***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

I hope KCP can establish himself as the starting 2 guard. We need someone that can shoot from 3 there to help a bit with the court spacing.

[702]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Curious, how attached to Monroe are you guys? I think he's definitely the odd man out here. The spacing is just a death sentence.

If he could be flipped for a wing or guard I think this team is immediately 5th-6th in the conference behind Miami, Indy, Chicago and possibly around where Brooklyn and New York are.

Being able to protect the rim is the number one thing in this league that leads to big time success. Smith and Drummond would provide that in spades. Having Smith mostly guarding 3s is a waste. He's good at it but you want shotblockers consistently in position to... block shots.

If Brandon Jennings could somehow, SOMEHOW, be convinced to become a 6th man I think he could turn into a Jason Terry in Dallas type player. He'd be dangerous in that role. The Monroe/Rondo trade just makes too much sense. Rondo/KCP/Singler/Smith/Monroe with Jennings as a 6th man is a legitimate lineup.

Aside from pipe dream trade scenarios, I think the fact is Monroe just doesn't fit here long term. Wondering what you guys think.

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Curious, how attached to Monroe are you guys? I think he's definitely the odd man out here. The spacing is just a death sentence.

If he could be flipped for a wing or guard I think this team is immediately 5th-6th in the conference behind Miami, Indy, Chicago and possibly around where Brooklyn and New York are.

Being able to protect the rim is the number one thing in this league that leads to big time success. Smith and Drummond would provide that in spades. Having Smith mostly guarding 3s is a waste. He's good at it but you want shotblockers consistently in position to... block shots.

If Brandon Jennings could somehow, SOMEHOW, be convinced to become a 6th man I think he could turn into a Jason Terry in Dallas type player. He'd be dangerous in that role. The Monroe/Rondo trade just makes too much sense. Rondo/KCP/Singler/Smith/Monroe with Jennings as a 6th man is a legitimate lineup.

Aside from pipe dream trade scenarios, I think the fact is Monroe just doesn't fit here long term. Wondering what you guys think.

It's a tough call, really Monroe's only a 15 ft jumper away from being a force, but the concerns with Smith are legitimate. Definitely need to see how it goes before making any changes though. Not sure about Rondo, either, especially with the spacing issues we're already dealing with.

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

I think Monroe will be dealt, or I think he should be if they want to get anything for him. His agent I believe has gone on record saying he wants a max deal for Greg. I don't think we will give him it, so if we can get another piece for him (preferably a good player at the 2 or 3 to help this team) I would trade him.
As a fan of UK and Detroit, I would absolutely love to see him in a Piston uniform. Like l3 said though, I don't know how that would work with court spacing. Also Rondo and Drummond would be the worst PG/C free throw combination ever.

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

I'm attached to Monroe personally, because I just like the guy...I pegged him right off the bat from his rookie year as a guy I thought could be a star, and a foundational piece for the team going forward. I think he plays hard, has a good skill set, and seems to be getting better. However, his defense is lacking (for whatever reason), and his offense is limited, and if it's true that he wants a max deal, no way he's worth that in his current form. I frankly don't think there is a guy on the Pistons current roster that warrants a max deal.

If it's apparent we're not going to keep Moose at a reasonable price, I think you have no choice but to deal him for the best available piece. The PG situation concerns the hell out of me, but I don't think Rondo is the answer we need (although he'd be a step up from anyone on the roster right now). You have to assume the expiring contracts of Villanueva and Stuckey are going to be valuable, so we can either flip those for pieces, or hang onto them and see what we can buy next summer. Either way, this team is still multiple years away from being something worthwhile. And I'm still not sold on Cheeks as a head coach. I wonder if he's just keeping the seat warm...

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Good start for the boys last night. Jumping to conclusions:

- The front-line actually looked as advertised, at least for 1 night. Granted, it was the Wizards (they gotta change that name, by the way...), but Moose, Drummond, and Smith dominated the paint, and I think we outscored them in the paint like 60-20 or something crazy.

- Teams are going to have to start accounting for Drummond, or he's going to be a 15-10 guy every night. I thought he could get to that level eventually, but I didn't think it would be this year - now, it seems there's a chance it could be. He is hard to box out (not that anyone in the NBA does that anyway...), really athletic, and aggressive to the rim on misses. He might lead the league in FG percentage.

- I was surprised how natural it looked to see Chauncey in the blue-white-and-red of the Pistons. Welcome back! Never should have traded him in the first place, and definitely not for Allen friggin Iverson....but it was really comfortable and felt great to have him back out there for us.

- KCP looked like he could find a place for himself on this team. It's just one game, but he looked good for someone in his first NBA game.

- The defense doesn't look like it's improved much...giving up 100 to the Wiz is a bit troubling.

- Will be really interesting to see how Jennings fits into this group. If it works, the 'Stones could be on to something.

- They're a bit thin on the bench....I often think depth is slightly over-rated, but having no depth is a problem.

- The back-court of Chauncey and Bynum was an intersting experiment. As Chauncey gets older, will be interesting to see if taking some of the pressure of ball-handling off of him allows him to play more minutes. Heaven knows we could use him out there as much as possible...

- I like Jonas Jerebko, but I don't know that he fits into this team anymore. Just seems like a bit of a mis-fit, although I love his energy.

- The Pistons are probably the only team that believes in Will Bynum as much as he believes in himself...he can be exciting and can heat up quickly, no doubt, but he's a turnover waiting to happen, and his defense is sub-optimal to say the least...if he's a bench sparkplug, great. But if he's logging serious minutes this season....well, talk to you guys in July about the draft.

- If Greg Monroe keeps playing like he did last night and producing those kinds of numbers, we may either have to sack-up and pay him, or we could get fantastic value from a legit title contender for his services. Either way, he's my favorite guy on this team (other than Billups).


Should probably wait until they play a handful of games and at least a few decent teams before I get too excited, but let me just say after 1 game that I think the Pistons are going to win the NBA title this year.

[rdnk]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Yeah Bynum only saw big minutes because Jennings and Stuckey are injured.

Honestly, they should just pay Monroe. He will be (or is) one of the best offensive big men in the game. You can never have too many big men. They just have to time the rotation minutes to get it to fit together.

The D is still a concern and the offense is still work in progress. We'll get to see more against Memphis tonight.

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

I think if we can get a good wing player and/or a first round pick this year for Monroe they should move him. This team needs a consistent 3 point threat badly to help with some of the court spacing issues.

[rdnk]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Jennings looked solid last night.

Pistons could be 3-0 if not for botching it in Memphis. At least on paper they seem to be crushing other teams in the paint. They have a long way to go but cautious optimism might be warranted.

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

I think if we can get a good wing player and/or a first round pick this year for Monroe they should move him. This team needs a consistent 3 point threat badly to help with some of the court spacing issues.

I actually sort of like the team the way it is right now; I think we can get ouside shooting from Singler and Chauncey (for the short term, anyway) without moving Monroe. Of course, he is a prime target for moving given that he's in a walk-year, and so in a sense, I agree w/ you redsrule that rather than lose him we have to decide if we want to pay him or get some value for him. Sucks, though, since I think the team at present is poised to play a style that can give a lot of teams trouble (pounding the paint) and that many/most are not equipped to deal with. It's like a throw-back, in a way. They should be 3-0 right now, and while I know problems and cracks are going to start appearing, I'm loving it while it lasts...

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Well, that was a slap in the face back to reality...clearly, we have a ways to go yet to get to the level of the top echelon in the Eastern Conference. Indy just pulled away from us once they hit the gas. But still, if we had hung on against Memphis, we'd be 3-1. As it is, 2-2 and looking pretty good (really only decisively beaten once), not too bad for the early going. But last night definitely tempers my enthusiasm - had we beaten the Pacers, I think I would be making Finals plans in November...probably a good thing to be curbed a bit.

[redsrule]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

No shame in losing to Indiana. They are playing like the best team in the NBA right now.

[rdnk]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

No shame in losing to Indiana. They are playing like the best team in the NBA right now.

Well at least the Pistons haven't lost to any terrible teams yet.

[pietasterp]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Watching the team, with that front-court, we should be beating a lot of teams. Most teams aren't constructed big like that. I wonder if Chauncey being healthy (if he's every healthy) will make a difference? I just frankly don't understand why we aren't a little better considering the clear matchup advantage (in terms of size) we have with almost any front-court in the league.

Drummond is getting really good really quickly...he might be the best guy on the team right now (!).

[l3ulvl]

Re: ***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

Watching the team, with that front-court, we should be beating a lot of teams. Most teams aren't constructed big like that. I wonder if Chauncey being healthy (if he's every healthy) will make a difference? I just frankly don't understand why we aren't a little better considering the clear matchup advantage (in terms of size) we have with almost any front-court in the league.

Drummond is getting really good really quickly...he might be the best guy on the team right now (!).

I think we're missing Chauncey in the 4th, that seems to be where we tail off. Overall though he might only get 15-20 mpg, most of which come late, with the early minutes basically just to get a sweat.

It's a little disheartening to be 4-7, but with the new roster and somewhat rough early schedule, it could be worse.

Gotta do something about Smith & Jennings going bombs away, so frustrating! Although, for the most part I don't think Jennings has been as bad as some make it sound, once he and Drummond get that PnR synergy going look out!

Drummond is already a monster lol, but it's definitely concerning having to leave him off the floor because of FT shooting, he's been able to avoid the line pretty well though.