Has Detroit Basketball Gone Soft? & What Should Pistons Do for '09 Playoffs Run?

[keysersoze]

AC (Chicago, IL): Since we have about another month until the Finals actually start, how about a non-Finals question? What do you think the Pistons should do in the off-season? They won 59 games, took the 66-win Celtics to six games, and clearly still have a good team. But they're not getting over the hump. Aside from turning Stuckey into Vinny Johnson in a three-guard rotation, what other moves would you make....if any?

Bill Simmons: (12:43 PM ET ) I thought they should have blown it up last spring. They need to move Wallace - it's time for him to play somewhere else. And they need to move one of the Hamilton-Prince-Billups group so Stuckey can get big minutes. I'd move Prince because he's one of those "used to be underrated, now he's overrated" guys.

Bill Simmons: (12:44 PM ET ) One more thing on the Pistons: What happened to those fans????? They used to have one of the best crowds in the league - now you're banging Thundersticks and wearing white T-shirts and clamming up when your team falls behind? What happened to the fans who used to throw beers on opposing players and charge on the court to fight them? Deeee-troit Basssssssketball has gone soft. You need to do some soul-searching this summer.


Chandler (Chicago, IL): As a Bulls fan, I hate the Pistons, but how can you say that Prince is overrated? He made some big plays on the defensive end in the playoffs.

Bill Simmons: (12:46 PM ET ) I'm saying he was once underrated, but then he came overrated because everyone was talking about how underrated he was. If he's your third best player, youre not winning a title.
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I agree that the Pistons have to make some changes because they have not been able to get over that hump of making it back to the Finals & next year the East will only get harder with Celtics more tuned, Dwade & Heat looking better along with some other improvements.

I think Stuckey needs to be given at least 20-25 mins every game at the minimum. They should switch up between him and Prince like it Simmons suggests to a 3 guard rotation of him-Billups-Hamilton.

Should Sheed go or stay? I'm torn at this... Sheed has heart & I love D-town ball for that but this year he was a let down in the playoffs. So I don't know if they should trade him. As of now, keep him.

Flip Saunders as Coach? Joe Dumars needs to see if he can get Avery Johnson or Van Gundy to coach and see about replacing Flip with that.

No harm done to Flip - he'll easily land a job somewhere else. I say go with Van Gundy - he knows Eastern Conference ball and has made some good management of the Knicks back in the day.


Has D-town gone Soft? Yea - I was sad to see the Pistons fans leaving game 6 early when they could have won the game. What was up with them booing the team during game (game 3 I think)?!?

Changes have to be made to make the fans back in the game.

What do you guys think?

 

[cranrab]

Has D-town gone Soft? Yea - I was sad to see the Pistons fans leaving game 6 early when they could have won the game. What was up with them booing the team during game (game 3 I think)?!?

Changes have to be made to make the fans back in the game.

What do you guys think?
[/SIZE]

i think maybe the detroit pistons were not the team they are/were regarded to be.

that is NOT to say that the detroit pistons are NOT a good basketball team.

that IS to say that if viewed from the perspective that they should NOT have won a championship in 2004, then their above average (excellent, but not superior) performance has been rock-steady and consistent.

 

[keysersoze]

i think maybe the detroit pistons were not the team they are/were regarded to be.

that is NOT to say that the detroit pistons are NOT a good basketball team.

that IS to say that if viewed from the perspective that they should NOT have won a championship in 2004, then their above average (excellent, but not superior) performance has been rock-steady and consistent.

Keep team as is or make change? If so what changes?

 

[360KNOWLEDGE]

Keep team as is or make change? If so what changes?

The Pistons personel is pretty much ok. They need a coach who will get into that azz, when they play half-hearted on the court and one that doesn't make too many dumb mistakes (See game 6, when Flip took Maxiell out of the game-big mistake).

 

[Kazoo]

i'm a detroiter & and didn't expect pistons to beat celtics -billups was hurt, celtics had home court advantage , and celtics big 3 never won anything - they should change coaches , add a small forward that can create his own shots - sheed should be back unless they can get somebody like chris bosh gotta give love to a team that went to 6 straight conference finals & one championship

 

[anubus]

they cant get to the finals cuz they dont play wit passion every nite and they dont protect thier house. they love to win on the road but cant win at home, it makes u look soft, if the fucking hawks made a game 7 wit boston theres no reason pistons couldnt. they need a person to come in and get at lest 20 points every nite and they dont have that, they sit around waitin 4 one of thier startin 5 to get off and they not that good at getting thier points when they need too. they like to play thier games when they behind n points and make a come bac, u cant do dat in the play offs. and they cant put a team away, they dont know how to go 4 a blow out, they keep them hangin around n a 5 or 6 point game relaying on thier defence to pull the game out. i guess they didnt learn from when they won thier title from the lakers dat u cant come into a play off game thinking u have it on lock, u get takin out everytime. lakers will beat boston in 5

 

[cranrab]

Keep team as is or make change? If so what changes?

only improvement i would attempt is make an effort to get a legit 5.

if that means rasheed wallace (whose game i like sometimes) and/or richard hamilton (whose game i don't like most of the time) has to go, then so be it. they have enough talent at the 4 to make do.

of course, there's so little talent to be had at the 5 that everybody is looking for the same upgrade.

 

[Rollie_Fingaz]

Detroit won with lock-down man defense. Anything that got through was handled by Ben Wallace. Since Flip went into his complex offensive schemes it has disrupted their defensive flow. THIS is why Big Ben left.

As good as an offensive player as 'Sheed is, he has become a liability on defense. I thought Theo Ratliff would have been the answer, because he plays in the mode of Wallace. But Saunders does not like to concentrate of defense. Personally, if Ratliff wasn't so fragile, I'd start him in the middle.

As much as people clown Coach Brown, He didn't stand for defensive lapses. Detroit has gotten by on what Brown taught them, but they don't do it enough in a game to stop anyone.

 

[Spectrum]

Detroit won with lock-down man defense. Anything that got through was handled by Ben Wallace. Since Flip went into his complex offensive schemes it has disrupted their defensive flow. THIS is why Big Ben left.

As good as an offensive player as 'Sheed is, he has become a liability on defense. I thought Theo Ratliff would have been the answer, because he plays in the mode of Wallace. But Saunders does not like to concentrate of defense. Personally, if Ratliff wasn't so fragile, I'd start him in the middle.

As much as people clown Coach Brown, He didn't stand for defensive lapses. Detroit has gotten by on what Saunders taught them, but they don't do it enough in a game to stop anyone.

 

[blooo]

Detroit won with lock-down man defense. Anything that got through was handled by Ben Wallace. Since Flip went into his complex offensive schemes it has disrupted their defensive flow. THIS is why Big Ben left.

As good as an offensive player as 'Sheed is, he has become a liability on defense. I thought Theo Ratliff would have been the answer, because he plays in the mode of Wallace. But Saunders does not like to concentrate of defense. Personally, if Ratliff wasn't so fragile, I'd start him in the middle.

As much as people clown Coach Brown, He didn't stand for defensive lapses. Detroit has gotten by on what Saunders(brown) taught them, but they don't do it enough in a game to stop anyone.

fixed it for you, i cosign to it too.. what detroit need is a good Coach who can Motivate/discipline. saunders never offered them anything new. Start off by replacing Saunders, get a defense minded coach, avery Johnson should be a good look. And i hope Stuckey can develop to give the team a solid 15 points every night, without taking away anybody else's Offense.

 

[CARVER]

another power forward that can score

 

[tp2001]

They may need to get a good PF to replace Sheed or a good defensive person in the paint...

The Pistons had two problems stemming from last season...Team chemistry and a true go-to guy...

Ben Wallace was their defense when they won the title in 04 and when they got back to the Finals in 05. Nobody could really get in the paint when he was there or they struggled to get a rebound...Then when the defensive scheme got lost somehow (either by relying too much on Prince or whatever the case may be), Ben got disgruntled and left...After that happened, I knew the Pistons wouldn't quite be the same...

Now I am a fan of team ball (so the Pistons should be a team I like), but in Stern's NBA, a one-man game is pretty much needed to get to the Finals (ex. Wade, Kobe, Lebron) by his standards...So in that case, who is the go-to guy for Detroit? Billups? Hamilton? Sheed? Who? There is no complete confidence in anyone to be the guy to handle the ball when time winds down...

Now if the Pistons hire Avery Johnson they will probably get a defensive identity back, but they still need a scoring PF (Brand? J. O'Neal?) and maybe let go of Sheed...

 

[cranrab]

Then when the defensive scheme got lost somehow (either by relying too much on Prince or whatever the case may be), Ben got disgruntled and left...After that happened, I knew the Pistons wouldn't quite be the same.

the change (for better or worse) occurred BY DESIGN when the pistons hired flip saunders. the pistons PURPOSELY chose an offensive minded head coach in the hopes that he would be able to take advantage of the NBA's emphasis on rules changes that favored scoring.

this is NOT my opinion, this is a FACT.

 

[tp2001]

the change (for better or worse) occurred BY DESIGN when the pistons hired flip saunders. the pistons PURPOSELY chose an offensive minded head coach in the hopes that he would be able to take advantage of the NBA's emphasis on rules changes that favored scoring.

this is NOT my opinion, this is a FACT.

well yes, that was the Pistons' plan by hiring Flip, but that was a bad move IMO because they lost part of why they got to the Finals in the first place...