Comments on: Pistons can’t find minutes for Slava Kravtsov

By: James Jones

James Jones — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 08:25:58 +0000

Watching Kravtsov in the preseason I didn’t see any good reason to rush this guy out there.

I know most Detroit fans have lost their minds in this fantasy world of young players, but lets be honest young teams in the NBA rarely make the playoffs and playing rookies for the sake of playing rookies doesn’t usually work either.

Most coaches reward hard play in practice with a couple of minutes in the game. If Karvtsov was working hard and showing something he would probably be getting minutes.

By: Tyrone

Tyrone — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 06:11:14 +0000

I think that coach Frank is holding Slava back to protect the #1 draft pick durmmonds growth. Slava has more playing experience than drummond and I believe that he will adjust quicker to the NBA than Drummond when given a chance to play. I believe that Drummond up side is much larger than Slava.

My question is simple, has coach Frank been told not to play Slava by JD, or is coach Frank putting his marker down and saying Slava has yet to earn his playing time? I feel that we the fans deserve an honest answer.

I don’t understand why if CV and Daye have not earned playing time and that kills any trade value that could have brought to the table, why not sit them out of the line up and develop another young player in Slava as our 4th big (Moose, Max, Drummond, Slava)?

My final point, I like what I have seen in Drummonds play so far, but the season is not even 1/4 (20 games) completed. I say that Drummond playing time is ok where it is at for now because we are a very young team trying to find its way. Drummond is still very raw skill wise so Im ok with bring him along slowly. He docent need the added pressure and expatiation of being the here and now change agent for this young team IMO.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:28:59 +0000

What is so bad about Prince’s comments? I can find you dozens of players who make worse statements every week of the season and the list would include venerable players like Kobe. On other teams, Prince’s comment was so harmless that it wouldn’t have even rated a story or fan awareness.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:25:40 +0000

Woodson is doing great? I say, as with Frank, the presence of JKidd makes coaches look good. ‘Melo was doing whatever he wanted last year with no Kidd present but this year with Kidd, Anthony has gotten in line.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:21:15 +0000

@Patrick, I pretty much agree with much of what you say but, while I’m incensed at Drummond’s lack of minutes, I would like to point out that he is playing much more than the Pistons were preparing us for during the summer. Even at the beginning of training camp, the message seemed to be that Slava was more ready and we shouldn’t even expect to see Drummond play in the early season.

By: vic

vic — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 18:33:10 +0000

If Joe wanted Woodson, and Gores wanted Frank… Gores definitely won’t fire Joe D. If anything, Joe D has more weight now with Gores.
Woodson is doing great, and Joe D has brought a lot of talent to this team. Frank is the weak link.
Yes its a players league but the least you can do is coach to win.

By: Ozzie-Moto

Ozzie-Moto — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:11:45 +0000

Well the issue is JD shouldn’t have signed and over payed Prince but he is right as JD bigger mistake was hiring Frank (he 3rd bad coaching choice in a row ) at least Prince realizes that Frank has ALREADY lost the team…. Hello Tom Gores time to clean up the inept
management JD AND FRANK must go

By: labatts

labatts — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:04:28 +0000

I gotta admit, I am more irritated that Tayshaun made the comments rather than whether he is correct or not. This is just Prince being Prince. Just more proof that Dumars should never have resigned him in the first place.

By: labatts

labatts — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:02:17 +0000

Amen brother!

By: Shawn

Shawn — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:50:49 +0000

I am not a Frank apologist, but I don’t think we can draw any meaningful conclusions regarding his process until we see it in it’s entirety for the season. Perhaps, he and Dumars have a plan for bringing along Drummond and other players. There is no way we can draw a complete conclusion until we see the body of work.
I am choosing an arbitrary metric but, I think it is fair to say we should see something different by mid season. Drummond’s role should have changed in some observable way. And another young player should be considered in the discussion for more rotation minutes.
This reminds me of the year that Joe D was drafted. Although there was nothing like the talent drop off between he and John Long like there is between Drummond and Maxiel, he was brought along slowly and around mid season (if I remember correctly) he was in the starting rotation.
If something like this happens then we can have confidence that there is a plan. What I am most concerned about right now are Prince’s comments. Not the fact that he made them but that he is actually right. Why didn’t Frank make substitutions earlier to address Orlando’s 21 – 0 run. The only excuse I will accept is that he is allowing his players to play through their difficulty to determine if they will overcome their shortcomings or some variation of this motive.
Finally, I agree with you that we have enough information regarding the contribution (if you can call it that) that Charlie V and Austin Daye are going to make. They are not and cannot be a part of the future. So, there is reason to play them.