Comments on: Pistons’ defensive progress must catch up to offensive progress to win games like tonight’s loss to Suns

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:38:45 +0000

It’s not that big a criticism to be outplayed by Gortat. Gortat is a very good center. He has proved himself to be on probably the second best contract in the NBA after Lebron (excepting rookie deals and max deals since those are set by the CBA).

By: apa8ren9

apa8ren9 — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:40:50 +0000

It really didnt go that deep for this instance Frankie. Frank was just trying to win the game. Monroe was getting outplayed and this was a down game for him. Ben actually had some timely baskets and the way the game flowed down the stretch with the Pistons were in it until Channing Frye hit the contested 3. Its debatable that there was a point he could have put Monroe back in. Frank rolled the dice and lost this one. We’ve got a tough one against the Clippers Sunday afternoon, so we will see what happens.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 08:02:22 +0000

@max
your are absolutely correct.
frank is trying to win games. period.
almost all coaches would approach their job in that same manner – a couple would take a longer range view – so he is not unusual in that respect.
i actually don’t blame him in a way. every coach sees his win/loss record affected every game. no one, amateur or pro, wants their record to be anything less than what it could be.
that is where the gm comes in. he has to set the rules, and either give the coach more or less room, depending on the moves he makes.
again, frank is just doing what any coach would probably do in his situation.
hard to blame any coach for doing that.
which is why it is even more important to make sure the rest of the guys know the truth.

By: Max

Max — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:48:49 +0000

@FrankieD….a coach a GM ought to be on the same page in some ways but a coach’s job is to try and win games and Dumars has always admirably stayed out of trying to influence his coach’s decisions and left the rotations to them, You do have a point when you bring up that Dumars could make moves that force Frank’s hand but weighing Frank’s substitutions against Dumars quotes or your own perception of how the team should be operating long term is like comparing apples and oranges. Frank’s job when he is making substitutions is judge what five man lineup gives him the best chance of winning each 48 minutes…period. And maybe Frank wouldn’t sit Monroe if he didn’t ask out so often. Such behavior can hardly inspire confidence when another player is playing well.

By: oats

oats — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 03:17:04 +0000

Eh, Frank gave him 3 quarters to get his act together. Maybe you feel it’s a little quick, but 27 minutes of crappy defense through 3 quarters of play seems like enough time to me. I wouldn’t criticize putting him back out there, but I’m good with Monroe getting plastered on the bench for the 4th if he is playing such poor defense. Then again, at times it felt like if Frank benched everyone playing poor defense then he wouldn’t be able to field a 5 man unit.

I’d like to reiterate, I do think Monroe should be judged harder than everyone else except maybe Stuckey when it comes to their defense because they are the 2 best players on the team. Max, Wallace, and JJ also get graded tough on their defense since they generally aren’t productive if they aren’t playing good defense, but that’s a basic productivity check that Monroe has to pass on top of grading his defense. That said, Monroe shouldn’t be just graded on his defensive performance since he isn’t that good of a defender yet. He should be judged on effort and whether or not he just misses assignments. He’s too smart to miss assignments as consistently as he did against Phoenix.

By: vic

vic — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:52:32 +0000

its the system, the coach, the guards. but its also him. he definitely needs to grow but the best place to do it is very not Uconn. but even playing at 25 percent of his potential he still avgs 12, 10, and 3. He has the most double doubles as a freshman than anyone in Uconn history, including emeka okafor. If your 25% and you’re still a double double with 3 blocks, please sign me up for that 6’11 270 lb ‘bust’

By: vic

vic — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:46:45 +0000

for our last pick, he’s definitely worth the risk. dude is a baller. just held his own with Kentucky… and people with those types of issues usually see a need to go pro. I wouldnt take him before Jae Crowder or dray green though

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 01:54:17 +0000

the thing about monroe is that he adjusts during games and his play later in games is often very different than it was at the beginning or middle of the game.
i recall one game where he was playing poorly defensively. then a guard, i think it was sactown’s little isaiah thomas blocked his shot.
after that, he was a terror on defense. he blocked shots – including a payback block on the guard, made a couple of steals and was extremely active, defensively.
it would be good if he was less inconsistent, but he is a young guy and it is one of the things that you see with him.
as a result, i’d hope the coach would see fit to, say, sit him down, talk to him, let him know what is needed, and then put him back out on the floor to let him work on his weak points.
no player gets better on the bench.
its not a huge issue, but something similar has happened a few times.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 01:47:03 +0000

or i should say, the most talented player.
his play is a bit up and down, even in the course of a game.
davis sustains the same level of effort and effectiveness for 40 minutes.
if white could do that, he’d be the best.

By: oats

oats — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 01:31:58 +0000

Frank demands that guys exert effort on defense. Kind of hard to preach defense to everyone but not care that Monroe is playing terrible defense. Besides, benching guys is not necessarily more harmful than rewarding them for doing the wrong thing. Monroe is at the point where you don’t just ignore poor effort. Monroe has proven he’s not just a second year player, Frank should treat him like the near All Star performer that he is. Frank is asking more of Monroe than to just score a bit and rebound, and I’m good with that. Normally I’d be happy with that kind of production from a sophomore big man, but Monroe’s play shows me he is past that stage of his development and it’s time for him to start working on becoming the kind of guy that shouldn’t be omitted from All Star games no matter how bad his team is.