Comments on: Sports Illustrated: Pistons should be focused on developing young players rather than wins and losses

By: tarsier

tarsier — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:23:09 +0000

It would take at least a couple of those things, but not all of them. The reasons you stated of why they’d be set back without each condition always apply to a couple playoff teams. Miami lacks depth. Atlanta and Philly both lacked enough competent big men last year. The Lakers are at least as weak as the Pistons at the 3. The Lakers also did not have a starting caliber PG. Nor did Indiana, Miami, or Chicago. Dallas only had one exceptional player. Ditto for Chicago the previous year.

By: labatts

labatts — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:56:41 +0000

“the East has eight teams that look pretty much like playoff locks”.

I’m not sure…Philly, Miami, Indiana, Chicago, maybe (MAybe) boston. Then who? Atlanta? I think the rest of the teams are pretty weak. Sure, the Pistons are bad too, but I will be surprised if they aren’t in the mix.

By: Corey

Corey — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:47:56 +0000

I’d say the odds are solidly against the Pistons making the playoffs. However, there is a shot. It would require:

1 – Good health, especially amongst the guards
2 – Drummond to be better than anybody ever expected this year.
3 – For Prince to either become a backup (e.g. to Jerebko) or to play substantially better than last year.
4 – Knight to improve substantially, and at least be a starting caliber point guard this year
5 – Stuckey to play near his peak performance level most of the year

That’s a lot to ask for, obviously. And I don’t see how they make it with any of those things not happening. Without #1, the depth just isn’t there. Without #2, they don’t have enough competent big men. Without #3, they waste too many minutes on bad play at the 3 spot. Without #4, they waste too many minutes on bad play at the point. Without #5, they only have one truly exceptional player on the court (Monroe), and that’s not enough.

So the odds aren’t good, but it’s still fun to ponder.

On a side note: Out of 8 playoff “locks” if they don’t get injured, you can expect 1-2 of them to fail to make the playoffs. Someone significant will get injured on some of those teams. But you may be right about too many teams standing between us and the playoffs. Hollinger just predicted the pistons to finish 13th in the east, I think, so he’s certainly not optimistic.

By: Otis

Otis — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:16:58 +0000

He said expiring contracts and picks. Like how Joe Dumars should have traded Tayshaun to Dallas two years ago for the injured Caron Butler’s expiring deal and a first round pick that I think would have become Jajuan Johnson.

By: Otis

Otis — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:14:28 +0000

This is strange. Am I the only person who thinks it’s highly unlikely that this team is going to make the playoffs? I mean, like, basically no chance at all unless half the East gets injured? Optimism is one thing, but the East has eight teams that look pretty much like playoff locks and a small handful of teams that figure to miss the playoffs but still be better than us. I know we’re all fans here, but why not have expectations that are grounded in reality? SMH

And aside from all that, making the playoffs means getting the life crushed out of us by one of the East’s juggernauts (realistically, the Heat), which is a small point, because I do concede that there’s some value even in a humiliating first-round sweep. But it also means we lose our first round pick, and if you think we can afford that, you’re far too optimistic about the state of the team.

By: Corey

Corey — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:14:31 +0000

Austin Daye, Maxiel, and Maggette are already on expiring contracts. It wouldn’t make sense to flip them for expiring contracts. It would only make sense to trade them for either

1- a player on a continuing contract who the pistons want more than cap space (ie a GOOD player), or
2 – a player with a continuing contract that they don’t want, plus draft picks or other players they do really want. This would mean getting a good young player on a rookie contract plus a bad old player on a big contract, or perhaps two veteran players, one of which is good and one of whom is a salary dump by the other team. This is obviously only a good idea if the desirable player is highly desirable.

By: Corey

Corey — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:11:24 +0000

Pistons will only win if their young guys play and play well. Prince and Maxiel and Maggette will not carry this team to the playoffs. There is no chance.

It will only happen if Stuckey, Monroe, Knight, Drummond, and Jerebko take them there.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:09:33 +0000

the pistons have been in betwix and in between trying to compete for the playoffs and rebuilding. it has been tortuous to watch.
instead of giving young guys PT in order to determine just what kind of players they have, they’ve brought in or kept a continuing line of retreads mediocrities who’ve been just good enough to keep young guys on the bench.
T-mac, wilkins, tay, max…
joe d has made a few good moves, and if he gets another 5 years, he may build another contender.
he could have expedited the process by doing what mannix is advising, a few years ago.
i don’t care if drummond starts. in fact, it will probably help him to bring him in off the bench for 20-30 games or so. but he has to play regularly, and he has to play 20-30 minutes a night.
he’ll look pretty bad some nights, but frank should still throw him out there and let him take his lumps.
it is the only way he’ll learn and grow.
however, i am not optimistic and could easily see frank yo-yoing drummond’s PT for a good part of the year. hope i’m wrong.

By: Scout

Scout — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:54:34 +0000

Yeah that really threw me off.

In 2011 the average height of point guards in the NBA was just over 6’1″.

Knight has good size for his position and Stuckey is at most slightly shorter than average. Same size as wade

By: jerrific

jerrific — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:45:45 +0000

I don’t undetstand this at all. Suddenly winning = not developing our young guys and losing = developing them? Last time I checked we are a young team. Many of our players that logged heavy minutes last year are young guys. They are going to play regardless because they give us our best chance to win. The same goes for Drummond, whether he starts at the beginning of the season or not. If the Pistons want to develop their young guys well they need to get them playing time AND win games. We accomplish this through good coaching, playing hard on both ends, and finding the right combination of players that give us the best chance to win. This is just a stupid sentiment altogether, it’s not like we have a plethora of savvy veterans that give us a better chance to win than our young guys.