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I know that a lot of people everytime there is a bump in the road call for trades, firings, sit this player, play that player it is almost funny to see everything people call for. Look at the Spurs they are eight and ten in the last eighteen games. I gaurentee you that no one thats a spurs fan is calling for an overhaul or asking for bench players to be sat or pop out. I understand as a fan it gets frustrating but look all teams even the most successful of this era have terrible stretches. I believe that right now we have the second seed locked up and we should just pull down the starters minutes and just develop a bench and take some loses if that is the case because acouple loses here and there in the regular season will mean nothing to this team. There is no need for extreme moves or benchings. All teams go through it. Just be patient you know we will be there in the end but the big thing is our bench need consistant minutes and roles so they can get better and help produce at a higher level.

Champs04bigshot wrote:I know that a lot of people everytime there is a bump in the road call for trades, firings, sit this player, play that player it is almost funny to see everything people call for. Look at the Spurs they are eight and ten in the last eighteen games. I gaurentee you that no one thats a spurs fan is calling for an overhaul or asking for bench players to be sat or pop out. I understand as a fan it gets frustrating but look all teams even the most successful of this era have terrible stretches. I believe that right now we have the second seed locked up and we should just pull down the starters minutes and just develop a bench and take some loses if that is the case because acouple loses here and there in the regular season will mean nothing to this team. There is no need for extreme moves or benchings. All teams go through it. Just be patient you know we will be there in the end but the big thing is our bench need consistant minutes and roles so they can get better and help produce at a higher level.

And if we were the Spurs I wouldn't worry. We aren't. We haven't won 3 of the past 5 championships. We don't have Tim Duncan & Greg Popovich.

I'm not panicking. I've been saying we need to make a change for the past 2-2.5 years. This team will not win a championship. To good to rebuild, not good enough to win it all.

Hunter wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

And if we were the Spurs I wouldn't worry. We aren't. We haven't won 3 of the past 5 championships. We don't have Tim Duncan & Greg Popovich.

I'm not panicking. I've been saying we need to make a change for the past 2-2.5 years. This team will not win a championship. To good to rebuild, not good enough to win it all.

I understand were not the Spurs and to say this team isnt good enough to win a championship is wrong in my opinion. We have been there every year and if you look back at the reasons we werent able to get to the finals and win wasnt because of the team assembled it has been because of fatigue and lack of a bench. This year our bench has a lot of nice weapons they dont always perform well outstide of maxiell but they can be a huge factor for us if they get consistand minutes. Our starters have played to many minutes over the years and it has killed them in the playoffs. Flip knows this yet in this back to back tay, rip and billups all averaged at 40 mins a games. This is the area we need to be concerned about not making a move. Flip needs to rest those guys regardless of situation most nights and allow our bench (stuckey and hayes) to get consistant minutes to relieve starters and also gain confidence and experience. Its not our team assembled here that isnt good enough just to many minutes and lack of bench which go hand in hand.

The pistons are good enough to win a championship.

I agree. We are good enough to win a championship.

However, being good enough to win a championship, and being a favorite to win a championship, are two very different things. Unfortunately, we fall into the former rather than the latter.

About a week ago i said we might he hitting our rough patch of the season. It seemed a little early, but i think this may be it now.

Every year we go through a stretch where we dont look good. at all. And everyone freaks like usual. But remember, honestly, this does happen to every team. Things are gunna go bad. We will lose a few in a row. Hopefully it will be a learning experience for all and we come out stronger.

I find it funny that we have only lost two games in a row and we are panicking , possible if we were the Heat or Timberwolves, who can not win a game, then i there would be a concern. No need to worry at the moment.

nasty daddy wrote:I find it funny that we have only lost two games in a row and we are panicking , possible if we were the Heat or Timberwolves, who can not win a game, then i there would be a concern. No need to worry at the moment.

Not just 2 in a row nasty, we're 3-5 in our last 8 games.

And again, it's not panicking. It's reinforcement. The things that are hurting us have been areas of concern prior to this losing streak.

Hunter wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Not just 2 in a row nasty, we're 3-5 in our last 8 games.

And again, it's not panicking. It's reinforcement. The things that are hurting us have been areas of concern prior to this losing streak.

Understandable, but IMO it seems people are overreacting just a bit at the moment. I do understand the areas of concern, also they have been there for some time, but if we start having a losing streak of 5 games, then i do think that is a concern. Just thank god we aren't the Heat with 12 straight losses, that is all i can say.

HeroicKennedy wrote:I agree. We are good enough to win a championship.

However, being good enough to win a championship, and being a favorite to win a championship, are two very different things. Unfortunately, we fall into the former rather than the latter.

not really, we were a 6:5 favorite in 2005-2006 and one sixty some games 2 years ago and were a joke in the playoffs.

We should distiguish between panic and realism
Panic = Non stop whining even during a winning streak
Realist = Recognizing a serious void on the interior
Blind Faith = No matter what takes place this team will get it done

Fortunately there's still just over a month to make any final adjustments to the roster... I firmly believe that the product we see today will not be the same come playoff time (trade, Cwebb or changing the bench rotation).

nasty daddy wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Understandable, but IMO it seems people are overreacting just a bit at the moment. I do understand the areas of concern, also they have been there for some time, but if we start having a losing streak of 5 games, then i do think that is a concern. Just thank god we aren't the Heat with 12 straight losses, that is all i can say.

I wouldn't mind being Miami. I can live with sucking and getting Beasley or Rose in the offseason.

Weren't we all cool with the idea of losing some regular season games to get the bench developed? Well, this is what that is about. This is what it's like.

prophet_of_rage wrote:Weren't we all cool with the idea of losing some regular season games to get the bench developed? Well, this is what that is about. This is what it's like.

I think part of the problem is that we really didn't play the bench in that game. I mean, didn't two starters log over 40 minutes.

It'd be one thing if we lost and the starters all logged 33 minutes or less.

Developing the bench means playing Stuckey. Maxiell's already rotation. Hayes is a known quantity. Lindsay too. It's just the rooklie that needs developing. That's what they're doing. They're giving him time with the starters.

If this losing streak were to go on for three weeks it'd be time to worry. Pretty much every team will hit a lull sometime during a given season. The Pistons are still a fundamentally sound team.

The only thing that has me worried is Stuckey. I mean, I know it's RIDICULOUSLY early in his career to start evaluating him, but he hasn't even really shown flashes yet. The offense just grinds to a screeching halt when he comes in and he doesn't do much individually to offset that. I'm not throwing the towel in on him because that would be silly, but it does make me worry that the backup 1-2 position will be as big a problem as it has been the past few years as well.

The difference is, the Spurs keep winning titles. There's no reason for Spurs fans to be worried.


the Pistons meanwhile, have basically gone out like bitches in the playoffs for 2 straight years.

If I'm Flip Saunders and I need to play my starters 40 minute apiece against a *bad* team, I'm going to retreat, save everybody's dignity, and play Afflalo/Amir extensively. I want to see these lineups:
Stuckey/Afflalo/Amir/Maxiell/Brezec or Stuckey/Afflalo/Amir or Hermann/Hermann or Amir/Maxiell.
It would actually make Flip look better. It's a built-in excuse for a 3-5 stretch AND we give our young'uns some burn AND we rest our starters.

GJense4181 wrote:If I'm Flip Saunders and I need to play my starters 40 minute apiece against a *bad* team, I'm going to retreat, save everybody's dignity, and play Afflalo/Amir extensively. I want to see these lineups:
Stuckey/Afflalo/Amir/Maxiell/Brezec or Stuckey/Afflalo/Amir or Hermann/Hermann or Amir/Maxiell.
It would actually make Flip look better. It's a built-in excuse for a 3-5 stretch AND we give our young'uns some burn AND we rest our starters.

Yup, that was supposedly the plan. Where's Zeeb's "Flip excuse cycle" photo when we need it?