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I guess that a bench player who plays 10 minutes out of 48 and does not turn the ball over once can be blamed for our loss tonight. Why not look at our starters three of them playing 38 or more minutes and saying you know what they didnt get it done. No we blame the rookie who only got 10 minutes and it was his fault. Thats amazing that he can shoulder a big part of the reason we loss tag.

And secondly our starters need rest and to be able to take breaks why play them 40 plus in the first of a back to back that is not a smart decision in my opinion its not like that starters were the ones keeping us winning because they played that much and we still lost ive been saying we need to take their minutes down and Flip plays them 40 plus in the first of a back to back not smart.

They shot 2 for 16 and 0-3 for 3 points. The bench sucked eggs tonight.

I understand the bench as a whole but Stuckey was blamed and said that Stuckey was a big part of the reason we lost. How does a player that plays 10 minutes get the blame thats amazing to me.

No one is saying the bench shouldn't play. But if they sucked, they sucked. Against the Knicks the starters sucked, we all said they sucked, and I'm pretty sure no one thinks they should stop starting.

There are many of us here that will gladly sacrifice wins to develop the bench just as long as the team makes the playoffs. But there's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.

Talk about stating the obvious here when you say the bench sucked, but i do not think that this is breaking news at all or do we have to have a new thread after every game after our bench fails to produce.

My whole post was a reply to what princeofpalace had said. He said that Stuckey was a huge factor in the loss to the kings. How can a player who gets only 10 minutes of playing time and doesnt turn the ball get a huge responsibility of the loss thats incredible. He also said Afflalo should play over Stuckey which again all i want is reasoning to these comments. Also he said that Stuckey is costing us games being on the floor, which games did he cost us? Was Stuckey in tonights game when we cut it to one point no, so how did he lose the game did he not cheer hard enough or what? All those comments have no substance to them and i just wanna know what his reasons were?

Stuckey played 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes we were outscored by 17 points.

I think that says a lot.

bstein14 wrote:Stuckey played 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes we were outscored by 17 points.

I think that says a lot.

There were 4 other guys on the floor during that 10 min span.

Stuckey certainly contributed to those numbers, but it's hardly fair to put it all on him. We sucked as a team during that stretch.

But again, whether he was responsible or not is practically a moot point as far as I'm concerned. Our bench, particularly our rookies are going to struggle at times. It's part of the growing process and nothing to sweat over. Be happy they are playing and able to make these mistakes now, so that they will be better prepared later.

Per Flip Saunders status quo, Rodney is not being used correctly. For some reason, once Flip got Rodney into a few practices he has managed to completely take away his aggressiveness by running the same iso crap over and over. Rodney's an off-the-ball spot up shooter now who just happens to dribble the ball up the floor.

How about this. Flip called Rodney the best pick and roll player on the team a couple weeks back, yet you could count on one hand the number of pick and rolls he has been involved in in the last 5 or so games.

Same old case of Flip trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.

ibtl

i have a new found hatred for ballboys.

Stuckey's game is supposed to be driving to the hole, the main thing that we drafted him for, I thought. Didn't we need a guy who could drive to the basket, who could do something with the ball when a defense takes away our open shots? He clearly needs more practice driving to the hole in the NBA. I would like to see him get it, especially when our team is playing so half-assed anyway.

Everytime Stuckey came into the game, Detroit lost the lead.

Why? Because the offense stalled. Stuckey was acting as floor general and he just couldnt get it done. Im not saying that he is 100% to blame, Im saying that he is a big reason why Detroit lost, and I dont think that fact can be debated.

Afflalo deserves to be playing over Stuckey because he has earned his PT. Afflalo comes into the game, and plays some lockdown D, and seems to be a bit of a game changer. Afflalo knows the system better and he doesnt look as bad as Stuckey does out there. IMO it seems like Saunders + the starters trust Afflalo more than they do Stuckey. Reason,the fact that Saunders went with Arron over Stuckey is telling and when Afflalo was in the game for 2 minutes- Chauncey kept dishing the ball off to him for Afflalo to score, unfortunately he missed his attempts. When Stuckey's in the game, he is generally the last option.

I have no qualms with Stuckey playing, I have already stated in my other post that it is necessary that he develops but to think that he is not going to cost Detroit games due to his inexperince and inadaquacies at the PG position thus far is naive. Like I said before, he's going to lose us some games now, but because of the experience that he is getting and how much thats going to help his development he will win some games for Detroit later on.

They don't want Stuckey to do anything with the ball, though. It seems pretty evident that Stuckey has been told to bring the ball up the court, pass it, and then stand off to the side. That was repeated over and over. Yes, sometimes he was more involved, but many times he just isn't. I'm pretty sure that is by design. And it can bog down our offense when we play isolation ball.

I would be telling Stuckey to drive with the ball. Instead of every time challenging big guys who step up, trying to get layups, double-clutchers or fouls, just pass the ball--or dribble back out of the paint and pass to a wing player.

If Stuckey continues to struggle for a few more weeks, maybe they should think of bringing Murray back from the inactive list. At least Flip can put some quick points on the board.

Stuckey is the worst guard on our roster right now. Lindsey, Afflalo, and Murray are all better options than Sucky.

I actually have no problems with what I'm seeing from Stuckey right now.

I complained about his game earlier when he was doing his Flip Murray-lite impression and constantly trying to score no matter what. Now I see him working on some basic point guard skills. Bring the ball up against pressure, initiate the offence by hitting the wing and then attacking if you get the ball back late. I don't mind this as he is trying to develop real point guard skills.

If you want him to be Murray then just activate Murray. Murray will attack relentlessly and he's a better finisher than Stuckey. The Pistons have shortened their bench so that he can learn as much as possible and develop.

He now needs to develop his passing timing. He's late delivering the ball and he needs to really get his jumper down.

I cringe lately when Suckey comes into the game. I think the Piston bench was more effective when Lindsey was in the rotation and Afflalo was getting more time. Their disruptive presence reminded me of the Hunter/James days,it lead to turnovers and easy scores, and the bench offense seemed to run much more smoothly as Lindsey seems to run the o more effeciently.I also think we're missing Nazr's rebounding more than anyone cares to admit. He may not have been in there long but he would hit the offensive boards hard, something no one on the bench except Maxiell does.

It's too bad Joe is basically forcing Flounders to play Sucky. He's so eager to make up for the Darko fiasco that he's hurting the team. Afflalo and Hunter should be getting Stuckey's minutes.

To be fair, if Stuckey joined the pine with Amir, everybody would be declaring bloody murder for Saunders refusing to develop the bench just to win more regular season games

Guys, Detroit is winning its division comfortably and has the second best record in the league. While they aren't catching Boston they aren't being passed by anybody either. So they can teach right now and put Stuckey in some "big" games to see that he's right for the playoffs where the rotation will be shortened and those players that can help them win will play.