Too early to tell

Looks the same to me

No, we are playing different ball

Too early to say, wait til' Stuckey gets back...and IF amir johnson ever gets a chance to touch the damn floor after warm-ups

Yup, the type of team that should make the Conf. finals. We should all be proud and not bitch like women.

I don't know if Same Ole Pistons is fair but I would like to see them drop the getting killed in the paint and on the boards shit from last year and last night.

I want to see Amir and Stuckey play before I decide. One of the two can happen now if the coach would give him 10 or less mins per game...

Looking forward to seeing Stuckey, but so far, it is the same old Pistons...

that's not all bad of course since we are very lucky to have a perennially good team - the starters could win 50 games in their sleep. As long as you ignore the fact we have (had?) the team to win multiple titles.

What I really want from this team are the things that Flip can't seem to provide:

-A strong rebounding team
-An inside-out offense
-that poise under pressure
-Great defense

to be fair there are things we DO WELL. We limit turnovers and do have balanced scoring, we are pretty good under pressure not as good as the pistons of old, and we have good jump shooters, our defense is good in small spurts, and on any given night can have mismatches to exploit with our personnel. The limiting turnovers thing is a nice stat, but I could gladly give up some turnovers to get better rebounding. its like last night... we were within 2, then within 3, then within 1, then up 1, then down 2, and somehow, i knew we were going to lose. I expected it - that's not something I remember happening during the 03-05 Pistons.

It just feels like we're the perenial hurdle. the hump that someone else has to cross. At this point, it could be Chicago or Boston beating us in the CF if the pattern holds - i hope it doesn't.

Feels like the same old Pistons to me, but its early.

We get down and STILL expect to be able to flip a switch and come back and win it. I still think that game in last years playoffs in Chicago(?) where we were down a bunch and came back to win, hurt us. We still think we can do that anytime we want.

I see a big difference in urgency in the second half and we play better. Ripis the only player that seems to hustle ALL the time. He isn't the perfect player but lack of hustle isn't it. The others seem to lollygag around for a while till it gets close to games end.

This was mostly last nights game, but feel THAT is the Pistons we'll see come playoff time.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this year's team is different. Why?

1. It starts with Rasheed. Honestly, if Rasheed keeps playing the way he has been, how can we NOT be better this year? I defy anyone to say that Rasheed has been anything but superb.

2. We have a more-active, contributing bench. Yes, I know we didn't see much of it against Chicago, and I'm not sure why. But even last night Maxiell played well, Nazr did some good things, and Jarvis was okay. Once Stuckey returns and Amir gets fully healthy, our bench will be turning some heads.

3. Flip Saunders is growing to be more-assertive with this team. Granted, he does need to emphasize things other than good shots and low turnovers, like rebounding and protecting the paint, but I believe the players are listening to him more this year. In the offseason, the players told him they wanted him to be more vocal and hard-nosed, and I think we'll see more of that as the year goes on.

4. Focus. This team is way more focused than it has been the last few years, and I think we all can see that. They know the window will only be open a few more years most likely, and they don't want their legacy to be "the team who won a championship but should have won three."

4. Focus. This team is way more focused than it has been the last few years, and I think we all can see that. They know the window will only be open a few more years most likely, and they don't want their legacy to be "the team who won a championship but should have won three."

I think we can all agree that without a little bit of discipline, that focus is easily disrupted by all kinds of lame garbage.

We're soft in the middle. We're gonna have the same result this year.

And by soft, I mean soft.

Soft like Jerome James gut?

Hey, that's the same Jerome James that hit a running hook shot to beat the Pistons in '05.

question: has this been at all different from expectations?

for me: the kids are a LITTLE better than i expected, but other than that they could be broadcasting games from years past and could completely fool me. or is it fingerbang me.

either way, theres a little excitement seeing the young ones, other than that not too much excitement in piston town for me. i do enjoy watching the bulls get pounded every night and having their faggy announcers squirm. thats fun.

I'm convinced we are NOT going to get it done this year with our current roster. I like our young guys too, but we don't have the young big guys that are ready this year.

AJ is not ready
MM - We've seen most of what he can do. If he was a lil taller, he might be the guy. He is not lacking attitude as much as size

Sheed - Soft in the middle. Are guys really NOT driving to the hoop cuz he's there? Hells nah.

Dice? Please. He actually does have an attitude some times but for whatever reason he just seems to get T'd up if he play physical and he can't do it by himself.

Nazr - He has the size but not the attitude or ability.

This is going way WAY out on a limb here but I'd almost rather see a Brian Cardinal play every night, cuz he plays hard and physical. I don't even know if he's still in the league.

Boozer and Memo>Detroits front line.

You're convinced already? 13 games in? Dude, wait until they blow game 5 of the ECF vs. the Celtics this year.

ECF? Serious?

Oh, my bad, thought we were talking about the Magic.

Cardinal is still in the league. I think he's with the Grizz...

Cardinal is still in the league. I think he's with the Grizz...

I sat next to him at a game last year and chatted with him, no joke. He was injured (along with Mighty Mouse). We had courtside tickets at the end of the grizz bench. Yes, they were given to us, and yes it was preseason.

I would have loved it. I'd have talked about his Pistons days.

I would have loved it. I'd have talked about his Pistons days.

I liked that guy. I remember him having a bloody nose and they stuck some cotton up there or something, and he turned around and tried to check back in the game. Someone grabbed him and sat him down but thats the spirit.

Some guys would have needed a...

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7418/wcyd8.jpg

Brian Cardinal tought this guy how to do this..

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7543/etow6.jpg

"The Custodian" has been close to retirement a couple of times due to injury.

I'm actually surprised that the Grizz haven't bought him out of that ridiculous contract.

The Custodian ???

I always wanted the 'Stons to play him more.

The Custodian just sounds -so- WWF.

I wanted Cardinal to play more when he was here, too.

I thought Brian Cardinal was terrible here...

I never liked him or Mikki Moore...

A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Dont want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. beerbelly beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I dont find this stuff amusing anymore
If youll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you betty
And betty when you call me
You can call me al

Paul Simon

For Pistons allusions, I like the second verse:


A Flip walks down the street,
He says, Why am I short of attention?
Got a short little bench of attention,
And whoa, my nights are so long!
Where's my wife and family?
What if I die here?
Who'll be my role-model?
Now that my role-model is ....
Gone ...... Gone,
Ben ducked back down the alley,
With some Windy City, little bat-faced girl.
All along .... along ....
There were injuries and accidents,
There were Rasheed allegations .....

lol

Now you guys need to do Stealer's Wheel, "Soft in the middle with you"

Wow, Mxy, hilarious.

SOFT!

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9276/dbop2.jpg

http://www.woodensoul.com/schtickpics/schticklogo.gif

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3176/mmtu5.jpg

ok, I'm done now

Someone should photoshop the pistons' players' faces onto those marshmallows!

wESk0mUAbwA

I'm going to have to change the unofficial team name from the Detroit Lasers to the Detroit Sandy Vaginas.

INTRODUCING YOUR 2008 DETROIT PISTONNNNNNNNNNNNNNS!

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3176/mmtu5.jpg

missing in the team picture is Mad Max

If you stare at that pic of marshmallows long enough, I think you can see the face of Memo Okur.

Look familiar?

Same old playoff coaching, Flip has to grow some balls and our satarters have to give a mad fuck about winning. If i see another guy on our team happy about reggie evans hugging them for 10 seconds after the foul w/o pushing him i'll officially designate this team gay. Maxiell wouldnt be cool with that hug shit.

Sheed with the group hug (w/ the Sixers), then blows a lazy lay-up.

Chauncey blowing freebies.


On a diet. Haven't eaten a baby in a week. How's my figure.

that was inexcusable by sheed, in the huddle laughing, fuckin idiot

^ All of that is what pisses off fans. Losing is one thing but quitting or just not giving a shit is where it crosses the line.

Unfortunately, Flip isn't the guy that can go in the locker room, blow a gasket and chew their asses the way Leyland can. He just doesn't carry the clout with these guys imo.

larry brown did, scotty bowman did, flip saunders does not.

After watching the boston game tonight I really can not even fathom us beating them

It's not that we lost the game, they beat us. There is no question about it
I guarantee the players don't agree.

If Philly can beat us, then the Pistons are in real trouble.

If we treat the playoffs like just another year in the playoffs, we're in real trouble.

This Tahoe guys is really cogent.

Shall we take bets on who beats us in the ECF next year?

I'm going to go controversial and suggest Orlando or Chicago.

I have to say that starting this thread is a lot like asking, Are the Pistons done?

One thing I don't want JoeD to do is come out and announce what he is going to do so other teams will get better deals.