breezypeezy wrote:Keep Walton in the rotation even after the bums (Cojo, Josh, Lyles, Macgruder) are eligible to come back. And Do Not give Garza's minutes to the human trash Lyles.
Agreed. In full disclosure I'm a big Michigan fan but don't follow their players much once they hit the NBA unless they wind up playing for the Pistons, and posted previously that I had completely forgotten Walton was even with the Pistons organization. My point is that I've now watched him play with unbiased eyes and he has showed he is EXACTLY the kind of point guard I think would do pretty well next to Cade since, given the team has Bey, Grant (or his replacement) and now Diallo, I don't buy into the idea that Cade HAS to have a scoring PG next to him in order for the team to do well. Walton is a pure facilitator who always seems to find the open man for an immediate shot. He makes quick decisions--some often quickly enough that guys fumbled his passes because they weren't expecting them--his passes are on target, and he can draw and dish better than anyone on this team currently not named Cade. Obviously he hasn't played a lot so I didn't expect him to go out and light it up since he's never been a big scoring threat, but he's certainly capable of hitting a 3 and also going to the hoop. He scored 15.5/game on 45.6%/42.2% his senior year at Michigan and did have some big games offensively. Right now drawing and dishing on the Pistons usually consists of "I'm going to drive into traffic with the intention of scoring, oh crap there are 2-3 guys on me, where's someone I can dump it off to in order to get out of trouble?" And he recognized that--GASP--getting the ball to Garza in the low post WORKS WELL. I'm not saying Walton should automatically be catapulted past Hayes or Lee relative to minutes played but he sure as hell should be considered over Cojo.
Which leads me to Garza. Admittedly I've always contended that true centers should not be regarded as dinosaurs with no place in the NBA simply because there's a trend toward playing a couple of stretch PF's instead, endorsed the Pistons taking him with that 52nd pick if he were available since I thought he'd be a draft steal, and was happy they did. And of course Garza can hit a 3; he's just not going to blow by his man for a drive to the hoop. Which is fine as long as he can play some serviceable D in the paint and oh, I don't know, be given the opportunity to use his best offensive capabilities to score points and offset some of his defensive inefficiencies. He gives 100% effort and like Diallo is demonstrating that if he's given extended minutes he can be a useful player. I don't think I'm going out on a limb here by saying that given what he's shown in the extended minutes he's been given recently there is NOTHING he doesn't do better than Lyles. Absolutely nothing. He should be the first big off the bench starting YESTERDAY.
