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***OFFICIAL*** Detroit Pistons thread - Years of failure finally pay off (1 Viewer)

If you had 24 hours to practice, could you make more free throws out of 100 than Drummond's average with your eyes closed?
He's up to 50%, if he ever hits 60% for a season I will dance in the streets wearing nothing but a Ben Wallace jersey.

 
If you had 24 hours to practice, could you make more free throws out of 100 than Drummond's average with your eyes closed?
I might need more than 24 hours - it's been a while since I picked up a basketball - but it does seem like a lot of average guys could hit at least 40 percent that way with a little work.

I'm hoping this crazy VR training pays off though and Drummond can stay at 50+ percent this season.

 
Nice two-game win streak for the Pistons. Home victories over Orlando and Milwaukee aren't a big deal but at least they can win the ones they're supposed to without Reggie.

Next three are winnable as well before they head out west for a few tough games.

 
I've only seen the Pistons twice this year, at the Nets and Clippers. I know they've got 4 wins somehow, but both games I've watched they look like a historically bad team. Going to have to play like 800 times better to avoid an 0-41 road record.

 
Well that was the first Pistons game I watched all year, guess I picked the right one to watch.  Caldwell-Pope looks like a pretty good player, I didn't know a lot of the other guys.  A lot of turnover the last year huh?  This Ish Smith guy looked great tonight, so did Harris.  Never heard of either of them. 

Is Stanley Johnson hurt? 

 
Well that was the first Pistons game I watched all year, guess I picked the right one to watch.  Caldwell-Pope looks like a pretty good player, I didn't know a lot of the other guys.  A lot of turnover the last year huh?  This Ish Smith guy looked great tonight, so did Harris.  Never heard of either of them. 

Is Stanley Johnson hurt? 
Pistons picked up Tobias Harris at the trade deadline from Orlando last offseason. The Magic signed him to a big free-agent contract the previous summer, then had buyer's remorse while he was struggling and dumped him to us for expiring deals (Jennings and Ilyasova). Looking like a steal so far, he's only 24 and is leading the Pistons in scoring right now. He's versatile, has lots of talent and upside, and Van Gundy seems to be able to get the best out of him.

Ish Smith was signed as the backup point guard and has been starting all year with Reggie Jackson out. He's been serviceable but has his flaws, particularly shooting.

Stanley Johnson is in the doghouse. Hasn't been playing well, suspended one game for violation of team rules recently and had some DNP-CDs.

Right now I'd say Jackson, KCP, Harris and Drummond are the building blocks. Stanley would round out the long-term starting 5 nicely if he can turn it around.

Been an up-and-down start to the season but they're back to .500 now and have won 4 of the last 5 including two straight road games over teams they're likely to be fighting for playoff position in the East. Reggie should be back soon and hopefully they can really get rolling then.

 
I still remember the flak they got for drafting KCP, but he has turned out pretty solid. Let's see if Stanley can pick it up in terms of that draft pick.

 
KCP used to mean "Kid cant play" Kid can play now?

Sad..I used to be able to name every player on the Pistons roster...not sure I could get more than 5-6 now. Is Jonah still playing?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Leroy Hoard said:
I still remember the flak they got for drafting KCP, but he has turned out pretty solid. Let's see if Stanley can pick it up in terms of that draft pick.
Everyone wanted Trey Burke (even me and I'm an MSU fan), but he's looking like a pretty average backup PG at this point, while KCP is one of the league's best perimeter defenders.

Oddly Stanley's actually losing minutes to Jon Leuer, who has created a 3-forward rotation with Harris and Morris, leaving less time at the 3 for Johnson. There's not much competition for him at the backup 2 (especially with Bullock hurt) but I don't think that's his better position.

 
Reggie Jackson will start tonight against Orlando but will play limited minutes.

Will be interesting to see how they work him in. Team is hot right now and Ish is playing his best basketball of the season, so there's no need to rush things.

 
Reggie Jackson will start tonight against Orlando but will play limited minutes.

Will be interesting to see how they work him in. Team is hot right now and Ish is playing his best basketball of the season, so there's no need to rush things.
Really like Ish's game, now with that combo at PG they seem to be solid going forward there.

 
Currently getting blown out by the 76ers at home :thumbup:

Pretty much alternating wins and losses regardless of the opposition now.

 
Down 27 to the Bulls in the second quarter. Barring a miracle, this will be the 3rd straight blowout loss to other Eastern Conference mediocrity.

Next 3 games are Grizzlies, Warriors, Cavs. This season could get ugly real fast.

 
At least when the Pistons suck, there's good Van Gundy quotes. When asked about a players-only meeting after the Pacers loss:

“Team meeting my ###,” Van Gundy said with utter disdain. “Like I said before, that stuff means nothing. It’s what you do on the court. Talking’s easy.”

 
This Pistons-Blazers game would be pretty hilarious if I didn't care who won. Both regulation and the first OT ended with McCollum hitting a tying 3 after the Pistons lost him coming off a screen, then Reggie Jackson dribbling away the last few seconds before chucking up an ugly shot.

 
The Pistons have a lot of problems right now, but the biggest one is simple: Andre Drummond sucks.

Per 82games, Detroit is -5 points per 100 possessions with Drummond and +6.2 points without him. He's terrible defensively - he doesn't protect the rim (averaging a career-low 1.2 blocks per game) and is constantly caught out of position. The Pistons guard better with Aron f'n Baynes out there. Offensively he's effective on the pick-and-roll and has improved in the post, but 43.5% from the line still means he's not super-efficient at that end.

The Pistons are on the hook for $125 million over the next five years, plus an 8% trade kicker so Drummond is pretty much unmovable. Either his defense has to improve tremendously or the Pistons go nowhere the next 5 years, eventually fire Van Gundy and then tear the whole thing down again.

On the bright side, Drummond is only 23 and obviously has the ability to turn things around. But that needs to start happening soon.

 
Interesting Zach Lowe piece on the Pistons' problems

It's long, but worth reading for any Pistons fan.

Also worth reading (and shorter) are Stan Van Gundy's thoughts on someone calling the article "illuminating":

“I’ve heard about it,” Van Gundy said. “He throws a lot of stuff out there, so I don’t know if that’s illuminating. I could write a lot of stuff, too, but would that be illuminating?

“Would it be illuminating or would it be (expletive)? There’s a fine line between illuminating and (expletive).”

 
A friend of mine who knows way more about hoops than I do said pretty much the same things about Reggie & Drummond. The current composition of the team is just not a great fit, and a shakeup is needed to address the issues that are there. Van Gundy can't be blamed for wanting to gloss things over, downgrading his own team is counterproductive when it comes to keeping trade values as high as possible. An actual 3 point shooter would be a nice addition that might be possible. Bottom 4 in both % and actual ones made so far this year.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/three-point-pct

 
Pistons have now lost 8 of 9, can finish .500 at best and will probably miss the playoffs.

Going to be an interesting offseason. I don't think SVG's job is in danger yet, but he needs to come up with some answers, whether it's through internal improvements or roster changes.

 
BOBAN! sighting.

27 and 12 tonight in 27 minutes tonight in a win over the Rockets. +10 with BOBAN!, -4 with Drummond.

 
Pistons have now lost 8 of 9, can finish .500 at best and will probably miss the playoffs.

Going to be an interesting offseason. I don't think SVG's job is in danger yet, but he needs to come up with some answers, whether it's through internal improvements or roster changes.
Either SVG has to go or they have to let him tear this team apart and start over. Most of this team has quit on him. 

 
Side by side comparison:

PER: Boban 30.0, Drummond 20.9

PTS/36: Boban 24.3, Drummond 16.7

REB/36: Drummond 16.7, Boban 15.8

TS%: Boban .608, Drummond .519

On court/off court: Boban +4.1, Drummond -11.1

So which guy should be getting $25M per year and which one should be getting 200 minutes per season?

 
Side by side comparison:

PER: Boban 30.0, Drummond 20.9

PTS/36: Boban 24.3, Drummond 16.7

REB/36: Drummond 16.7, Boban 15.8

TS%: Boban .608, Drummond .519

On court/off court: Boban +4.1, Drummond -11.1

So which guy should be getting $25M per year and which one should be getting 200 minutes per season?
Did you see the game yesterday? Was Boban good or is it just another guy getting a run at the end of the year and putting up meaningless stats?

 
Did you see the game yesterday? Was Boban good or is it just another guy getting a run at the end of the year and putting up meaningless stats?
I did not see it unfortunately. The interesting thing with Boban is that he's consistently put up really good numbers both this year and last in his rare opportunities.

He can pile up the points and boards. Probably a defensive liability, but this year so was Drummond.

 
I did not see it unfortunately. The interesting thing with Boban is that he's consistently put up really good numbers both this year and last in his rare opportunities.

He can pile up the points and boards. Probably a defensive liability, but this year so was Drummond.
I seen him a few times in San Antonio and he does put up good numbers, but it was always when the Spurs would rest players and it was always against 2nd and 3rd stringers. He did try hard on defense, but he is terrible. If he is your starter you need to plus defenders at the 1-3 spot or a guy like Rasheed Wallace that can play great defense at the 4 and give help.

 
That sucks they probably aren't going to be moving downtown next year.  Costs are out of control though and expecting the city to pile on with money they don't have seems unfair.  Maybe they can work it out if more private funding is kicked in, we'll see. 

 
That does suck, although if Tom Gores really wants to make the move happen for next season he can probably find a way to make the financials work.

The silver lining would be from a basketball standpoint, not moving immediately might relieve some of the win-now pressure and give SVG time to sort things out. The fact that the Pistons were/are offering the #12 pick in a deep draft for veteran help... to me that seems like a desperation play to put a better team on the floor in the new arena.

 
Big question for the Pistons: Who's the fifth starter now that Marcus Morris is gone?

G: Reggie Jackson
G: Avery Bradley
C: Andre Drummond
F: Tobias Harris
F: ?????

Harris is pretty versatile so they could go big or small there. Jon Leuer is probably the early favorite :X or they could add a cheap vet, but hopefully Stanley Johnson or Henry Ellenson will seize that spot. The Pistons need some of the SVG-era draft picks to start contributing if they're ever going to escape mediocrity.

 
Big question for the Pistons: Who's the fifth starter now that Marcus Morris is gone?

G: Reggie Jackson
G: Avery Bradley
C: Andre Drummond
F: Tobias Harris
F: ?????

Harris is pretty versatile so they could go big or small there. Jon Leuer is probably the early favorite :X or they could add a cheap vet, but hopefully Stanley Johnson or Henry Ellenson will seize that spot. The Pistons need some of the SVG-era draft picks to start contributing if they're ever going to escape mediocrity.
You are on the right track, late additions could change things. Either SJ or JL is going to be a starter as of now depending where TH starts.

 

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