Painfully obvious need for rebounding...

[BIG BEN'S FRO]

Man it makes me sick how bad we need frontcourt rebounding. Yes Dice is doing a good job, but it just doesn't change the fact that we are undersized at Center. We don't block shots from that position, and tall athletic rebounders kill us. There are few players who fit our system who are attainable, but I have to think Dumars must be calling PJ Brown. He is tall, can shoot as well as Dice, can defend, and is taller. We have talked about Camby, but given his play I really don't think he is available. Who do you think would fit in as a Piston that would be at least possibly attainable?

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

Too bad Primoz is a stiff, and he's slow. You'd think with that height, the guy could pull down a contested board or two...

[Timone]

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

PJ Brown would be interesting. He's from Detroit, he can score a bit in the paint, and he makes his FT's, not to mention he's a veteran and won't command the ball like C-Webb did. I wonder why we haven't heard his name at all, it sounds like he'd be an outstanding role player who fills our needs.

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

Just think if when we lost Ben, we could've gotten Tyson Chandler since Chicago was trying to unload him.

That would've been problem solved.

[Higherwarrior]

olden polynice

[Glenn]

Camby's the guy, IMO, maybe the hope is that Stuckey makes Rip expendible.

Not yet, though, I imagine tons of those old scoring droughts without Rip.

[Black Dynamite]

Camby's the guy, IMO, maybe the hope is that Stuckey makes Rip expendible.

Not yet, though, I imagine tons of those old scoring droughts without Rip.

Not ever. Stuckey eventually will be Cbill's heir apparent. I doubt he makes any 2 guard expendable at his height(6ft 5in is a lie, Rip is severely taller than him from what i've seen).

[FP22]

The problem is that you have to make big changes just to open minutes up for a new rebounder. And realistically, Dice is not the problem. Unless you're replacing Dice with Dwight Howard, I don't see a huge difference coming by just replacing Dice. The problem is that the rest of the starting lineup are all shit rebounders. Ideally, each of those guys should be grabbing about 1 of those boards we give up each per game. Since that isn't going to happen without a coach that will actually get on these guys I'd say we're SOL. If you move Sheed to bring in a rebounder, it opens up a whole other set of problems.

And bringing in a guy who will play 15mpg doesn't matter. Our main unit has to be able to grab those rebounds in crunch time.

This team needs many things. We need a 2nd player that can create off the dribble for when Chauncey inevitably gets locked up by a decent team in the playoffs. Some people will say Stuckey could be that guy, but Stuckey won't be on the floor in the 4th when the offense bogs down. At least not until Rip or Chauncey retire.

We also need a wing player that can defend slashing, physical swingmen. But bringing in a guy to play backup minutes isn't going to matter, because we need that in crunch-time, and Prince/Rip will be on the floor regardless.

To sum it all up, we've got some crucial flaws which may stop us from winning it all, but it is going to be very difficult to improve in the areas we need without getting worse in others or swapping starters (which I don't see happening).

[Fool]

The problem is that you have to make big changes just to open minutes up for a new rebounder. And realistically, Dice is not the problem. Unless you're replacing Dice with Dwight Howard, I don't see a huge difference coming by just replacing Dice. The problem is that the rest of the starting lineup are all shit rebounders. Ideally, each of those guys should be grabbing about 1 of those boards we give up each per game. Since that isn't going to happen without a coach that will actually get on these guys I'd say we're SOL. If you move Sheed to bring in a rebounder, it opens up a whole other set of problems.

And bringing in a guy who will play 15mpg doesn't matter. Our main unit has to be able to grab those rebounds in crunch time.

This team needs many things. We need a 2nd player that can create off the dribble for when Chauncey inevitably gets locked up by a decent team in the playoffs. Some people will say Stuckey could be that guy, but Stuckey won't be on the floor in the 4th when the offense bogs down. At least not until Rip or Chauncey retire.

We also need a wing player that can defend slashing, physical swingmen. But bringing in a guy to play backup minutes isn't going to matter, because we need that in crunch-time, and Prince/Rip will be on the floor regardless.

To sum it all up, we've got some crucial flaws which may stop us from winning it all, but it is going to be very difficult to improve in the areas we need without getting worse in others or swapping starters (which I don't see happening).

I think this is pretty on the mark. The starters ain't getting it done. There's nothing wrong with Dyess but he doesn't bring anything that isn't already brought be someone else. In my eyes its either he or Tayshaun that needs to not be in the starting lineup and a rebound/defender needs to be found and inserted.