RealGM

what were you thinking?

First i tought based on talent we can't miss the play-offs.
Later on there isn't chemistry and a couple of low profile
characters naah, it's better this way we don't deserve it!

I did. I think lack of coaching was this teams biggest downfall, not that Jennings and Smith are off the hook. I think if we had a guy like Hollins running this team from the start we could've made it. It's clear this team has no cohesiveness on either side of the floor and that falls largely on the coaching. Smith and Jennings are both hot garbage though and need to go asap.

I thought before the season started we would end up somewhere in the seed 6-8 range. Then early on when it became clear that the Knicks and Nets weren't quite as good as everyone expected I thought we could end up in the top 4. Now I realise that this is just simply a terrible team.

I'll cop to it — I absolutely thought we'd make the playoffs. With how bad the East is this year, and the talent on this team? I thought it was a no-brainer. Sadly, that's exactly the type of coaching we've had — no brain-ers. I honestly think it's pretty stunning just how bad this team is this year, but I still hold out hope that we can turn it around quickly with the right coach and a couple of shrewd moves. We have a foundation piece in Drummond most franchises would kill to have; we just need the right people (from top to bottom, GM on down) to build around him.

I did

Every single person overshot:
http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1280189&start=20

ComboGuardCity: 50-32
srt4b: 50-32
Cowology: 48-34
nastassiav: 48-34
Treefi: 46-36
DetroitPistons: 45-37
HotMayo: 45-37
Natopher: 45-37
whitehops: 45-37
dan2314: 44-36
Dre Drummon: 43-39
englebert321: 42-40
imagump1313: 42-40
tmorgan: 41-41
Notanood: 40-42
Minas: 40-42
ImHeisenberg: 39-43
Kilo: 39-43
zeebneeb: 39-43
dVs33: 38-44
joseph mamah: 38-44
Kyrama: 37-45
Mercury: 36-46
Zaphod123: 34-48

Average: 42-40
Median: 42-40
Mode: 45-37

Lack of coaching killed us

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I remember my prediction. it was turmoil.

Thanks for doing the official count, Mayhem. I remember clearly that almost everyone predicted we'd make the playoffs, with a small handful of people predicting we'd finish a game or two out after a hard-fought battle for the 8th spot.

I personally thought we would finish 6-9th, but that was only because I expected many teams in the east to be better. I thought we were worse than the Pacers, Heat, Bulls, Nets, Knicks, and Hawks, and in the same basic category as the Cavs, Raptors, and Wiz. Figured we'd wind up somewhere among them. But if you would have told me that the Knicks' wheels would fall off, the Nets would be awful for the first half of the season, the Hawks would lose Horford for 4/5 of the year, and the Cavs wouldn't improve one iota, I would've thought we'd be an easy 5th or 6th seed.

I admit, my initial thoughts were the Pistons had no chance to make the playoffs. I expected the East to be much stronger than it turned out to be. I also had no faith in Mo Cheeks.

Although, there were several times during this season I felt like the Pistons were a shoe in for the playoffs. The Pistons weren't playing .500 ball, but then again, in the East only Miami and Indy were playing .500 ball or better.

A lucky break for the Pistons came when Horford got injured. The Hawks dropped like a brick from the 4th place to 8th place. That was the perfect opportunity for the Pistons to steal the 8th spot from the ATL. The Pistons were the 9th seed at the time and only a game or two behind Atlanta.

In any event, my initial prediction came true. Or appears to be coming true. Maybe? Truth be told, ATL is still giving the Pistons an opportunity to take the 8th seed. They are only 5 games ahead of the Pistons. Pistons have 9 games left. If the Pistons can muster a 6 - 3 record for the rest of the season, they'd be in. I really doubt ATL wins another game.

I was right in thinking 38 wins would probably get you in the Eastern playofffs this year, but wrong in thinking that the Pistons could reach such lofty heights.

The same people who think we're going to make them next year.

I thought they'd make it to the playoffs, although I didn't think they'd storm in. This was partly based on the level of competition in the east. I never imagined that they'd stick with the 3 bigs starting all year, even though it proved to be unworkable. I never imagined that the only real adjustment made would be benching the rookie two guard, who was our only perimeter player who seemed to care about defending. I didn't imagine that they'd let the trade deadline pass with no movement at all even though we had two major expirings. I certainly didn't imagine the firing of Cheeks at mid-season, especially as the team seemed to building a little momentum just prior.

Pharaoh wrote:Lack of coaching killed us

Sent from my GT-I9300 using RealGM Forums mobile app

True

I think we would have at least gotten the 8th seed if Gores didn't knee-jerk and fire Cheeks.

I predicted they would get the 7th or 8th seed, simply by feeding off all the tanking teams (which have beaten them with regularity), and the talent "upgrade".

I never had much faith in Cheeks, but he turned out to be much worse than any of us had predicted. Smith and Jennings didn't clean up their games at all, they're still gunning for their own numbers and not really about winning basketball.

I think what no one saw coming is how profoundly this team failed to develop and then how they would outright quit trying. They have not meshed at all (we know all of the obvious reasons). They look and act like a college team that never had have a coach. Missed assignments , lack of execution, selfish chucking. Would Thibs or Hollins have made the playoffs with this level of talent? I think the answer is yes. I also think we are especially down on them now they are tanking but I think we are in fact tanking and it's never pretty. I'm not as pessimistic for the long term but this was a wasted year in so many ways for player development. Even Jennings was progressing under Cheeks. Firing him mid year was waiving the white flag and everyone quit. Even Andre and Moose quit last night.

I did not like the Josh Smith or Jennings acquisitions. I even rub that in my friends face. Still, I didn't expect this level of terrible.