Comments on: Ben Gordon, Will Bynum, DaJuan Summers and Tayshaun Prince make cases for bigger roles in the Pistons’ satisfying victory over the Hornets

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Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:11:59 +0000

[...] Henderson isn’t a great perimeter shooter, so I hope Tayshaun Prince shows the same dedication to help defense as he did against the Hornets last week. [...]

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:08:02 +0000

Frankie D, sure the Pistons could use someone who plays like Summers would if he meets his potential. But that's not Summers yet -- not even close. Judge his playing time by what he is and not what he could be, and I think his minutes are fair.

And I think the Pistons see Jerebko as more of a small forward long-term, but they had more of a need for a power forward last year.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:04:23 +0000

Laser,

A. I never said it was a bad thing. You've been harping on that for months, and I knew you wouldn't pass up a chance to mention it again.

B. If the Pistons force-fed you minutes, you might be a good player. We'll never know.

Your argument is absurd, and you're unfairly holding expectations against Stuckey. Stuckey might not be as good as the Pistons think he is, and Summers might be better than the Pistons think he is. It doesn't make Summers better than Stuckey. Not even close.

C. It's been 1.25 seasons since the Pistons drafted those guys. Detroit has one reliable starting small forward right now, and it's Tayshaun Prince. Just because the Pistons haven't handed the reigns to the class of 09 yet doesn't mean it's not in the cards.

If the three second-year players continue to show progress and the Pistons re-sign Prince and McGrady to multi-year deals in the offseason, you'll have a point. For now, you're just being ridiculously impatient.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:54:25 +0000

Neutes, Gordon was getting good shots. Wallace and Monroe, within the flow of the game, weren’t effective. There was reason to believe Gordon would start making his shots, but little reason to believe Wallace and Monroe could help much.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 03:50:23 +0000

Well said, Laser. Especially the last sentence.. No matter what way you try to flip it, we are always going to be mismatched at some point with our roster as is.
You make a good point with a dynamic SF, there wouldn’t be anyone on the floor to handle them with my rotation. Mcgrady of 5 years ago, possibly.

I don’t mind your starting rotation either – I guess it just goes back to being hard to stomach having the two guy you traded away Chauncey Billups for, warming the bench… Such a cluster F*&$ of a team!

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:30:27 +0000

i couldn’t be less worried about professionalism here. like it or lump it, rip’s being paid a FORTUNE and the organization would probably JUMP at the chance to buy his ass out.

also, t-mac has yet to prove he can handle major minutes. a backup PG role will be just fine for him, as long as he’s playing behind someone else who can run the offense, and that’s basically bynum. and i really just hate the idea of having six perimeter players in any given rotation, regardless of who sits. so some kind of trade just has to go down, right?

finally, who’s going to guard the other team’s best perimeter player? logic dictates that gordon would guard the PG, rip the SG and t-mac the SF… but what happens when there’s a lebron james or kevin durant or carmelo anthony in town?? someone’s got to guard the premier scorers, and face it: that’s gotta be tayshaun. he and ben start no matter what.

as for my starting lineup, i’d give this one a shot:
bynum, rip, tayshaun, monroe and wallace.

alternately, if that proved a disaster, i’d consider your starting five with rip benched in favor of tayshaun. but that’s not perfect, because you still end up pairing rip with stuckey. this is why the team is awful. some trades just gotta happen.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:47:12 +0000

Laser – I completely agree with Prince. It’s tough to put him on the bench, i only suggest him over Rip because I think he’d be much more of a professional about it.
He has been somewhat consistent, but the offense has to revolve around him for him to have any consistency. And as we have seen this year, when a player pads their individual stats – we haven’t been winning games. Prince can hit 30 here and there, Stuckey can score 20+ as much as he wants – but a loss is a loss, which seems to happen quite often when everyone isn’t getting invloved.

We win games when the team passes the ball, and finds the open man. When we take advantage of some of the offensive mismatches we create at some positions. This is all only possible with a PG that can move the ball around. I wanted that to be Stuck, it’s just not his game..

My main point is starting the players that we’ve invested so much money into. Rip, Gordon, Tayshaun, and Villanueva are our top paid players – in that order. All four cannot start, so there has to be an odd man out – until a trade is made. The only way in my opinion to get the most of these 4 players on the court at the same time is to bench Stuckey, and Prince and start McGrady – allowing a “Facilitator” to be on the floor – with a number of offensive players (Gordon, Rip, Villanueva) around him, without being a liability on defense.

I’m not sold on whether or not Bynum can fill that role, and from what i understand – most people around the organization believe McGrady to be the best passer on the team..

It’s not perfect – but it’s the Pistons roster were talking about here. There’s not a whole lot we can do aside from Crazy trade proposals.

What starting lineup would you suggest with our current roster, Laser? Patrick?

Just curious..

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:20:42 +0000

no offense intended, jason. i just had a vague recollection of you posting ideas i can’t get behind. starting both rip and gordon qualifies as one of them and served as a nice memory jog. i consider tayshaun our best player, certainly our most well-rounded, and i don’t see his skinny ass is coming off the bench. certainly not when he’s been so consistent, certainly not to start t-mac, gordon and rip. and i don’t think it’s in the team’s best interest to play six perimeter players, no matter who sits. i didn’t say “jason is an idiot,” but i don’t consider you to be any sort of authority about anything around here, and i’m surprised and embarrassed that your trade idea got everyone so revved up. i looked at it and knew exactly what it was, but i guess people are so hungry for change they’ll believe what they want to. props for setting this place on fire, but i just had a hunch you weren’t breaking major trade news.

also, don’t anyone expect any trades at all. i don’t think it’s happening. maybe not this season at all. this last dumars interview is as deflating as it gets. what a sad state of affairs…

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:00:47 +0000

@Jason:

The only thing I would add is that it is unlikely that NJ deals Murphy until they are completely sold on the fact that they aren't getting Carmelo Anthony.

Since Denver wants most likely a package of Favors, picks and expiring contracts, NJ needs to hold onto Murphy since he's their biggest expiring deal.

They also have Vujacic, but because they just acquired him, he can only be used in a one-for-one trade, not a multi-player deal if he's dealt again.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:29:43 +0000

I was going to respond, but Patrick summed it up perfectly.
Murphy would likely not be a Piston after the season, unless of course he blew management away through the rest of the season. Regardless, with Tayshaun expiring, and Rip’s contract gone – we can go after a guy like Zach Randolph.

I still think aside from the financial aspect, for THIS season even – it could prove to be just what the Pistons need. Our identity problems would instantly be solved with Hamilton no longer on the roster. Gordon starts, and Daye finally gets more minutes between both the 2/3 spots.

And as Patrick noted, while Murphy isn’t a “Great” defender, he had averaged of 10 rebounds per game for the past 2 seasons, while still managing to score over 14 points per game. The Pistons could surely use a 10 rebound per night guy this season.

Even Farmar would immediately solve our HUGE dilemma with Stuckey. Again, yes he is having a great season “Individually”, I as well as many Pistons fans realize he simply isn’t built to be a starting PG. He would be a great SG, especially off the bench with his aggressive style of play. He wouldn’t have to attempt to become a facilitator, rather focus on his strengths.

Farmar is at least accustomed to winning, has experience in playoffs/clutch games in his LA days – and is much more of a traditional PG – Just what the Pistons need. Getting rid of Stuckey alone will free up that many more shot attempts to guys who were brought to this team to score – Gordon, Villanueva, Monroe, etc.

Again, yes this is somewhat hypothetical – but there was a lot of reason behind the proposal as well. Murphy isn’t getting any playing time in Jersey, and is being paid way too much money not to be. If Jersey can get a contributing SG out of it, what do they have to lose?