Comments on: Streaking: Detroit Pistons try to end longstanding futility against Utah Jazz

By: Laser

Laser — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 07:04:05 +0000

yeah gordon is constantly exploited and trapped when he’s forced to do much ballhandling. heck, ballhandling is literally the one thing that has some people fooled into calling him a “combo” guard as opposed to a SG. and yet he still almost never uses his ballhandling to actually maneuver himself into a better position to do something with the ball. 90% of the time he stands still at the top of the key or just goes in for a power layup attempt.

and rip’s just not big enough to be called a small forward with a straight face. he can guard the position in stretches situationally, but you can’t afford to play him there all the time. you just can’t.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:59:00 +0000

@bg8:

Gordon doesn't handle the ball well enough to play the point. That's the major weakness in his game. He can certainly defend PGs on defense though.

By: bg8

bg8 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 02:53:57 +0000

i don’t see why rip can’t play the 3 position or bg the pg, most time the 2 and the 3 are interchangeable anyway. beside theres aren’t that many sf that will take rip into the post. i don’t see a problem having bg, stuckey, rip on the floor at the sametime, or bg, rip, tmac, or even bg, rip, daye on together. sure the last combo would be for a short period of time only though.

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:08:42 +0000

i don’t think gordon and hamilton will ever play particularly well together. they’re both shooting guards with a capital S, and you’re forcing one of them to play out of position almost every time they’re on the floor together… unless your opponent goes with a three guard rotation, and who would against us? it’s the only game plan that plays right into our hands. hence our ability to play stuckey, gordon and rip a combined 105 minutes against cleveland in a win.

but we can almost never do that. it’s not kuester’s fault; i wouldn’t play them together much either. perhaps with t-mac on the floor, who can run the offense smoothly and guard opposing small forwards, but that’s not a great perimeter unit.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:22:47 +0000

@Hayes

Daye had two crucial steals down the stretch, a block (which he may not have been creditied for – Blaha said Prince on the telecast but it was Daye – made two clutch free throws and nearly hit a three after Bell got favored by the refs & got a 3 on a two point shot. Daye played well down the stretch.

McGrady played great. I love T-Mac. But Utah is a very deliberate team that rarely picks up full court. It is exactly the best case scenerio for T-Mac.

By: jack

jack — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:38:29 +0000

I dont mind Daye being out there in critical junctions of the ball games. He is the future of this ball club so more minutes he gets in such situations and will be great for his development. Not having the Pistons best 3pt shooter in Gordon is the head scratcher.

By: bg8

bg8 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:16:41 +0000

@laser

in my opinion, thats part of the problem with kuester. he see gordon and rip as 1 player, not two seperate players. both played decent in 24 min, combine them together into 1 player, which is what kuester see them as, you got a pretty decent sg, averaging 25pts, 5reb, 5asist per game. yeah not 24 mil worth, but still pretty good

if he actually treat them as two seperate players, and allow them to play together more often, they would be able to produce more

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:36:39 +0000

basketball is a contact sport. it’s a long season. there are going to be nagging injuries here and there. the pistons have nothing to complain about in that regard this season. nothing at all. everyone’s in the same boat. the problem we have is that the healthy bodies we have can’t win games.

and the team consistently proves that it doesn’t matter who starts at SG. both our SGs played 24 unremarkable minutes, so we continue to pay around $24 million for 48 minutes of ho-hum production at one position… arguably the “least important” one.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:34:11 +0000

@bg8:

It went beyond Gordon. Why were Monroe and Daye in the game down the stretch? Where was Ben Wallace? Monroe failed to contest the shot Williams hit in the lane before Bell's three. Wallace would've certainly stepped out on that play.

And Daye shot 2-for-8 in the game. No reason for him to be in the game with Gordon and Villanueva both on the bench for most of the fourth.

By: bg8

bg8 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:09:28 +0000

kuester cost them the game. where was gordon in the 2nd and the 4th. i don’t count that 10 sec of him standing in the corner in the 2nd quarter as being on the court.

and guess what two quarter the pistons outscored the jazz in? 1st and 3rd. and what two quarters did the pistons get outscored by the jazz in? the 2nd and 4th