2013/14 Pistons depth chart

[Vinny]

Here's the bigger question in my mind: is this a playoff roster now?
I think the top 4 teams (East) are Miami, Brooklyn, Chicago and Indiana. New York is probably next, which leaves 3 spots and Atlanta, Detroit, Washington and Cleveland as the 4 most likely teams competing for those 3 spots. Injuries are probably going to play a factor here, but I think Detroit likely ends up as the 7 seed.

I think we're better thanAtlanta and Washington easily. I hope at least. But I'm with you overall.

[Uncle Mxy]

Jennings/Bynum/Siva
Billups/KCP/Stuck / Could Singler fill in here?
Smith/Gigi/JJ
Monroe/Mitchell
Drummond

Honestly, to be frank, I'd rather have Frank coaching this bunch cuz at least he knows who we had...strengths and weaknesses. I still don't see Mo as an upgrade over Franks. Give him a better roster and fuck yeah he will do better than Frank. But I don't see the coaching change as some great move by Fatty.

You're smart enough to not put CV in your rotation.
I'm not sure if Cheeks is.

[Tahoe]

^ lol.

I guess when I did the chart, I was thinking of rotational players. Not saying Siva will get a bunch of minutes, but hope he gets some. Gotta sign him first. I don't know about KCP and Stuck so I was thinking maybe Singler could fill in at the 2. Doubt he could guard a 2 though.

Jennings/Bynum
CBill/Singler
Smith/Gigi
Monroe/Mitchell
Drummond.

Those are the players on the roster right now that I'd like to see every night. And keep the ball out of CBIlls hands coming up the court. He wastes too much of the clock looking around pointing at players and shit like that. Get rid of the ball u dipshit.

[Glenn]

Knicks are interested in two guys that would be good fits for , Ivan Johnson and Haddadi.

Could we get either for the minimum?

[Higherwarrior]

i think we can challenge for the #5 or #6 spot. i'm not sold on the knicks and washington and cleveland are overrated IMO. we should be better than both those teams, a lot better in the case of washington. (4 or 5 games better IMO)

we'll see. somebody can sticky this and come back and laugh at my predictions in may.

[Jethro34]

I don't think the Knicks will be substantially worse than last year. They're old, but they didn't lose anyone of major value, right? Yes, Bargniani is a mistake, but perhaps he and Tyson Chandler will have compliment each other well, since they are polar opposites.
Many gurus are picking Washington to be the most improved team if healthy. I'm not sure how many games Wall, Beal, and Nene actually played together last year, but I believe they did quite well when that was the case. Even Ariza missed numerous games. I don't think they improved via draft or free agency, but again health is the key for a competitive, though not terribly dangerous team.
Cleveland should be much better. I really like some of the pieces they have. Remember they too were hurt by injury. Irving and Waiters each missed 20+ games and Varejao barely played 20. If they can be healthier and they get anything from Bynum and Bennett, they have a chance for substantial improvement.
I think Atlanta is the team that suffers most. They've signed some over-the-hill guys to try to replace Smith, but I feel like their already closing window may be just about shut.

[Atticus771]

I'm late to the party, but here goes. Guys in parentheses don't see the floor:

Jennings 36/Bynum 12/(Siva)
Billups 20/Stuckey 20/KCP 8
Smith 18/Singler 20/ Datome 10
Moose 20/Smith 18/Datome 10(Villanueva)/(Mitchell)
Drummond 30/Moose (16)(Random big stiff)

Stuckey will be traded, hopefully, but needs some time to show his value. I hate that KCP doesn't get many minutes, but Billups isn't here to wave a towel. Maybe going small could get KCP some minutes, but I'm not sure how that can happen, as two of the trio of Moose, Drummond, and Smith will likely be on the floor at all times.

Gigi and Singler could very well be fighting it out for a similar role; I'm giving Buckets the benefit of the doubt because of his hustle -- and Gigi is an unknown, to some extent.

EDIT: I forgot Jonas, but I don't really see him playing over these guys. Could we get a future first-rounder for him, or is that a reach? I haven't paid much attention to what a first rounder can get a team lately.

[Pharaoh]

Mine:

Jennings 32/Billups or Bynum 16.... I doubt we run Billups into the ground during the regular season - no point doing that. He doesn't need to play on the 2nd night of a back to back, doesn't need to play when we play 4 games in 5 days... play him enough to keep him healthy and use Bynum the rest of the time

Stuckey 28/K.C.P 20 - I see K.C.P fighting it out with Stuckey all season long for minutes here. Stuckey compliments Jennings to a certain extent, can handle the ball so we play Jennings off the ball at times. Either way K.C.P comes off the bench this season...

Smith 14/Singler 20/Datome 14 - Smith would spend most of his time at PF if I was coaching and I'd use Singler as the "glue" guy off the bench. Datome gets the "shooter" role. If anyone struggles at SF I would look at playing Jerebko or Stuckey here depending on the match up

Monroe 14/Smith 20/CV 14 - Monroe will have to spend a lot of time at C since we only have Drummond at that spot. That's fine by me because I'd play Smith at PF. CV gets the shooter role

Drummond 28/Monroe 20 - best C combo in the league

Jerebko would be the other "active" player.... Mitchell and Siva would play most of the season in the D League

[Higherwarrior]

no future 1st for Jonas but that would be nice. shame there's not likely a role for him as I really like the kid. but he's caught in a numbers game.

your depth charts look sensible though, although I don't see CV consistently getting quite so many minutes P.

[Jethro34]

So as a follow-up to my question, I see that ESPN did some completely bogus and unscientific prediction of the Eastern Conference standings next year.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/95...east-standings
They are projected to finish 38-44, missing both the 7 and 8 spot by 1 game (Washington and Cleveland tie) and the 6 spot by 2 games (Atlanta). While I believe the Pistons will certainly win more than 38 games, there is still that lingering question. This roster is much better, but as a fan if you had the choice of making the playoffs and getting flogged in the first round, leading you to also surrender the 14th(ish) pick in potentially the best draft in history to the Bobcats (still pissed about that trade) OR you could just miss the playoffs by one game with an entertaining team and get the 13th pick in said draft to add one more young explosive piece to the team.....and the team is entertaining to watch either way......what do you root for? It's hard because without that one more piece I don't see this roster challenging for a conference championship. Maybe in 3-5 years depending on how much of the roster stays intact, and when the difference making players in Miami and Brooklyn are in geriatric wards.