Haven't been watching much (been watching USC vs Oregon), but it appears the offense has been sputtering a bit in this 2nd quarter. Why is that?

Also, anyone know why Champion is doing the game tonight in place of Blaha?

Well, looks like they've got the offense going again.

Toooooooooooooooooooooooooo much going on tonight, plus trick or tweeters

Story of the season for us so far is Ben Wallace and how good our defense has been.

...but the story is starting to become how we are falling apart in the 3rd quarter.

24-6. Embarrassing.

SHow some fucking pride, Stuckey. Guard your man.

we went from being up 11 at halftime to down 11.

Our bigs are just not being respected at all, offensively. Milwaukee is jumping all over our guards every posession, and we just have no counter because our bigs cant shoot the damn ball.

3rd quarter scoring:

Milwaukee 36

Detroit 14

I can't even say our defense was all that bad. It's the same exact fucking story as last night. The other team overplays the shit out of our guards and none of our bigs do anything to make them pay.

V is almost never on the floor for this, but since he's spending so much time on the bench in foul trouble, he's at fault anyway.

We paid this fucker to put the ball in the basket. Wake the fuck up and do it.

But Kelser said 'don't worry' its just a run we should expect from the home club. So I'm not worried at all.

Bynum just doesn't quit hustling.

that's good, because if it wasnt for that he wouldnt be contributing at all.

For next game, put Wilcox or Jerebko in at PF instead of Maxiell, and let Austin or summers back up tay at SF. We need SOMETHING offensively outside of our guards.

Calling a spade a space, Will Bynum has been twice as bad as rondey stuckey.

Stuckey will get roasted for getting killed by Jennings, and he should. But at least he played well for a half. Bynum hasnt played well yet this season.

well 1-2 when we could have easily been 3-0. If Rip doesnt turn his ankle, we probably are 3-0.

That said, its time to let some of the rookies play. Maxiell and Kwame just arent cutting it.

Stuckey and Gordon are not going to make it another week unless they get some offensive help.

For what it's worth, effort is not a problem this season. Chemistry has not been a problem, either.

We need to find parts that fit, and right now Maxiell and Kwame do not fit with the rest of the group.

How Embarrassing!

Blaha's doing the MSU game, Tbeau.

Eh, they just dont have the talent right now.

This team was designed to have Gordon or Rip on the floor at all times. Without Rip, Gordon is getting worn down.

Our guards are looking bad because they just dont have any support.

Even if V picks it up, we have nothing up front off the bench.

Try Jerebko and Daye or Summers as a backup forward tandem. They cant possibly do any worse. At worst, Daye can actually shoot the ball, and keep the defense a little honest.

How Embarrassing!

Blaha's doing the MSU game, Tbeau.

Oh right, I forgot about that. Thanks!

Why didn't Wilcox/Daye/Hamilton play?

Hamilton got hurt at the end of the Memphis game.

We're saving Wilcox and Daye as secret weapons.

i hope we get a top 5 lottery pick

Fuck that.

I don't mind missing the playoffs and getting a late Lotto pick IF (like last season) we're gonna get smashed come playoff time.

But a Top 5 pick? That (likely) means an entire season of shit, which I can't handle right now. With our offensive firepower that would be completely unacceptable.

we're not that bad. I still feel very confident we'll wind up with at least a 7 seed.

We're an ankle turn away from being an easy 3-0. Rip is hurt, none of the rookies are playing yet.

This team will look very different in 2 months. Gotta work through the growing pains.

I agree with Kstat. If Rip plays we're 3-0. No doubt about it. Heck, if CV plays a little bit better in both losses, we're 3-0. He's playing sloppy D, but I also feel like the refs don't reward his aggressive D at all.

Kwame should be shut down until the hand is healed. We have other guys who can defend, and we need scoring.

Maxiel sucks and needs to go. Time to cut the ties while we still can. He is useless, especially in this kind of system. No more undersized bigs, Joe.

I'd like to see Wilcox play a bit more. At least he's offensively capable, when compared to Max and Kwame.

Also, Stuckey had 8 assists. Not bad for a shooting guard...

It's pretty bad when you have a guy like Kwame in the rotation, a hurt Kwame is even worse.

Thats the best Joe could come up with?

Also, Stuckey had 8 assists. Not bad for a shooting guard...


Well, he's averaging 4 per game, which is fine for a shooting guard, but he's shooting 38% which is real bad for, well, anyone.

Well, he's averaging 4 per game, which is fine for a shooting guard, but he's shooting 38% which is real bad for, well, anyone.

Good stats, yet I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions from anything thus far. I was more just being snarky with the 8 assist thing -- not saying you didn't catch that, BTW.

Stuckey and Gordon are trying way too hard to carry the time right now with Rip out. They basically have to carry the team though because Tay isn't a go-to player and CV hasn't hit his stride, though he did well in the 4th quarter.

Stuckey will endup averaging about 7 assists, 17 points, and probably shoot 44% on the year, IMO. The team isn't trusting the offense right now, as Kuester has said, so the quality of the shots we're taking is pretty poor at times, Stuckey and Gordon included. When that ball starts zipping around like it did in the season opener, they should be fine.

This team needs Rip back soon, and it needs to bench Maxiell. Once these things happen, they'll be okay.

Stuckey will endup averaging about 7 assists, 17 points, and probably shoot 44% on the year, IMO.

IF Stuckey has those stats at ANY point this season some people here will cream their pants.

But if he does put up those kind of numbers does that make him a PG?

There's more to the PG position than getting assists.

Oh, and you knew I couldn't let y'all forget:

We should never have drafted Maxiell in the fucking first place.

I said on the day and will continue to say it until this career back-up is moved. I don't give a fuck about Pistons DNA or whatever excuse they gave for picking him.

There were other candidates that were equal in standing to Maxiell at the time who have gone on to be better pros. Our scouts have a lot to answer for.

And to make the mistake worse they then went and gave him an insane amount of money in an extension! FUCK!

Maxiell was fine for the type of team we had. He simply no longer fits in.

If Flip is still here, Max is still probably excelling.

The team we had at the time was a title contender that was about to show it's age.

Instead of going with a high risk-high reward pick (like Monta Ellis) or a quality 3 point shooter to back up Prince (like Korver or Kapono) or a not completely undersized big man (like David Lee)

We went with Maxiell because ...

No one can tell me they believe he was without question the best player available at that pick. No one can tell me they believe he was without a doubt the best big man at that pick.

Our scouts just couldn't recognise the determination or heart or whatever you wanna call it that a guy like David Lee has. And don't act like he's only good cause he plays in some freaky system in NY.

He showed promise before Mad Mike went to New York.

And how the fuck did we not take a chance on Ellis? It's not like our backcourt at the time was super deep. And Ellis would have eventually been the 3rd guard with Rip and Chauncey.

FUCK!

I fucking hate this shit. I hate being right, I hate talking about our draft mistakes. I hate it because I look at the Maxiell pick and the Darko Draft and see that if we draft better (not "perfect - just capable players) then we would have been real contenders for a longer period of time.

With Maxiell, Darko and Delfino we wasted 3 Draft picks. Let's say we picked Monta Ellis, Josh Howard and Bosh. FUCK!

we went high risk high reward with walter sharpe last year...

Nobody wants to remember the "high risk" part of the equation.

Well, fuck me and call me screwed.

That worked out well, didn't it?

no, it didn't. We could have gone the safe route with a known quantity like Chalmers, Mbah a Moute, or CDR. But we went for the home run in an unknown 6'9" athletic freak with mental problems.

We also went high risk high reward with the darko pick. I don't need to bring up how that went.

Sometimes the right pick is the safe pick. There will be sleepers in every draft that turn into home runs. That doesnt mean the odds are worth taking.

Milwaukee looks like they hit a home run with Jennings this year, a kid with almost no real film on him a year removed from playing in this country.

But on the same token, they struck out horribly last year when they took Joe Alexander #8.

So if we're an ankle turn from being 3-0, then as long as Rip comes back now and doesn't get hurt again, it sounds like 80-2 is a real possibility!

no, it didn't. We could have gone the safe route with a known quantity like Chalmers, Mbah a Moute, or CDR. But we went for the home run in an unknown 6'9" athletic freak with mental problems.

The fact Sharpe is a bum was known on Draft Day. No one wanted him drafted.


We also went high risk high reward with the darko pick. I don't need to bring up how that went.

Just cause every fucker in the land thinks this guy is the Man doesn't make it legit. How did everyone get blinded? Has our organisation taken steps to correct the process for the future?


Sometimes the right pick is the safe pick. There will be sleepers in every draft that turn into home runs. That doesnt mean the odds are worth taking.

The right pick is the right pick. Playing it safe = mediocre. And I'm not talking about unknown dudes who turned into superstars. I'm talking about dudes that at the time were just as "good" as the dudes we picked, we just fucked up and didn't draft 'em.

My question has and always be WHY NOT?

I'm not whining cause we don't have another 3 rings. I'm not whining cause Monta Dumbass Ellis isn't on our roster. I'm WONDERING why the fuck we draft like Ray Charles?

Although I'm sure he could sense that Darko was a bum or that Maxiell had Stackhouse syndrome (does not improve no matter what)


Milwaukee looks like they hit a home run with Jennings this year, a kid with almost no real film on him a year removed from playing in this country.

But on the same token, they struck out horribly last year when they took Joe Alexander #8.

Jennings was "known" to most people IMO. I think even a casual Draft fan like myself thought he'd go top 15 and had several skills that would translate to the league from the get go.

As for Joe Alexander - he was the safe pick. Go back and check the "buzz" on dudes at the time. He was one of those "rock solid contributor" kind of guys.

Fuck those guys. You wanna be drafting potential starters at every single pick. Not career bench players. Bench players are a dime a dozen. Game changers are hard to find.

Joe Alexander was never considered safe. There were major questions about his ability to play defense.

So there were questions about his D. Aren't there questions about the D of 99.9% of rooks?

No one questioned his ability on offense. People thought he was a rock solid contributor and that he'd be a good pick

Seth (Detroit): In the opening minutes of the second half against Milwaukee, Greg Kelser mentioned that Ben Wallace tried to console Charlie and Charlie didn’t slap Wallace’s hand when it was extended to him and that it rubbed Ben the wrong way. Do you think that incident became a distraction?

Langlois: No, but it’s a teaching moment in Charlie V’s indoctrination in the essence of being a Piston. And I think you saw some fire from Villanueva late in the Orlando win when he took a big charge from Ryan Anderson and went up in a crowd for a huge defensive rebound. Charlie V was frustrated by the foul trouble that dogged him in the opening games and Wallace was there to let him know that he can’t let his personal frustrations fester and drag down the team. No one has whispered that Villanueva has attitude issues, but it’s fair to say he has room to grow as a competitor, which is hardly uncommon in young players still trying to carve out a niche. That’s one of the key reasons Ben Wallace was brought back – to show the young players, and not just the rookies, the work ethic and level of selflessness it takes from the top of the roster to the bottom if you want to get on a championship path.