Pistons-Knicks (7pm)

[Manocad]

Would it have been nice for the team to have been more competitive this season? Sure. But things don't always work out as planned. Weaver explicitly stated before the season that they "expect to compete," i.e. certainly be better than last year, but "there's no reason to rush the process," i.e. he's not going to make any knee-jerk moves to be more competitive more quickly, and to me that translates to "regardless of the reasons why." The defense being worse than expected this year plus the injuries doesn't mean Weaver is going to make big moves this year to recover lost time, so to speak. Like the article says, there's a sense that some in ownership and management are not opposed with rolling with the young guys for one more year and letting the chips fall where they may. There can be setbacks in any process; that's normal. In this case it just means another year with a high draft pick and maybe still another two years after that before this team is a real contender. And whether we as fans like it or not, it is what it is. As we all know, while there is some young talent on this team (that we all hope gets better), there certainly are still positions of need that can be filled with more young talent.

[Drwho17]

I take solace in knowing the Knicks are the definition of a treadmill team, with no hope of improvement.

When your best players are Randle and Brunson you've got yourself a ticket to the middle of the league at best.

Knicks have a bunch of future picks to go all-in for a star player eventually.

Well, if you look at the picks they aren't really all that great, definitely not going to get you any star, Maverick/Bucks picks? Pistons/Wizards that are protected and probably won't actually convey as #1's.

[bstein14]

When your best players are Randle and Brunson you've got yourself a ticket to the middle of the league at best.

Knicks have a bunch of future picks to go all-in for a star player eventually.

Well, if you look at the picks they aren't really all that great, definitely not going to get you any star, Maverick/Bucks picks? Pistons/Wizards that are protected and probably won't actually convey as #1's.

Wizards are 11-10 right now and I think have a decent chance at finishing as one of the play-in teams right around .500 on the year. That pick is protected 1-14 and could easily end up with the 15th or 16th pick this year. The bottom of the East play-ins is likely Washington, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta (or Indy) IMO. Dallas is currently 10-10 and also has a decent shot at conveying a pick in the late teens or early 20s this year. Dallas pick is protected just 1-10

So if they get their own pick in the 15-17 range, a pick from Washington in the 15-17 range, and a pick from Dallas in the 18-22 range that's not a bad trio of picks.... plus a few other picks... to send away for a win now piece.

Hell, I'd trade Bojan for any of those 3 picks.

[zeebneeb]

My goodness I didn’t watch this one but that is some horrific defense.

A low point of a low season. Even the posters for this team don't watch it. If Pistons make this a regular habit again of garbage defense, all options - from firing Casey to letting go of Weaver - should be on the table.

Truthfully, I watch about one game out of every three these days.

Bad team fatigue amongst the more hardcore fans is a very real thing.

Hard to care after a poor start. This team is legitimately as bad as the Kings have been. This team has one winning season in 14 years..

Soon, it will be 15 years, and unless they end up with Volkswagen, it'll probably be 16 damn years.

Point is, when your most dedicated fans stop caring, your in real trouble, just from a business perspective.

[Snakebites]

A low point of a low season. Even the posters for this team don't watch it. If Pistons make this a regular habit again of garbage defense, all options - from firing Casey to letting go of Weaver - should be on the table.

Truthfully, I watch about one game out of every three these days.

Bad team fatigue amongst the more hardcore fans is a very real thing.

Hard to care after a poor start. This team is legitimately as bad as the Kings have been. This team has one winning season in 14 years..

Soon, it will be 15 years, and unless they end up with Volkswagen, it'll probably be 16 damn years.

Point is, when your most dedicated fans stop caring, your in real trouble, just from a business perspective.

Yeah, and even that one winning season was pretty underwhelming- I don't remember thinking "oh wow, we're really building something here" during that 44 win season.

[Mr Peanut]

Truthfully, I watch about one game out of every three these days.

Bad team fatigue amongst the more hardcore fans is a very real thing.

Hard to care after a poor start. This team is legitimately as bad as the Kings have been. This team has one winning season in 14 years..

Soon, it will be 15 years, and unless they end up with Volkswagen, it'll probably be 16 damn years.

Point is, when your most dedicated fans stop caring, your in real trouble, just from a business perspective.

Yeah, and even that one winning season was pretty underwhelming- I don't remember thinking "oh wow, we're really building something here" during that 44 win season.

I remember having a lot of promise after that season. We'd given the eventual champion Cavs a tough 4 games in the first round despite it being a sweep. Drummond had just averaged 16/15 and was an all-star, Reggie Jackson played like an all-star for stretches, we'd had half a season of Tobias Harris who looked promising, Morris/KCP were still young and looked like they would continue to develop. Then SVG went out and overpaid Jon Leuer/Boban and the rest is history.

I watched NBA Today on ESPN yesterday and when the hosts were recapping the games from the day prior they said something along the lines of "and the Knicks-Pistons game...maybe we'll leave that for another time". Depressing that we've been so bad/irrelevant for so long.

[MortSahlfan]

I watched NBA Today on ESPN yesterday and when the hosts were recapping the games from the day prior they said something along the lines of "and the Knicks-Pistons game...maybe we'll leave that for another time". Depressing that we've been so bad/irrelevant for so long.

And the day before, on "Inside the NBA" when Ernie mentioned the third game, everyone laughed at Chuck for calling the Pistons his sleeper team. And made jokes how we're the worst team in the league.

But "fans" lost their **** when we won two in a row. Rest assured, we still have a 14% chance.

[BadMofoPimp]

At least the Pistons are not the Lakers losing with AD and Lebron.

[buzzkilloton]

Stewart is up to 36.5% from 3pt on 4 shots per. Pretty awesome

[Manocad]

Stewart is up to 36.5% from 3pt on 4 shots per. Pretty awesome

Cow called it. And averaging 12.4 pts and 9.1 boards in 27 minutes/game. If he starts averaging 30 minutes/game he likely becomes a walking double double. Given what Cade, Ivan and Bey or Bojan provide on offense, there's no reason Stew can't be the starting stretch 4 everyone is clamoring for, especially if paired up with a good defensive center (hopefully Duren). People may say that if he's paired with Duren/another center he won't get 10+ boards a game and I wouldn't necessarily argue with that, but I think that's due to Casey's defensive scheme. If you watch the games you'll see that the Pistons do not EVER crash the offensive boards. As soon as a shot goes up they're heading back up the floor. While I know that's for the purposes of getting back on D, it also means they lose out on opportunities for offensive rebounds. Point being, in a different scheme I think he can play the 4 next to a defensive/rebounding center and still get his 10 boards/game. And people were saying he can never become a capable starter on a contending team. If Cade/Ivey/Bey or Bojan can put up 55 pts/game (certainly reasonable), Stew can put up 12 and a defensive center can put up even 8, that's 75 pts/game from the starting lineup. Given what we've seen the bench do, that's likely 110 pts/game. And with serviceable defense that will win games more often than not. The best part is that nothing Stew does takes away from what Cade/Ivey/Bey or Bojan do so anything he scores will, for the most part, always be an addition to what Cade/Ivey/Bey or Bojan put up, i.e. he's not taking away any scoring opportunities from anyone else.

[Kalamazoo317]

I still think the future is bright. I'd rather have our outlook than be like the Lakers, Nets, Hornets, Bulls right now where you've used all of your future assets up and are still probably going nowhere.

[buzzkilloton]

I still think the future is bright. I'd rather have our outlook than be like the Lakers, Nets, Hornets, Bulls right now where you've used all of your future assets up and are still probably going nowhere.

Future is as bright as ever.

This year loses alot of its fun because we dont get to develop Cade. That said next year is going to be awesome with Cade and another high lotto pick. Next years in my mind was always the proper time to go for a playin.

[Manocad]

I still think the future is bright. I'd rather have our outlook than be like the Lakers, Nets, Hornets, Bulls right now where you've used all of your future assets up and are still probably going nowhere.

That's why I don't buy into the doom and gloom of "This team sucks so bad any deal for any player should be considered, Weaver should be on the hot seat/fired, Gores is going to start getting pissed because the team isn't winning more, Cade is going to start getting pissed because the team isn't winning more, fans are going to start getting pissed because the team isn't winning more, the business is going to suffer," etc. (For the record, the Pistons are averaging 18,253 per game this season which is 89.3% of capacity and 12th in the league by total; they ain't suffering.)

With all due respect to my fellow posters, that IMO is a classic case of projection. THEY'RE pissed that the team isn't winning more and that's fine, but it doesn't justify creating their own version of reality relative to what Gores/the organization/the fans think in order to justify being pissed off/impatient.

So be patient. Sure, a lot of young talent on this team hasn't developed along the trajectory a lot of people hoped for but the talent is still there. And more is coming, both in the upcoming draft and when the cap space gets fully utilized.

[tmorgan]

I love more and more people warming to Stew as a long term starter… and Bey as a trade asset. If you look back, I thought this last year, and certainly nothing has changed to make my opinion anything but stronger.

A decent scorer (being nice) with lackluster defense, ball-stopping tendencies, and limited quickness just isn’t a valuable player or an acceptable starter on a contender.

A big guy that can shoot and switch on defense, even with certain physical limitations, IS a valuable player and a potential solid starter on a future contender.

Give Stew his 4/80 and give Bey a new chance elsewhere, either for a mid-late first or a different young-ish player that we can try and develop into a compliment for Cade and Ivey.

[Kalamazoo317]

Yeah, last year I would've ranked the three from that draft class as Bey, Stewart, Hayes, but right now it's Stewart, Hayes, Bey. I was hopeful that Bey could start looking good as a sixth man, but his shooting touch seems to have disappeared and he likes to force the issue in the paint against a triple team rather than passing out to the open man. Really not sure what's going on with him, but I hope he makes an adjustment, because I *know* he can play better than this.