Welcome to Reality
Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:15 pm
Hello again, fellow Pistons fans, it's been a while.
I took a bit of a hiatus during the second half of the season, because we sucked so bad that it pained me to comment on, let alone actually watch, this collection of misfits. I'm sad to see Joe D go out this way, but I'm certainly not sad to see him go. I'm also a little perturbed that he's not actually "going", but rather scurrying off to a dark corner of the Pistons organization and perhaps still exerting his influence.
I'll be the first to admit I was wrong about plenty of things last off-season, as I didn't think either of our acquisitions would be the trainwreck they actually were. Lesson learned, once again -- hometown fans are almost always worth listening to, and players very rarely change the way they play. Jennings did make some strides as a PG under Cheeks, but his defense is just as bad as advertised and isn't ever going to get any better. I was somewhat disappointed in him, but that disappointment pales in comparison to the utter horror I experienced watching Josh Smith play the stupidest brand of basketball I've quite literally ever seen. It's truly a shame that his athletic gifts are wasted on that ten cent brain of his.
Neither of those two morons is our biggest problem, though. We need a legit front office and a really legit coach if we're ever going to crawl out of this pit of mediocrity. The front office hire needs to come first, and needs to lead to a respectable coach that's willing to come aboard. Once that happens, we need to figure out what to do with two more years of our sieve PG and three more years of our braindead SF/PF. I think we'd all like to dump them both, but I suspect neither has positive trade value right now.
So, do we match on Monroe, try to sign-and-trade him, or just let him walk? Moose is a really interesting case, as he's really not anything but a center defensively, and a non-rim-protector at that, only capable of perhaps average post defense and slightly above-average rebounding for a big. With the future of this team in the hands of the man-child Dre, he has no choice but to play power forward, where he lacks the both the offensive range and the defensive quickness to become a positive difference-maker. Yes, Monroe is an excellent passer for a big, and he does have an assortment of pretty effective post moves, but the former isn't enough to justify his weaknesses, and the latter is going to become even less important as Drummond takes on more and more of the post role. It is my opinion that Monroe has to go -- he's a defensive liability with offensive strengths that we aren't in a position to correctly utilize.
For those that don't want to get rid of Monroe, the typical two arguments I've read are "His high-post passing ability fits great with Drummond" and "Josh Smith sucks and I hate him". For the first, I agree that it's fun to watch them play off each other on offense, but that doesn't mean we can't look for other forwards capable of passing, as there are plenty of them out there. Don't let Monroe's biggest strength blind you to his many weaknesses, one of which I haven't even discussed yet -- although he's a pretty smart guy, he has zero inclination towards leadership. He's quiet (except when he's complaining about calls), he's mostly a loner, and he never seems happy to be here. As for the second, that Josh Smith sucks, that's pretty much true, but that's not a good reason to invest in Monroe -- that's the reason to get rid of Smith. Last I checked, there are other power forwards in the NBA we might acquire.
I guess that's why I bothered writing all this, to articulate a position I don't think I've seen anyone else bother to mention -- I think we need to get rid of both of these guys. Monroe has value, so I don't advocate just letting him walk, but I do think a sign-and-trade after the draft for some useful asset(s) would be a good idea. Josh Smith probably doesn't have value, so that's trickier, and I'm not willing to go all Ben Gordon and attach assets to jettison him, but if we can somehow get rid of him, even if it's for nothing in return, I'm all for it. You'll note that a lot of the best-player-available projections for our probable #8 pick are big guys, and this opens up a spot for one of them to step right in. Sure, we'll probably end up giving Charlotte a pretty good pick next year, but that's a sunk cost and shouldn't be brooded over too much.
Summary, for those afraid of the wall of text -- get rid of both Smoove and Moose, get a quality front office/coach combo somehow, and truly begin the rebuild with KCP, Dre, and our pick.
I took a bit of a hiatus during the second half of the season, because we sucked so bad that it pained me to comment on, let alone actually watch, this collection of misfits. I'm sad to see Joe D go out this way, but I'm certainly not sad to see him go. I'm also a little perturbed that he's not actually "going", but rather scurrying off to a dark corner of the Pistons organization and perhaps still exerting his influence.
I'll be the first to admit I was wrong about plenty of things last off-season, as I didn't think either of our acquisitions would be the trainwreck they actually were. Lesson learned, once again -- hometown fans are almost always worth listening to, and players very rarely change the way they play. Jennings did make some strides as a PG under Cheeks, but his defense is just as bad as advertised and isn't ever going to get any better. I was somewhat disappointed in him, but that disappointment pales in comparison to the utter horror I experienced watching Josh Smith play the stupidest brand of basketball I've quite literally ever seen. It's truly a shame that his athletic gifts are wasted on that ten cent brain of his.
Neither of those two morons is our biggest problem, though. We need a legit front office and a really legit coach if we're ever going to crawl out of this pit of mediocrity. The front office hire needs to come first, and needs to lead to a respectable coach that's willing to come aboard. Once that happens, we need to figure out what to do with two more years of our sieve PG and three more years of our braindead SF/PF. I think we'd all like to dump them both, but I suspect neither has positive trade value right now.
So, do we match on Monroe, try to sign-and-trade him, or just let him walk? Moose is a really interesting case, as he's really not anything but a center defensively, and a non-rim-protector at that, only capable of perhaps average post defense and slightly above-average rebounding for a big. With the future of this team in the hands of the man-child Dre, he has no choice but to play power forward, where he lacks the both the offensive range and the defensive quickness to become a positive difference-maker. Yes, Monroe is an excellent passer for a big, and he does have an assortment of pretty effective post moves, but the former isn't enough to justify his weaknesses, and the latter is going to become even less important as Drummond takes on more and more of the post role. It is my opinion that Monroe has to go -- he's a defensive liability with offensive strengths that we aren't in a position to correctly utilize.
For those that don't want to get rid of Monroe, the typical two arguments I've read are "His high-post passing ability fits great with Drummond" and "Josh Smith sucks and I hate him". For the first, I agree that it's fun to watch them play off each other on offense, but that doesn't mean we can't look for other forwards capable of passing, as there are plenty of them out there. Don't let Monroe's biggest strength blind you to his many weaknesses, one of which I haven't even discussed yet -- although he's a pretty smart guy, he has zero inclination towards leadership. He's quiet (except when he's complaining about calls), he's mostly a loner, and he never seems happy to be here. As for the second, that Josh Smith sucks, that's pretty much true, but that's not a good reason to invest in Monroe -- that's the reason to get rid of Smith. Last I checked, there are other power forwards in the NBA we might acquire.
I guess that's why I bothered writing all this, to articulate a position I don't think I've seen anyone else bother to mention -- I think we need to get rid of both of these guys. Monroe has value, so I don't advocate just letting him walk, but I do think a sign-and-trade after the draft for some useful asset(s) would be a good idea. Josh Smith probably doesn't have value, so that's trickier, and I'm not willing to go all Ben Gordon and attach assets to jettison him, but if we can somehow get rid of him, even if it's for nothing in return, I'm all for it. You'll note that a lot of the best-player-available projections for our probable #8 pick are big guys, and this opens up a spot for one of them to step right in. Sure, we'll probably end up giving Charlotte a pretty good pick next year, but that's a sunk cost and shouldn't be brooded over too much.
Summary, for those afraid of the wall of text -- get rid of both Smoove and Moose, get a quality front office/coach combo somehow, and truly begin the rebuild with KCP, Dre, and our pick.
