I want to see where everyone is at. POLL

[kurtis48239]

I want to see where our board is at in terms of wanting to maybe make the playoffs/get bounced in the 1st rd,or are still hoping for a top 5 pick.

I get That we could build thru fa signings.But wouldnt it be better to get 1 more pick and possibily a high pick and still build thru fa with alot of cap space and make a real push next season from scratch.

I also get hopes are high right now because we have won 5 in a row,but I dont think its sustainable,especialy the schedule were heading toward.

And usually when draft time comes around and were sitting somewhere between 9-12,alot of minds around here seem to change and wish we wouldnt have won those meaningless games.

Also we can still be competitive while losing,so players dont become hopeless.

Also just because someones opinion is different, dosent give anyone the right to attack their view,disagree/go back and forth is fine.

[engelbert321]

Playoffs. Get our young guns some experience. We can sign/trade for a starting SF in free agency.

[Lucidity]

The red hot shooting will subside a bit but the fact remains our spacing is outstanding with the cancer removed. Guys like Jodie Meeks & Caron are very good 3 point shooters so I expect them to continue to hit open shots.

We do need to incorporate Drummond more offensively. ie touches. He & Moose can get us easy baskets & its still a high % league. We are so lucky to have 2 big guys who can get us high % looks. We must remember that you live by the 3, you also die by the 3.

[vic]

Easy is so weak you can pretty much guarantee playoffs if they keep beating week teams not even the elite teams.

I said be the best you can be he's got two great big's surrounded by bunch of shooters a point guard to can catch fire at any moment. Just roll with it and add Tobias Harris or Demarre Carol or drayman green next year.

[Ghost]

I bet you really don't want to see where I'm at right now.




I don't like this question anymore. We should use our best players and continue to grow our offensive philosophy, share the ball, and play with this defensive effort and discipline. If we do that and we win, great. I hope we make the playoffs. If it just costs us lottery balls in the end while Monroe leaves, oh well, I hope Drummond/KCP learned something important from it.
The whole tanking talk now is a joke, we're not going to really start tanking (intentionally losing games). We were playing Josh Smith and he was hurting our chances to win, but we had an excuse to use with it. We can't just bench DrumRoe now. I don't want SVG sabotaging the team late in games.. that is terrible for our long-term success.

If you disagree, that's okay.

[kurtis48239]

I bet you really don't want to see where I'm at right now.




I don't like this question anymore. We should use our best players and continue to grow our offensive philosophy, share the ball, and play with this defensive effort and discipline. If we do that and we win, great. I hope we make the playoffs. If it just costs us lottery balls in the end while Monroe leaves, oh well, I hope Drummond/KCP learned something important from it.
The whole tanking talk now is a joke, we're not going to really start tanking (intentionally losing games). We were playing Josh Smith and he was hurting our chances to win, but we had an excuse to use with it. We can't just bench DrumRoe now. I don't want SVG sabotaging the team late in games.. that is terrible for our long-term success.

If you disagree, that's okay.

But nothing is guarunteed,its totally possible that we revert back to the team we were,maybe without the effort of smith.All it could take is meeks getting hurt or cold and jennings regressing.Then were losing games,out of the playoff hunt.Why not shut it down,play our young guys and get a nice pick.

And to answer your first question,up north MI,getting 4 feet

[Ghost]

We are so lucky to have 2 big guys who can get us high % looks. We must remember that you live by the 3, you also die by the 3.

I'm hopeful we can keep it up, or at least at a similar rate. I believe I saw that we have been hitting at 43%, which is basically 4% greater than Washington this season (they have the best). It's not totally sustainable, but maybe slightly less, like 37% could be? That'd put us top-8. Like you said, we do have some good 3pt shooters now: Meeks, Singler, Butler, even Jennings and KCP (both around 36%) won't damage it much from 37%.

Something noteworthy though is that Washington has two guys who can score inside, so they draw attention. We also got two guys which can do the same. Drummond has been better passing out of the post to shooters lately and we know Monroe is capable.

If it does slow down, I believe we can adjust and get more post looks. SVG might just be riding the hot shooting and once it cools, we'll see more post ups again. We're in a very interesting spot now. I'm excited.

[DetroitSho]

I bet you really don't want to see where I'm at right now.




I don't like this question anymore. We should use our best players and continue to grow our offensive philosophy, share the ball, and play with this defensive effort and discipline. If we do that and we win, great. I hope we make the playoffs. If it just costs us lottery balls in the end while Monroe leaves, oh well, I hope Drummond/KCP learned something important from it.
The whole tanking talk now is a joke, we're not going to really start tanking (intentionally losing games). We were playing Josh Smith and he was hurting our chances to win, but we had an excuse to use with it. We can't just bench DrumRoe now. I don't want SVG sabotaging the team late in games.. that is terrible for our long-term success.

If you disagree, that's okay.

But nothing is guarunteed,its totally possible that we revert back to the team we were,maybe without the effort of smith.All it could take is meeks getting hurt or cold and jennings regressing.Then were losing games,out of the playoff hunt.Why not shut it down,play our young guys and get a nice pick.

And to answer your first question,up north MI,getting 4 feet

If your plan is to play the young guys, what exactly would you be doing different than what they're currently doing? I'm pretty sure their whole starting lineup is like 25 and under.

[mattao313]

I'm torn I'd really like a top pick to add to our young talent cause guys like Stanley, Okafor, and Mudiay would look really good in a Pistons uniform.Plus I'm not one of the guys that is extremely high on keeping Greg Monroe. Not saying hes bad or anything and wouldn't be mad if we kept him but their are better players/better fitting pieces in the draft or free agency.

But then winning is exciting and it feels good not to be the laughing stock of the NBA. And at the end of the day the Pistons are not a very popular FA destination win or lose but waayy more attractive if we win and maybe sneak into the playoff.

So its hard to vote but I'm leaning to the win side right now cause we can still get a decent player in the draft and maybe attract some free agents in the process.

[Ghost]

But nothing is guarunteed,its totally possible that we revert back to the team we were,maybe without the effort of smith.All it could take is meeks getting hurt or cold and jennings regressing.Then were losing games,out of the playoff hunt.Why not shut it down,play our young guys and get a nice pick.

And to answer your first question,up north MI,getting 4 feet

The only thing I think of when seeing "play our young guys" would mean changing Augustin with Dinwiddie. That's about it for getting the young guys more minutes. Haha. Maybe a little less for Butler, it's not like we're an old team.
If Meeks and Jennings get cold.. Lets just say we lose our perimeter shooting and it costs us games, that's fine, but that's not tanking. Shouldn't we continue to try to win, even if we're just not good enough? If the effort dies, I'll be **** pissed and I'll want people traded.

If we get eliminated, maybe more post up attempts for Drummond? Or like, what are you really thinking :?

[vic]

Everybody says the shooting will subside but I think eventually people will have to respect the fact that this is very sustainable. 2 elite 7 footers, plus 5-6 or 7 shooters. They won't all be hot every game but you can bet overall 1 or 2 will get hot every night. They might be the only team other than the Spurs that can either play 3 out 2 in OR 4 out 1 in with enough 3 point shooting and size in the paint for either style. And they don't have any ball hogs and that's a good thing. I think by the end of this season ppl will be saying that SvG may be on to something here.

The only thing they lack is that long defender at the 3

[MrBigShot]

Playoffs for sure. The improvement to our team culture that making such an incredible turnaround within the season is more valuable than the 7th or 8th pick we'd get by "tanking", something that SVG will not do.

I think Jennings will cool down eventually, but the overall shooting wont fall much imo. We're getting good looks. KCP/Meeks/Singler/Butler were a combined 4/17 from three today. That probably wont happen very often.

[bstein14]

Given the choice, everyone should want playoffs... Its finishing with 34 wins and being 9th or 10th in the east and missing the playoffs that I don't want... Of course, if it is playoffs or top 5 pick you want this team to be a playoff team... but I'd much rather have a top 5 pick than finish 9th or 10th in the east and not make the playoffs... so its not as simple of a question as you pose.

[whitehops]

the way I personally view these types of scenarios is try to win every game (while implementing your system/culture) and let the gm figure out how to get a better draft pick if he thinks he needs it.

cultivating a winning culture keeps morale up, makes the team a more attractive destination for free agents and can lead to valuable playoff experience.

Drummond is our building block, that much is a given. we've surrounded him with a top-10 pick with potential both offensively and defensively in KCP and a host of role players. if we draft another top-5, top-8 or top-10 pick this year how many years is it going to take for him to make any sort of impact? and there's always the chance that he ends up as a bust, which means you've essentially wasted years hoping for him to push the team over the edge.


last but not least, playing winning ball is fun to watch and more fun for the players

[FluffySockNinja]

I'm playoffs as well.

Consistent losing results in your best young players wanting out, or if not out, getting slightly antsy (Monroe).

If we continue to be a lottery team who is to say Drummond doesn't get the same idea in a year or two.

If we at least show some promise and are fighting for a playoff birth this indicates progress and our guys are more likely to want to stay long term.

Call me nervous but I'll take a playoff birth at this point.
Plenty of quality youth on this team already.





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[ImHeisenberg]

I'm happy with the Pistons competing. I don't care if they miss the playoffs at 9th or 10th. It will have been a great ride getting there.

I'll take that over watching Smith jack up bricks for 82 games. Kurtis, I know you want this team to get a top 5 pick but that won't guarantee any future success. The team finally grasping SVG's offensive and defensive systems, improving, and building a positive culture trumps a top 5 pick (especially in this upcoming draft).

[AussieAsh13]

I'm happy with the Pistons competing also. We haven't seen them really compete like this for a while, and to be honest, I'm thoroughly enjoying every moment of it! Especially without Smith. I was one of the hopefuls for Smith, but even this season at PF, something wasn't right.

The guys all look like they're enjoying their basketball (yes that could be the wins) but still, it's good to see! Jennings has looked better and been able to actually play PG without Smith waving him away like before.

This culture change plus improvement from young guys, is way more valuable then a few positions in the draft IMO

[Pharaoh]

the way I personally view these types of scenarios is try to win every game while implementing your system/culture and let the gm figure out how to get a better draft pick if he thinks he needs it.

cultivating a winning culture keeps morale up, makes the team a more attractive destination for free agents and can lead to valuable playoff experience.

THIS!

[czar]

Every year this board talks about tanking. Now that there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, you guys still want to tank. Its just ridiculous.

I believe the best way to build a team is through free agency. Yes, I doubt we would get any marquee free agent signings but it would be foolish to think that a winning organization won't be able to attract valuable pieces which you could always dangle later on for trades, rather than LOSING on hope of a top 5 pick. And if that draft pick doesn't turn out to what we expected, it automatically sets the team a year back and we would just be stuck in that cycle.

Now we can all agree that OKC got lucky with Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka turning out to be above their projected ceilings and they still haven't won a chip compared to the Spurs having their last top 5 pick in 1997, when they took Duncan... we all know how this story goes.

Now tell me which you would prefer. The OKC way or the Spurs way? Because this should really be a no brainer.

[Redeemed]

I want hardnosed competitive ball. I want guys going out every night and earning their pay and whatever raise they think they're due and doing it for the team. We need guys coming out with the mindset that they are going into their away games looking to be spoilers and going into their home games insulted that another team has the arrogance to think they can win in the Palace.

If that translates into the playoffs, so be it. What I can't stand is the idea of laying down while teams crush you, all for a top pick who could be a bust. Whether the shooting continues or not, guys need to hustle and grind...ground and pound teams to build an identity worth getting behind (like the Bad Boys and the Goin' to Work teams).

These last five games have helped to lift me out of feeling disgusted by this team to actually being able to enjoy games. Let's get it!!