Comments on: Brandon Knight will continue coming off the bench

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:00:07 +0000

the problem is cleveland has about a million combo guards. gordon is probably more valuable than jamison, but not enough for cleveland to want him.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:01:09 +0000

is he even worth a bag of chips?

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:56:43 +0000

I doubt the Cavs would do that.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:22:50 +0000

CLEVELAND GETS= Ben Gordon & Jason Maxiell
DETROIT GETS= Antawn Jamison, Alonzo Gee, & a 2012 2nd round pick

Dumars, stop living in 2004 and give Knight the reigns already!! Time to make Stuckey & Knight our starting backcourt. Granted, Stuckey hasnt been great but I have more faith in him then I do in Gordon. I’ve given up on trying to figure out whether BG is a starter or 6th man. I’ll tell you what he is: A HORRIBLE FIT FOR US!! Cleveland has virtually no 2-gaurds and, in the deal above, I would basically GIVE him to the Cavs. At least that way we make Stuckey & Knight our backcourt of the future and Cleveland can draft a small forward in next years loaded draft to give them a good solid young starting 5(Irving/Gordon/(draftee)/Thompson/Varejao). Plus, if VILLAINueva continues to underachieve, we can still use our amnesty on him whenever. I know this is somewhat straying from the subject but just wanted to throw this idea out there.
Just trying to help our Pistons out. Sorry if I get slammed for this trade idea for not getting enough in return, but guess what, we’ll be lucky to get THAT much back for Gordon at this point.

By: Michelob Mike

Michelob Mike — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:11:24 +0000

As long as Knight gets close to 30 minutes, who really gives a shit?

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:09:49 +0000

frankied, the micro-managing tendencies that you have described of Joe, is the very reason why I have said that Joe, himself, should be the coach of OUR Pistons.

I truly believed that if Joe was the coach that OUR Pistons would be a better squad and Joe could then better validate the decisions that he has made, when constructing the roster.

That said, WE still need to repair OUR roster, especially the frontline.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:51:12 +0000

Firstly, these are new Piston coaches so I’m not sure why they should have any reference to last year, but you are greatly mistaken if you think minutes are really earned in the preseason and that coaches consider stats in the preseason to be anything more than intrigue.
The preseason is simply not NBA basketball. The players are not going all out and the coaches are not playing their usual lineups. In fact, a lot of coaches around the league spend a lot of time saying during the preseason like, “I sat player X because I already have a good idea about him and it doesn’t mean anything regarding who I will play during the actual season”.
This truncated preseason made these dynamics truer than ever and for lots of NBA teams, their starters were not even signed and in camp–which was true of Stuckey for game 1 of the preseason. The Pistons played friggin Cleveland twice and Daye put up some points against guys who barely have NBA resumes.
Similarly, Jordan Hill, of the Rockets, was scoring 20 and 10 during the preseason, but that was against teams that were sitting their real starters and the Rockets went out and signed Samuel Dalembert, which immediately cut into Hill’s minutes.
I don’t really know how you can objectively look at the Pistons and think Brandon Knight and Austin Daye should have had bigger roles during their first two games. Knight had about as many minutes as he could handle in both games and Daye didn’t really handle any minutes well. If you are talking meritocracy, Daye is playing like crap and deserves even fewer minutes going forward while Knight is playing well and few will be surprised if he gets more. Nothing seems amiss here. The trouble is up front.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:56:43 +0000

the problem is not necessarily with knight. the issue is that pistons’ coaches always give lip service to the idea that they preside over a meritocracy where players earn their minutes and then they ultimately ignore on-court results and trot out the same starters and reserves regardless of how well they have done. their actions directly contradict the PR they feed the public.
last season was a perfect example.
the young guys played very well in preseason, the coach talked about players earning minutes but when the regular season started guys who had literally not stepped on the court in the preseason were gifted a role and minutes.
this preseason, knight and daye were the best players on the squad. tay did not play, stuckey played only a small portion of the second game and did not play that well.
yet, when the season starts, those two are stuck automatically into the starting line-up.
obviously one has to consider past performance to some degree, but when a coach and organization make such a big deal about new starts and earning everything, it sends a horrible message to fans and players when guys who hold out are simply stuck back into their former roles regardless of what has happened out on the court.
and this, unfortunately is a problem that goes back years. it is the reason the team has not developed young talent that was ready to move into a role once the old guard slowed down.
so, yes, this fan has a problem. if knight and daye have shown that they were the best players in the backcourt for the 2011-12 pistons then they deserved to start. if stuckey is good enough, he will show that he is good enough by coming off the bench and playing so well that the team has not choice but to play him. the same logic applies to tay. and if their play clearly elevates them above the other guys, it will only take a couple of games for that to become obvious.
i really don’t give a hoot how other teams have handled their rookies and PT. i watch the pistons and i am concerned about their approach to that issue. and their approach has been disastrous over the last few years. the idea that the team should simply continue following failed policies just because…is indicative of the braindead thinking that has landed the team in the mess it is currently stuck in now.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:35:09 +0000

This debate is silly, but also annoying to me, so I’d like to round it out:
#1 Pick Kyrie Irving is starting but I believe he played fewer minutes than both his backup Sessions and Knight last night.
#2 Pick Derrick Williams is coming off the bench and I believe seeing fewer minutes than Knight.
#3 Pick Enes Kanter is coming off the bench and most definitely getting fewer minutes than Knight.
#4 Pick Tristan Thompson is in the same situation as Derrick Williams.
#5 Pick Jonas I can’t spell his last name is playing in Europe this year.
#6 Pick Jan Vassely is not even getting minutes.
#7 Pick Bismack Biyombo is barely getting minutes. I think he played 5 last night.
# 8 Pick Brandon Knight is coming off the bench and is practically getting starters minutes.
Does anyone still have a problem?

By: Max

Max — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:23:20 +0000

And Kemba Walker is coming off the bench as well and unlike Knight was repressed and put on the bench during the stretch while experiencing his breakout.
Freddette is coming off the bench too.
This whole debate is silly.