Comments on: Pistons having a hard time converting shots at the rim

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:55:20 +0000

Me too. Loved Brevin’s passion, energy, attitude. I would’ve taken that as a good sign for Brandon.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:31:23 +0000

i makes no sense for tay to limp around the court.
if the team was in the middle of a playoff run, it would make sense for him to grind forward and gut it out.
but it makes no sense to do it at the beginning of the year. especially when the team is not going to contend for a top spot on any seeding rung, and there are young players who could use the PT.
my guess is that he is actively resisting any desire by management to sit him. he saw what happened with JJ when he went out a couple of years ago. he may be worried about daye taking advantage of a similar opening and making tay that much more expendable.
no athlete wants to become wally pipp.
but this is the time when the gm and coach should step in and make the decision for the sake of both the player and the team.
sit him for however long it takes to get him right physically. let the young guys play.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:25:27 +0000

when i heard the false news of his brevin knight connection, i was excited. i figured that he’d be a bigger, more athletic brevin. the only thing that stopped brevin from being a real star was about 5 inches in height and 20 pounds.
oh well…

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:22:39 +0000

i’d have to disagree with your assessment of daye’s play as “terrible”
i’d say that he shot terribly but otherwise his overall play was ok. but because shooting is what makes him a worthwhile player, when he shoots terribly, that overshadows everything.
for instance, i thought he did a good job on jodie meeks defensively. i think he let him get past him once on a drive, but otherwise was able to stay in front of him and keep him from getting into the lane. and his length definitely bothered meeks on jumpers. it looks like he is using tay’s method in that respect. meeks only scored a couple of buckets on daye.
daye also helped out defensively because they use him at the bottom of a weird zone that looks like a 1-3-1. his length allows him to defend the rim and scoot from side to side more effectively than a smaller player. he definitely helps out on the boards.
i didn’t see the passivity you noted. his 11 shots in 24 minutes seemed like a decent number of shots. i only saw a couple of instances when he passed up open shots. he took the shots that were there to be taken, in the flow of the offense. he did hesitate a bit in putting the ball on the floor, but he is obviously concerned about getting stripped, so he hesitated to get among the defenders.
the one thing i think would help is to post him up more and to post him up a bit deeper. i only saw one attempt to use him in the post, which was a shame. he had a 7 inch height advantage and they only tried to exploit that once. also, the couple of other times i’ve seen them try to use him in the post, he seemed to intentionally set up at the mid-post area. i guess there are reasons to have him receive a pass there, but with the kind of size advantage he typically has when he plays the guard spot, i think he’d be more effective in the low post. if he starts out that deep, he has a number of easy shots at his disposal without having to put the ball on the floor. if he is that low, the defense would most likely help out, which frees someone else for an open shot. and if they don’t commit another defender, he has an easy 6 foot shot, or he can lean in and get even closer. if he goes aggressively to the basket, by simply leaning in for a shot, it is likely that he’ll get fouled.
all in all, a below average game, but he should definitely continue to get steady PT. he had a couple of rebounds, 3 assists, a block, a steal and only one turnover. not great, but aside from the really bad shooting, a decent overall game.
but he simply needs to continue to play.
for instance, jodie meeks had been in a season long, horrible shooting slump before the 4th quarter of last night’s game. suddenly, he hits a couple of shots and before you know it, he has 17 points in that quarter. ( against someone, wilkins, who is supposed to be a defensive player. what good is wilkins if he can’t stop shooters. that is what he is supposed to do.)
doug collins showed confidence and patience and he’s now got his shooting guard back on track.

By: ryan

ryan — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:02:57 +0000

If we were to trade Rodney Stuckey I think we really need to look into getting a big athletic guard who can play a Raja Bell/Tony Allen type role a guy like Wesley Mathews would be perfect. Obviously I don’t want any of those guys specifically but we need that type of player especially if we’re going to make a rotation that relies heavily on Brandon Knight and Ben Gordon work. It’d be nice to have two picks this summer in order to go after a top flight guard or swing man with the second pick.

Could we move Rodney Stuckey for such a pick? If we could who would you all want?

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:39:36 +0000

"Is there any trade for Stuckey out there right now we could make?"

No. Stuckey can't be traded until March 1 since he signed a new contract in the offseason.

By: Jakob Eich

Jakob Eich — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:12:08 +0000

Is there any trade for Stuckey out there right now we could make? I can live with Bynum and BK running the point for the rest of the year, they are fun to watch and Stuckey is probably the only player who has real value on the market right.
Last night, for the first time in what seems like an eternity, I actually saw a Pistons team playing dedicated defense through three quarters. Jodie Meeks simply turned into the sun during the fourth and got blazing hot!
Last year I thought GMs ceiling would be around 15/10, but this year he seems to become more of a 20/10 guy. His 15-footer looks good to me and as Patrick pointed out his free throw percentage gives reason to hope for further improvement. Last season he couldn’t knock it down at all, this year it already looks rather consistent. Remember, he’s a sophomore, big men tend to take a long time to improve their jumpshot. What really makes me optmistic though is his post-game. He’s showing a lot of postmoves this year that he didn’t show last year. He has a lefty and a righty hook shoot, and a 15-foot jumpshot, which is pretty much all you need in order to be successful in the post nowadays. If he can develop the up and under next offseason and make his jumper even more consistent he’ll be in 20/10 territory for sure. His improved FT% is also very very very valuable as bigs who can shoot the FT are just so important. Additionally, what makes me salivate is that he is showing signs of improved athleticism. A lot of times last year I thought you couldn’t fit a newspaper between the floor and his feet when he jumped. Last night he had a block after which I thought “WHOA! He really leaps now??”

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:39:22 +0000

When I read your first post, I was shocked that I didn't know that, but your follow-up is correct. Brevin Knight, whom I really liked with the Cavs, and Brandin Knight, whom I really liked at Pitt, are brothers. Brandon Knight, whom I really like with the Pistons, is not a sibling to those two -- despite Wikipedia's claim (which is where the Philly broadcasters or their researchers probably saw it).

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:04:22 +0000

Yeah, it’s because we are happy to wait a few years if the team is moving in the right direction. Seasons spent playing close to .500 ball are completely wasted though. Not fun to watch, nothing much to root for, and not aiding in moving towards the right direction in a couple years. Cleveland, Washington, Minnesota, etc are goign thorough the still being bad but having a real hope for the future phase. I’d take that over having 5-10 more wins and no hope for the future anyday.

Also, Howard was not particularly great right off the bat.

By: Kk

Kk — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:53:59 +0000

I think John Wall is doing that now. Looks like that’s really working well for them. Cleveland did that last year, got their franchise player (that makes twice now) doesnt look like their season is going to well for them either.