#68 - Pistons-OKC - 7pm ET

[ValvPiti]

Whats going on with Ausar and his minutes? Seems they were steadily improving the whole season, and so was his production, but now he's back to 20 minutes and not much production at all. Kinda weird.

[JD43320]

I think Ausar has hit "the rookie wall". Yeah it's his second year but with the way Monty (the POS) handled his minutes last year and all the basketball time and conditioning he missed because of the blood clot it's not a shock that he looks a little burned out. It takes a ton of energy to play the way he does and it seems his conditioning understandably (because of time lost to the blood clot) isn't up to doing that 30 minutes every night.

[flow]

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[MortSahlfan]

Beasley and Schroder must be re-signed.

Hardest thing is, there's a lack of minutes when you put in a healthy Jaden Ivey as well.

Ideally we'd run

Ivey 26 / Beasley 22
Cade 33 / Schroeder 13

But that's probably not enough to keep everyone happy so you have to start looking at playing Cade or Ivey at the SF spot a bit.

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

[GreekAlex]

Beasley and Schroder must be re-signed.

Hardest thing is, there's a lack of minutes when you put in a healthy Jaden Ivey as well.

Ideally we'd run

Ivey 26 / Beasley 22
Cade 33 / Schroeder 13

But that's probably not enough to keep everyone happy so you have to start looking at playing Cade or Ivey at the SF spot a bit.

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

Ivey’s upside is way more dynamic than anything we’d get in return.

I want the chance to see him with this group now that Ausar is healthy and they’ve seemed to click.

[bstein14]

Hardest thing is, there's a lack of minutes when you put in a healthy Jaden Ivey as well.

Ideally we'd run

Ivey 26 / Beasley 22
Cade 33 / Schroeder 13

But that's probably not enough to keep everyone happy so you have to start looking at playing Cade or Ivey at the SF spot a bit.

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

Ivey’s upside is way more dynamic than anything we’d get in return.

I want the chance to see him with this group now that Ausar is healthy and they’ve seemed to click.

I agree Ivey still does have an all-star level upside.... part of me see's how a trade of Ivey for Cam Johnson would be great for us fit wise and upgrade our starting lineup, but then on the flip side Ivey is a bit more consistent shooting, better defense and a little better decision making away from being a solid starter himself. Right now he likely would be ideally a 6th man type role but he's still young and by the end of year 5 in the league its very possible he's a good starter.

[bstein14]

JB fined $100k for his comments about the refs after the OKC game.

[tmorgan]

JB fined $100k for his comments about the refs after the OKC game.

Eh, he got an ESPN headline and a lot of attention for it, and undoubtedly some cred with his players.

[Mr Peanut]

JB fined $100k for his comments about the refs after the OKC game.

Think you must have fallen for NBA Centel...there's no credible news reporting that.

[bstein14]

JB fined $100k for his comments about the refs after the OKC game.

Think you must have fallen for NBA Centel...there's no credible news reporting that.

Yeah I see nothing now either... originally I did a google search of something similar to "Bickerstaff comments on refs" and that info was on the front page one of the top things that came up but its not showing up anymore.... so it was either false or it was old from a previous year.

[BadMofoPimp]

JB fined $100k for his comments about the refs after the OKC game.

Think you must have fallen for NBA Centel...there's no credible news reporting that.

Yeah I see nothing now either... originally I did a google search of something similar to "Bickerstaff comments on refs" and that info was on the front page one of the top things that came up but its not showing up anymore.... so it was either false or it was old from a previous year.

Gotta protect their elected MVP.

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[tmorgan]

But yeah, that’s Centel.

I also like how Centel sources via Chris Haynes, from an account that hasn’t posted since 2022.

Elite trolling.

[NYPiston]

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

No way do you trade Ivey for a THJ replacement who comes off the bench. You package Ivey with some adds for a legit #2 option, preferably a stretch 4 or a guard to tandem with him, guys like Booker, Markannen etc.
If you don't get good value for Ivey then you quite simply don't trade him and work with him to find a fit here.

[tmorgan]

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

No way do you trade Ivey for a THJ replacement who comes off the bench. You package Ivey with some adds for a legit #2 option, preferably a stretch 4 or a guard to tandem with him, guys like Booker, Markannen etc.
If you don't get good value for Ivey then you quite simply don't trade him and work with him to find a fit here.

There’s a big future issue with trading for a large salary like Lauri or Book, even if Ivey is part of the price tag. We have a lot of key players on rookie deals that are about to get expensive. Cade next year, then Duren (and Ivey) the next, then Ausar. Cade is a second contract max, Duren won’t be cheap, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Ausar is near a second contract max when the time comes.

We can’t afford everything we want. In the past, it kind of worked to just grab talent and figure out the money later. The new CBA is just ridiculously punitive, though, so a lot more forethought and care is needed. Markkanen in particular is a risk — he fell off hard this year. You can blame it on a bad roster, trying to lose, whatever you’d like, but that contract is not pretty unless he gets back to his old self.

[MortSahlfan]

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

No way do you trade Ivey for a THJ replacement who comes off the bench. You package Ivey with some adds for a legit #2 option, preferably a stretch 4 or a guard to tandem with him, guys like Booker, Markannen etc.
If you don't get good value for Ivey then you quite simply don't trade him and work with him to find a fit here.

"Trade Ivey for a guy to take THJ's place" .... so THJ can come off the bench... Cade is way too talented, and we can't waste his time. He needs an All-Star to play with him at the 3.. I don't think Tek is worth keeping around and he'll be an expiring contract along with THJ. I'd throw draft picks (we're young enough).. Duren is a guy I would take a chance on and extend now. I love Ausar and Ron, and I don't think they'd cost that much, because of $$$ goes to PPG.

Especially after watching how they played on both ends without Ivey. The offense is so smooth, while Ivey would hold the ball too long. Wasn't the primary ball handler and averaged almost as many turnovers as assists... And on defense, he screwed up rotations horribly, but the guys who helped would technically have the negative defensive stat.

And then we get Dennis, and I think he needs to play more to relieve Cade.. He's a pest on defense, is a natural pg, scores 10ppg and only plays about 18 mpg. And Cade has a legit "valve" when teams double-triple team him, which wasn't happening when they were both on the floor.

[BadMofoPimp]

I would trade Ivey for a small forward to take THJ place, who can come off the bench.
I just don't think he fits on either end. Monty had him coming off the bench, JB staggered their minutes. We can't pay all our young guys, and I'd like to get one All-Star to play along with Cade, and keep guys like Stew, Ausar, Ron, Duren.

No way do you trade Ivey for a THJ replacement who comes off the bench. You package Ivey with some adds for a legit #2 option, preferably a stretch 4 or a guard to tandem with him, guys like Booker, Markannen etc.
If you don't get good value for Ivey then you quite simply don't trade him and work with him to find a fit here.

"Trade Ivey for a guy to take THJ's place" .... so THJ can come off the bench... Cade is way too talented, and we can't waste his time. He needs an All-Star to play with him at the 3.. I don't think Tek is worth keeping around and he'll be an expiring contract along with THJ. I'd throw draft picks (we're young enough).. Duren is a guy I would take a chance on and extend now. I love Ausar and Ron, and I don't think they'd cost that much, because of $$$ goes to PPG.

Especially after watching how they played on both ends without Ivey. The offense is so smooth, while Ivey would hold the ball too long. Wasn't the primary ball handler and averaged almost as many turnovers as assists... And on defense, he screwed up rotations horribly, but the guys who helped would technically have the negative defensive stat.

And then we get Dennis, and I think he needs to play more to relieve Cade.. He's a pest on defense, is a natural pg, scores 10ppg and only plays about 18 mpg. And Cade has a legit "valve" when teams double-triple team him, which wasn't happening when they were both on the floor.

Seems the backcourt could be set with Auser/Schroeder/Beasely. I would shoot for a PF.

[tmorgan]

For what we’re trying to do, I think Aldama is the target. Sure, Markkanen is likely better, but he costs twice as much.

Get that offer sheet ready, TL.