Comments on: Pistons find 3-point range in convincing win over short-handed Orlando Magic

By: tarsier

tarsier — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:26:08 +0000

It’s true. If any team would be thrilled to hand a guy a max contract, he controls his own destiny. There are only a few such players. Odds are that the Pistons don’t have one in the near future. But if they can put together several B-list stars, like what it looks Monroe will become, they have a real shot. And those sorts of guys tend to become available in FA but you have to overpay for them a bit. Josh Smith is a great example next summer Some would say Harden, but he is a RFA so he’s not going anywhere. Even when someone hands him a max deal, if OKC decides they can’t afford it, they are still best served to match and then trade him later.

By: Jack Webber

Jack Webber — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:35:54 +0000

Man, the Monroe/Drummond pairing was so tantalizing in this game. Can’t wait to see them starting together.

By: Max

Max — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 22:21:29 +0000

But stars are rarely if ever traded for fair value. The real trouble is that stars generally pick their destination these days and the Pistons have never had a true star choose them. The Pistons must draft or develop its own stars following acquisition. I’m hoping Moose and Drummond are superstars.

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:24:15 +0000

The Pistons may be able to swing a 4 for 1 player swap, but not for a star. Outside of Monroe-Drummond-Knight, we simply don’t have a lot of value. Denver still received Gallinari in the Melo swap – who would probably be the second best player on our team. Orlando didn’t get much for Howard, but it seemed they actively planned to be terrible.

The only way expiring contracts gain value is if the other team really needs to shed a contract (more often when that contract is significantly bloated). Most any star caliber player on the market would fetch better than we can offer unless their contract is completely unpalatable (in which case we don’t want them either).

By: Corey

Corey — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:27:01 +0000

The way I see it, the Pistons are now a 13-player deep team, or close to it. Everyone but Dayanueva. They have no one in the “star player” category, although Moose may get there this year, and some of the others have the potential to get there at some point (Drummond, MAYBE stuck or knight). But with the rooks showing so much, there are a lot of rotation-capable players.

So my hope is that Frank can get this team to play a little bit like the Denver Nuggets: Put a lot of guys out there for meaningful minutes, and expect them to play HARD. Run the floor on every play, and play defense with great effort. The only guy on the team who is so clearly superior to the other options that he needs to be playing 30+ minutes a game is Monroe. Anyone else who isn’t working his butt off every minute needs to come out. I’d be quite content with seeing Stuckey and Knight near 30 minutes a game, Monroe at about 33, and everyone else who plays getting no more than 25 minutes. Even Prince, who I am no fan of any more, might be a useful player if he bought into playing with maximum effort and intensity for 24 minutes a game and then sitting down.

As an added bonus, this would allow most or all the young players some time on the court to develop, while still using the older vets (Maggette, Prince, Maxiel, Bynum) for trade value purposes. The Pistons may be reaching the point where they have the assets to do a 4-for-one package deal for a star player, especially considering all the expiring contracts they have available.

By: freywagg

freywagg — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:49:51 +0000

On Slava:
There seems to be a lot of surprise regarding the little time Slava’s seen on the court so far, and I initially was surprised myself. Last night gave me a pretty good idea of why he’s seeing the floor in limited amounts; the NBA game seems too different from what he knows right now. On 3 or 4 different occasions last night he got the ball down low and took too long to go up to the basket. The Magic bigs didn’t bite on his pump fakes and he ended up turning the ball over. It just seemed like he needs time to

He’s certainly showed some good things too though. On one possession at the end of the fourth, Flynn lobbed a ball as Slava was chugging down the middle of the key. The ball was waaay too far from the hoop for a successful alley-oop but Slava went up from not far past the free throw line, caught the ball, and flew to the basket but came up just short of throwing it home. He’s probably got a little bit less explosive athleticism than Drummond, but he’s no slouch and gets up and down the court well.

At this point I believe that Frank will bring Slava along slower than Drummond because of the big style differences in NBA v. Euroball and because of Slava’s difficulty with the language. I expect to mostly see Slava during games with big man foul trouble. As he adjusts, he’ll get more minutes and next season I have little doubt that Drummond starts and Slava gets solid minutes as the back up C (barring any substantial additions at the position).

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:20:52 +0000

I don’t think it’s going to be much of a problem to get Drummond as many minutes as he can handle because, like pretty much every rookie big man since…ever, he’ll spend more time on the bench due to foul trouble than due to the coach deciding that he isn’t ready.

That might change towards the end of the season, but I see a lot of games in Drummond’s future where he only plays 20 minutes but gets 8 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and five fouls.

His per-36 minute numbers could be pretty impressive, but he probably won’t even average 20 minutes per game.

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:13:14 +0000

I know our team is filled with tweener forwards, but it seems the obvious best chance to succeed and develop is to turn the center position over entirely to Drummond-Slava. Split the minutes down the middle, or maybe a few more to Drummond, and call it a day. Monroe is going to do his thing at either big man spot, and would be less of a negative defensively when not tasked with being the last line of defense (generally the center). Drummond and Slava, meanwhile, are considerably more suited for that role than any other player on the team.

Maxiell is gone after this year. Even if we can’t trade him, he is an inferior player to Jerebko and there won’t be a lot of minutes going forward with Monroe-Drummond monopolizing the rotation minutes. He may well be a solid backup, but that’s where he should play. Monroe 35 mpg at PF, Maxiell 13. Jerebko can start taking over SF from Prince, who shouldn’t be playing 30+ at this point anyway.

By: freywagg

freywagg — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:12:27 +0000

I think it’s possible they both get some minutes at SG. Team officials seem to have indicated a belief that Khris can be a SG or SF, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something of a coin toss to see who gets on the floor in a given game. Of course, it’ll likely be more so based on Frank’s player “ranking” than a coin.

By: vic

vic — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:44:13 +0000

I agree, right now it seems as if they have an option of adequate veteran vs potentially above adequate rookie/young player.
Maxiell vs Drummond
Maxiell vs Slava

Prince vs Jerebko
Prince vs Singler/Middleton

I have a sneaking suspicion that the vets might do better for a little while once the games start to count. But the young guys are coming hard for their minutes.

CV and Daye have already lost theirs.