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“I did a lot of the talking, I said at the end of the meeting that we have to make a decision,” Morris said. “Everybody go home tonight and decide on what you want to do. Do you want to be a winning team or do you want to continue to get embarrassed? Are you going to play for the next man beside you or are you going to play for yourself?”
When Van Gundy emerged to address the media, he had some comments of his own.

“Our offensive frustration is affecting us at the defensive end and we’re losing heart a little bit,” Van Gundy said. “That’s concerning. The offense has not been moving the way it should. The ball is not moving. I got to look at play calls and the whole thing.
“We went through stretches where Reggie (Jackson) made some plays in the third quarter and we were scoring, but again, what happens is, we’re scoring, but we’re trading baskets. Part of it is, we got guys upset they’re not touching the ball and everything else so they’re not as engaged in the game on the defensive end of the floor.”
This is very much in line with Morris’ own beliefs on what ails the Pistons at this point. He went on to say:

“If you have a guy wide open, he has to get the ball. It builds guys’ confidence. It makes the game funner. That’s just how it is. Of course some dudes are going to get more shots than other dudes. That’s how the game goes,” Morris said. “Guys are not going to respond well when they don’t get the ball when they’re open. That’s just basketball. That’s just the right way. The Spurs, Golden State, Cleveland, the top tier teams play the right way. You never win if you don’t play the right way. That’s just the bottom line.”
This passes both the eye-test and the numbers test.

Since Reggie Jackson’s return, he has been as ball-dominant as ever. After posting a career-high in usage last season of 29.1 percent, his rate of 29 percent this year is close behind. This has been at the expense of his fellow starters, all of whom had reached a performance peak while playing with Ish Smith in Jackson’s relief over the first 21 games of the season.

With Ish Smith on the court this season, the starters flourished under his leadership. Andre Drummond has a usage rate of 25.4 percent, Tobias Harris has a usage of 22 percent, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has a usage of 20.6 percent, and Marcus Morris has a usage of 18.4 percent. This present essentially the optimally balanced offensive attack, with all five starters able to shoulder the load and getting the ball almost equally.

whitehops wrote:i think it's pretty obvious that reggie is the biggest culprit. he defended himself saying that coach called the plays and he's going to look to attack in the pick and roll.

i was expecting reggie to take some time to adapt but i've been very disappointed with his play so far. on top of his offensive struggles he's been brutal defensively. opposing point guards are getting wherever they want on the court and it's really breaking down the defense.

i can see how some of the players are frustrated too. they went from ish's up-tempo, ball-sharing style to reggie's snail-pace, pound-the-crap-out-the-rock style. there are possessions where they wait on offense since reggie is walking the ball up the court and they don't even get to touch the ball, reggie runs a high pick and roll with dre and ends up shooting it.


i really hope reggie (and the team) can turn it around soon.

DBC10 wrote:but somehow whenever RJ is in the game, it slows to a dead crawl.

russkopp wrote:Andre Drummond tweeted then deleted a tweet saying

LMAOOOOOOO not a good free throw shooter but you still come to watch me play

...or something to that effect. Our franchise player. He's a childish loser.

whitehops wrote:

DBC10 wrote:but somehow whenever RJ is in the game, it slows to a dead crawl.

i could have sworn i heard during the game yesterday SVG yelling something to the effect of "come on, let's go" when reggie was letting the ball roll down the court before picking it up. this was in the middle of the quarter so it's not like he was trying to save clock.

JD43320 wrote:

russkopp wrote:Andre Drummond tweeted then deleted a tweet saying

LMAOOOOOOO not a good free throw shooter but you still come to watch me play

...or something to that effect. Our franchise player. He's a childish loser.

Really? Sounds like presidential material.

MrBigShot wrote:Yeah Reggie needs to completely change the way he's playing, far too many ill-advised shots and too much over-dribbling. Good on Marcus for stepping up.

MrBigShot wrote:Yeah Reggie needs to completely change the way he's playing, far too many ill-advised shots and too much over-dribbling. Good on Marcus for stepping up.

Cowology wrote:Mook = Sheed-lite.

I like it.