Great Chauncey interview calling out team

[MrBigShot]

Chauncey should really shut the hell up

We signed him for 2.5 MILLION to sit on the bench and do nothing while collecting his check

He hasnt done **** to help Jennings become a smarter player and now he is talking **** in the media.

I really hope we dump him next year there are tons of young guys that would kill to get almost 3M to come off the bench for our team and instead we have this piece of **** taking up a spot on our roster and contributing nothing on or off the court.

Show some respect. You're talking about one of the greatest Pistons ever, and the leader of the squad that brought us our 3rd title and 6 straight ECFs. That 2.5 mil isn't holding this franchise hostage...and besides, he only had ONE season making 10 mil or more while playing for us. The rest were between 4-6 mil per year, despite the fact that he was one of the top PGs and an MVP candidate in a few of those years. Chauncey was under paid while he was with us. What is he supposed to do to help a guy like Jennings who has built these habits over nearly 5 years? He's not a magician. You don't know what he is contributing off the court, and neither do I...so let's not pretend like we do. Everything he said is relevant.

The issue with this team is that there is a major lack of accountability and a losing culture at this point. Smith/Jennings are allowed to shoot AWFUL shots that would get players immediately yanked out of the game on other teams. Those two are leading the team in shot attempts while posting a 46% and a 49% TS respectively. Anytime you're two supposed marquee FAs play that poorly, you're going to have problems.

I don't blame them for the losing culture though. That's been here for several years now. But their low basketball IQ styles certainly haven't helped. The bigger culprit is the FO. It's their responsibility to bring in a coach who can hold everybody accountable and to force everyone to either buy in to the team concept, or take a seat on the bench. And also to put our players in a position to succeed. Instead once again...they make a bad hire, and then fire them.

[ChipButty]

Wow, there's a big difference in a 29 win team developing young guys then there is a 29 win team with two heavily payed chuckers on new contracts taking the ball away from the youth while making us a laughing stock. So yes I enjoyed last years team a lot more.

Last years team was working towards a bright future. This years team makes the future look like crap because it's going to be hard to find someone to take these cancers off of our hands so were not stuck with them for 4 more years.

Developing young guys?

We started Maxiel over Drummond and then replaced Knight at PG with 30-something Calderon.

People seem to forget that we went the route of trading away an inefficient shooter (Prince), so we could start Singler, Knight and the king-of-efficient-shooting (Calderon) last year and it didn't exactly make much difference.

FWIW Jennings is still a young guy, and I'd hazard a guess that the starting lineup was younger this year. You do have a valid point about the future though. Definitely doesn't look as bright as it did last year.

Knight was never going to be a PG and he was still starting while Calderon ran the point. Also Calderon is actually a good shooter and better passer then Jennings. Prince was replaced with Singler before the deadline putting him in his natural position. Drummond would have replaced Maxiell after the all star break if it werent for injuries. Even with Maxiell out there we knew he was gone after the season and Dre and Monroe would be the new building blocks. So our lineup half way through the season if it wasnt for Drummonds injury was alot more promising and I was fine with losing because of growing pains but this crap this year theres no excuse for it.

Calderon/Stuckey
Knight/Stuckey
Singler/Middleton
Monroe/Maxiell
Drummond/Slava

I understand your point, but I don't see the point in debating last years lineup b/c it sucked and developing the youth definitely wasn't the focus. Knight/Calderon/Jennings? Pick your poison. Defense is our biggest problem, so at this point I'd probably try starting Stuckey at PG and I've wanted to trade him for years

[MotownMadness]

Developing young guys?

We started Maxiel over Drummond and then replaced Knight at PG with 30-something Calderon.

People seem to forget that we went the route of trading away an inefficient shooter (Prince), so we could start Singler, Knight and the king-of-efficient-shooting (Calderon) last year and it didn't exactly make much difference.

FWIW Jennings is still a young guy, and I'd hazard a guess that the starting lineup was younger this year. You do have a valid point about the future though. Definitely doesn't look as bright as it did last year.

Knight was never going to be a PG and he was still starting while Calderon ran the point. Also Calderon is actually a good shooter and better passer then Jennings. Prince was replaced with Singler before the deadline putting him in his natural position. Drummond would have replaced Maxiell after the all star break if it werent for injuries. Even with Maxiell out there we knew he was gone after the season and Dre and Monroe would be the new building blocks. So our lineup half way through the season if it wasnt for Drummonds injury was alot more promising and I was fine with losing because of growing pains but this crap this year theres no excuse for it.

Calderon/Stuckey
Knight/Stuckey
Singler/Middleton
Monroe/Maxiell
Drummond/Slava

I understand your point, but I don't see the point in debating last years lineup b/c it sucked and developing the youth definitely wasn't the focus. Knight/Calderon/Jennings? Pick your poison. Defense is our biggest problem, so at this point I'd probably try starting Stuckey at PG and I've wanted to trade him for years

I was just debating that losing last year was easier to swallow than now. Towards the second half of the season it was starting to look like we were developing the youth more. Now the young guys will pretty much have to fist fight Jennings and Smith to touch the ball, At least thats my opinion.

I wanted no part of Knight at PG and have seen enough to know that he will never be one. But he's still a guy you could put in a role off the bench and have him contribute to winning ball. I just don't see a role were Jennings can ever help a team. He's too much of a chucker and has some of the worst defense I've ever seen while having a douche bag personality.

[Invictus88]

Chauncey should really shut the hell up

We signed him for 2.5 MILLION to sit on the bench and do nothing while collecting his check

He hasnt done **** to help Jennings become a smarter player and now he is talking **** in the media.

I really hope we dump him next year there are tons of young guys that would kill to get almost 3M to come off the bench for our team and instead we have this piece of **** taking up a spot on our roster and contributing nothing on or off the court.

Why should he shut up? So he doesnt hurt Jennings and Smith's feelings or something. These two guys are clowns and have destroyed the game of basketball in this town.

This myth really needs to stop. Good basketball has been absent in this town for 5-6 years, long before either Jennings or Smith were on this team. If you enjoyed watching last years 29 win team more somehow, more power to you, but its no different to me. The names on the jersey's may have changed, but its not like we didn't see guys like Bynum, CV, Maxiell, Tayshaun, Stuckey, etc, doing the same things last year as well like hogging the ball, over-dribbling,, settling for jumpshots, taking bad shots early in the clock, not playing defense, not giving effort etc.

This is a culture issue that's been going on for a long time. So to act like this just started with the arrival of Jennings and Smith is just not true. If you really want to single out a chucker for this teams chucking culture, go straight to the source - King Bubba Chuck himself - Allen Iverson.

I don't think its a coincidence that the culture change of this team started that 08-09 season after the trade. It wasn't just not having Chauncey around, but also having that selfish twit Iverson around bringing that whole And1 mentality into our franchise.

Suddenly guys like Rip and Tay, who were the epitome of selfless team players their whole careers, started playing iso way more than they used to. Because when you bring in a guy like Iverson who starts hogging the ball, other guys then hog it back when they finally get the ball too. Its like a disease. I remember when he first got here, all those ultimate team guys like Rasheed, McDyess, Tay, Rip, would just stand around watching Iverson dribble and you could tell they did not like it. After a while, they just **** it and started doing it themselves too.

Then you had impressionable young guards like Bynum and Stuckey on that team learning that was the right way to play. And even though the other guys left, they stayed and continued that whole culture going forward. Then to compound the problem we sign two guys like BG/CV who literally couldn't do anything but shoot, and felt entitled to because they got big contracts, and suddenly we have a whole team full of selfish iso chuckers.

All of that before even signing Smith and Jennings. So as you can see, this is something that's been building for years and didn't just start with their signings.

I agree though that its good to hear Chauncey speaking up. He's saying what this team needs to hear and no one else is taking accountability so someone has to say it. If Gores or Joe were around maybe he wouldn't have to. He could just sit quietly, collect his money, and then retire and not give a **** about what happens to this franchise. Instead he's trying to offer some advice and help change the culture back by calling out some of these lazy ass defenders and selfish ballhogs. As a fan I don't care who says it, but its needed to be said for years.

You are correct in pointing out that we've been bad for quite a few years. However, the additions of Jennings and Smith were billed as being a significant increase in talent to the roster. The expectation was set by the owner/GM that we should be making substantial improvement this year because of it.

I think it's fair to say that neither of these players have delivered even close to expectations (of some) at this point. I also think it's fair to say that while their contracts weren't considered terrible when signed (again by some) that they are now based on what we are actually seeing on the court. And finally I think that the fact that neither of them are very tradable makes fans irate.

There were many people including myself who pointed out the problems currently seen when rumors started to swirl about both of these guys becoming Pistons. If we could see them then a solid GM should have been able to as well. The fans are right to be upset.

[kurtis48239]

I get smith is a chucker and jennings,but what I dont get is some people act like we have better offensive players in the starting squad to take those shots(jump shots).I also relize that if he stoped chucking it would give more attempts to dre/moose,but the fact of the matter is the coach isnt calling plays for dre anyway and its not just smith or jennings that ignore him and when teams relize moose is taking more shots inside they will double him and force a turn over and shut him down,then josh and jennings will be forced to take those shots again.Another thing thats false is the myth smith is taking shots away from everyone,I will see countless times moose,singler,jennings pass the ball to him instead of taking a shot when the clock is running down.I dont know how many times a game I will see moose get the ball at the ft line,look around confused and pass the ball off, instead of just taking a jumper while hes wide open.

Again, is smith taking alot of shots (yes) but maybe if other players would grow a pair and take a shot it probably wouldnt be so bad.The next game count how many times smith will get passed the ball when the clock is down and also count the times moose passes off instead of taking a jumper (while being open or defenders sagging off just to let him take it,So lets stop acting like smith or jennings is running around stealing balls out of players hands and hoisting them up or constantly calling for the ball to take the worst shots possible.Lets be real and share some of the blame.

Ok,let the insults fly.