weird
Well when Steve brought up bringing Artest here people talked about him taunting the Detroit crowd. What did Posey do? He plays 3 minutes and starts taunting the crowd he said something like “By Detroit! Thanks for coming!” Do you really want that attitude on your team? goddamn I hate Posey I hope he never joins I’d rather have ‘Fino
No Alex Acker in the Summer League which is a shame I was really looking forward to seeing what he was going to play like:
Alex Acker’s attempt to return to the NBA after two years in Europe has hit another roadblock. Acker, a Pistons second-round pick in 2005 who spent his rookie season with the team before playing in Greece and Spain the past two winters, is again experiencing problems with the same knee that he injured last summer.
The Pistons only learned of the injury on Tuesday, the day they held their first practice in preparation for Friday’s opener of the NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
“That’s too bad,” Pistons executive Tony Ronzone said. “We really wanted to take a good look at him this summer. He’s a talented kid who had a chance to help us. It’s a setback for him.”
The 6-foot-5 Acker played mostly point guard for the Pistons as a rookie but his NBA future is probably similar to Arron Afflalo’s – a shooting guard who can defend all three perimeter positions. If Afflalo is stronger defensively, Acker might be a more accomplished shooter.
Delfino is nearly twice as good as Jarvis in nearly every stat with only 7 more minutes per game. If you liked Barron better than Chauncey based on his stats, then you should love Delfino over Hayes for the same reason.
I am still disgusted by the lack of respect that Joe D is receiving here. It’s not like he can wave a magic wand and increase the salary cap. If you want him to run out and get a free agent you need to understand that the only wiggle room he has to work with is a measly mid-level excemption. He’s competeing for free agents with teams like the sixers and Golden state who have abundand cap room to battle with.
I really don’t see what you people expect of Joe D, or what you expected of Flip Suanders for that matter. He did the best he could and brought you 3 winning seasons, a franchice reccord for season wins and 3 deep playoff runs. Beleive it or not, only one 2 teams can make it to the finals every year, and only 1 team can win the championship every year. No team is going to win be there, let alone win it every year. Get over it.
i love how ppl are freaking out about how detroit hasnt made a big move yet
a) we have all the way until the trade deadline to make a trade, i.e. like the rasheed wallace trade, or just this past year the pau gasol-LA trade
b) trades dont always make a team better, even when big names are involved… just ask phoenix which was number 1 in the west when they traded for shaq and ended up 6th in the west, lost in the first round, and now have no future… or ask the mavs
c) sure dumars said he wants to make a trade, but let’s be honest people… if we dont make a trade, are we that bad off? we were the second best team in the nba last year and lost to the best team in the nba in the eastern conference finals…… we dont exactly have the blow up the ship to stay competitive, even with these other deals around us
4) and if we dont make a trade this year, rasheed wallace comes off our books the following year at which time he can retire (which he supposedly has plans to do)… it will then be easier for us to get free agents the same way philly and clippers had the chance to sign big free agents this year
so seriously, stop panicking guys… it seriously sounds retarded when fans of the second best team in the nba is acting like the world will blow up if a trade isnt made by tomorrow. by that thinking, the spurs who lost to the lakers in 5 games (and the lakers then lost to the celtics in 6 games, same amount of games it took them to beat us) need to make HUGE moves and fast or their fans are gonna start jumping off bridges… please
Mannie32, i totally agree with you. But the difference between the Spurs and the Pistons is…. The have won multiple championships in the last 10 years… 6 of the last 10 years the Pistons have put themselves in position to win a title and havent gotten it done, with the exception to 2004. (I also give them credit for 2005 too, because if Robert HOrry misses that shot, call us NBA CHamps repeated) I think what we as Piston Fans fear is that Joe D was all talk about “shaking things up.” Maybe it was to light a fire underneath the players butts. When we see players we know we could have gotten in the free agency going to teams that are our rivals we tend to get alittle scared like, “Why didnt we pick them up?” ANyway, the only big names out there still available that I would love to see are the following…
1.) Josh Smith in a sign-trade for Tayshaun. 1 of the main reasons for our losses in the conf. finals every yeasr is because we keep getting beat off the dribble by LeBron, Paul Pierce and D Wade. THis isnt to say Josh Smith will stay in front, but he is way more physical and wont get pushed around as easy as lets say… Tayshaun?
2.) Rasheed Wallace, J-Max, 2 draft picks for Amare Stoudemire. I am not throwing J-Max under a bus because I love that guy. HOWEVER, if he is the sweetener that helps us get an Amare, let it happen. THis guy can straight up ball when healthy. If you are worried about giving up “future”.. dont. Amare is only 25 and could be the interior prescence we have all been wanting from Sheed.
3.) Either Chuancey and Tay or Rip and Tay or even Tay and Sheed for Mr. T-Mac.
Now here me out on this one. I understand we are giving up a lot to get a guy whose never been out of the first round. But, how great would it be to see this guy in a Pistons red/white/blue. He is HUNGRY to not only get out the first round but ALSO win a championship. He is a slasher who gets to the rim. He plays defense when he wants to, but on a defensive team who knows how well he will play. Looks at Paul Pierce… He went from being an average defender to a player who stepped up his defense when the TEAM played defense. Anyway, T-Mac is a long shot…… (ANd for all you people worried about his health… Dont forget who our strength and conditioning coach is… Arnie will make that dude feel like he is 24 again)
ANyway, as much as I want to see change I dunno when I will see it. I still have faith in Joe, but as each passing day happens and I dont see any moves, I worry that maybe he is content with just getting to the Conference Finals every year.
houston was already a great defensive team… and unlike KG, pierce and allen… t-mac HAS been on a very solid team the last several years and still cant get past the first round… it wasnt like he was stuck on a shitty team… ur talking about a great coach, solid bench and yao ming!
but he’s injury prone, and also cant seem to get over the hump to excellence… he’s also not getting any younger… i wouldnt want t-mac on our team… id be SUPER disappointed, give me tay and rip anyday
as for stoudemire… he’d be great to have offensively, i think he’s totally shit defensively tho… but u never know, he’s young enough that he could still be getting better and better at defense if he puts his mind to it… so he’d be a better fit in my opinion
wow u guys said big name trades dont make teams better.. tell that to detroit,miami and boston who all made big trades, and all won championships…..in 04 we picked up sheed and that equaled to a “championship”…miami made a big trade in 05 what happen “championship”….and those green goblins that just whooped on us made a huge trade, what happen “championship”!!!….i dont think we as fans are overreacting i think we r just venting…when u know a teams has high expectations and ends up at the end layin a egg then i think u have a reason to be pissed…..in the last couple of years we have given the pistons the most excuses on y they didnt win…we blamed the refs,the coaches,ben not hitting his free throws, darko,the refs,flip,David stern and the refs again….out of all 4 professional teams the pistons get the most leeway…i mean people were furious when the lions and tigers didn’t make it to the playoffs last year, even though both of those teams in my opinion had the lowest amount of expectations…..i applaude millen,holland and dombrowski for wanting to get better and changing things up….the problem is not that the pistons loose, its how they they loose…these guys just dont have the heart any more,just look at the 04 year, that was just hunger and that team would have killed Bostons team on any night….it was that nucleus of stars,rookies,vets,and role players and how they laid it out on the floor every night, “they were the definition of goin to work”….but now these guys walk around too big headed, like they won 4 or 5 titles….im sick of guys sayin things like “if it ain’t rough it aint right” and stuff like “we been here b4″……
what i saw this year in the playoffs was just sicking, we saw a team when they wanted to turn it on, turn it on… but when it counted the most they just didn’t get it done…..how come cleveland,and sorry atlanta showed more fight then us…both those teams lost, but i would rather the pistons loose fightin then not even showing any kinda heart….who looses too home games like that…
i mean they came home for game three,u got the crowd goin bananas with the white shirts,kid rock is blastin, the drumline is kickin,the flags r wavin,rasheed did his dance and then what….??? “flatline” for three quarters just horrible….so dont tell me im not a fan,or im overreacting…… because we do the same thing if it was the lions,the wings and the tigers
Clippers just renounced rights to Shaun Livingston. He might be worth the risk? Work w/Arnie and see what the kid can do… he was improving a great deal and showing some real promise before that freak knee injury. I know they list him as a PG, but when the Clippers advanced in the playoffs w/Sam Cassell, he played SG. Maybe?
I like the Tmac trade too. If you want a motivated team. He would have so much to prove if he’s on our team. He doesn’t like Rick’s offence. On a different scale, Houston has been a disappointment just like the pistons. They have young guys we can use. Most of all, they really want a good point guard. Houston might get the better end of the trade, but I will go for the T-Mac hunger factor. Still if we can get Artest, that’d be even better.
for every miami and boston that made big trades and won a championship (and look what happened to miami one year removed from the ship) you can also take a look at a dallas or a suns
furthermore, you can look at the spurs… when they lose (as they seem to do every other year), they dont make the BIG trade, they tweak their team, and they win the ship the very next year
so there are all sorts of ways to win a championship… all im saying is a big trade doesnt guarantee anything, and a big trade does not need to occur by today or tomorrow… boston go their big trade near the end of the summer last year, we got our sheed trade right before the trade deadline
so im just saying relax, and stop complaining like a bunch of spoiled fans
hey im all for hearing some of ur opinions, but what worries me is if we stay with this team, and they start doing well and i have to hear some of you same cats that are complaining like babies right now and hating on different members of our team (tay, billups, sheed, etc.) cheering these same guys on and saying they’re better than their opponents (even tho u want to trade them for the members of their opponents)… that would make me sick, seriously sick
mannie u must didn’t read my whole blog all im sayin is i dont care if they loose ok, its how they lose, losing a game three and not showin up in game 6 is unacceptable…how is it atlanta put there heart in it and cleveland as well… this team takes days off…this team played when they wanted to play..for God sakes they were the only team to beat boston at home the entire playoffs… in my opinion they had Bostons number but didnt go for the kill…we the fans buy the product we buy the tickets,the merchandise, the food we r the customers so we have the right to boo and express how we feel…if a movie sucked then u bet your ass that were going to express that it sucks….if we go to concert and the main event doesnt show up then hell yea were gonna boo and thats what happen with the pistons they didnt show up …im not the only one sayin the team didnt show no heart, dyess and hunter said the same thing if u listen to dfn…so does that make them spoiled because they expressed how they feel?because for some reason some pistons on the team play for 48 minutes?? probably so to you because your the ultimate fan… if sports wasnt about winning and selling a product then they would ask u to be the gm, better yet it would be like tee ball were they dont take score and everybody a winner ….its all about being number one and if your not then u gotta change some things to get to that spot…u think vince mcmahon was happy to be number 2 to mr.turner, hell naw he started takin wrestling to whole new level in the late 90’s changing his product completely around…he let his wrestlers be a little edgier, his females clothes got a little tighter, and started addin big pyro and a big ass titantron (somethin nobody seen) to sell his product and guess what? he did, right after he bought his competition… ….so i was glad joe d let out a little anger it shows that he wants to be number 1!!! and one day we will be back on top….
Amen thereal…Afuckinmen…some people here dont care bout being number one and think its not ok to boo a bad performance. if they play like shit idc how much i love em im booing the shit out of them. good writing brother. keep preaching!
@mannie32 It’s ok to be bitching and whining about it, if your team failed to make the final in 3 straight years in the SAME fashion! Spurs win everyother year, that’s why they can ‘tweak’. Sun’s and Dallas never win not because they made big moves. rather they have the same kinda retarded coach as we had and a wrong mix of players. If joe’s got the better vision than Cuben and Kerr, why can’t we hope for some big changes?! I think we need a trade just to show all the players how serious Joe is. If everyone plays with the same heart as Dyce, we’d have 3 championships by now. I want to be the guy that complains now and be proven wrong next season! I want to see the Tayshaune in that Orlando serious show up more often. Although, I think 80% of that falls on Joe and Flip. I know I don’t work as hard if my boss is not around. Don’t you wish flip is your boss?!
Mannie… what worries me.. is he does nothing, they do well during the regular season and then they roll to the confrence finals for the 7th straight season and lose again… To a hungrier team. AGAIN. Its the same story and as Pistons fans we are tired of their excuses.
Thats all I* am trying to say. I will support them through thick and thin, but that doesnt mean I will throw them under a bus if a trade doesnt happen. I wouldnt mind a trade though, to shake things up. Re-vive the hunger they had in 2004.
Ludacris: saying that we need to get rid of Tayshaun because he’s the main reason we’ve lost in the ECF is rediculous. Did you forget that he’s the main reason we GOT to the ECF? He’s the one starter that stepped up his game on both ends of the floor when the other starters we haivng stints of trouble during the first two rounds. Also, even if we could trade Rasheed for Amare straight up, it would be a downgrade. The Suns are my favorite west coast team to watch (or they were, pre-Shaq) but Amare is only better than ‘Sheed in terms of explosiveness. he does not have Rasheed’s range, post up game, ungaurdable release, passing ability, or team chemistry. Additionally, most of his scoring success is dependant on Nash.
The Real: The only times players say “we’ve been here before” or “if it aint rough it aint right” is when they’re behind in a series. It’s spoken out of confidence. A player being confident doesn’t mean he’s not hungery. Without confidence and a belief that you can still win, there’s no possible way to win. Do you want players to say, “oh yeah, we’re down 3-2, we’re basically skrewed. Maybe it’ll work out better next year” ?
I also thought you’re Vince McMahn analogy was pretty off kilter. You’re dealing with theatrics there, not athletics.
As for gmac’s boss analogy- fans pay money to get behind a team. It’s rediculous that you boo them when they perform poorly. It NEVER makes them perform better. Do you want to work harder for a boss who tells you that you suck at your job, even though you produce consistantly and efficiently, but make an occassional mistake. How’d you feel if you just went on national TV saying you had the best boss in the world, then had him berrade you two days later for not acheiving at an unrealistic standard? That’s not the kind of boss I want to work harder for- I’d rather have one that supports me.
I’m not opposed to a trade- but it needs to be the right trade. Sacrificing the team chemistry that makes this group special is not worth doing just for the sake of having it done right.
Mennie is absolutely right. Everyone was calling for Rasheed’s head at the end of last season too, but I didn’t hear them complaining while he was getting over 100 3-pointers and 100 blocks this season.
“thereal”… do u seriously believe they said “okay we dont wanna play game 3? let’s drop a egg”… like think about what ur saying… after lakers beat boston in game 3 and looked like they had them crushed in game 4, they went on to lose… does that mean lakers also flipped a switch? what about when lebron was going off on the celtics in game 7 and came up short?
give some ef’in credit to the celtics!! i saw nothing wrong with how the pistons played the celtics… they lost to the better team… as did the lakers… jeez
it’s easy for us to sit on a coach and say “oh look, they’re losing, they’re losing badly… they must not be trying”… oh god how id hate to be one of the pistons, id probably want to punch one of the fans if i heard them say that and i know im busting my ass out there
i see nothing wrong with some people having a vision of change… what i see wrong is when they sound like the change needs to occur tomorrow… showing they remember little about the past, and about how trades can be made successfully at the trade deadline… i have problem with ppl saying the pistons dont try hard when they really dont know anything about how hard they try or not… and lastly, i have trouble with ppl bitching about the same core starters they had confidence in lkike 2 or 3 months ago, and will likely (i say likely, i know some of u will never) have confidence in them again this coming season WHEN they win but hate on them when they lose… i have trouble with ppl claiming this is all dumars fault, that’s the worst of it all… that’s the most blind sided of them all… thats when i wish u guys (im from toronto, hence u guys) never got dumars at all… i guess u guys would have preferred the grant hill and stackhouse eras better… dumars should have come to toronto where some ppl could have appreciated him… maybe u guys should have got the other “bad boy” isiah thomas as your GM… you’d love it every time he made a bold trade or signed a free agent
long time reader, non-native of michigan. some 2 cents of mine.
just wanted to say the main problem with flip’s coaching wasn’t that he wasn’t emphasizing defense; stats wise they were still pretty good (although a little extra push to defensively rebound would’ve been nice). it was actually his offense in my opinion; he allowed the pistons to take too many jumpers. why was it for instance, that this complaint was never present when larry brown was around? think about that.
for all the talk people made this year about how the celtics’ d was so good, i thought their half-court offense was really solid, because ray allen and paul pierce kept making a conscious effort to get to the rim instead of settling for jumpers.
so do you need to blow this team up to get to the rim? no. there are 2 ways to get to the rim; drive, or low-post game. pistons count on sheed to post up the most, but i think chauncey and tayshaun need to post up their guys more; both of those guys can get shots or draw doubles off of their low post game all the time. draw the double, kick it out (now here’s the important part), the guy who receives the ball needs to not always take the open jumper, but pump fake and drive again.
imo, the simplest way to see if this team will get to the nba finals next season is if they cut down on the jumpers and try to attack the rim; that’s it.
That was a nice article featuring Stucky. However, I’d like to bring back another issue that’s been ruffling me here. I love Stucky just as much as the next fan and I’m equally pumped about his development. However, the notion that Rodney is better than Chauncey is truely ludacris. If he was on another team, we’d never support the concept trading away Chauncey for Rodney. That having been said, it makes no sence to want to trade away Chaencey and someone else for someone like McGrady who we just hope will do well. Rodney brings some excellent speed and penetration to the team but he does not have Chauncey’s post up game, three poitn shooting or leadership, so let’s just enjoy the luxury of having them both before we start talking about how washed up out belovved point gaurd is.
Been taking some time off from here to relax from the season, and it’s frustratingly ironic to see the Jekyll and Hyde nature of many of the posters here.
The points have already been clearly presented: We can’t make big moves in free-agency because we can’t compete with other teams’ cap room.
Many scenarios that have been presented here may very well be great for us, but don’t you think that if it were that simple, the deals in question would have already gone through??
We’re not even a month into the off season, and everyone wants JoeD gone.
Thanks to mannie and richie for trying to keep peoples’ heads on straight here…
hey eric you have no right to tell us to keep our heads strait.. many of us check this site daily and we are entitled to our own opinions.. the people who want joe d gone are the ones who haven’t liked his choices and have said it all along.. i personally think joe d is fine and the players are the problem.. oh and thanks for the huge revelation that we cant sign a high profile free agent because we needed some guy to come in and open up all of our stupid little minds… we know the situation and all anyone is saying is that joe d isnt making the moves we expected.. CDR and Chalmbers have had a great start to the summer league and we have our lankly no name narceleptic… joe d kicked off the end of the season by saying hes looking for another teams top player only and now were a week or two into free agency and we have no new additions and were talking about picking back up delfino… please don’t come to this blog and decide to write something that pretty much calls people two faced and ignorant when all people are doing is showing discontent.. i dunno maybe you will settle for a mediocre team but the rest of us want a change and want out of the ECFs!
Aside from this last month, I’ve been a daily visitor to this site for the past two years. I understand that you are entitled to your own opinions, but your assumption that Joe can “make it all better” within a few weeks of the end of the season is absurd.
Would you like to tell me what moves you “expected” Joe to make up until now? If he could had pushed a deal that was obviously advantageous to us, he WOULD have. There’s no reason to make a move just for the sake of it, but all many fans want is SOMETHING to happen. The grass is always greener on the other side, some think…
Your talk about CDR and Chalmers means nothing. You want to know who one of the top players in last year’s summer league was? Yeah, Marco BELINELLI.
SL means nothing, and trying to attribute 4 summer league games to JoeD’s “poor” draft choices is asinine. Oh, and I guess you didn’t happen to read the article that CDR didn’t even want to be a Piston. I’m sure you took that into account when criticizing Joe for not drafting him two weeks ago.
Finally, I am only calling certain posters here two-faced and ignorant. Those who rejoice and laud our organization when things are happy, and once we fall down 0-1 in a playoff series call for the firing of the coach, GM, and the dumping of players.
I am not ready to settle for mediocrity, because this organization embodies consistency and elite play. But some people need a reality check. How about we wait until the summer’s over before we pass judgement, hm?
I just want to say, I agree with the posters who have said we don’t need to make a move just for the sake of making a move.
I know everyone is disappointed from the ECF this past season, but if you ask me, we are the favorites to win not only the East, but the NBA championship. And that’s without making ANY changes to our current roster. Forget what the “experts” say: after all, who picked us to win the title back in 2004?
Except for McDyess, all of our veterans are still in their prime, and our youngs guys are only going to get better. How many teams out there can match our talent, starters plus bench players, at all 5 positions?
Essentially, the Celtics are our main competition, and I think we can handle them this year. They won’t be able to match our depth. When we go to our bench, guys like Stuckey, Maxiell, and Amir are going to manhandle Boston’s bench players. Of course, our starters also can’t underachieve against them like they did this year.
Out West, I don’t think there are any teams that can beat us in a 7 game series. LA is probably the “team to beat” out west, but they don’t play any defense. They’re basically just a more talented version of the Nuggets. The Spurs are too old, end of story. Plus, their bench is terrible, and they get no production from the SF or C positions. And the rest of the Western playoff teams, while very talented, are still not quite up to the Pistons level. Utah and New Orleans are close, but with our depth and playoff experience I’m confident that we would come out on top against either team.
So in terms of our roster, I think that we should take one more shot with the current team. After that, it’s probably time to say goodbye to Sheed, and replace him with a true center.
Right now, I say we should go after Kelenna Azubuike and that’s it. Since the Warriors just signed Maggette, it may be easier to lure Azubuike away. Or, failing that, we could also take a shot at Matt Barnes.
Oh and I love how blaze is criticizing “our lankly no name narceleptic”… without even seeing him play first! At least wait until he has 1 bad game to start hating on him! You’re worse than the Knicks fans at the draft.
Regarding CDR, he slid all the way to #40, so it’s not like we were the only team to pass on him. So there is probably a good reason for it, in addition to the fact that he didn’t want to play for the Pistons. I’d be willing to bet that CDR had some terrible workouts before the draft.
After hearing Dumars after the season…if all that comes out of this offseason is Delfino…it would be a colossal letdown.
Nice Dyess vid! Talk about an athletic freak. What could have been…
get delfino once, shame on Joe. get delfino twice, shame on JOE!!! Damn!
ummm delfino is solid, i never wanted him gone… ill be estatic if he was back… it was the same bunch that hated delfino that thought afflalo was better than stuckey and that stuckey was a bad choice after watching stuckey play only for a few months… truth is, stuckey was given the opportunity to grow, delfino wasnt given the same consistent PT because when he screwed up he was yanked… in toronto he was given the time, and therefore he improved so much
christ… what a big change dumars good job buddy.. bring back an old horrible face… ur the man joe in you we trust pffft.. i stopped trusting joe when he hired flip saunders.
I have to agree with Steve. Joe lost my full confidence when he let Flip sit there for 3 straight years. If he can settle for Curry as a coach he could’ve easily found someone to replace Flip.
Lol… if we get Delfino back i will die laughing… I hope Joe makes a small run at Trevor ARiza.. He is an atheltic small foward who would be a great backup for TayTay…. He plays pretty good defense and is an amazing dunker haha… Looks like Miami got James Jones which I thought we were going to get…… guess not.
NO, why would we get any provin 3 point shooters? we dont need them, we got GOD i mean dumars behind the desk hes the man alright! in joe d we trust.. hahaha that was hard to say with a straight face..wish i was a mavs fan with a gambler for a gm.
is it still impossible to think that we can get Josh Smith?
oh pleaseeeeeeeee no delfino. he can not play any defense and all he does is post up by the three point line and refuse to try and drive or do anything else to create a shot. it was so nice not hating anyone on our team this year, however when we had delfino I could not stand him. Hopefully this whole delfino rumor is just a really sick joke.
the pistons are gonna be a sick joke next year if joe doesnt do something soon…..
hey i thought everybody trusted joe.. jus a reminder Pistons,2004 was almost 5 years ago get your ass out ya head… wow another day another night i go to bed hoping when i wake that joe d has used some of that magic everyone talks about “que”??….i mean i feel like a kid on Christmas who comes down stairs to find absolutely nothing under the tree…hey nat u still trust joe? wheres the little dollar pic wit joe d and the Lamont Sanford mustache…i told u joe d played his cards wrong by coming out nationally saying everyones a victim blah blah blah….he actualy thought he could trade chauncey and tay for melo the guy he passed on lmao…..”carmello who” yea i bet u regret sayin that mr.no shot…….well at least i can finnaly go to some pistons game this year because the pistons will probally finish 3rd in the central and 7th in the playoff seed…and probably putting them in a first round match up against the orlando “who” Magic!!!…who will finish whats left of this dynasty rrrrrrrr….so it was nice the window has shut the door has closed and work whistle has clocked out for good thanks joe d
Actually I have to say, Carlos is pretty much an above average defender. Is he the best? no. But he was solid. Anyone saying he can’t play d can just take it back. There were problems with Delfino, but his defense was not one of them. The problem I had was 1. he never had a clear role on the offensive end, and sometimes on defense. 2. His playing time was so limited. 3 Him and Tayshaun are VERY similar players in how they play, the bench needs to bring something different (toclark77 how can you hate Delfino but like Tayshaun. Tay stayed on the 3 point line a lot when he should have been driving the lane, and his defense was not up to par this year. 4. I don’t think he thought he was deserving of being a scorer with all the other players. If he does come back with the mindset of being a slasher AND PLAYMAKER ESPECIALLY, he might be able to help.
Not saying he was my first choice, but I do wonder how much his game has evolved in this one year. He’s probably still a streaky shooter. I’m still kinda hoping for James Posey.
Plus it’d might be cool to bring back Carlos and Walter. Start of the Argentinian express. Maybe get Manu (would love that) Andres Nocioni or maybe Louis Scola. That’d be weird
Well when Steve brought up bringing Artest here people talked about him taunting the Detroit crowd. What did Posey do? He plays 3 minutes and starts taunting the crowd he said something like “By Detroit! Thanks for coming!” Do you really want that attitude on your team? goddamn I hate Posey I hope he never joins I’d rather have ‘Fino
No Alex Acker in the Summer League which is a shame I was really looking forward to seeing what he was going to play like:
Alex Acker’s attempt to return to the NBA after two years in Europe has hit another roadblock. Acker, a Pistons second-round pick in 2005 who spent his rookie season with the team before playing in Greece and Spain the past two winters, is again experiencing problems with the same knee that he injured last summer.
The Pistons only learned of the injury on Tuesday, the day they held their first practice in preparation for Friday’s opener of the NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
“That’s too bad,” Pistons executive Tony Ronzone said. “We really wanted to take a good look at him this summer. He’s a talented kid who had a chance to help us. It’s a setback for him.”
The 6-foot-5 Acker played mostly point guard for the Pistons as a rookie but his NBA future is probably similar to Arron Afflalo’s – a shooting guard who can defend all three perimeter positions. If Afflalo is stronger defensively, Acker might be a more accomplished shooter.
Delfino is nearly twice as good as Jarvis in nearly every stat with only 7 more minutes per game. If you liked Barron better than Chauncey based on his stats, then you should love Delfino over Hayes for the same reason.
I am still disgusted by the lack of respect that Joe D is receiving here. It’s not like he can wave a magic wand and increase the salary cap. If you want him to run out and get a free agent you need to understand that the only wiggle room he has to work with is a measly mid-level excemption. He’s competeing for free agents with teams like the sixers and Golden state who have abundand cap room to battle with.
I really don’t see what you people expect of Joe D, or what you expected of Flip Suanders for that matter. He did the best he could and brought you 3 winning seasons, a franchice reccord for season wins and 3 deep playoff runs. Beleive it or not, only one 2 teams can make it to the finals every year, and only 1 team can win the championship every year. No team is going to win be there, let alone win it every year. Get over it.
i love how ppl are freaking out about how detroit hasnt made a big move yet
a) we have all the way until the trade deadline to make a trade, i.e. like the rasheed wallace trade, or just this past year the pau gasol-LA trade
b) trades dont always make a team better, even when big names are involved… just ask phoenix which was number 1 in the west when they traded for shaq and ended up 6th in the west, lost in the first round, and now have no future… or ask the mavs
c) sure dumars said he wants to make a trade, but let’s be honest people… if we dont make a trade, are we that bad off? we were the second best team in the nba last year and lost to the best team in the nba in the eastern conference finals…… we dont exactly have the blow up the ship to stay competitive, even with these other deals around us
4) and if we dont make a trade this year, rasheed wallace comes off our books the following year at which time he can retire (which he supposedly has plans to do)… it will then be easier for us to get free agents the same way philly and clippers had the chance to sign big free agents this year
so seriously, stop panicking guys… it seriously sounds retarded when fans of the second best team in the nba is acting like the world will blow up if a trade isnt made by tomorrow. by that thinking, the spurs who lost to the lakers in 5 games (and the lakers then lost to the celtics in 6 games, same amount of games it took them to beat us) need to make HUGE moves and fast or their fans are gonna start jumping off bridges… please
THANK YOU, Mannie. It’s good to hear from somebody with some sence.
btw my bad… i just realized i went a, b, c , 4… hahaha
When did Jason Maxiell play for the Nuggets?
Mannie32, i totally agree with you. But the difference between the Spurs and the Pistons is…. The have won multiple championships in the last 10 years… 6 of the last 10 years the Pistons have put themselves in position to win a title and havent gotten it done, with the exception to 2004. (I also give them credit for 2005 too, because if Robert HOrry misses that shot, call us NBA CHamps repeated) I think what we as Piston Fans fear is that Joe D was all talk about “shaking things up.” Maybe it was to light a fire underneath the players butts. When we see players we know we could have gotten in the free agency going to teams that are our rivals we tend to get alittle scared like, “Why didnt we pick them up?” ANyway, the only big names out there still available that I would love to see are the following…
1.) Josh Smith in a sign-trade for Tayshaun. 1 of the main reasons for our losses in the conf. finals every yeasr is because we keep getting beat off the dribble by LeBron, Paul Pierce and D Wade. THis isnt to say Josh Smith will stay in front, but he is way more physical and wont get pushed around as easy as lets say… Tayshaun?
2.) Rasheed Wallace, J-Max, 2 draft picks for Amare Stoudemire. I am not throwing J-Max under a bus because I love that guy. HOWEVER, if he is the sweetener that helps us get an Amare, let it happen. THis guy can straight up ball when healthy. If you are worried about giving up “future”.. dont. Amare is only 25 and could be the interior prescence we have all been wanting from Sheed.
3.) Either Chuancey and Tay or Rip and Tay or even Tay and Sheed for Mr. T-Mac.
Now here me out on this one. I understand we are giving up a lot to get a guy whose never been out of the first round. But, how great would it be to see this guy in a Pistons red/white/blue. He is HUNGRY to not only get out the first round but ALSO win a championship. He is a slasher who gets to the rim. He plays defense when he wants to, but on a defensive team who knows how well he will play. Looks at Paul Pierce… He went from being an average defender to a player who stepped up his defense when the TEAM played defense. Anyway, T-Mac is a long shot…… (ANd for all you people worried about his health… Dont forget who our strength and conditioning coach is… Arnie will make that dude feel like he is 24 again)
ANyway, as much as I want to see change I dunno when I will see it. I still have faith in Joe, but as each passing day happens and I dont see any moves, I worry that maybe he is content with just getting to the Conference Finals every year.
P.S.- We need a Championship for DYESS~!!!!!!
Nick~~
houston was already a great defensive team… and unlike KG, pierce and allen… t-mac HAS been on a very solid team the last several years and still cant get past the first round… it wasnt like he was stuck on a shitty team… ur talking about a great coach, solid bench and yao ming!
but he’s injury prone, and also cant seem to get over the hump to excellence… he’s also not getting any younger… i wouldnt want t-mac on our team… id be SUPER disappointed, give me tay and rip anyday
as for stoudemire… he’d be great to have offensively, i think he’s totally shit defensively tho… but u never know, he’s young enough that he could still be getting better and better at defense if he puts his mind to it… so he’d be a better fit in my opinion
wow u guys said big name trades dont make teams better.. tell that to detroit,miami and boston who all made big trades, and all won championships…..in 04 we picked up sheed and that equaled to a “championship”…miami made a big trade in 05 what happen “championship”….and those green goblins that just whooped on us made a huge trade, what happen “championship”!!!….i dont think we as fans are overreacting i think we r just venting…when u know a teams has high expectations and ends up at the end layin a egg then i think u have a reason to be pissed…..in the last couple of years we have given the pistons the most excuses on y they didnt win…we blamed the refs,the coaches,ben not hitting his free throws, darko,the refs,flip,David stern and the refs again….out of all 4 professional teams the pistons get the most leeway…i mean people were furious when the lions and tigers didn’t make it to the playoffs last year, even though both of those teams in my opinion had the lowest amount of expectations…..i applaude millen,holland and dombrowski for wanting to get better and changing things up….the problem is not that the pistons loose, its how they they loose…these guys just dont have the heart any more,just look at the 04 year, that was just hunger and that team would have killed Bostons team on any night….it was that nucleus of stars,rookies,vets,and role players and how they laid it out on the floor every night, “they were the definition of goin to work”….but now these guys walk around too big headed, like they won 4 or 5 titles….im sick of guys sayin things like “if it ain’t rough it aint right” and stuff like “we been here b4″……
what i saw this year in the playoffs was just sicking, we saw a team when they wanted to turn it on, turn it on… but when it counted the most they just didn’t get it done…..how come cleveland,and sorry atlanta showed more fight then us…both those teams lost, but i would rather the pistons loose fightin then not even showing any kinda heart….who looses too home games like that…
i mean they came home for game three,u got the crowd goin bananas with the white shirts,kid rock is blastin, the drumline is kickin,the flags r wavin,rasheed did his dance and then what….??? “flatline” for three quarters just horrible….so dont tell me im not a fan,or im overreacting…… because we do the same thing if it was the lions,the wings and the tigers
Clippers just renounced rights to Shaun Livingston. He might be worth the risk? Work w/Arnie and see what the kid can do… he was improving a great deal and showing some real promise before that freak knee injury. I know they list him as a PG, but when the Clippers advanced in the playoffs w/Sam Cassell, he played SG. Maybe?
I like the Tmac trade too. If you want a motivated team. He would have so much to prove if he’s on our team. He doesn’t like Rick’s offence. On a different scale, Houston has been a disappointment just like the pistons. They have young guys we can use. Most of all, they really want a good point guard. Houston might get the better end of the trade, but I will go for the T-Mac hunger factor.
Still if we can get Artest, that’d be even better.
for every miami and boston that made big trades and won a championship (and look what happened to miami one year removed from the ship) you can also take a look at a dallas or a suns
furthermore, you can look at the spurs… when they lose (as they seem to do every other year), they dont make the BIG trade, they tweak their team, and they win the ship the very next year
so there are all sorts of ways to win a championship… all im saying is a big trade doesnt guarantee anything, and a big trade does not need to occur by today or tomorrow… boston go their big trade near the end of the summer last year, we got our sheed trade right before the trade deadline
so im just saying relax, and stop complaining like a bunch of spoiled fans
hey im all for hearing some of ur opinions, but what worries me is if we stay with this team, and they start doing well and i have to hear some of you same cats that are complaining like babies right now and hating on different members of our team (tay, billups, sheed, etc.) cheering these same guys on and saying they’re better than their opponents (even tho u want to trade them for the members of their opponents)… that would make me sick, seriously sick
mannie u must didn’t read my whole blog all im sayin is i dont care if they loose ok, its how they lose, losing a game three and not showin up in game 6 is unacceptable…how is it atlanta put there heart in it and cleveland as well… this team takes days off…this team played when they wanted to play..for God sakes they were the only team to beat boston at home the entire playoffs… in my opinion they had Bostons number but didnt go for the kill…we the fans buy the product we buy the tickets,the merchandise, the food we r the customers so we have the right to boo and express how we feel…if a movie sucked then u bet your ass that were going to express that it sucks….if we go to concert and the main event doesnt show up then hell yea were gonna boo and thats what happen with the pistons they didnt show up …im not the only one sayin the team didnt show no heart, dyess and hunter said the same thing if u listen to dfn…so does that make them spoiled because they expressed how they feel?because for some reason some pistons on the team play for 48 minutes?? probably so to you because your the ultimate fan… if sports wasnt about winning and selling a product then they would ask u to be the gm, better yet it would be like tee ball were they dont take score and everybody a winner ….its all about being number one and if your not then u gotta change some things to get to that spot…u think vince mcmahon was happy to be number 2 to mr.turner, hell naw he started takin wrestling to whole new level in the late 90’s changing his product completely around…he let his wrestlers be a little edgier, his females clothes got a little tighter, and started addin big pyro and a big ass titantron (somethin nobody seen) to sell his product and guess what? he did, right after he bought his competition… ….so i was glad joe d let out a little anger it shows that he wants to be number 1!!! and one day we will be back on top….
Amen thereal…Afuckinmen…some people here dont care bout being number one and think its not ok to boo a bad performance. if they play like shit idc how much i love em im booing the shit out of them. good writing brother. keep preaching!
@mannie32
It’s ok to be bitching and whining about it, if your team failed to make the final in 3 straight years in the SAME fashion!
Spurs win everyother year, that’s why they can ‘tweak’. Sun’s and Dallas never win not because they made big moves. rather they have the same kinda retarded coach as we had and a wrong mix of players.
If joe’s got the better vision than Cuben and Kerr, why can’t we hope for some big changes?!
I think we need a trade just to show all the players how serious Joe is. If everyone plays with the same heart as Dyce, we’d have 3 championships by now.
I want to be the guy that complains now and be proven wrong next season! I want to see the Tayshaune in that Orlando serious show up more often.
Although, I think 80% of that falls on Joe and Flip. I know I don’t work as hard if my boss is not around. Don’t you wish flip is your boss?!
Mannie… what worries me.. is he does nothing, they do well during the regular season and then they roll to the confrence finals for the 7th straight season and lose again… To a hungrier team. AGAIN. Its the same story and as Pistons fans we are tired of their excuses.
Thats all I* am trying to say. I will support them through thick and thin, but that doesnt mean I will throw them under a bus if a trade doesnt happen. I wouldnt mind a trade though, to shake things up. Re-vive the hunger they had in 2004.
Ludacris:
saying that we need to get rid of Tayshaun because he’s the main reason we’ve lost in the ECF is rediculous. Did you forget that he’s the main reason we GOT to the ECF? He’s the one starter that stepped up his game on both ends of the floor when the other starters we haivng stints of trouble during the first two rounds.
Also, even if we could trade Rasheed for Amare straight up, it would be a downgrade. The Suns are my favorite west coast team to watch (or they were, pre-Shaq) but Amare is only better than ‘Sheed in terms of explosiveness. he does not have Rasheed’s range, post up game, ungaurdable release, passing ability, or team chemistry. Additionally, most of his scoring success is dependant on Nash.
The Real:
The only times players say “we’ve been here before” or “if it aint rough it aint right” is when they’re behind in a series. It’s spoken out of confidence. A player being confident doesn’t mean he’s not hungery. Without confidence and a belief that you can still win, there’s no possible way to win. Do you want players to say, “oh yeah, we’re down 3-2, we’re basically skrewed. Maybe it’ll work out better next year” ?
I also thought you’re Vince McMahn analogy was pretty off kilter. You’re dealing with theatrics there, not athletics.
As for gmac’s boss analogy- fans pay money to get behind a team. It’s rediculous that you boo them when they perform poorly. It NEVER makes them perform better. Do you want to work harder for a boss who tells you that you suck at your job, even though you produce consistantly and efficiently, but make an occassional mistake. How’d you feel if you just went on national TV saying you had the best boss in the world, then had him berrade you two days later for not acheiving at an unrealistic standard? That’s not the kind of boss I want to work harder for- I’d rather have one that supports me.
I’m not opposed to a trade- but it needs to be the right trade. Sacrificing the team chemistry that makes this group special is not worth doing just for the sake of having it done right.
Mennie is absolutely right. Everyone was calling for Rasheed’s head at the end of last season too, but I didn’t hear them complaining while he was getting over 100 3-pointers and 100 blocks this season.
“thereal”… do u seriously believe they said “okay we dont wanna play game 3? let’s drop a egg”… like think about what ur saying… after lakers beat boston in game 3 and looked like they had them crushed in game 4, they went on to lose… does that mean lakers also flipped a switch? what about when lebron was going off on the celtics in game 7 and came up short?
give some ef’in credit to the celtics!! i saw nothing wrong with how the pistons played the celtics… they lost to the better team… as did the lakers… jeez
it’s easy for us to sit on a coach and say “oh look, they’re losing, they’re losing badly… they must not be trying”… oh god how id hate to be one of the pistons, id probably want to punch one of the fans if i heard them say that and i know im busting my ass out there
i see nothing wrong with some people having a vision of change… what i see wrong is when they sound like the change needs to occur tomorrow… showing they remember little about the past, and about how trades can be made successfully at the trade deadline… i have problem with ppl saying the pistons dont try hard when they really dont know anything about how hard they try or not… and lastly, i have trouble with ppl bitching about the same core starters they had confidence in lkike 2 or 3 months ago, and will likely (i say likely, i know some of u will never) have confidence in them again this coming season WHEN they win but hate on them when they lose… i have trouble with ppl claiming this is all dumars fault, that’s the worst of it all… that’s the most blind sided of them all… thats when i wish u guys (im from toronto, hence u guys) never got dumars at all… i guess u guys would have preferred the grant hill and stackhouse eras better… dumars should have come to toronto where some ppl could have appreciated him… maybe u guys should have got the other “bad boy” isiah thomas as your GM… you’d love it every time he made a bold trade or signed a free agent
bah, well ive said my 2 cents
hope u guys enjoy roasting dumars
For all those who think stuckey is great… he jus got better.GO READ.
http://truebluepistons.blogspot.com/
Chauncey’s Job is in Serious Jeapardy.lol
Trust in Stuck
long time reader, non-native of michigan. some 2 cents of mine.
just wanted to say the main problem with flip’s coaching wasn’t that he wasn’t emphasizing defense; stats wise they were still pretty good (although a little extra push to defensively rebound would’ve been nice). it was actually his offense in my opinion; he allowed the pistons to take too many jumpers. why was it for instance, that this complaint was never present when larry brown was around? think about that.
for all the talk people made this year about how the celtics’ d was so good, i thought their half-court offense was really solid, because ray allen and paul pierce kept making a conscious effort to get to the rim instead of settling for jumpers.
so do you need to blow this team up to get to the rim? no. there are 2 ways to get to the rim; drive, or low-post game. pistons count on sheed to post up the most, but i think chauncey and tayshaun need to post up their guys more; both of those guys can get shots or draw doubles off of their low post game all the time. draw the double, kick it out (now here’s the important part), the guy who receives the ball needs to not always take the open jumper, but pump fake and drive again.
imo, the simplest way to see if this team will get to the nba finals next season is if they cut down on the jumpers and try to attack the rim; that’s it.
That was a nice article featuring Stucky. However, I’d like to bring back another issue that’s been ruffling me here. I love Stucky just as much as the next fan and I’m equally pumped about his development. However, the notion that Rodney is better than Chauncey is truely ludacris. If he was on another team, we’d never support the concept trading away Chauncey for Rodney. That having been said, it makes no sence to want to trade away Chaencey and someone else for someone like McGrady who we just hope will do well.
Rodney brings some excellent speed and penetration to the team but he does not have Chauncey’s post up game, three poitn shooting or leadership, so let’s just enjoy the luxury of having them both before we start talking about how washed up out belovved point gaurd is.
Been taking some time off from here to relax from the season, and it’s frustratingly ironic to see the Jekyll and Hyde nature of many of the posters here.
The points have already been clearly presented: We can’t make big moves in free-agency because we can’t compete with other teams’ cap room.
Many scenarios that have been presented here may very well be great for us, but don’t you think that if it were that simple, the deals in question would have already gone through??
We’re not even a month into the off season, and everyone wants JoeD gone.
Thanks to mannie and richie for trying to keep peoples’ heads on straight here…
hey eric you have no right to tell us to keep our heads strait.. many of us check this site daily and we are entitled to our own opinions.. the people who want joe d gone are the ones who haven’t liked his choices and have said it all along.. i personally think joe d is fine and the players are the problem.. oh and thanks for the huge revelation that we cant sign a high profile free agent because we needed some guy to come in and open up all of our stupid little minds… we know the situation and all anyone is saying is that joe d isnt making the moves we expected.. CDR and Chalmbers have had a great start to the summer league and we have our lankly no name narceleptic… joe d kicked off the end of the season by saying hes looking for another teams top player only and now were a week or two into free agency and we have no new additions and were talking about picking back up delfino… please don’t come to this blog and decide to write something that pretty much calls people two faced and ignorant when all people are doing is showing discontent.. i dunno maybe you will settle for a mediocre team but the rest of us want a change and want out of the ECFs!
blaze,
Aside from this last month, I’ve been a daily visitor to this site for the past two years. I understand that you are entitled to your own opinions, but your assumption that Joe can “make it all better” within a few weeks of the end of the season is absurd.
Would you like to tell me what moves you “expected” Joe to make up until now? If he could had pushed a deal that was obviously advantageous to us, he WOULD have. There’s no reason to make a move just for the sake of it, but all many fans want is SOMETHING to happen. The grass is always greener on the other side, some think…
Your talk about CDR and Chalmers means nothing. You want to know who one of the top players in last year’s summer league was? Yeah, Marco BELINELLI.
SL means nothing, and trying to attribute 4 summer league games to JoeD’s “poor” draft choices is asinine. Oh, and I guess you didn’t happen to read the article that CDR didn’t even want to be a Piston. I’m sure you took that into account when criticizing Joe for not drafting him two weeks ago.
Finally, I am only calling certain posters here two-faced and ignorant. Those who rejoice and laud our organization when things are happy, and once we fall down 0-1 in a playoff series call for the firing of the coach, GM, and the dumping of players.
I am not ready to settle for mediocrity, because this organization embodies consistency and elite play. But some people need a reality check. How about we wait until the summer’s over before we pass judgement, hm?
I just want to say, I agree with the posters who have said we don’t need to make a move just for the sake of making a move.
I know everyone is disappointed from the ECF this past season, but if you ask me, we are the favorites to win not only the East, but the NBA championship. And that’s without making ANY changes to our current roster. Forget what the “experts” say: after all, who picked us to win the title back in 2004?
Except for McDyess, all of our veterans are still in their prime, and our youngs guys are only going to get better. How many teams out there can match our talent, starters plus bench players, at all 5 positions?
Essentially, the Celtics are our main competition, and I think we can handle them this year. They won’t be able to match our depth. When we go to our bench, guys like Stuckey, Maxiell, and Amir are going to manhandle Boston’s bench players. Of course, our starters also can’t underachieve against them like they did this year.
Out West, I don’t think there are any teams that can beat us in a 7 game series. LA is probably the “team to beat” out west, but they don’t play any defense. They’re basically just a more talented version of the Nuggets. The Spurs are too old, end of story. Plus, their bench is terrible, and they get no production from the SF or C positions. And the rest of the Western playoff teams, while very talented, are still not quite up to the Pistons level. Utah and New Orleans are close, but with our depth and playoff experience I’m confident that we would come out on top against either team.
So in terms of our roster, I think that we should take one more shot with the current team. After that, it’s probably time to say goodbye to Sheed, and replace him with a true center.
Right now, I say we should go after Kelenna Azubuike and that’s it. Since the Warriors just signed Maggette, it may be easier to lure Azubuike away. Or, failing that, we could also take a shot at Matt Barnes.
Oh and I love how blaze is criticizing “our lankly no name narceleptic”… without even seeing him play first! At least wait until he has 1 bad game to start hating on him! You’re worse than the Knicks fans at the draft.
Regarding CDR, he slid all the way to #40, so it’s not like we were the only team to pass on him. So there is probably a good reason for it, in addition to the fact that he didn’t want to play for the Pistons. I’d be willing to bet that CDR had some terrible workouts before the draft.