GAME 38: Pistons @ Nets 7:00PM

[Piston Pete]

All I know is a player doesn’t develop by sitting on his arse.

Like I said before...everyone knew from day 1 Sekou was a project pick that needed to be developed. We’re not talking about a 4-5 year college grad.

He was a project pick. A project pick with a language barrier, nonetheless. A project pick with limited playing experience before being drafted. A project pick who still has very limited playing experience. All he’s gained here is said practice time.

He averaged 19.5 minutes per last season. However, that figure is inflated as we played him bigger minutes for a month out of necessity.

This season, he’s down to 13 minutes per.

[mattao313]

All I know is a player doesn’t develop by sitting on his arse.

Like I said before...everyone knew from day 1 Sekou was a project pick that needed to be developed. We’re not talking about a 4-5 year college grad.

He was a project pick. A project pick with a language barrier, nonetheless. A project pick with limited playing experience before being drafted. A project pick who still has very limited playing experience. All he’s gained here is said practice time.

He averaged 19.5 minutes per last season. However, that figure is inflated as we played him bigger minutes for a month out of necessity.

This season, he’s down to 13 minutes per.

I agree he many be a bum but I remember Casey saying he reminded him of Pascal Siakam yet they dont use him any thing like that.

[Manocad]

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to see the Pistons win this one. I kinda like the idea of them putting it to the Nets in their house.

It sucks to hope for your team to lose, I don't think I could do it for another season even for a chance at Bates or Holmgrem

Not for me. This I'm perfectly fine with the team losing during what you know is a rebuilding season. I just want to see them developing and being able to compete. At this point a win has no value to the Pistons other than for morale purposes, and given what Brooklyn has for an offense plus being at home, the Pistons hanging tough at the end makes this a good loss all the way around.

[Manocad]

All I know is a player doesn’t develop by sitting on his arse.

Like I said before...everyone knew from day 1 Sekou was a project pick that needed to be developed. We’re not talking about a 4-5 year college grad.

He was a project pick. A project pick with a language barrier, nonetheless. A project pick with limited playing experience before being drafted. A project pick who still has very limited playing experience. All he’s gained here is said practice time.

He averaged 19.5 minutes per last season. However, that figure is inflated as we played him bigger minutes for a month out of necessity.

This season, he’s down to 13 minutes per.

Let me try this again...PLAYERS SPEND FAR MORE TIME IN PRACTICE THAN IN GAMES. Even starters. Development doesn't happen in those 13, 19 or even 35 minutes of game time. It happens in the HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS spent in practice. The game is only where the player is putting his development on display. And yes, do the players learn lessons during games? Sure, and that's part of development in the big picture. But Steph Curry didn't walk into a game being a great shooter out of the blue and it's only his starter minutes that keep him that way. It's practice, and lots of it.

[Piston Pete]

You just compared Sekou to Curry?

A college grad who’s entire life has revolved around basketball.

[whitehops]

not a pretty game but a fun one to watch. beyond the usual guys who seem to bring it every night, it's becoming more and more clear (and annoying) to me that josh jackson plays with blinders on. he attacks the rim relentlessly and when it works it's acrobatic, when it doesn't it's way out of control. i feel like even his off-ball movement is geard towards getting the ball at the top so he can dribble drive.

other than that it was good, the team played hard and i think harden reminded everyone how valuable it is to have an elite player. i get the sense he could have put up 40+ points tonight if he wanted to.

[Piston Pete]

not a pretty game but a fun one to watch. beyond the usual guys who seem to bring it every night, it's becoming more and more clear (and annoying) to me that josh jackson plays with blinders on. he attacks the rim relentlessly and when it works it's acrobatic, when it no doesn't it's way out of control. i feel like even his off-ball movement is geard towards getting the ball at the top so he can dribble drive.

other than that it was good, the team played hard and i think harden reminded everyone how valuable it is to have an elite player. i get the sense he could have put up 40+ points tonight if he wanted to.

Makes a decent argument for picking Green in this draft if we can.

[Manocad]

You just compared Sekou to Curry?

A college grad who’s entire life has revolved around basketball.

I didn't say NBA game. I said Steph Curry didn't just walk into A GAME being a great shooter. And you just illustrated my point--"life has revolved around basketball," meaning his development was completed OUTSIDE of games, not solely in them. How about this...a rookie plays an average of 10 minutes a game in his first season, and plays all 82 games. He scores averages 4 points a game. Then the next year he's shooting better, plays 15 minutes a game and averages 8 points a game. Do you think that his only development time prior to his second season was that 820 minutes, or 13.7 hours of game time--most of which he wasn't handling the ball, no less--that made him better in his second year?

[Piston Pete]

You just compared Sekou to Curry?

A college grad who’s entire life has revolved around basketball.

I didn't say NBA game. I said Steph Curry didn't just walk into A GAME being a great shooter. And you just illustrated my point--"life has revolved around basketball," meaning his development was completed OUTSIDE of games, not solely in them. How about this...a rookie plays an average of 10 minutes a game in his first season, and plays all 82 games. He scores averages 4 points a game. Then the next year he's shooting better, plays 15 minutes a game and averages 8 points a game. Do you think that his only development time prior to his second season was that 820 minutes, or 13.7 hours of game time--most of which he wasn't handling the ball, no less--that made him better in his second year?

You want to ignore the fact that everybody else on the planet acknowledged Sekou was a project pick who was extremely raw and needed developing? That’s fine with me.

You want to compare him to a guy like Curry who’s entire life revolved around basketball since before he was even born? Cool!

Just proving yourself as ignorant to the reality of Sekou’s situation.

[Manocad]

You just compared Sekou to Curry?

A college grad who’s entire life has revolved around basketball.

I didn't say NBA game. I said Steph Curry didn't just walk into A GAME being a great shooter. And you just illustrated my point--"life has revolved around basketball," meaning his development was completed OUTSIDE of games, not solely in them. How about this...a rookie plays an average of 10 minutes a game in his first season, and plays all 82 games. He scores averages 4 points a game. Then the next year he's shooting better, plays 15 minutes a game and averages 8 points a game. Do you think that his only development time prior to his second season was that 820 minutes, or 13.7 hours of game time--most of which he wasn't handling the ball, no less--that made him better in his second year?

You want to ignore the fact that everybody else on the planet acknowledged Sekou was a project pick who was extremely raw and needed developing? That’s fine with me.

You want to compare him to a guy like Curry who’s entire life revolved around basketball since before he was even born? Cool!

Just proving yourself as ignorant to the reality of Sekou’s situation.

Nope. I didn't compare Sekou to Curry at all. I made an analogy showing that development doesn't happen in games, and you just admitted the same. I have no problem with Sekou being raw; we all knew he was. I also have no problem with him STILL being raw because some players take longer to develop than others and it has nothing to do with being "mismanaged," as if the entire management of his development revolves around how many minutes he plays in games.

The fact that you believe his lack of development is due to mismanagement when you have no idea what's happening outside of games is proving how ignorant you are to how organized team sports work. You don't work for the Pistons so you have no more a grasp on "the reality of Sekou's situation" than any other Joe Blow on the street.

[DetroitSho]

You just compared Sekou to Curry?

A college grad who’s entire life has revolved around basketball.

I didn't say NBA game. I said Steph Curry didn't just walk into A GAME being a great shooter. And you just illustrated my point--"life has revolved around basketball," meaning his development was completed OUTSIDE of games, not solely in them. How about this...a rookie plays an average of 10 minutes a game in his first season, and plays all 82 games. He scores averages 4 points a game. Then the next year he's shooting better, plays 15 minutes a game and averages 8 points a game. Do you think that his only development time prior to his second season was that 820 minutes, or 13.7 hours of game time--most of which he wasn't handling the ball, no less--that made him better in his second year?

You want to ignore the fact that everybody else on the planet acknowledged Sekou was a project pick who was extremely raw and needed developing? That’s fine with me.

You want to compare him to a guy like Curry who’s entire life revolved around basketball since before he was even born? Cool!

Just proving yourself as ignorant to the reality of Sekou’s situation.

You have pretty bad comprehension if all you got from that is a comparison between Sekou and Steph Curry. And bad is putting it lightly.

Sent from my SM-N975U using RealGM mobile app

[vege]

I didn't say NBA game. I said Steph Curry didn't just walk into A GAME being a great shooter. And you just illustrated my point--"life has revolved around basketball," meaning his development was completed OUTSIDE of games, not solely in them. How about this...a rookie plays an average of 10 minutes a game in his first season, and plays all 82 games. He scores averages 4 points a game. Then the next year he's shooting better, plays 15 minutes a game and averages 8 points a game. Do you think that his only development time prior to his second season was that 820 minutes, or 13.7 hours of game time--most of which he wasn't handling the ball, no less--that made him better in his second year?

You want to ignore the fact that everybody else on the planet acknowledged Sekou was a project pick who was extremely raw and needed developing? That’s fine with me.

You want to compare him to a guy like Curry who’s entire life revolved around basketball since before he was even born? Cool!

Just proving yourself as ignorant to the reality of Sekou’s situation.

Nope. I didn't compare Sekou to Curry at all. I made an analogy showing that development doesn't happen in games, and you just admitted the same. I have no problem with Sekou being raw; we all knew he was. I also have no problem with him STILL being raw because some players take longer to develop than others and it has nothing to do with being "mismanaged," as if the entire management of his development revolves around how many minutes he plays in games.

The fact that you believe his lack of development is due to mismanagement when you have no idea what's happening outside of games is proving how ignorant you are to how organized team sports work. You don't work for the Pistons so you have no more a grasp on "the reality of Sekou's situation" than any other Joe Blow on the street.

Manocad is correct here, try to understant what he is saying. Anyways I think this is pointless, Sekou is 100% gone. He's not a Weaver's player. It's just a matter of time.

[Piston Pete]

Mismanagement - not playing a kid that needs as much time on the court as possible. Yes, that means in practice and in games.

This season, wins don’t matter

This season, losses are actually better for the future of the organization.

Every minute he sits on the bench is mismanagement. Now, I don’t expect him to get 40+ minutes a night. But he better be getting 25+ the rest of the way.

There is literally no reason to not play him more this season.

[DBC10]

You want to ignore the fact that everybody else on the planet acknowledged Sekou was a project pick who was extremely raw and needed developing? That’s fine with me.

You want to compare him to a guy like Curry who’s entire life revolved around basketball since before he was even born? Cool!

Just proving yourself as ignorant to the reality of Sekou’s situation.

Nope. I didn't compare Sekou to Curry at all. I made an analogy showing that development doesn't happen in games, and you just admitted the same. I have no problem with Sekou being raw; we all knew he was. I also have no problem with him STILL being raw because some players take longer to develop than others and it has nothing to do with being "mismanaged," as if the entire management of his development revolves around how many minutes he plays in games.

The fact that you believe his lack of development is due to mismanagement when you have no idea what's happening outside of games is proving how ignorant you are to how organized team sports work. You don't work for the Pistons so you have no more a grasp on "the reality of Sekou's situation" than any other Joe Blow on the street.

Manocad is correct here, try to understant what he is saying. Anyways I think this is pointless, Sekou is 100% gone. He's not a Weaver's player. It's just a matter of time.

The writing's on the wall ever since Grant got here. He's basically the finished product of what we need out of a PF could be. A multi-talented scoring forward that can kind of do it all.

I think Weaver most likely tried to see if Sekou can play either the SF or a backup to Grant but is probably under-performing. Can he use more minutes? Sure, but in practices and off court, he must be not doing too great and is in the doghouse for a reason

Then again, we still have a few more trades I think left that could free up more minutes for guys like Lee and Sekou, so I think towards April is when we really will see how these guys play once the trades and all have been shored up

[Manocad]

Mismanagement - not playing a kid that needs as much time on the court as possible. Yes, that means in practice and in games.

This season, wins don’t matter

This season, losses are actually better for the future of the organization.

Every minute he sits on the bench is mismanagement. Now, I don’t expect him to get 40+ minutes a night. But he better be getting 25+ the rest of the way.

There is literally no reason to not play him more this season.

You're applying your own definition of management here. 15 more minutes in a game, most of which are spent running up and down the court, isn't going to make a player better vs hours and hours and hours of practice on specIific skills. No one will back you on that.

And like I said, fans don't deserve to watch players flounder. Believe it or not, AS CRAZY AS THIS SOUNDS, the fans want to see the best players play. So I'd advise you to prepare to be pissed off the rest of the season because if Sekou continues to struggle he's NOT getting 25+ minutes a game. That much I'd bet on.

[Piston Pete]

We will have to agree to disagree on this matter.

It’s not like we’re fighting for a playoff spot this season.

And I’m not arguing for us to play a guy we have little invested in, like Frank Jackson.

Sekou is a first rounder that we have a lot invested into.

That all said, I agree with vege and think his time here is dwindling to an end. Maybe he’s packaged with DSJ or Ellington as part of a deal within the next week or so.....who knows

[tmorgan]

Can’t win shooting 40/25/75. And that’s ok.

[2sinsworth]

Pistons had their moments tonight. I'm satisfied with the loss, as we put the scare in the Nets. When the Pistons took a late lead, Nets players had the look of someone that had their pocket picked. Harden took the keys to the car away from Kyrie when he fumbled, then Harden drove the rest of the way home with Shamet sitting shotgun popping 3 pointers, leaving the Pistons in their rear view mirror.

Grant continues to impress and Bey demands and gets respect when the ball is in his hands. Seems Bey really has to really work for his points recently, unlike a couple weeks ago. No surprise there. Stewart looks more comfortable with each passing game, earning a living making others uncomfortable although Claxton looked to have outworked Stewart on a couple plays tonight, deserving a double take. That ain't gonna happen much.

Disappointing not seeing Sekou in the mix. I have to question how it helps his game to play him a mere 4 minutes. Some part of me says there's a better method of developing a player than what we watched tonight. That said, I won't dwell on that negative energy. Just hope it gets better.

Really digging how the Pistons and Red Wings are putting together their games. I no longer fast forward thru long stretches of games because there are good things happening.

[Uncle Mxy]

McGruder's been making the most of his minutes of late.

[ducler]

Less than 10 days before trade deadline, giving minutes to 25+ players is not a matter to me. However, I hope to see it change in April or I'll be back in the 'fire Casey' bandwagon.