Comments on: Why won’t Lawrence Frank play Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond together? My guess at the question every Piston fan wants answered

By: Desolation Row

Desolation Row — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:14:29 +0000

Considering all the DNP’s, if this was the concern could they not just downgrade Daye/CV to the inactive list?

By: Desolation Row

Desolation Row — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:09:06 +0000

At this stage, the Pistons probably suck no matter who we play together.

What if it is this: Monroe + Drummond is the last trick up their sleeve. Should it fail to produce results any better than our current (abysmal) standard, there will be a serious realization among fans that this team is not just bad, but horrifically bad. Cataclysmically bad. Unprecedentedly bad. You get the point. Dumars’ favorability would be much lower if we saw all the cards in his hands and realized how awful they were. Drummond and Monroe together on the court are all he has left. The team probably realizes Drummond+Monroe is an unfinished product and the fact that fans are pining for this to happen so desperately only serves to raise the stakes — not that the anticipation is not Dumars’ fault. Maybe they are trying to refine the chemistry between those two so that when they finally get court time together, it will give fans a reason for hope rather than dismay. It may not be that they are any worse than any other rotation the team could put out there, but just that anything that isn’t better would be a huge disappointment.

I think they could be holding off because they want fans to be patient, it’s only 5 games in, and they believe they have something brewing that needs to be more polished before they debut it. Until then, they’d rather ward off anticipation and anger (among fans.. or Gores?) instead of dealing with outrage and disappointment. With an organization this dysfunctional, I wouldn’t put it past Dumars/Frank.

By: bugsygod

bugsygod — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:59:08 +0000

i agree… that was vince ellis from freep who said that.

By: PistonsIndonesia

PistonsIndonesia — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:53:41 +0000

Its funny to see our irks because of this monroe-drummond not together issue. I wonder if Gores feels the same way too. He notices that M Brown is fired. Gores is from LA. hmmm. put two and two together.. In all seriousness however, our issue of D is because of the uninspiring defensive intensity by the starter. blame it on knight, stuck, tay, monroe and max. D is about effort. Out of all the starter Max probably gives the best effort however his size is a mismatch just like Tay is a mismatch to most SF because he is so slow. One commentator mention that the Piston starters are playing D with their hands not their feet. I totally agree with that.

By: MarkButter

MarkButter — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:36:13 +0000

I think Bikerstaff is already on the staff. Unless they’ve been talking to someone, it was going to be an assistant.

By: MarkButter

MarkButter — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:32:03 +0000

I think you can play both Monroe and Drummond at this point. No matter how you try to do “game speed” in practice, you can’t. So a faster development path for Drummond is to play now.We aren’t going to compete for a chip this year or next, but if we want to be getting closer in two years, he needs to play now.

If Drummond fouls, then he fouls and Frank merely shifts his lineup back to the original rotation where Drummond gets 5-10 minutes (which he would have already gotten). JJ can play some 4 if things get tight and in a WTF are we gonna do now moment, CV can play the 4. Depending on the opposing 4, either Drummond (because of athleticism) or Monroe (his natural long term position now that we have Drummond) can do it.

The LA comparison is not. You’ve got 3 future HOF, 4 if you include Pau (somehow) and given last year with shortened camp, new coach, guys not in shape, this year there was no excuse for “learning the Princeton” offense for being 1-4. Nash’s injury contributed to the poor play, but take away our game and the Lakers are giving up 104 points a game, including a Dirkless Mavs. Given D was supposedly Brown’s specialty, that wasn’t going to cut it.

As for the article: Frank should worry about the future. If he doesn’t start winning now (or at least being competitive, especially on D) there will be no future. Ask Mike Brown.

By: danny

danny — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:14:00 +0000

who on sac town can shoot? I know there are a few guards that are known to shot but none of their 4′s 5′s can shoot the long ball.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:55:34 +0000

This seems at least plausible. Look, Monroe is a train wreck defender. He is only slightly less terrible at C where most of the league starts defensive specialists or lumbering big men. It’s very possible the team doesn’t want to break in Drummond as a PF (when he is clearly a C), but at the same time don’t want to bear witness to every opposing PF in the league dropping 30 on our best player.

By: Max

Max — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:37:33 +0000

One thing that occurs to me is that Slava didn’t make the 12 man roster for some reason and that could be making Frank more reluctant to play Drummond and Monroe together because they are his only two centers and they are both foul prone.
I really wish Daye or Villy had been cut so Big Ben could still be on the team or Slava could be part of the the active roster.

By: bugsygod

bugsygod — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:31:35 +0000

AND GREAT ARTICLE DAN, V. ELLIS HAD SAME ARTICLE. Ellis and I WERE TWEETING ABOUT THIS DURING THE SAC GAME, he said “maybe they were worried about sac and stretch 4′s shooting a lot of 3′s”. But to get not one minute together thru 5 games?? that is being done on purpose and not sure what that purpose is. BUT if they are worried about other teams stretch 4′s shooting 3′s, what is the point of drafting a big?? just stupid, really dissapointed in coach frank.