OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
And so it begins. The Spurs begin their first long patch of the season without Tony Parker tonight at home against the Pistons. During the Spurs rodeo road trip the Pistons were one of the team's 2 losses in 9 games. The Spurs look to get revenge on this young Pistons team without their leading scorer.
Re: OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
Manu is such a spark off the bench. A quick three in transition and then a beautiful pump fake then drive to the and1. Joseph wasn't too impressive in his start, was quickly replaced by Mills who is already doing a better job of running the floor and finding open guys.
Re: OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graviton
Does Pop have a student that will carry on this awesome team play and execution?
NBA won't be the same without Popovich, both his team play and interviews are a thing of beauty.
Completely agree with the bolded. and that's a good question. I don't really know. Could be Budenholzer, who's been a long-time assistant, but who knows.
I gotta to say though just a general statement, I don't think enough credit is given to the team itself. They're qualitatively different than even 2-3 years ago. Pop would be the first to say it's all about the players on the court not him.
The Spurs used to have guys like Roger Mason, Richard Jefferson, Ime Udoka, and Matt Bonner playing big minutes. Even had Drew Gooden at one point not long ago. Right now, the Spurs are deep with quality players, not filler. And it's showing. Splitter and Leonard, two of the Spurs biggest sparks, were both 1st round picks. Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw, and Ginobili could all be starters yet they come off the bench.
Re: OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
Quote:
Originally Posted by sfballa13
What defense? Pistons do not have one player that plays anything resembling defense.
As a die hard Pistons fan its getting downright embarrassing to support a team that consistently gets blown out night after night.
Losing by 40 playing against a team without their starting PG? Give me a break.
And what's even more pathetic is how you have Pistons fans on the RealGM board defending Dumars and Frank. What a joke.
This team needs to be wiped clean and started over from scratch.
When Andre Drummond was still healthy and prior to the Tayshaun Prince trade, the Pistons were actually only a handful of games outside the 8th playoff spot despite giving up an unbelievable amount of double digit leads this season. They're clearly young and an unfinished product, but they did seem to be headed in the right direction.
However, since Drummond went down and since the Prince trade, everything seemed to fall apart. I do not agree with wiping the entire slate clean though. And I don't believe in laying all the blame on Dumars and Frank for this season. I think Dumars' job will likely be evaluated after next season at the earliest, as the true rebuilding process has only been under way for the past two seasons (since new ownership was secured, thus allowing transactions to be made once again).
It sucks, but this year was never meant to be any more than a step toward having a real team again. Pieces are assembling - Drummond, Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight - and cap space is opening (ridding of Ben Gordon's monster contract, dealing Prince, Maggette coming off books). There's now the ability to maneuver in the market. This doesn't necessarily mean drawing in a top free agent, but being active in the trade market is realistic for the first time since William Davidson passed.
And again, I think that's why ownership is likely going to wait and see where Dumars is going with all of this before deciding his fate. He's drafted smart of late and he's made headway on digging himself out of his own self-induced salary hole (the Ben Gordon situation). Considering the circumstances, I'm not sure there's another GM candidate out there right now who could do much else with Detroit right now. Dumars drafted Darko Milicic, traded Chauncey Billups, and overpaid Ben Gordon. All those were bummers. But with the hand now dealt, he seems to be doing what he needs to do to get things headed back in the right direction.
As for Lawrence Frank, I haven't had a big issue with him this season. He hasn't been perfect, but he hasn't illustrated gross negligence to me either. He's caught flak for playing short-winded Andre Drummond only 22 minutes a night, but I personally could understand their decision to bring along a kid-like 19 year old at a slow pace.
Re: OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rake2204
When Andre Drummond was still healthy and prior to the Tayshaun Prince trade, the Pistons were actually only a handful of games outside the 8th playoff spot despite giving up an unbelievable amount of double digit leads this season. They're clearly young and an unfinished product, but they did seem to be headed in the right direction.
However, since Drummond went down and since the Prince trade, everything seemed to fall apart. I do not agree with wiping the entire slate clean though. And I don't believe in laying all the blame on Dumars and Frank for this season. I think Dumars' job will likely be evaluated after next season at the earliest, as the true rebuilding process has only been under way for the past two seasons (since new ownership was secured, thus allowing transactions to be made once again).
It sucks, but this year was never meant to be any more than a step toward having a real team again. Pieces are assembling - Drummond, Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight - and cap space is opening (ridding of Ben Gordon's monster contract, dealing Prince, Maggette coming off books). There's now the ability to maneuver in the market. This doesn't necessarily mean drawing in a top free agent, but being active in the trade market is realistic for the first time since William Davidson passed.
And again, I think that's why ownership is likely going to wait and see where Dumars is going with all of this before deciding his fate. He's drafted smart of late and he's made headway on digging himself out of his own self-induced salary hole (the Ben Gordon situation). Considering the circumstances, I'm not sure there's another GM candidate out there right now who could do much else with Detroit right now. Dumars drafted Darko Milicic, traded Chauncey Billups, and overpaid Ben Gordon. All those were bummers. But with the hand now dealt, he seems to be doing what he needs to do to get things headed back in the right direction.
As for Lawrence Frank, I haven't had a big issue with him this season. He hasn't been perfect, but he hasn't illustrated gross negligence to me either. He's caught flak for playing short-winded Andre Drummond only 22 minutes a night, but I personally could understand their decision to bring along a kid-like 19 year old at a slow pace.
OGT: Mar 3 - Detroit Pistons @ (Parker-less) San Antonio Spurs - 7pm EST
Joseph wasn't too impressive in his start, was quickly replaced by Mills who is already doing a better job of running the floor and finding open guys.
