OT: SVG and the Pistons part ways
We'll always have #FAFW
I met Laimbeer in 2009 on the side of a ski hill at a Kid Rock concert.
It's not nearly as white-trashy as it sounds.
Wait, yes, yes it is, as I got hit-on hard by a girl who was smoking weed with a fresh c-section scar...
I'm sure the weed was medicinal.
When does your story get weird? It always gets weird. This is too normal for you.
well, she clearly knew how to........ nm
Doesn't get more white trashy than smoking weed via a c-section scar.
Again, not as trashy as it sounds. I only saw her c-section scar because her button-down shirt was totally unbuttoned, revealing her bra for all to see, and she joined our one-hitter-sharing-circle. I first noticed her "pregnany line" - that vertical line that invariably runs down a pregnant woman's stomach - and asked her about it. Only then did she pull down her jean shorts enough to reveal the very red, very fresh c-section scar.
So, once again, really not that white trashy...
but his doppelganger probably would:
You have neglected important information.
How attractive was she?
a. Enough that you didn't mind the glimpse of full boobs in a bra, etc. (but wouldn't want to actually go further.)
b. Could you please button that up lady? Come on... I just ate.
Sounds like my kind of girl.
I never knew my mom liked Kid Rock.
Boy, the things you can learn about your parents.
HAAAAAAAAAAA! Now that's funny!
but would rather Jerry Stackhouse as coach.
I'd like to see Juwan Howard get a shot at a head coaching job. Detroit would be a great place to get it started.
hell yeah and on the bench they drink faygo instead of gatorade
"but I imagine the job is pretty attractive with the talent we have."
That's gotta be sarcasm, right? We've got an ill-alligned roster with no 2019 1st round pick and little cap space to work with.
This roster is not the roster of a contender, nor is it easily shapeable into one unless we burn it all down ala Philly.
this isn't the Lions thread.
When presented a choice between talent and a system-fit, he chose the latter. And then hardly played him.
While we're in the time machine can we go back to 2003 and draft one of Carmello, Bosh, Kaman, or Wade?
I'm not a Pistons fan, but on behalf of those who are, I'd bet this is still too soon.
Fun fact: in addition to the afore-not-quite-mentioned Darko, there was a Zarko, a Zoran, a Slavko, and a Zaza (YTZ) selected in the 2003 draft.
These comments are so easy in retrospect. Everyone had Darko as the overall #2 and it made a lot of sense for the Pistons to take a guy with all the upside in the world but needed to develop. We didn't need any talent on that team and we won a damn championship his rookie year. I'd argue that if we have Melo or Wade, we don't win the championship because they mess with the rotation and chemistry. We would have been slightly better in 2004-2006 but we were still really damn good those years. Any of those players would have left the Pistons after their rookie contract so it's not like we lost out on much. I'll always take that Championship over any of those players. The best thing Darko did was stay out of the way and I'm ok with that. Why wonder what could have been when we won a fucking championship.
See? Told you it was too soon.
The Pistons were very public in their gushing over Darko pre-draft, which is why I think everyone had him #2. I am more sympathic to their selection of Kennard, who looks like at least an average selection for a #12 pick. And a bunch of other teams passed on Mitchell as well.
to "Stay out of the way"? It wasn't like Darko voluntarily sat on the bench. Dude was a total liability and if even a shred of his talent matched his potential, he could've easily played meaningful minutes for Sheed or Ben.
read old scouting reports and mock drafts. No GM in the NBA is taking Bosh and Wade over Darko. Nobody. Carmelo would've been nice, but he and Larry Brown hated each other in the Olympics that year, and I have a hard time believing they'd have worked out well. Not to mention, Darko sucking led the Pistons to getting Rasheed Wallace. It's very possible that Darko over Melo won them a title. Bosh or Wade would've been amazing, but nobody was taking them over Darko.
Also, wasn't the whole point of Detroit's dominance that they played cohesively as a team, played high-effort team defense, and no one felt the need to be "the guy"?
It's very easy for a team to look great on paper, but not actually be able to pull it off, OKC is a great example-and I'm not even talking about just this year's team.
Pistons don't have their 2018 1st-rd pick (this year's) due to the Griffin trade, correct? I thought they still have the one for 2019.
He probably meant this June's pick
You're right. I meant in this upcoming draft.
Unless it's in the top 3. Lottery luck almost never benefits the Pistons. Watch them get the fourth pick, just high enough to lose it to the Clippers.
Disagree. In the short term, i.e., next year, what we have is what we have. Longer term, I think Blake and Andre plus a healthy Reggie is a formidable trio to build around. After this next season, Ish Smith comes off the books and the team can decide to fish or cut bait on all three of Stanley Johnson, Henry Ellenson, and Luke Kennard. Johnson will be an RFA and the other two have club options. One more season after that and you lose two of the biggest mistakes in recent history in Leuer and Josh Smith.
2018-2019 will be a study in painful mediocrity (and in the NBA there's barely any point in trying to become an instant contender in a year anyway), but the next GM will have some real flexibility in the summers of 2019 and 2020.
I'm good with trying to have our own big three in the three that are already on the roster, and spending a couple years shedding mistakes and trying to replace them with better complementary pieces. Don't need to burn it to the ground. The house is in good shape, it's just that someone put ugly-ass wallpaper all over it and neglected the landscape.
In the era of three ball teams I don’t think we could be worse built Drummond is overrated Blake is headed for twighlight. We gave too much up in the trade. We are basically competing for a playoff spot and that’s it, for a while
Ellenson is going to be a good player for someone someday. Should have been Detroit.
At least the Pistons found plenty of minutes for Tolliver, which saved us from missing the playoffs by a lot (vs. a little). /s
Andre/Blake/Reggie are all extremely flawed in their own ways and none have shown the ability to legimitately lead a winning team.
Burn it down while we still have something other teams value and start from scratch. That trio will never do anything more than lose in the 1st round of the playoffs.
You're living in fantasy land if you think the Pistons are ever going to do anything with a "big three" that has Griffin and Drummond and Reggie in it. Period. This team will never even be relevant with that plan. Blow it up completely and start over or enjoy a decade of empty seats and 7th or 8th seed finishes at best.
Record with Reggie: 27-18. Record without him: 12-25. And they were 3-1 when they all played together, with the only loss being four points to Houston.
I don't know what kind of reverse Kool-Aid you're drinking, but I don't see a reason to believe you here. And, uh, did you pay attention to Philly's attendance numbers during their tank job?
That and $2 will get ya....oh fuck it....nevermind. It's pointless. How many playoff wins? Oh zero? Got it.
How about we see what happens during a full season before we decide they can't go to the playoffs? I'm good with a 3-1 record, now let's see them play more than four games before you go "ya but zero playoff wins." You really aren't presenting much of a case.
I don't have to present a case. Either you want to get to championship caliber level or not. And obviously, you are in the not category. Because they might make the playoffs as I have already said on here. If the 7th or 8th seed is what you're looking for, then they are right where you want them because that is where they will be at best for a while. They aren't winning on a big scale without elite shooting and certainly not with Drummond as the focal point. So yeah, we'll see alright.
Bullshit. All you are doing is declaring that Reggie, Blake, and Andre aren't good enough and yuo have zero reasons why. "They aren't winning with Drummond as the focal point" is not a reason. Elite shooting can be added as complementary pieces around those guys. Keep Reggie Bullock and you have one shooter right away.
Nobody has any reason to believe anything you say if you think you "don't have to present a case." I certainly don't. Your argument about "not wanting to be championship caliber" is patently garbage.
Reggie is constantly dinged/injured-so much so that your previous mention of the team's record with or without him is essentially irrelevant as he's missed extended time in two consecutive seasons. Never shown he's capable of playing a full season + playoffs. He has poor shot selection, doesn't take great care of the ball, and would mostly rather be the hero than make the right play.
Griffin is a high-volume, low-efficiency forward without the elite shooting that would make him a truly dominant PF. Also gets hurt frequently. Basically is an at-best second banana that's treated like a superstar because he scores 20 a game on 20 shots and used to be able to dunk with the best of them.
Drummond is basically going to be what he already is. Great rebounder, great athlete, sub-par offensive skills and unfulfilled defensive potential.
Put that all together and you get a trio without scoring ability, shitty defense, bad ball movement, and limited offensive options. Oh and their cap hit basically erases any real chance of giving a team comprising those players what they desperately need to even make the playoffs, such as elite-level shooting.
Did I present a case?
Definitely a case worth debating. Do I agree with everything, no - but it's a real discussion instead of "you obviously don't want a championship."
I'll concede that the injury history on these guys - Jackson and Griffin, mainly - is a big problem. Can we depend on them for a full season? I'd like to think so, but maybe not. And I don't think that can be downplayed until they do play 82 games together.
I do think it's unfair to say Reggie doesn't take care of the ball. He's basically middle of the road in the turnover department, actually. He's a lousy three-point shooter, but pretty solid on twos.
Griffin is high-volume and kind of an average three point shooter, but an outstanding passer. You can move the offense through him much more than your average (or even way above average) PF, who basically has to end up shooting in order to be useful. I wouldn't slap this trio with the label of bad ball movement, just for Griffin alone.
I also think it's unfair criticism to say Drummond will always be what he is. He did just improve his FT shooting so that nobody does Hack-a-Dre anymore. I think there's more upward trajectory left in his game, and meantime having the league's best rebounder and top-ten shot-blocker is a tremendously valuable thing.
Lastly, the Pistons were tied for sixth in the league in PPG allowed, so the defense ain't half bad. It's the offense that needs work. A full season (I know, no guarantee) of this big three playing together should go a long way toward fixing that.
Let's face it: You can't win in the NBA by having a poor-man's version of the best teams. You can't out-Harden Harden or out-Steph Steph. So you have to zig when everyone else zags. That's how the Pistons went on their last big contending (and championship) run and that's what they're doing now. Run the game through the bigs instead of the guards. They need a coach who can take advantage of Griffin's point-forward abilities and squeeze a lot more production out of the locked-up potential in Johnson, Kennard, and Ellenson. It can be done. Nobody has a ball-mover at PF like we do or a rebounder at C like we do - the new coach just has to find a way to make those mismatches work.