Comments on: Detroit Pistons, Greg Monroe reach new levels of Sustained Success

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:48:27 +0000

Jason, Gordon has always been a backup in name only. Maybe he benefits from coming off the bench and watching the rhythm of the game. That’s a fair point. But he’s played starters’ minutes and at the end of games his entire Bulls career. You can’t do that without playing a lot of minutes against other starters.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:44:35 +0000

PCB, I’m with Gmehl. From what I saw of Terrico White in the Summer League, he’s a long way from becoming that player.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:40:35 +0000

Grizz, name big men who excel on both ends of the court. Now, look at how much teams invested in them (in salary and/or draft pick). Those types of players aren’t growing on trees for any GM to grab whenever he feels like it.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:36:56 +0000

Grizz, Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday weren't point guards in college and both have developed into quality NBA point guards.

And making Jason Maxiell a center worked very well. The Pistons just haven't used him that way this year.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:21:14 +0000

@ Fennis – Your exactly right about Gordon – he is just better suited as a backup. Stuckey is good enough defensively to guard SG’s of all sizes, and if clearly better suited for the position offensively as well.

@ Feldman – First, great article! i completely agree about Monroe, he has looked so impressive since getting an increased role and starter minutes. He’s played consistent, smart basketball – and is such a promising young talent for Pistons fans to look forward to. Same with your take on Stuckey as well – with his experience as a PG, there is no doubt in my mind that he can use those skills to better him as a SG. I don’t believe he has more “Potential as a PG” as you stated – HE is a SG through and through – I can only hope Q continues this..

Now, while I agree that Gordon might possibly be able to be a starting SG on a contender – one that has a hard nose PG, capable of defending the perimeter – he wouldn’t be as much of a liability. BUT, in one paragraph you look to a player’s past, (Wilcox) when predicting what his future will hold. You say he has always had a string of good games, and always eventually fell off.

Well, Gordon has ALWAYS been a backup – has ALWAYS thrived as a backup throughout his career. Anytime he has been inserted into a starting lineup, he hasn’t been as productive. This stems back to failed experiments in Chicago – where he he was never allowed more then a trial as a starter. This is not to say that he couldn’t be productive, I do believe he could figure it out – I am just beginning to believe that he is simply much more comfortable being a backup. Fennis hit it on the head, it never made any sense to actually move Stuck to SG while having our two highest paid players at the position. But with Rip seemingly being days away from a being shipped away (Somewhere, hopefully) – it is now a logical move to make – and Stuck seems to be settling in perfectly.

Whatever the case – this new look Pistons squad is encouraging, and so fun to watch again. It was just recently I found myself already ready to pack it in for the year, hoping for losses yielding a higher lottery pick. But, it is SO early in the season – there is more then enough time to turn around our fortunes, and gain some valuable experience for our younger, Pistons of the future..

By: Ex-Rocket-Fan

Ex-Rocket-Fan — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:39:42 +0000

jack, those aren’t jabs at T-Mac, it’s the truth if you’re being honest.

It’s kind of sad watching T-Mac right now, but I haven’t given up hope on continued improvement from him.

Using 2007-2008 as a baseline for comparison, at the start of this season, he was about 10% of what he once was. Now midway through, he’s about 50%. That’s improvement, that’s progress (*glass half full*). Maybe he has plateaued, but who is to say he won’t continue to improve? That’s what keeps me watching anyway.

By: gmehl1977

gmehl1977 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:26:44 +0000

@detroitpcb
I usually agree with most of your comments but i don’t think Terrico is that guy (PG). From what we saw of him in summer league he is just another combo guard so we would be just doing the Stuckey thing all over again. Anyways IF the NJ-DEN-DET deal goes through then Terrico is a part of it so it wont matter anyway. I think all piston fans are scared of what Terrico might turn out to be. Hopefully not another Afflalo type give away.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:48:53 +0000

Lets give the coaching staff some credit: after a year and a half they have finally figured out players appropriate roles and a rotation. Stuckey, who in the post game interview wasn’t all that pleased when asked about the move to the shooting guard (he seemed to regard it as a demotion) is so much more efficient at the two guard when allowed to attack from the wing. CV is great off the bench as a primary scorer who will give you adaquate rebounding and his usual porous defense. Greg Monroe is going to be a fine player for many years in this league. He is a much better defender than people originally gave him credit for. There is nothing “soft” about him, except maybe the expression on his face. he has great hands. He is a very good rebounder with a nice nose for the ball, a good interior passer, and we haven’t even seen his outside shot yet but he has one that is good out to 15 feet. Now all we need is a young 7’0″ chris wilcox above the rim athletic type player to fit next to Monroe (preferably one with good defensive footwork in addition to athleticism) and a Zach Randolph and we will be set for the future.

T-Mac has a hard time guarding active offensive players and often loses his man. He is also bothered by active defensive players who pressure him up the floor and at the top of the key. Personally, i think he would be very valuable to resign as a backup for next year. But i also think that either by trade, or in the draft, the Pistons need to find a point guard to pair with Stuckey. We haven’t really seen anything of Terrico White – maybe he could be that player.

Rip and Ben Gordon both should be traded. Tay too, unfortunately, because he is such a fine complementary player who is playing at a very high level but he is the Pistons best asset and they have two young players (Daye & JJ) who naturally play the three and will need significant minutes next season so it is just time to thank Tay and get as much value for him as we can.

By: gmehl1977

gmehl1977 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:38:34 +0000

I love Joe and all but the rest of this season and next season (if he is still there…i really hope he is) will truly define his legacy as a great GM. The Joe Dumars i know would be loving the challenge of building this team up to where we all want it. He has made many mistakes the last 3 seasons and he knows he is on thin ice and his time is now. Let’s just hope the silent assassin can get his mojo back and start string those great moves together that every idiot says were flukes. I am sorry but there are no fluke GM moves that lead your team to 2 straight finals and decade of conference finals.

By: gmehl1977

gmehl1977 — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:29:38 +0000

Please can we all just throw the whole ‘Stuckey is a SG not a PG thing’ into the bottom of the ocean along with ‘we shouldn’t of drafted Darko thing’. We are all smart enough to know that we have 3 guys who play the same position (SG) so one of them had to play PG and Stuckey was dare i say it the best equipped to be converted to a PG. There is only one person to blame for this whole mess and his initials are JD. I have never had a problem with the experiment but more a problem with how long they stuck with it before they knew it wasn’t working. Fix the problem instead of covering it over and making it worse for crying out loud.