Rodney Stuckey wouldn’t mind coming off the bench, but his coach disagrees (Ball Don’t Lie)

 Oklahoma City  No Responses »
Nov 162012
 

For years, it has been commonly accepted that basketball players would prefer to start. It marks status, showing that the coach has entrusted that player with getting the team off to a good start as part of the team’s ideal five-man unit. Earning that position is a milestone in any player’s career.
In recent years, however, the rise of players like James Harden (when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder) and San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili has turned being a sixth man into a potentially prestigious role. This player doesn’t have to be thought of a bench player — he can be the star of the second wave of attackers, the player who gives his team a major advantage when the starters begin to tire and lesser talents enter the game.
It’s still rare for a player to want to come off the bench. That’s why it’s notable that Detroit Pistons combo guard Rodney Stuckey, long a starter, would prefer to come off the bench. What’s even more surprising is that Pistons coach Lawrence Frank doesn’t like the idea. From Vincent Goodwill for The Detroit News (via SLAM ):

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Lawrence Frank inadvertently offers perfect evaluation of his Detroit Pistons’ growth (Ball Don’t Lie)

 Charlotte  No Responses »
Sep 202012
 

The Detroit Pistons finished 10 games out of the playoffs last season, their third straight missed postseason, after posting a 25-41 record that was the NBA’s ninth-worst. While they were no great shakes on the defensive end — allowing opponents to score an average of 106.3 points per 100 possessions, according to Basketball-Reference.com , ranking 22nd among the 30 NBA teams in defensive efficency — where they really struggled was on offense.
The punchless Pistons scored just 101 points per 100 possessions (fifth-worst in the league), making just 43.8 percent of their field-goal attempts (sixth-worst) and turning in the league’s third-worst Effective Field Goal percentage (a stat explained here ). That’s a tough way to win, no matter how much we all like Greg Monroe (which is quite a lot, indeed).
Coming off the lockout-shortened campaign, Pistons coach Lawrence Frank told Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press that he’s really glad he’ll have a full training camp with his players this season to help foster their development. In doing so, though, he used a turn of phrase that, while probably unintentional, was pretty perfect:
“We’re growing. It’s brick by brick.”
Zing!
We’re sure bringing in efficient swingman Corey Maggette in exchange for shot-happy off-guard Ben Gordon will help on that score, Coach Frank … except that he shot 37.3 percent from the floor for the Charlotte Bobcats last year, so, um, maybe not. Oh, well. All in all, it’s all just bricks in the wall .

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Lawrence Frank evaluates his Detroit Pistons’ growth via Freudian slip (Ball Don’t Lie)

 Charlotte  No Responses »
Sep 202012
 

The Detroit Pistons finished 10 games out of the playoffs last season, their third straight missed postseason, after posting a 25-41 record that was the NBA’s ninth-worst. While they were no great shakes on the defensive end — allowing opponents to score an average of 106.3 points per 100 possessions, according to Basketball-Reference.com , ranking 22nd among the 30 NBA teams in defensive efficency — where they really struggled was on offense.
The punchless Pistons scored just 101 points per 100 possessions (fifth-worst in the league), making just 43.8 percent of their field-goal attempts (sixth-worst) and turning in the league’s third-worst Effective Field Goal percentage (a stat explained here ). That’s a tough way to win, no matter how much we all like Greg Monroe (which is quite a lot, indeed).
Coming off the lockout-shortened campaign, Pistons coach Lawrence Frank told Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press that he’s really glad he’ll have a full training camp with his players this season to help foster their development. In doing so, though, he used a turn of phrase that, while probably unintentional, was pretty perfect:
“We’re growing. It’s brick by brick.”
Zing!
We’re sure bringing in efficient swingman Corey Maggette in exchange for shot-happy off-guard Ben Gordon will help on that score, Coach Frank … except that he shot 37.3 percent from the floor for the Charlotte Bobcats last year, so, um, maybe not. Oh, well. All in all, it’s all just bricks in the wall .

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Detroit Pistons: 5 Players with the Greatest Trade Value

 Rumors  No Responses »
May 172012
 

With the regular season finally over and the NBA Playoffs in full swing, the Detroit Pistons are already in offseason mode. There is much for Joe Dumars to consider as he tries to improve upon a dismal season. 

While the frustration still lingers, the Pistons at least have some positive things to build on. They have some nice pieces in place—Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight—and they showed improvement from last year under first-year coach Lawrence Frank.

They are certainly not the bottom of the NBA barrel. That distinction belongs to the Charlotte Bobcats. Let’s face it though, the Pistons aren’t that far from it.

Major improvements must be made if Dumars and the rest of the Pistons organization hope to compete in the Eastern Conference with Miami and Chicago—two championship-caliber clubs who will likely be at that level for some time.

The Pistons need to upgrade personnel at various positions. The best way to do that is to unload underachieving players for better ones. If only it were that easy.

Dumar’s is in a quandary. He has a handful of players that he’d like to jettison, but not many of them have much trade value.

Here are five players that I think have the most value, and therefore are good bets to wear different jerseys next season.

Begin Slideshow

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Owner Gores, Dumars optimistic about ’12-13 Pistons

 Rumors  No Responses »
Apr 272012
 

AUBURN HILLS — Tom Gores says the biggest thing he had to learn in his first year as Pistons owner is patience.

He still doesn’t have a lot of it.

Gores had a end-of-season meeting with the media Thursday evening, and his message was clear.

“We better make the playoffs this season,” he said.

Team president Joe Dumars and Pistons coach Lawrence Frank had their end-of-season meeting with the players on Friday morning, and then met with the media.

“I think that’s a very realistic goal,” Dumars said, when asked about the owner’s statement. “Obviously, that’s the direction we want to go – otherwise we wouldn’t be here – but I also think it is a reasonable expectation.”

One place where Dumars and Gores differed was on the strategy Detroit would employ to transform from a 25-41 team into a playoff team.

“I’m not sure our roster requires any moves to make the playoffs, because we have some great players on the team,” the owner said. “I’m not saying that we won’t look into the possibilities of making changes, but I’m saying we already have some great players.”

Dumars, on the other hand, thinks it is important to give Frank a better roster for the 2012-2013 season.

“That’s my job – I have to give Lawrence more good players to work with,” he said. “Lawrence is in charge of making the players we have even better, and I’m in charge of getting him more of them.

“I understand why Tom said that – we do have some very good young players on our roster – but you always have to move forward in this league.”

Detroit’s chances at the playoffs this season were ruined by a 4-20 start, but all three principals were encouraged by the 21-21 record that the Pistons posted from there.

“We don’t make excuses here, and there were 29 other teams that were hurt by the lockout, but I think it did affect some teams more than others,” Dumars said. “We had a new coach, a new system and a rookie point guard.

“We basically didn’t get a training camp, there was no preseason, and then boom. You are playing a shortened schedule and working on the fly.”

Frank agreed and plans to use the upcoming offseason as a chance to rectify some of those issues.

“I plan to take some time and visit with all of our players,” he said. “I want to build up some relationship equity, so when I get in their faces about something, we have a bond established. Last season, I couldn’t do that, so it was just a confrontation.”

The Pistons will be building their future around the nucleus of Brandon Knight, Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey, plus whomever they get in the draft. Barring a stroke of luck, they will have the ninth pick, and Dumars warned fans not to get too excited.

“Our draft isn’t like the NFL, where someone gets drafted ninth or 10th and they say that he’s going to start right away and play for 15 years,” he said. “In this league, at that spot, you’re looking at someone who will help right away, not someone who is going to be an impact player.

“Look at Greg Monroe. He helped us in his first season, but he didn’t become an impact player until this year. That’s the normal progression for players drafted in those spots.”

Unlike last year’s disaster under John Kuester, Frank kept the respect of his team, and unlike the past ownership issues, Gores now has firm control of the team and is willing to spend the money. Those things, combined with labor peace and the stronger finish to the season, means the Pistons go into the offseason in a positive state of mind.

“For the past couple years, it has been a relief just to get to the finish line,” Dumars said. “This season, when we met with the guys this morning, there was a real sense of disappointment that we’re not going to be playing this weekend.

“There are 16 teams that get to keep playing at the end of the year. This year, we aren’t one of them. Next year, we plan to be.”

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Gores to Pistons: We better make playoffs in ’13

 Rumors  No Responses »
Apr 272012
 

AUBURN HILLS — Tom Gores says the biggest thing he had to learn in his first year as Pistons owner is patience.

He still doesn’t have a lot of it.

Gores had a end-of-season meeting with the media Thursday evening, and his message was clear.

“We better make the playoffs this season,” he said.

Team president Joe Dumars and Pistons coach Lawrence Frank had their end-of-season meeting with the players on Friday morning, and then met with the media.

“I think that’s a very realistic goal,” Dumars said, when asked about the owner’s statement. “Obviously, that’s the direction we want to go – otherwise we wouldn’t be here – but I also think it is a reasonable expectation.”

One place where Dumars and Gores differed was on the strategy Detroit would employ to transform from a 25-41 team into a playoff team.

“I’m not sure our roster requires any moves to make the playoffs, because we have some great players on the team,” the owner said. “I’m not saying that we won’t look into the possibilities of making changes, but I’m saying we already have some great players.”

Dumars, on the other hand, thinks it is important to give Frank a better roster for the 2012-2013 season.

“That’s my job – I have to give Lawrence more good players to work with,” he said. “Lawrence is in charge of making the players we have even better, and I’m in charge of getting him more of them.

“I understand why Tom said that – we do have some very good young players on our roster – but you always have to move forward in this league.”

Detroit’s chances at the playoffs this season were ruined by a 4-20 start, but all three principals were encouraged by the 21-21 record that the Pistons posted from there.

“We don’t make excuses here, and there were 29 other teams that were hurt by the lockout, but I think it did affect some teams more than others,” Dumars said. “We had a new coach, a new system and a rookie point guard.

“We basically didn’t get a training camp, there was no preseason, and then boom. You are playing a shortened schedule and working on the fly.”

Frank agreed and plans to use the upcoming offseason as a chance to rectify some of those issues.

“I plan to take some time and visit with all of our players,” he said. “I want to build up some relationship equity, so when I get in their faces about something, we have a bond established. Last season, I couldn’t do that, so it was just a confrontation.”

The Pistons will be building their future around the nucleus of Brandon Knight, Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey, plus whomever they get in the draft. Barring a stroke of luck, they will have the ninth pick, and Dumars warned fans not to get too excited.

“Our draft isn’t like the NFL, where someone gets drafted ninth or 10th and they say that he’s going to start right away and play for 15 years,” he said. “In this league, at that spot, you’re looking at someone who will help right away, not someone who is going to be an impact player.

“Look at Greg Monroe. He helped us in his first season, but he didn’t become an impact player until this year. That’s the normal progression for players drafted in those spots.”

Unlike last year’s disaster under John Kuester, Frank kept the respect of his team, and unlike the past ownership issues, Gores now has firm control of the team and is willing to spend the money. Those things, combined with labor peace and the stronger finish to the season, means the Pistons go into the offseason in a positive state of mind.

“For the past couple years, it has been a relief just to get to the finish line,” Dumars said. “This season, when we met with the guys this morning, there was a real sense of disappointment that we’re not going to be playing this weekend.

“There are 16 teams that get to keep playing at the end of the year. This year, we aren’t one of them. Next year, we plan to be.”

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Detroit’s crazy week is typical of the NBA’s strange, disappointing season (Ball Don’t Lie)

 Atlanta  No Responses »
Apr 192012
 

Even given the disparate levels of competition — jumping from the terrible Cleveland Cavaliers to the quite-competent Atlanta Hawks is quite the leap — how in the hell did the Detroit Pistons go from winning by 39 points on Tuesday night against the Cavs to bowing by 32 to the Hawks on Wednesday ? The Pistons aren’t the hottest team in the NBA right now, but the team has split its last 14 games and by all accounts provides a competitive showing most nights out, so how do you explain this disparity?
There are obvious answers to go around. The team gave up, in Lawrence Frank’s public estimation . The team purposely tanked, to hear Dan Feldman of Piston Powered recall it . Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace sat, to rest veteran legs in a grueling season. Also, the Hawks are good, the Cavs are not. Also, random blowouts tend to happen, on either side of the coin. There are nice ways to slough this off.
We cannot, though. A disparity like this is just another straw in the cap of the NBA’s crappiest hat to date. The highs in this 2011-12 season have been significant, but the lows have been unacceptable. And we’ve got that bloody lockout to blame.

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