AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

Damn it's been a crazy year regarding A.I on OS lol

From folks saying he needed to get traded to folks saying he has to start for Detroit to folks saying he should come off the bench to folks saying he can only play in a certain style to win.

[Jasong7777]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

Man I didn't reconize you Packman with that Bears avatar.

[Joey P]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

Everyone is talking about how AI can score, can he do much of anything else at this point?

Rebound?

Lock down man D?

Can he even set screens?

[23]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

Damn it's been a crazy year regarding A.I on OS lol

From folks saying he needed to get traded to folks saying he has to start for Detroit to folks saying he should come off the bench to folks saying he can only play in a certain style to win.

I always said he should have come off the bench in DET and still feel the same

Problem is AI doesnt think he can come off the bench and be effective, and can't do it without having the ball in his hands

At this point he should be trying to modify what he does though because the L has changed

too many weaknesses in his game gets exposed when there arent a bunch of AI starting 5 type guys doing all of the hustling

[GSW]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

I always said he should have come off the bench in DET and still feel the same

Problem is AI doesnt think he can come off the bench and be effective, and can't do it without having the ball in his hands

At this point he should be trying to modify what he does though because the L has changed

too many weaknesses in his game gets exposed when there arent a bunch of AI starting 5 type guys doing all of the hustling

stupid thing is when i play nba 2k i bring him off the bench and dominate with him.

cmon allen get your priorities in order.

[Streets]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

I think that AI would be most effective off the bench. However, if this 17-18 mpg thing is permanent and not just a result of injuries, than he has a real gripe. Deeetroit basketball has fallen off.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

The real problem is that he damn sure isn't going to be effective in less than 20 minutes of playing time... he's the type of guy who gets into the offensive flow and then gets hot after repeated shot attempts, not a Vinnie Johnson where he just comes out and shoots well. It's much easier for a guy like Manu (or JR Smith, Jason Terry, etc.) who is a good jumpshooter to play this role, because you don't have to be so involved in the offense to be effective in shorter stints...

Manu can come off the bench and hit a couple jumpers to get into the flow, then (because he has great confidence in him, which is obviously missing form the Curry-AI dynamic, as well as the George Karl-JR dynamic) Pop will keep him on the floor for most of the game so he's able to be effective once he gets warmed up. If you play a guy like Iverson for 5 minute stints and he doesn't come out on fire, he's just going to end up back on the bench due to the rotation... as a coach, you basically have to make a determination if AI is playing well in order to cut into someone else's minutes... it's hard to do that with a player like AI in only 5 or so minutes just because of his streaky nature.

The same thing was happening a lot with JR Smith (mainly last season) -- he'd come out and miss a few jumpers or simply not contribute much immediately and then Karl would pull the plug and he'd end up playing 18 minutes instead of the normal 25+ because he would have Kleiza or someone else soak up those minutes.

It's a hard thing to manage the game with a streaky not-great-shooter like AI coming off the bench... Especially in this situation where he will likely not be on the team next year, Curry would have to disrupt his rotation (whether it's a good/solid rotation or not, it's still a matter of consistency) in order to keep a guy who is not a part of the future plans happy. They probably made the determination that they're just gonna play him where they can and not accomodate his style... that's their decision, but I do think they should be more accomodating to at least give themselves a better chance in the playoffs -- AI should eat up bench unit defenders, but if he has a bad attitude and is only playing 18 minutes, that's not gonna happen as it should.

It's clear that they're not committed to AI long-term (which is smart), but it just seems like they're giving up on this season, because they're wasting a great talent by playing him so little. He was playing well and contributing when they were winning early in the year -- the injury may have slowed him a bit, but he's still a great scorer and attracts a lot of attention. Can you imagine Boston's 2nd unit trying to defend AI? I mean, that's a huge advantage for Detroit to have come playoff time especially, and they're just squandering it by not using him properly. I understand that you don't want to scuttle your progress with Stuckey and Bynum, but those guys have a lot of time to be productive whereas AI is in the twilight of his career. I dunno, it just seems disrespectful to the man's ability and legacy to play him so little.

[GSW]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

stumble basically summed it all up...

edit: in a very long winded way.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

This situation makes me sad... =(

AI is a warrior and a freak of nature... he's still got game. I secretly wish that he was still in Denver, because I wanted to see what we could do with a real starting 5 (i.e. with JR at the 2) and another off-season of development. Honestly, I think that we'd be in the same position or better just because AI was actually a pretty good fit in our system and subjugated himself to defer to Melo most of the time. The problem was that K-Mart and Nene weren't healthy and we didn't have a serious defensive bench boost like we do with Birdman... I think the ownership wrote off the AI experiment too soon... Ah well, c'est la vie.

I'll rep AI to the death though.. watching that guy play in person is a privelege, straight up.

[Muzyk23]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

agree with stumble..especially the last 2 sentences..

Curry failed - that's it

Iverson averaged 25 and 7 with 42 minutes per game and 46FG%last season - I don't believe he suddenly got old. They have no idea how to use him properly.

18 minutes against Cleveland and 17 minutes now - that's just disrespectful for a player of his caliber. Every player would get pissed.

But, hell, blame it all on him! again.

[Kruza]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

AI has been out almost six full weeks so it should take some time to get the stamina up. He really shouldn't be complaining about playing 18-20 minutes when there are people on the team who are barely playing any minutes at all. And to top it off he doesn't look completely healthy when he's actually out on the floor playing.

Moreover, 23/KDRE has touched on it -- the league has changed. In a primarily open-court, up-tempo game there isn't much of a problem with AI. However, in a half-court setting AI can't get all the way to the rim and get his shot off as often as he had before because big men are just too long, too quick, and too athletic these days. And refs aren't bailing him out as much as far as drawing ticky-tack foul calls. So what happens is that he ends up with more empty possessions or fast break opportunities for the opponent going the other way instead of trips to the foul line.

And the bigger issues is what happens defensively to the team. AI tends to lose sight of his man on the perimeter a lot. He also has trouble fighting through screens while trailing his man due to his size and lack of strength. Opposing guards post him up at will and bigs have to help him out far too often which breaks down the interior defense and forces other teammates to scramble around to recover. Will Bynum is shorter than AI but doesn't get beat nearly as often on the perimeter or gets backed down in the post as easily.

Look, I love the guy's heart, energy and tenacity, but frankly AI causes more problems than he solves on both ends of the floor whenever he's out on the court for the Pistons. I wish him well on whatever teams he ends up on next season. He's still fun to watch whenever he gets to run up and down the floor with the basketball and not have to worry about being a floor general and running a half-court offense.

Kruza

[3rdAnswer]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

AI is my favorite NBA player of all-time, and it saddens me to see him used as a bench player.

If he goes to either Charlotte or Philly, he should be able to finish his career on a higher note than staying in DET.

A Charlotte Bobcat starting 5 with AI inserted into the mix could look like this:

AI
Raja Bell
Gerald Wallace
Boris Diaw
Emeka Okafor

That is assuming that we make a move with Felton, and DJ is still fine with coming off the bench and still getting quality minutes.

This provides AI with the oppurtunity to create his own shot on a team full of players who struggle to get their own shot. Also, Raja Bell is a great defender, great jumpshooter, and a team player. Raja can guard the swingman, AI can man the point.

I like this idea.

[GSW]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

AI is my favorite NBA player of all-time, and it saddens me to see him used as a bench player.

If he goes to either Charlotte or Philly, he should be able to finish his career on a higher note than staying in DET.

A Charlotte Bobcat starting 5 with AI inserted into the mix could look like this:

AI
Raja Bell
Gerald Wallace
Boris Diaw
Emeka Okafor

That is assuming that we make a move with Felton, and DJ is still fine with coming off the bench and still getting quality minutes.

This provides AI with the oppurtunity to create his own shot on a team full of players who struggle to get their own shot. Also, Raja Bell is a great defender, great jumpshooter, and a team player. Raja can guard the swingman, AI can man the point.

I like this idea.

Raja hates A.I.

[23]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

I was about to say didnt the Raja AI thing fail once before under?

[PrettyT11]

Re: AI would rather retire than come off the bench?

AI has been out almost six full weeks so it should take some time to get the stamina up. He really shouldn't be complaining about playing 18-20 minutes when there are people on the team who are barely playing any minutes at all. And to top it off he doesn't look completely healthy when he's actually out on the floor playing.

Moreover, 23/KDRE has touched on it -- the league has changed. In a primarily open-court, up-tempo game there isn't much of a problem with AI. However, in a half-court setting AI can't get all the way to the rim and get his shot off as often as he had before because big men are just too long, too quick, and too athletic these days. And refs aren't bailing him out as much as far as drawing ticky-tack foul calls. So what happens is that he ends up with more empty possessions or fast break opportunities for the opponent going the other way instead of trips to the foul line.

This part I just don't agree with. The man was giving you over 26 a game last year on 46 percent shooting. The league didn't get bigger over night. The man can still fill it up. The Pistons just aren't using him right and he is unfairly getting all the blame for this horrible season. Wether he comes off the bench or not he is still very capable of scoring you 20 a night. He can still blow by his defender and get into the lane. If he doesn't get his own shot he can dump it off. The problem is he just doesn't fit with this team and system.