***Official Detroit Pistons Thread***

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by l3ulvl

That's weird, why hire a coach to win now and an assistant GM known for tanking? On the other hand, if he was in the analytics role with the Rockets too, maybe this isn't a bad move

I don't think it's a bad move at all. There is no other solution at this point. They have no cap space, no salary flexibility, not enough draft picks, no tradeable assets, and a team that has a hard ceiling of the 8th playoff spot in the East.

Hiring Casey - or anyone at this point - is just an attempt to keep the seat warm while the current group of players plays out their (un-tradeable) contracts. The team needs a total tear-down and rebuild, just like they did 4 years ago when Van Gundy got here.

Let's just put it in black-and-white language: Stan Van Gundy was a complete and total failure in Detroit. He left the team in worse shape than he got it, and handcuffed the franchise for at least the next 3 years. He set us back another decade in our rebuild, and his tenure as head coach and (functionally) GM/team president was worse than a complete waste of time. The team is completely irrelevant in the NBA landscape. The Joe Dumars era ended badly, but he delivered some of the best years in franchise history, so he earned his slight overstay at the end. Stan earned nothing, and deserves nothing but enmity from Pistons fans.

Quote: Originally Posted by VDusen04

Decided to stop in here for, like, my fourth time ever and man, it's depressing to read all these posts. I have my own grievances with this Pistons team. For one, I'm not a fan of Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson having such a large stake in the success of our franchise. I think they're both capable of being good players but have a lot of knucklehead in them. That said, I don't think I'm ready to quit the NBA and I don't think it has to be eight years before this team is actually competitive again. I feel like I've been around long enough to know that you never know. That's not to say I'm going to ignore the writing on the wall, but maybe I just haven't entered into as deep a depression over it as some others here may have.

Well, I for one would be happy to have dissenting opinions on the team any time. Always happy to see others come in and comment to offset my crushing negativity on the team. I just see no reason for hope for the forseeable future with this squad.

And I'm generally "out" on the NBA given the state of the league in general anyway (as I have been for a decade-plus now....).

[pietasterp]

Anyone care to make a prediction on the team this year? More importantly, does anyone actually care about this irrelevant NBA backwater franchise anymore?

For what it's worth, I think Dwane Casey is a good coach and he could drag this group kicking and screaming to an 8-seed in the East, which is basically like being the second-best basketball team in Bangladesh. We have some talented guys, and maybe we could look decent on the right night a few times a year.

So, yeah - not much call for optimism at this point. Or at any point for the next 3-4 years.

[rdnk]

Assuming the Pistons get reasonable heath from everyone, I'd say they're a playoff team. Best case scenario is that Casey does a good job incorporating the kids, the team gets a 3 seed, gets out of the first round and upsets the Raptors before losing to Boston in the ECF. Not a true contender, but at least watchable. with some kind of reasonable future. Pistons have to tread water for a couple of years until money gets freed up, barring some kind of deal.

As far as irrelevancy goes, I'd argue that there are only a handful of relevant teams in the NBA right now.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by rdnk

Assuming the Pistons get reasonable heath from everyone, I'd say they're a playoff team. Best case scenario is that Casey does a good job incorporating the kids, the team gets a 3 seed, gets out of the first round and upsets the Raptors before losing to Boston in the ECF. Not a true contender, but at least watchable. with some kind of reasonable future. Pistons have to tread water for a couple of years until money gets freed up, barring some kind of deal.

Wow. You are MUCH more optimistic than I even thought was possible from anyone. Kudos to you for that; it's not easy to be an optimist with regard to this squad.

I'd look forward to the draft next year, but I don't even know who our General Manager will be, so hard to know if we're headed in the right or wrong direction. Or any direction at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdnk

As far as irrelevancy goes, I'd argue that there are only a handful of relevant teams in the NBA right now.

No question. The number is basically 1. Which is why the NBA is by far and away the worst professional sports league.

[rdnk]

The east is really bad and I think if Jackson was healthy last season, Detroit is in the playoffs. Based on that, I think they can be a playoff team. Barring the team becoming a MASH unit, I don't think they will be bad enough to make the draft interesting. Mostly likely scenario is a 10-7 seed in the east.

Best case scenario has about a 1% chance of happening. I do think if Casey can get everything to click, most teams won't have an answer for Drummond-Griffin up front. In the 32 minutes Jackson, Drummond and Griffin were together last season, they were a devastating +27. Got to have some hope while the team trudges through these bad contracts. It is easy to paint the Griffin trade on SVG, but I think that was a Gores move. Need someone to help sell tickets at Little Cesar's; even when they got off to a hot start, no one cared.

[l3ulvl]

Don't forget Drummond plans to shoot threes this year!

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by rdnk

The east is really bad and I think if Jackson was healthy last season, Detroit is in the playoffs. Based on that, I think they can be a playoff team. Barring the team becoming a MASH unit, I don't think they will be bad enough to make the draft interesting. Mostly likely scenario is a 10-7 seed in the east.

It's not actually entirely clear to me that the team is better with Reggie Jackson on the floor. At least not in SVG's "system" (whatever that was...). Based on the eye test, it seemed like we had better flow with Ish Smith running things out there. But it never really looked 'good' at any point, so it's hard to argue either way.

Quote: Originally Posted by rdnk

Best case scenario has about a 1% chance of happening. I do think if Casey can get everything to click, most teams won't have an answer for Drummond-Griffin up front. In the 32 minutes Jackson, Drummond and Griffin were together last season, they were a devastating +27. Got to have some hope while the team trudges through these bad contracts. It is easy to paint the Griffin trade on SVG, but I think that was a Gores move. Need someone to help sell tickets at Little Cesar's; even when they got off to a hot start, no one cared.

I think the issue is that the league has fundamentally changed so much that having a dominant big-man post-up or paint tandem is not so much of an advantage any more, unless someone with a creative offensive mind can figure out a way to use those 2 guys in a novel/interesting way. And even if they can bump-n-grind their way to competent offensive numbers, their liabilities in defending their opposite numbers on the other end (who are quicker/rangier and will more often than not be shooting from 20-24 feet away) will essentially nullify their net effect. But I love your (*in 32 minutes together) +27 stat! You are officially my Pistons optimist hero.

Who knows what happened with the Griffin thing, maybe it was Gores at the bottom of it. I just know everyone in the league laughed when we took on that contract. As the old poker saying goes, if you look around the table and can't figure out who the sucker is, it's because it's you....

Quote: Originally Posted by l3ulvl

Don't forget Drummond plans to shoot threes this year!

Nooooooooo!!!!!! (I think I'm still in concussion protocol from slapping my forehead when I first head that he was going to try to shoot 3's...)

[VDusen04]

I think the postseason is a possibility, particularly when considering the wide open nature of the East.

That said, I'm still struggling to embrace Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson. I know I said this a page ago but they just hit me as a couple of guys who don't really get it. They each have a lot of nice basketball skills but their lack of maturity and wherewithal has really made them tough to support over the years. They seem to really believe their own hype and, to varying degrees, I wonder how much they really understand about what it takes to be a part of a successful team.

Still, that doesn't mean they can't be playoff eligible. And quite truthfully, even with their flaws, the last time Jackson and Drummond were both healthy for an entire season they made the playoffs so who knows.

Also, they might be bad.