In podcasts, Natalie and I (and Dave) do shtick for an hour about how bad the Pistons are gonna be. We joke about CV’s lack of hair, Ben Gordon’s lack of skills, and Rodney Stuckey’s ego among other things. Deep down, we want the team to do well and it bothers us when they don’t. I can say one thing about last night though…
It was 1 game. Step back off the ledge.
I’m not going to give a pep talk, or an Al Pacino style talk (from Any Given Sunday) to get your “buy in” on the Pistons. I’m not going to ask you to overlook things like the Tayshaun Prince re-signing, or the Rodney Stuckey re-signing. These things happened, and there is nothing we do about it. I also can’t ask you to forgive the Chauncey Billups trade or even letting Ben Wallace go to the Bulls in 2006. I can ask you to stop living in the past, because the past isn’t going to do anything but make you mad when you compare the past to this team. I can ask you to step back off the ledge. It was 1 game, in a season that is clearly about rebuilding.
Yes, they looked terrible. Yes, the lack of frontcourt depth was never more evident than against one of the deeper frontcourt teams in the Eastern Conference last night. Yes, they showed they still don’t have a consistent scoring threat on the perimeter or in the post. The anticipated bright lights of the team going into the season were flickering, with Jonas finishing with 17 points, but with Greg Monroe only finishing with 8 and 7 in 22 minutes (due to foul trouble).
We knew this team wasn’t going to be good, right? If you didn’t know the team wasn’t going to be good, you’ve been sipping a little too much kool aid. This is a team in transition, and aside from the Tayshaun re-signing, this is a team that is still being shaped as much as it can be shaped with such a short off-season. This is a team that will have a lottery pick this season, in one of the deeper drafts in recent memory. This is a team that still has its amnesty clause to use on a contract through next offseason. This is a team that still will have control over franchise building blocks Greg Monroe and Jonas Jerebko for at least the next 2 seasons.
I am not putting up with people complaining anymore about how the team isn’t good. It’s not a surprise. It’s going to be a tough 2 year transition for this team. At least Chris Paul didn’t end up in New York, so the East has only 1 super team instead of 2, right?
With the right moves this offseason (amnesty on Gordon or CV), a top 5 pick, and a decent free agent signing, this team could step back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture as early as next season. A team with Brandon Knight, Greg Monroe and top 5 2012 pick could be a formidable opponent this time next year.
Jump off the ledge if you must, but do it silently, and stop clogging up mine and Natalie‘s twitter feed with it.
I see your points and I’m going to stop complaining and let the team grow into what they are going to be. This will be a learning year for the team and the coach..
and the fans… we’re so used to seeing a winner that our first reaction to seeing a loser is to call it the “teal era” again.
The teal era was nearly a decade.. We’re in year 2.5
True.. I think that Franks attention to detail will get the team rolling again too..
NOOOOOOOOOOOoooo “TRUE” pistons fans want to push some of the players off a cliff seems to be the only way to get replacements since Joe”s having a hard time trading them… .. Hope to see a better team play next game ..one game at a time (P A – piston’s Anonymous)
No size means no rebounds. Glad Joe D. brought in so many guards and SF’s!
This team is not built to win anything but a lottery pick.
This is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone that has the Pistons in the gutter. All I hear is “they suck”, “they will only win 15 games”, etc. I keep reminding everyone that there is a new owner, a new coach (a few actually), a new coaching scheme, Hamilton is gone so it’s an adjustment for everyone, we need a big that we don’t have, most of our players aren’t that easily moved, and there was a very very short training camp. And even with the regular sized training camp, learning a completely new coach and coaching scheme will still takes it’s time. Even if we brought in Chris Paul OR Dwight Howard and hired Phil Jackson, I still don’t think this team would be in sync right away. The Miami Heat weren’t in sync right away last year and they had three superstars. Now, I don’t expect the Pistons to make it to the playoffs but think that they do have a chance (if the pieces click soon) to make it as an 8th seed, but no higher. But at the same time, I don’t necessarily expect that they’ll be a lottery team either. And if they were to, that’s not a horrible thing since Knight is developing and so is Monroe. I just think the Pistons need to slow down some on the thinking and play the game with fun rather than scrutinizing everything. When I started reading how everyone is going to try and step up and be the leader, I had a feeling that everyone was going to try and score every basket rather than playing as a team. They need to pass the ball more. Move it as quickly as possible, fewer dribbles, get to the open man. And Frank hasn’t even gotten through the entire playbook yet, so who knows what we have to come in the coming weeks. The Pistons will be the Pistons again in a year or so, but it is going to be a growing process for everyone. Thanks for the nice piece.
‘We are who they thought we were.’
I am a true Piston fan. Stuckey sucks. lol.
Go Pistons
He scores more points and hands out more assists than any other Piston basically every game, so you might as well just say the whole team sucks. Idiot.
Drew,
He also hasn’t improved any part of his game, since coming into the league 4 years ago. He has no mid-range game, no 3 point shot, and he’s inconsistent when he takes the ball to the rack.
Stuckey is the best scorer on the team, but he’s not even close to being the best player. He still can make improvements, but as evidenced by his wanting to hold out for $9+ million per year instead of just taking the qualifying offer, he’s more concerned about keeping his pockets straight than helping the team.
Hell I would be too. If you’re going to go back to a bad team, at least get paid decently for it.
I can’t trust anyone’s assessment who makes blanket statements like “no mid-range,” “no 3 point shot,” “hasn’t improved any part.” Those are straight up lies. Maybe I’ll give you the 3 point one.
But is there room for improvement? Yes. But there is for basically every player on our roster.
And Jaime (Jaimé?) is still an idiot.
I liked the blog post, by the way. If you see my original comment above this thread, that’s how I’d summarize your post.
I’m not going to lie man, seeing the Pistons hand themselves over the Stuckey with the Chauncy trade, and acquiring talent to help him…yet he still looks about as good as he did his rookie year?
Stuckey is a huge letdown that we’re hoping will blossom late in his career.
im usually cool with things you post but id be lying if i said i didnt get pissed at you when i read “its just 1 game” ive heard that too long. It’s not one game. And we knew they were going to bad, which is why we wanted to see some freaking change.
what really got me mad is i’ve been calling this since flip saunders era about tayshaun and that joe dumars wasnt doing his job and all you guys kept telling me is “just wait just wait” well im not a overanalyzer. I believe my instincts and they have proved me right id say a good 95% of the time. And i hate watching guys like keith langois tell me i’m wrong then after a season is over they basically steal my thoughts word for word.
i can understand you dont want negativitty and ive done what i could to keep as positive as i can in posts while still keeping integrity but i’m tired of having people question legitimate concerns cause they dont want to hear it. if i could talk to joe dumars directly i would but of course he stays closed off and i feel the people advising him are not top tier.
You can see john hammond in milwaukee and while they are not winning you can see the essense of a team there. Here joe dumars has only gone after cheap old big names like tmac and AI and is not willing to take make moves and is waiting for something to happen for him rather than make something happen. He doesnt HAVE to keep the team like this, he is just doing it cause hes scaredd
so how about you save the posts taking shots at us
thanks
Cry some more. If you dont like it leave, bye. You are just doing what danny said he doesnt want. Truthfully I’m
tired of all the negative shit too, thats y ive stopped sticking up for stuck. U guys all think hes horrible, so be it. Whatever. The old saying is still true, ” if you cant say somethig nice, ddont say anything at all.” Im done.
i have stayed positive, i responded to a specific thing he said in a truthful way. if the truth hurts then maybe you a little too sensitive. The fact is we need leaders more than anything and thats what has angered me about thte moves. ben gordon allen iverson tayshaun ben wallace rodney stuckey they have no leadeship ability. thats one of the most deadly things on a team. I liked stuckey when he backed up chauncey but as THE GUY im not happy with his way of playing. Some of the young guys like brandon knight has that x factor leadership ability but still too young
Dude you are one of the most negative people here junior.
It’s weird. You’re negative against fans, not the team. All I ever see from you is “YOURE STUPID. IDIOT. I HATE YOU”
Don’t hate us man. We’re all frustrated at the team. You’re taking your frustration out on us and keeping things negative. Big the bigger man.
I don’t see how anyone can say Stuckey sucks, he’s the most consistent player on our team, scores the most points on our team. You tell me who else is a better on the ball defender/scorer at that position for us?? that’s what I thought. I think people expect him to be a Rajon Rondo, but I guarantee if Stuckey had awesome players around him, he’d look like an allstar too. He makes great passes, and is forced to take tough shots because no one else is either consistent enough, or move around enough to get the ball. It’s like when Stuckey has the ball, the whole team stops moving, so Stuckey plays one on one, driving the lane and either finishing, or blowing someone over for a charge. What other choice does he have?
I think your article has some good points to it but I STRONGLY disagree with you regarding the “transition” phase. I agree with Bellllissimo that they have had lots and lots of time to really transition this team. I also don’t agree with your end paragraph about
“Jump off the ledge if you must, but do it silently, and stop clogging up mine and Natalie‘s twitter feed with it”.
This is not a fair thing for you to say. I believe a Pistons fan can say sometime negative things and shouldn’t receive a rude comment like this. Someone can be a Pistions fan and perhaps say they suck but remember they might be saying it because they do actually care about the team. I love the Pistons and always will, but they have definitely not gone in the right direction yet. I think they will soon with the new owner but in the meantime, please try to somewhat sincere in your blog….we are all Pistons fans here.
One other thing…Natalie, I have been following Need4Sheed for over 4 years and you do a fantastic job. Keep up the great work!
This article was out of line though….
That fine to express your opinions on the blog but dont be clogging up their own personal sites ( twitter) also in case u forgot joe d hands have been tied since mr d died so what moves was he supposed to make?
In Natalie’s defense, I wrote the post.
A lot of Piston fans think theyre reinventing the wheel with their breakdown of how the Pistons aren’t good. This didnt start back at flip, this started when Curry became coach and Diners saddled the roster with bad contracts.
If you can honestly say you knew the Pistons would be here after acquiring a 20ppg scorer like Gordon, then youre not the fans I’m talking about. The fans im talking about are those that threaten to not like the team and act like this pathetic play is a surprise.
no the lackluster soft play started with flip saunders. tayshaun played the exact same way back then as he did now. the only difference he is not getting plays called for him. thats how he got his points before. but the standing around in the corner for tayshaun started during the time of flip saunders. Pretty much the only 2 moves joe d made during flips run is bring in chris webber who fell in his lap and trade for walter hermann and juan dixon. Michael Curry wasn’t good but come on 3 coaches later we still seeing the same results with players, it WASNT michael curry. in fact i applaude michael curry for being the only one to not kiss tayshauns butt as a coach. You could bring in Phil Jackson with this team and it wouldnt be good. I swear every player joe dumars brought in the past few years were the guys at the top of my “thank god they dont play for the pistons list” tmac AI ben gordon charlie v were all on that list
I understand what you are talking about Danny. I agree with you in regards to those “fairweather” fans.
It was very hard to differentiate from your article though.
people why you so negative have some faith in the team we got young players and from what i seen out of the coach a pretty good one its just a matter of time will we make it to the playoffs?NO will we improve and get better than last year? Yes even though its the same roster as last year but all they need is hard work.
What a terrific article, really summed it up well. People really need to chill out about the state of the Pistons. I really enjoy passionate fans providing their opinion on things, but don’t ram constant negativity down my throat!
OK, so the team has obvious holes (see: rebounding, scoring, defense…you know, like, playing basketball), but we haven’t even allowed the Tom Gores era to begin. Like you say, the future is Monroe and Knight. We will get another core piece through the draft (I’d like another big man) and I’m still holding out hope that Daye, Jerebko and Stuckey can make solid contributions going forward.
Thanks Boney!
Boneys right, james and drew also nailed it, bellisimos mad and that must mean he took offense to boneys article cuase it applies to him. In a nutshell. I know we are all passionate about the pistons, but at the end of the day guess what? Its a game. Get over it, move on and if your still wanting something to do….. watch another GAME. Maybe go outside and spend time with your kids, teach them how to play bball.
no the people it applies to wont read it and you cant respond to cause they are gone. dddddddd
booom headshot. pwnned
Your last sentence just validated my point on your overall lack of being a mature person.
The team is basically the same as last year`s terrible team with the addition of Knight for Rip. What do you expect. A new coach is not going to make a huge difference overnight anyway.
We are a few lottery picks and quality free agents from being a winning team.
I think the people on the “edge of the cliff” are the real fans. The fans who aren’t ok with tanking the season and being the joke of the NBA just to get a lottery pick.
New coach, new owner, bla bla bla……excuses are like you know whats.
So don’t let anyone fool you, if you are complaining right now you have every right to. That’s our job as fans. And its not like we are even in full rebuild mode yet…we should be a bit let down that were almost exactly the same team as last season.
can anyone tell me where andre kirilenko is? i was checking cause hes always a guy i wanted on the pistons but knew as long as tayshaun was here he would never be a piston but i cant find him on the utah roster or anywhere on nba.com. And as far as i can tell he’s not playing for russia or any international team. Anyone have any idea what happened to him?
Hes playing for CSKA Moscow I believe.
In podcasts, Natalie and I (and Dave) do shtick for an hour about how bad the Pistons are gonna be. We joke about CV’s lack of hair whattttttt ???????
I hope you’re not really going to talking about cv hair loss due to Alapesha… (you know how many kids he talk to with alapesha) that has nothing to do with the fact he plays no defense or can’t rebound and that would be in poor taste. just my 2cents.