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Monday, April 21, 2008
Mark (Macomb): After last night’s embarrassing loss, is any player or coach mad with himself? The 76ers looked like the tougher team at the end. Why don’t these players have a killer’s instinct?
Langlois: Your question is pretty representative of several that have come to Mailbag since last night’s game ended, which is about 12 hours ago as I write this. As Flip Saunders said after the game, yeah – they’re mad, disappointed, upset, all of that. They know that was a game they controlled last night and they let Philadelphia seize momentum – of the game and the series. The only thing they can do is go out Wednesday and win that one to take the series to Philadelphia even. The best part about the loss is that it’s a best-of-seven series, not best-of-five, the way first-rounders were until it changed with the 2002-03 season.
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Barb (Bridgeport): I got up extra early this morning due to the fact the Pistons gave away the game last night. My husband and I were prepared to purchase a full-season ticket package, but after watching last night’s game I don’t think so. Maybe after I think about it some more. How in the world are they ready for Boston? The Pistons must respect their fans and stop taking these subpar teams as chumps and go out and play the game.
Langlois: They played a lousy 18 minutes or so in Game 1, Barb, and it cost them. I don’t think you can say it was because they took Philadelphia lightly, though. It’s not like they were stumbling from the start. And they were well aware of the fact that Philly was 22-12 down the stretch and had wins at The Palace and Boston. I wrote before the series that Philly was the toughest matchup of the three possible playoff opponents. I still thought – and I still believe – that the Pistons will win this series. If you had seen enough from the Pistons in the first 82 games to make you want to buy season tickets, you’ll probably want to let the rest of the playoffs unfold before deciding now that you don’t want to buy them.
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Donald (Howell): What’s going on with Rip. He’s missing shots a high school player could make. He’s not running and moving without the ball. What has happened to that mid-range jumper?
Langlois: There was an element of “be careful what you wish for” to the Pistons last night. They seemed so intent early on getting the ball to Rasheed Wallace down low that Hamilton and Chauncey Billups got taken out of the offense early and never really seemed to find their comfort zone. When that happens, Hamilton at times seems to want to force things with one-on-one moves and that clearly is not his strength. I’d expect a much more efficient outing from Hamilton in Game 2.
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C.C. (Detroit): What happened to playing the second five? Why develop the second five if you are not going to play them? Rip and Tayshaun should not have played them. That was an ugly game.
Langlois: If you were expecting to see the Zoo Crew out there as a unit with the game on the line, that was never in the cards. The Pistons actually used their bench more than Philly did. The numbers say it was a narrow edge – 66 minutes to 65 minutes – but the reality is that almost half of Philly’s bench minutes were absorbed by Reggie Evans, who played 32 while starter Thaddeus Young played 22. And Evans is the wily veteran who most expected to start, Young the rookie. So Mo Cheeks was much more cautious with his bench last night. He’d been going four deep, but last night Rodney Carney only played three minutes and Jason Smith nine. The Pistons went five deep into their bench – that’s quite a bit for the playoffs. Really, only Rasheed Wallace’s minutes (40) were higher by more than a minute or two than expected, and that’s because he was such a force at both ends with seven blocks and 24 points. You’ll see more of Stuckey and Hayes, I would expect, as the series goes on.
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Michael: Why no Amir Johnson? He led the Pistons in efficiency stats per 48 minutes according to NBA.com; he led them in Roland Ratings on 82games.com and he had the best PER among Pistons big men according to John Hollinger’s ratings on ESPN.com. Yet Philly wins by starting a 19-year-old rookie who is younger than Amir. Also, Afflalo should have played instead of Hunter. When Hunter is on the court, Stuckey becomes passive and defers to him.
Langlois: Pistons big men actually played pretty well, Michael. McDyess looked a little too anxious, shooting 2 for 9 and hurrying things, but Wallace, Maxiell and Ratliff all made great use of their minutes. I don’t mean to denigrate those ratings formulas, but quantifying basketball as those systems do is still a very inexact science. In other words, I wouldn’t hang too much on any of those systems. You make a valid point about Young starting, but you’ll notice Mo Cheeks didn’t much trust him in the second half, either. Young played only eight minutes in the second half, 33 seconds in the fourth quarter. As for Afflalo vs. Hunter, that could change. I think Flip Saunders was more comfortable with the veteran whose played on NBA title teams and has a well-earned reputation as a defensive game-changer.
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Andy (Grand Rapids): Lots of things didn’t work out in Game 1, but some of the lineups were confusing. What was the purpose for the three-guard lineup of Billups, Hamilton and Hunter?
Langlois: Saunders said it was something they contemplated before the series in an effort to match up with the perimeter quickness of Philadelphia. Andre Igoudala is an explosively quick small forward, so when the Pistons needed to give Prince some rest they moved Hamilton down to guard Igoudala. Probably going to see some more of that in this series. Afflalo would be another option.
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Marcell (Cape Haze, Fla.): Can you put a handle on tonight’s disappointing loss? We had 30 Pistons fans gathered around at our southwest Florida home and each one was totally shocked at the way the Pistons played.
Langlois: So it was more like Cape Daze then, right? Sometimes, games take on a life of their own. The Pistons had a 15-point lead and two things jumped out at me from that point on – Andre Miller became the best player on the floor and Reggie Evans became the most forceful. Miller orchestrated things beautifully for the 76ers – he won his battle with Chauncey Billups – and Evans became the irresistible force. All of that said, if Billups and Hamilton make their free throws and pretty much all of them make the easy baskets they missed in the final seven or eight minutes, it’s a pretty safe win.
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Nima (Windsor): Would it be safe to say that other than Maxiell, the rest of the bench lost Game 1? Why play the bench so much – it’s the playoffs!
Langlois: So that’s one vote for playing the starters more. I don’t know, Nima, if I’m making a list of players who could have done more to win Game 1, it starts with the starters. The Pistons got a combined 39 points from their starting perimeter players and a whopping 13 total baskets in 39 attempts with 10 total assists. Those three have to account for more offense than that for the Pistons to beat pretty much anybody.
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Tyler (Lima, Ohio): What is the likelihood of Joe D keeping Walter Herrmann, who I think has a huge upside, around next year as Tayshaun’s primary backup?
Langlois: I don’t think that will come into focus until later this summer, Tyler. The draft comes first and it figures to be pretty deep in wing players who will be available at about the time the Pistons draft late in the first round, though there will also be some intriguing project big men still around. Whether Jarvis Hayes can land a bigger contract elsewhere or comes back to Detroit will also be a factor. It’s probably unlikely that both return. But I agree that Herrmann is a very intriguing player with his 3-point range and his unorthodox but often effective scoring ability off the dribble.
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Dave (Nashua, New Hampshire): What is the team’s current stance on its D-League affiliation with Fort Wayne? I get the impression the Pistons aren’t really sold on the arrangement since they recalled Cheikh Samb and parked him on the inactive list. Wouldn’t game experience by more valuable for a young project than wearing a suit behind the bench?
Langlois: The Pistons, like most NBA teams, strongly believe that a mix best serves young players – some time spent in the D-League applying the lessons they’ve learned by practicing and being around the parent team. NBA teams have greater resources, of course – many more coaches to give the young players individual instruction time, better training staffs and equipment, etc. They like to have them around to absorb the parent team’s culture, to practice against NBA-caliber players, to have access to the best nutritional information, and so on. That said, Samb spent a considerable amount of time in the D-League this season and would have spent more if not for the broken jaw he suffered. I expect it will be more of the same for him next season, the last in which he’ll be eligible for D-League participation.
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Scott (Sterling Heights): Now that it seems Isiah Thomas’ tenure with the Knicks is over, do you think Joe Dumars would be willing to give him John Hammond’s old position?
Langlois: That position is filled as of today, Scott, with the hiring of Scott Perry, who spent one season as assistant GM with Seattle but before that was Pistons personnel director. I’ve answered the Isiah question in other forms before, usually when I’m asked if Joe would hire him to coach the Pistons. Never say never, I suppose, but I think both would find it awkward to be put in the position of employer-employee after having grown up in the game as peers.
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Margaret (Mission Viejo, Calif.): Who do you think really needs to step up during the playoffs if the Pistons are going to win the title?
Langlois: I think the Pistons, by and large, know what they’re going to get from the mainstays. The great unknown is what will they get from Rodney Stuckey, Jarvis Hayes and Jason Maxiell. Yeah, it would help if they get boosts from Amir Johnson, Lindsey Hunter, Arron Afflalo, Theo Ratliff or whoever else Flip Saunders throws in there, but Stuckey, Hayes and Maxiell have to be consistently productive.
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Steve (Detroit): Can the Pistons really beat Boston four times? Can anyone?
Langlois: Boston goes off as the favorite with good reason – the Celtics have been a dominant team since day one. But the playoffs will test them and even the Celtics can’t yet know how they’ll respond. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have all been to the conference finals once each – and all lost. And their conference finals experiences were a long time ago – Garnett in 2004, Pierce in 2002, Allen in 2001. But I think the Pistons, Lakers, Jazz, Spurs and Suns are all capable of winning it all.
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Larry (Ann Arbor): J.A. Adande wrote on ESPN.com that “There is plenty at stake for the Pistons’ individuals, most notably coach Flip Saunders, whose job status is in doubt.” Is there any truth to this?
Langlois: Only Joe Dumars knows for sure, Larry, but it’s safe to say that he’s not thinking about that right now. When the playoffs are over, Joe D will take an honest assessment of the entire organization, just as he did a year ago. Is it within the realm of possibility that Saunders wouldn’t be back next year? I suppose. Three years in one place beats the league average. He was brought in to take over a championship-caliber team. But it’s not nearly as simple as saying he needs to win the title. Joe D is a realist. He knows that no team goes into these playoffs with favorable odds. There are too many teams capable of winning it all to say any one team is a prohibitive favorite – Boston would be the only one that comes close, but even the Celtics’ odds are less than 50-50. It won’t be so much “if” the Pistons lose that will determine Saunders’ fate, I would guess, but “how” they lose.
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Paul (Essexville): If you could pick between Joey Dorsey and D.J. White, who would you pick and why? NBAdraft.net has the Pistons taking Dorsey and then White two picks later while their rankings have White at 30th and Dorsey at 68th.
Langlois: Tough call. I think White has a greater chance of sticking in the NBA but Dorsey might have the higher ceiling. By that I mean White is a more rounded player, capable of being a scoring threat, but Dorsey has the potential to do one thing so well – a la Ben Wallace, for instance – that he might emerge as the more valuable player. But that gap between 30 and 68 isn’t as wide as it might seem. The draft is really about timing. Let’s say the team picking 30th really likes two players. It picks one. That doesn’t mean the other player will go within the next few picks. He might not get picked at all. Once you get past the top handful of players, there’s usually a second tier of players that will fill out the next 15 to 25 slots. Beyond that, there’s another group of 50, maybe, who might get drafted late in the first round or might not get picked.
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Jasnoor (Sterling Heights): Do you think Rasheed Wallace, Lindsey Hunter, Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff will retire if the Pistons win the championship? And do you think Tayshaun Prince will stay in Detroit?
Langlois: Hunter is scheduled to retire regardless. Ratliff intended to make this season his last but might be persuaded to stick around another year with the Pistons. Can’t see Wallace or McDyess retiring – both have time remaining on their contract and both still have lots of life left in their bodies. Prince isn’t going anywhere – unless somebody floors Joe D with an offer too good to ignore.
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Harsh (Rochester): What are the chances Boston will lose in the first round like Dallas did last season?
Langlois: Atlanta over Boston would dwarf Golden State over Dallas by a magnitude of 10, Harsh. A much, much better chance of a sweep than an upset.
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Steven (Southaven, Miss.): How many minutes will the bench players be on the court in the NBA playoffs?
Langlois: I think Stuckey will get close to his regular-season numbers, 18-20 minutes. Hayes about 15. Maxiell about 20. Ratliff or Johnson will probably split about 10. Beyond that, it will depend on opponent and situation. But those are just guesses. We’ll see how it plays out.
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Adam (Toledo, Ohio): Which member of the Zoo Crew do you expect to make the biggest impact in the first round against Philadelphia?
Langlois: My guess is Stuckey, but he’s got a ways to go after getting held scoreless in Game 1.
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Travis (Chicago): Without foresight of the results of this year’s playoffs, where do you rank this team, top to bottom, among the Pistons’ teams of the last 20 years?
Langlois: It’s the deepest team of the last 17 years, Travis. You can’t call this team deeper than the Bad Boys. Different era. The latest expansion wave had just started and rosters weren’t so diluted back then. When you had players like Vinnie Johnson, Dennis Rodman and John Salley coming off the bench, you’re talking about a loaded team. This team is deeper than the 2004 championship team, but it remains to be seen if the bench can be as productive as that one was.
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Rico (Norfolk, Va.): Shouldn’t they change the NBA playoffs to just one 16-team bracket? Then the East and West could match up and it would be even more exciting. Also, I think NBA All-Star Weekend should include a one-on-one competition. Think of the matchups.
Langlois: I think talk about reformatting the NBA playoffs is an overreaction to a temporary imbalance in power between the two conferences. If you’re going to go to a 16-team bracket, you really need to start by doing away with the whole conference structure. What would the concept of a conference mean anymore? As for a one-on-one competition, I don’t know how that would work. You’re not going to get eight NBA superstars to agree to a one-on-one tournament that would, in theory, have LeBron James or Kobe Bryant playing three tough competitions to advance to the finals in one day. Too great a risk of injury.
