RealGM

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... countable/

BOSTON – Do the Detroit Pistons hold each other accountable?

“No,” Brandon Jennings said directly.

The Pistons’ faint playoff hopes are disintegrating. With a 118-111 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, Detroit has lost three straight, seven of eight and 10 of 12. The Atlanta Hawks lead the Pistons by three games with 19 remaining for Detroit.

Jennings indicated he still believes Maurice Cheeks wasn’t the Pistons problem, and the team’s record before and after the coach’s firing supports that notion. The Pistons, who were 24-38 (.387) under Cheeks, have gone just (.231) under interim coach John Loyer.

The problem?

“Trust,” Jennings said. “Just trusting each other, guys willing to sacrifice for one another. I think that’s just the main thing, trust and sacrifice.

“With good teams, somebody sees somebody messing up, then you tell them. Straight up.”

As Jennings tells it, there’s no healthy player in the locker room who does that anymore.

rest of article in the link

i personally think the problem is what Jennings sees in the mirror, but thats just me

He's right, but he's a big part of the problem. His inefficiency, shot selection and defense needs serious improvement.

The problem is that hes complete crap on both sides of the ball.

I trust Brandon to never attempt a shot in the paint.

I'd like to hope Jennings is at least salvageable at this rate but his decline after Cheeks was fired is disconcerting to say the least. I at least like the fact that he's not willing to be afraid of his teammates to call them out like this but at the same time, he's largely one of the reasons why we're so beyond terrible.

What exactly has either one of Smith and jennings done to inspire "trust" from their team mates??
monroe, Drummond, Singler, Stuckey.. they all trust eachother, because they know each other and for better or worse, they know what kind of players they are and what they are going to do.
Jennings and Smith on the other hand are the models for inconsistency. Both have horrible shot selections. Both have played lazy defense, both have taken turns at trying to be "the man" at times... what do you expect from the rest of the team? at different times this season, jennings and smith have looked amazing, but they can come out the next game and play at their worst. There's no consistency on effort, so how can you build trust??

Jennings should be accountable for his lack of improvement during the off-season.

The guy just can't shoot the ball from anywhere. Period.

If Rondo was a volume shooter, he may actually be better than Jennings from the field.

34% while driving to the basket
47% at the rim
33% on catch and shoot
35% on dribble pull-ups
44% eFG%

Yuck.

Good read. Jennings was spot on, but he should understand he's a piece of the problem. I don't mind him shooting the ball, but defensively he needs improvement.

Its true, we are a rudderless ship. We have no leader.

The problem is that we signed these two knuckleheads to be our veteran leaders, however- neither of them inspire trust because of their low ball IQ and tendency to make atrocious mistakes.

We need a captain. Chauncey was signed for that role, but he is too old and barely plays.

dVs33 wrote:What exactly has either one of Smith and jennings done to inspire "trust" from their team mates??
monroe, Drummond, Singler, Stuckey.. they all trust eachother, because they know each other and for better or worse, they know what kind of players they are and what they are going to do.
Jennings and Smith on the other hand are the models for inconsistency. Both have horrible shot selections. Both have played lazy defense, both have taken turns at trying to be "the man" at times... what do you expect from the rest of the team? at different times this season, jennings and smith have looked amazing, but they can come out the next game and play at their worst. There's no consistency on effort, so how can you build trust??

I'm not sure we know that. Putting all the blame on Smith and Jennings for any shortcomings in our intangibles is just lazy, IMO. Did we feel like we had one big happy family who did everything the right way last year? No, we were going off on Stuckey or Charlie V. or whoever else we wanted to scapegoat.

This is a systemic problem, an organizational problem, a leadership problem. It starts with management and the coach ( or lack of). Our young players are in a bad situation. But did Smith and Jennings create it or did they get sucked into it when they got here? I think it's more the second.

Laimbeer wrote:

dVs33 wrote:What exactly has either one of Smith and jennings done to inspire "trust" from their team mates??
monroe, Drummond, Singler, Stuckey.. they all trust eachother, because they know each other and for better or worse, they know what kind of players they are and what they are going to do.
Jennings and Smith on the other hand are the models for inconsistency. Both have horrible shot selections. Both have played lazy defense, both have taken turns at trying to be "the man" at times... what do you expect from the rest of the team? at different times this season, jennings and smith have looked amazing, but they can come out the next game and play at their worst. There's no consistency on effort, so how can you build trust??

I'm not sure we know that. Putting all the blame on Smith and Jennings for any shortcomings in our intangibles is just lazy, IMO. Did we feel like we had one big happy family who did everything the right way last year? No, we were going off on Stuckey or Charlie V. or whoever else we wanted to scapegoat.

This is a systemic problem, an organizational problem, a leadership problem. It starts with management and the coach ( or lack of). Our young players are in a bad situation. But did Smith and Jennings create it or did they get sucked into it when they got here? I think it's more the second.

I was referring to the trust issue.
Obviously we haven't had a system in place for years and joe has created a mismatched roster with no leadership. The owners and joe are more to blame for us sucking then the players.

wire28 wrote:“With good teams, somebody sees somebody messing up, then you tell them. Straight up.”

Nope - you have no idea what happens on "good teams" Brandon - because a "good team" would never hire your services. Sounded good though.

alex0000 wrote:

wire28 wrote:“With good teams, somebody sees somebody messing up, then you tell them. Straight up.”

Nope - you have no idea what happens on "good teams" Brandon - because a "good team" would never hire your services. Sounded good though.

His pals told him.

I trust Josh Smith to chuck the ball.
So does Brandon Jennings.
There's your trust problem in a nutshell.

As they say, psychiatrists can't diagnose themselves.

wire28 wrote:http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/09/brandon-jennings-pistons-dont-hold-themselves-accountable/

BOSTON – Do the Detroit Pistons hold each other accountable?

“No,” Brandon Jennings said directly.

The Pistons’ faint playoff hopes are disintegrating. With a 118-111 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, Detroit has lost three straight, seven of eight and 10 of 12. The Atlanta Hawks lead the Pistons by three games with 19 remaining for Detroit.

Jennings indicated he still believes Maurice Cheeks wasn’t the Pistons problem, and the team’s record before and after the coach’s firing supports that notion. The Pistons, who were 24-38 (.387) under Cheeks, have gone just (.231) under interim coach John Loyer.

The problem?

“Trust,” Jennings said. “Just trusting each other, guys willing to sacrifice for one another. I think that’s just the main thing, trust and sacrifice.

“With good teams, somebody sees somebody messing up, then you tell them. Straight up.”

As Jennings tells it, there’s no healthy player in the locker room who does that anymore.

rest of article in the link

i personally think the problem is what Jennings sees in the mirror, but thats just me

The problem is Jennings. He needs to shoot less, play less minutes and realise he isn't the guy or even the second guy. Actually why is Jennings even thinking he should be able to speak on behalf of the team?

This team was becoming Knight, Monroe and Drummonds team - then Joe went out and traded the guy who most wanted to be a leader in Knight for two selfish veterans who then came in and took over and destroyed any team building/camaraderie.

Offensively, Jennings is what he is. He's turned into a willing passer and generally protects the ball. He shoots a lot of 3's and makes them at a decent clip but not spectacular (34% this year, 35% lifetime). His 2 point shots - especially in the lane - are rushed and often off balance because he's not strong enough to play though contact. For a guy with so much quickness, he rarely uses it to get into the lane and really break down a defense consistently.

Defensively, he's really pretty good 1-on-1. He gets most of his steals on the ball vs playing passing lanes. However, he might be the worst guy I've ever seen in terms of fighting through a pick. He makes no attempt to disrupt the play and his man always gets great separation. However, there are flashes when he gets mad and actually plays D for a stretch.

Ultimately, he's the pg now, so the trust and accountability need to start with him. If he's not making maximum effort to get over screens, he'll have no credibility calling guys out for not rotation behind him to help. Unfortunately, with this roster, the coach doesn't have a legitimate fallback option if Jennings isn't giving defensive effort.

One of many problems is the fact that 2 out of 3 offensive trips down the floor end in a low percenrage chucker jacking up junk!

That begins with Jennings & continues with Smith. You can't ask the rest of your team mates to "play the right way" when your 2 "stars" are doing that...yet every night Jennings and Smith continue to play hero ball while everyone gets frustrated.

Then to make things worse Bynum and Stuckey come off the bench and play their version of hero ball!

We should be thankful that Monroe, Dre, Singler and the rest aren't mental midgets abd actually try to play as a unit - otherwise thus epic fustercluck would be drive us all away.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using RealGM Forums mobile app

^ I don't know about that but I expect Monroe to do everything he can to get out of Detroit organization gong show this off-season.