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As much as Stewart hustles and is a mobile big, he's not a 5. He's too short and can't defend legit 5s. He's not a stretch 4 and has trouble finishing around the hoop. He needs to be benched and/or traded so that the Pistons can sign a legit 7 ft. center. Otherwise, the team will be out rebounded and have no interior D going forward.

catari11 wrote:As much as Stewart hustles and is a mobile big, he's not a 5. He's too short and can't defend legit 5s. He's not a stretch 4 and has trouble finishing around the hoop. He needs to be benched and/or traded so that the Pistons can sign a legit 7 ft. center. Otherwise, the team will be out rebounded and have no interior D going forward.

I disagree. My personal opinion of Stew is that he's fine as 4, especially if he can continue to make 3's at a respectable clip; he just needs a legit 5 next him.

Which means in this current lineup one of BB or Bey goes to the bench. I don't think you're solving many problems by putting a legit 5 on the floor with BB, Bey, a rookie and a second year player. ONE GUY isn't going to cover up for four other guys playing limited to bad defense.

Stewart is an energy big off the bench.

Let him be a energy big off the bench if he actually can hit the 3 a stretch 5 off the bench even better.

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He is our only above average defender in the starting lineup. He is also our best rebounder. He needs to start.

bstein14 wrote:He is our only above average defender in the starting lineup. He is also our best rebounder. He needs to start.

With Duren next to him.

JUST DO IT, CASEY. Let's see what happens.

Manocad wrote:

bstein14 wrote:He is our only above average defender in the starting lineup. He is also our best rebounder. He needs to start.

With Duren next to him.

JUST DO IT, CASEY. Let's see what happens.

I'm all for experimenting with the line up. But even foul prone Duren has his limitations (consider Knicks game when Robinson made all Pistons' bigs look small). Problem is Stewart is not a consistent 3 pt shooter so he can't stretch the floor. If the Pistons have any chance to compete they need to play Nerlens when he's available. At least he'll bring size and shot blocking.

The guy is 21 and had his first 2 seasons shooting over 50% for the field and right at 33% from 3. Hopefully he can grow into that 3 point shot keep the % up on higher attempts.

Him and Bojan manning the paint? Beef stew plays hard and generally plays really smart team defense, but he plays below the rim. He's not up erasing shots, just making people take a little more difficult shot than they wanted. He not going to cover for everyone elses defensive shortcomings. He still needs someone next to him to collect the rebound when he gets someone to take an off balance shot. Until bagley got hurt, I thought that was looking like the starters with Bojan off the bench alongside Duren and livers.

catari11 wrote:

Manocad wrote:

bstein14 wrote:He is our only above average defender in the starting lineup. He is also our best rebounder. He needs to start.

With Duren next to him.

JUST DO IT, CASEY. Let's see what happens.

I'm all for experimenting with the line up. But even foul prone Duren has his limitations (consider Knicks game when Robinson made all Pistons' bigs look small). Problem is Stewart is not a consistent 3 pt shooter so he can't stretch the floor. If the Pistons have any chance to compete they need to play Nerlens when he's available. At least he'll bring size and shot blocking.

33% is all he needs to hit from 3 for defenses to start respecting his shot. And I think that card gets overplayed anyway. You know who stretches the floor? All of Cade, Ivey, Bey and BB. They all have the ability--not saying it's always successful, but the ability--to pull up from outside or put the ball on the floor. You want to open up the paint for Cade? Keep Ivey, Bey/BB and Stew all out on the perimeter, but MOVING. The defense collapses on Cade, he kicks it out to an open Ivey, Bey/BB, or Stew and they let it fly. It's simply a matter of playing good inside/outside ball.

And of course, have a LEGIT big man (lob/post up threat) in the middle ready to take the dump off and go up strong with it.

Billl wrote:The guy is 21 and had his first 2 seasons shooting over 50% for the field and right at 33% from 3. Hopefully he can grow into that 3 point shot keep the % up on higher attempts.

Him and Bojan manning the paint? Beef stew plays hard and generally plays really smart team defense, but he plays below the rim. He's not up erasing shots, just making people take a little more difficult shot than they wanted. He not going to cover for everyone elses defensive shortcomings. He still needs someone next to him to collect the rebound when he gets someone to take an off balance shot. Until bagley got hurt, I thought that was looking like the starters with Bojan off the bench alongside Duren and livers.

Watching these first three games I'm not even terribly concerned about what the pairings are as long as it's Stew with either Bagley, Duren or Noel along with Cade, Ivey, and BB or Bey. And same with the bench. If Bey or BB heads to the bench, now you're no longer looking at an "OMG--Hayes, Cojo, Livers, Duren and Noel? Who's going to score?" situation. But keep the other two bigs paired up there too IMO.

And who knows--maybe the only reason the lineups are what they are is because of the injuries to Bagley and Noel specifically, and once they're back we'll start seeing a pairing of bigger guys on the floor more often. It stands to reason, right? It's not like there's any sense in never having Stew, Bagley, Duren and Noel on the floor at the same time for any significant minutes, i.e. they're all considered solely centers with Bey, BB, Livers and whatever else sits on the end of the bench always manning the PF spots.

People are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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This topic is gonna make my head explode.

Stewarts value is going to skyrocket this year once he's able to play next to another big. People still don't know how good a shooter he is and some of you are undervaluing his defensive value. I get that it's hard to tell when our team defense is atrocious and Stew isn't a rim protector, but he actually has a lot of value as a stretch 4 that can switch and cover multiple positions. He's exactly the type of player we need around Cade/Ivey/Duren.

My ideal lineup would be Cade/Ivey/Livers/Stewart/Duren. Letting the kids play also miraculously improves our shooting, rebounding and defense. Bizarre, but probably true.

And having Hayes/Burks/Bey/Bojan/Bagley gives you a LOT of punch off your bench. Or swap in CoJo if you need more shooting and Noel for more defense up front. The problem is without Bagley/Noel we're super thin in the middle.

Cowology wrote::upset: This topic is gonna make my head explode.

Stewarts value is going to skyrocket this year once he's able to play next to another big. People still don't know how good a shooter he is and some of you are undervaluing his defensive value. I get that it's hard to tell when our team defense is atrocious and Stew isn't a rim protector, but he actually has a lot of value as a stretch 4 that can switch and cover multiple positions. He's exactly the type of player we need around Cade/Ivey/Duren.

My ideal lineup would be Cade/Ivey/Livers/Stewart/Duren. Letting the kids play also miraculously improves our shooting, rebounding and defense. Bizarre, but probably true.

And having Hayes/Burks/Bey/Bojan/Bagley gives you a LOT of punch off your bench. Or swap in CoJo if you need more shooting and Noel for more defense up front. The problem is without Bagley/Noel we're super thin in the middle.

Although I believe in Stewart and think he will get better, IMO he’s the main reason Cade is having so much trouble getting to the rim. Stewart’s man is leaving him wide open. It worked out in the Orlando game, but besides that it hasn’t.

His poor hands, inability to finish lobs and block shots at the rim are why people want something else.

Until he starts hitting his threes at a good clip that’s not going to change. No matter what he’s a great energy guy off the bench and would never want to trade him. Still good value there.

Cowology wrote::upset: This topic is gonna make my head explode.

Stewarts value is going to skyrocket this year once he's able to play next to another big. People still don't know how good a shooter he is and some of you are undervaluing his defensive value. I get that it's hard to tell when our team defense is atrocious and Stew isn't a rim protector, but he actually has a lot of value as a stretch 4 that can switch and cover multiple positions. He's exactly the type of player we need around Cade/Ivey/Duren.

My ideal lineup would be Cade/Ivey/Livers/Stewart/Duren. Letting the kids play also miraculously improves our shooting, rebounding and defense. Bizarre, but probably true.

And having Hayes/Burks/Bey/Bojan/Bagley gives you a LOT of punch off your bench. Or swap in CoJo if you need more shooting and Noel for more defense up front. The problem is without Bagley/Noel we're super thin in the middle.

The Cade/Ivey/Livers/Stewart/Duren lineup is the winner. Balances offense and defense. It makes the 2nd unit dangerous. It makes so much sense, I doubt Casey would do it.

I know he just had a terrible game that tanked his numbers, but the guy has been shooting a very high % from 3 for a while. The volume simply hasn't been there. We need to get him more looks. I would MUCH rather have Stewart shooting 3's than Bey trying to drive the ball.

I like Stew and want him on my team. But…

If we become an elite team, I expect him to come off the bench. Long term, Duren center and maybe big free agent signings get us some starting forwards.

I'm in favor of Stew at the four long term and Duren at the five. Our problem right now is we don't have enough depth to start them together until Bagley/Noel is playing big minutes.

I think our offense will be fine. We just need to turn the ball over less and Cade needs to take advantage of the midrange more. Being 3's and drives only is making it too easy on defenses.

When we're a playoff level team his role is probably energy big off the bench

DET_Athletics wrote:People are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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I watched him alot in college scouting his partner McDaniels. So even once we drafted him I've always envisioned energy big off the bench (still a valuable role).

A guy like Porzingis is the perfect guy to play next to Stewart. We can't pull Stewart out of this lineup as it currently sits.