Game 58: Pistons (27-30) vs. Hornets (24-32) - 7:30 PM EST

[TurboTitan]

Just use RJ to move up like 6 picks in the draft

[The Penguin]

Stan should have flipped Reggie for expirings yesterday. Why would anyone want him at this point? Unless he makes a dramatic 2nd half turnaround, I'm worried we are looking at our next Josh Smith contract albatross.

To be fair, I don't think RJ will be anything like Josh Smith. We're talking about a guy that "led" us to being 5-23 record and sabotaged previous seasons as well. If RJ continues to play like he does, then yeah I can see us slowly approaching that stratosphere in the near future. As it stands, RJ just needs to come off the bench or shut him down if we're serious about having both watchable basketball AND competitive basketball to close out the season.

Reggie is a poor fit for the modern NBA. If his knee injury changes his career arc and he's no longer able to stay with guys defensively and can't get past them offensively then he's absolutely going to be a negative trade asset if he isn't already. 65%+ of the league has a guy they wouldn't take Reggie over at PG. There's another handful coming in this draft class. He can very quickly reach a point where he's unmovable and given his poor attitude, it can absolutely have the same negative affect as Josh Smith.

[coordinator0]

Reggie is a poor fit for the modern NBA. If his knee injury changes his career arc and he's no longer able to stay with guys defensively and can't get past them offensively then he's absolutely going to be a negative trade asset if he isn't already. 65%+ of the league has a guy they wouldn't take Reggie over at PG. There's another handful coming in this draft class. He can very quickly reach a point where he's unmovable and given his poor attitude, it can absolutely have the same negative affect as Josh Smith.

Well, that's not really something he was able to due even when healthy. So that's one less negative... kinda.

[Redeemed]

It was great seeing KCP step up in a big way last night, especially with RJ & Dre struggling. RJ struggles are a combination of health and pigheadedness. When healthy he can take over the games at will getting to the rim at will scoring in bunches. The problem is, he isn't healthy so offensive explosions are off the table for him right now.

In times like this you would hope he could fall back on guile and savvy to lead by running the offense like a fine oiled machine. You would hope the same intelligence would reveal to him the finer points in team defense so he would better execute the team D principles as opposed to being frequently out of position. He's really got to wake up and realize that his game needs a makeover, if he's going to be a lead guard in this league. Reggie has to learn how to better run the offense when pick & rolls aren't available. And the sulking has to stop.

Watching Drummond get stripped and blocked on so many of his rebounds and shot attempts was just sad. And the way he kept getting upset and out of his game instead of matching the physicality of the Hornets was just exhausting. The guy is big, strong, and physical...well that is, until the other team is the aggressor. He's easily frustrated by physical play (see Khris Middleton's comments from last season). Despite his superior athleticism, he doesn't rise to the challenge, when called on to guard skilled bigs. I'm cringing in advance of our game against the Pelicans. There's no one we can hide Dre on. I suppose, if he takes the same pouty low energy approach as usual, he'll spend extended minutes on the bench.

I am so happy to see SVG sitting Dre & RJ when it is obvious health and/or mental softness are prohibiting them from competing.

I am also happy to see the other guys stepping up, now that it has become obvious the two franchise players are incapable of leading.

If what we can expect from RJ is nothing more than moodiness and hero ball, we've got to try to break ties in the offseason.

Dre has to be challenged to break out of his smug immature sense of entitlement earn his time. When he giving effort he's a force, when he does not give effort...he's good for some empty stats that do move the meter.