DET vs IND 12/26/2011

[Koolaid]

Same old team as last year.

There was a stretch of like 5 plays in a row where Bynum was the only one to get back on D, and he got shot right over each time.

Knight isn't getting many minutes at all.

It's half time.

IT's hard to watch.

[mercury]

Thrill a minute... looking forward to the playoff team that Joe has put together.
lol at Gores sitting next to Scott Perry... classic pick brains b4 lowering the axe.

[Koolaid]

also, it's worth noting that Stuckey is the most dominant player in the league when the other team isn't trying.

[Joe Asberry]

With Monroe in foul trouble, this has to be the worst rebounding team of all time.

Jonas was OK, other than that it was ugly, really ugly.

[mercury]

Switching over to "draft pick" thread

[Uncle Mxy]

If this plays out like '99, there's gonna be some weird crap for the first dozen games.
Clearly, we laid a turd out there, but there's a couple bits of promise:

- if Stuckey has really developed consistent 3P range, we'll be in good shape at SG
- seems like Jonas has a healthy ankle in a real-live game situation
- Ben Wallace isn't totally out of gas

Having said that, I'm hoping that fuckhead BG is out of here, ASAFP.
I think we could've made this a game if Rip were still here and starting.

[Pharaoh]

The season is a complete waste for us anyway... every win hurts our Lotto chances

Obviously I don't want us to be the worst team in the history of the NBA but I would certainly approve of us having the worst record this season.

I'm all for playing Monroe, Jerebko, Daye, Stuckey and Knight big minutes... let the kids play!

Of course I wouldn't have re-signed Prince and I would have used the amnesty clause on BG... which would certainly have helped create the "perfect storm" where our kids must play big minutes

[Glenn]

And you would have been right, as usual.

[Pharaoh]

And you would have been right, as usual.

Some things never change mate

I just don't see the point in playing BG and Prince big minutes - all they do is ensure that we're more competitive.

Some will argue that you don't want the kids to lose every single game. I'm of the opinion that wins and losses really don't matter right now.

You can build a good team culture without winning much. Look at the Thunder. You can ingrain good habits in young players without playing veterans big minutes. You can teach them the "right way" to play without veterans.

What we should all wish for right now is a team that works hard, plays hard and TRIES to compete... even though we simply don't have the talent to win many games. The kids go out there every game and go balls to the wall...

With every game they'd get a lesson in how the NBA works.... sitting and watching does not serve us as a Franchise.

BG and Prince DO have the talent to help us WIN some games... but IMO the games we win because of them do us more harm than good long term. It puts us in a weaker position for the Draft. It roadblocks younger talent (Daye and Stuckey/Knight get less minutes because of BG and Prince)

Are Prince and BG at this stage of their careers more valuable to this organisation than Daye, Stuckey and Knight?

I would argue that they're not

By the time we are a contender again BG and Prince (along with Big Ben and others) will not be here. So why prolong the agony? Why be "more" competitive in the short term? What do we gain from it?

Do we sell more tickets? Do we sell more jerseys? Do we get slightly more media attention?

Maybe

But those things don't really matter on the floor. On the floor it's all about talent, all about hard work, guts, determination, execution. Having veterans playing big minutes on Lotto teams is fucking stupid...

Long story short:

Monroe, Jerebko, Daye, Stuckey and Knight should be the starting 5.

I'd even go so far as to "give" Nova and Maxiell plenty of minutes in order to showcase them for trade purposes...

The asking price for both being nothing more than picks and expirings/shorter contracts.

The sooner we acquire more picks and the sooner we have more cap flexibility the better