:mccosky:


Why is this so hard?

It is the nature of my job not to overreact to bad losses and losing streaks, particularly with a proven team this early in the season. A big part of what I do is try to keep things in perspective. Otherwise, I turn into a New York tabloid writer. Knicks win on Tuesday and they are the greatest team ever. Knicks lose Wednesday and they are bums. I won't ever play it like that -- I don't care how many nasty emails I get calling me a homer or the organization's mouthpiece. Anybody who has paid attention over the years knows I am anything but.

That said, however, I was troubled by the Pistons performance on Tuesday. More than that, I am troubled by the whole atmosphere at The Palace these days. Let's start with The Palace. The atmosphere has grown stale. The whole Deetroit Basketball thing seems like an old bit now. The crowds are arriving later than ever. The Pistons took the floor to a nearly empty building on Tuesday. And when they came out to start the second half, same thing -- most fans were still out on the concourse or down in their little bunker suites. It's just dead. Not much for the Pistons to draw energy from.

Now, I understand that the first couple of months in a long NBA season are meaningless. You don't expect these games to generate a whole lot of buzz -- especially on a cold Tuesday night with the Blazers in town. We got a little spoiled by the Pistons' hot start last year, which created more buzz early on than normal. But crowds have seemed more lifeless than I can remember since the Pistons banned the teal.

That is no excuse for lifeless performances by the Pistons, though. Horrible home losses to Milwaukee (on opening night, no less), New Orleans and Portland is a bit of red flag for me. Especially the way they've gone down. As I was watching the game Tuesday, I was struck by how miserable the Pistons players looked on the floor. When did playing basketball become such drudgery for these guys? It's one thing to lack energy. There's going to be nights like that, especially given the brutal early schedule these guys have been slogging through. It's one thing to have off nights, performance-wise. There will be nights when you miss shots and make turnovers and get frustrated. But to approach a game with such dread, such joylessness -- and that's exactly the impression I got from watching the game Tuesday -- is worrisome.

I am not trying to suggest that there's something wrong, internally. There's been no disconnect between the players and coaches. As far as I can tell, nobody is really seriously brooding. Everybody is pretty much on the same page. But these past couple of games, they don't seem to be having any fun. It's like, "Oh, man, another game (sic) against another lousy team. Can't wait till this one is over with." Back before all the success, back before they won the championship when they really did live up to the Going to Work slogan, they used to chomp at the bit for games like that. They would come out early, run a bad team out of the gym, and have a blast doing it. They would be dunking and trying all these highlight moves, and the bench would be up and into it and it was a lot of fun. Now, they treat these games against bad teams like it's beneath them to even have to step onto the court against them.

I am hoping that these three home losses will knock the Pistons off their high horse, humble them a little bit and maybe they will get back to grinding games out every night. But, I doubt it.

From the fan excitement standpoint, I still think they're reeling fromn the loss of Big Ben.

He was the last introduced. He went to VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY. He was barking into his cupped hand. The fro wigs were everywhere. The gong was ringing loudly. People were hyped.

I'm not saying that we're worse off with that contract in Chicago, but that is a big part of the malaise, IMO.

Some are also probably still stinging from the Darko fiasco. This was our chance to add a periennial young superstar, one that could be the face of Detroit basketball for the next decade. And we got a dud.

Another part is the "staleness" of Joe D's offseason moves. Nazr and Flip don't really excite anyone. If Joe could have found a Jon Barry-type rah rah player that dives on the floor and shows genuine emotion, things could be differrent. But these guys are all low key (Rip, Chauncey, Tay) and well, boring.

Sheed's got the charisma, but the league is stifling him.

I really think the new rules and the crackdown on shows of emotion have these guys playing scared, like robots.

Stern really fucked this up.

p.s. Also, playing the kids might help (Amir, Max). People are just waiting to see what they can do. A few Amir/Max highlight dunks per game would really get the crowds buzzing again, IMO.

Great post Glenn. I agree totally. Their best players are smooth and calm for the most part. Get the baby eater out there!

In 04 the team won a championship. In 05 they got Dyess and Arroyo. In 06 they simply lost players. In 07 they lost more players, specifically Ben.

Its a joke to think anyone would be "excited" for this team at a level comparable to any of the last 3 years. Where's the joy?

Where's the effort?

Anyone have the tv ratings and how they compare with last year?

Last year in the playoffs was awful compared to other years, when we were considered less of a contender. The fans may need another 8 years in teal purgatory in order to appreciate what they have.

I understnad where the fans at least are coming from. Even when we're winning, it's hard to be too excited, for a few reasons.

The gut feeling is there, the feeling in the inside that says "we can't win the title". Even when we were having a so-so season after our title, I still felt like "come playoff time, the boys are gonna bring it", it was that mentality, when push came to shove, they'd play stifling defense and leave the other team's superstar leaving the court holding back tears. I get absolutely no such feeling even when this team wins.

We see the same shortcomings coming again and again and again, starters playing too many minutes, not enough post scoring, bad decision making in jump shot offense, crappy defense. These are things that help you win titles, and when you're winning in the regular season without them, it's FOOLS GOLD. Every time Flip talks about his "low turnover high assist" offense, that's jump shooting offense.

The same way that even if the Washington Wizards or the NJ Nets won 55 games this season, I just know they ain't winning shit in the playoffs (especially the Wizards).

It's kinda pathetic when my only hope for the Pistons is that maybe the rest of the East will just be SOO BAD that we have a chance to make it through. I have zero confidence in the coach when the going gets tough. The one-great GM seems to be making misstep after misstep (the last really good move he made IMO was signing Dice. And that was, what, 2 years ago?)

There's just no swagger out there. They are going out every night because it's their job - not because they want to play basketball. They need to go out there and know that they're going to win. Once again, I think Joe needs to make a big trade (not a tinkering trade) to get that swagger back, not just with the players, but with the fans.

detroit isnt a basketball town, and the auburn hills pistons really arent a detroit team. this team missed the boat to endere itself to the fans. multiple titles might have raised the team's profile above what it currently is (somewhere close to the redwings, and a far cry from the tigers or even the 2-alot lions). this is all penny pincher's fault. if he had put a little more in, he might have got alot more out. i hope he dies knowing how much i hate him.