The Pistons are thriving without a slasher, why can't we?

[supersub15]

The 2 wings on the Pistons are Hamilton and Prince:
- Rip Hamilton is not a slasher. He's more of a Reggie Miller without the consistent 3-pt shot.

Tay Prince can drive the ball from time to time, but he's more of spot-up shooter + post-up player. He's not a slasher.

Yet, the Pistons are successful. Why? Because the players are put in a position to take advantage of their strengths. None of them is a slasher, but plays are run for each to get them the ball in the places they like.

Us? Take Joey Graham for example. What was his main strength when coming out of college? Posting up. How many times have you seen Joey post up an opposing player in the 3 years he's been here? We seem to try and make the players into something they are not.

The only offense I've ever seen from the Raptors is the high pick and roll, with variations OR the Bosh post-up with kick out to shooters. That's it. Some days it works, especially against weak teams, but when it's not working, we have no back-up plan nor an intricate play to get us an easy basket. Even the Anthony Parker curl has disappeared.

How can we win consistently like that?

[Silk Wilkes]

Have you seen the Raptors and Pistons play? Did you notice that one team plays championship level defence and the other can't figure out if they want to play mediocre defense or pretty good offence. They also have a ton of veteran experience.

[dTox]

-pistons have an all defencive team, we dont
-pistons have a coach who actually makes good plays with structured offence, we dont
-pistons have 4 really good scorers, we have only 1 (and whoever decides to show up for that night)
-pistons dont have euro's and cba players in their lignup, they have experienced nba vets

[xAIRNESSx]

Maybe it will come in time?

By the reactions on this board, you would think we were supposed to win the championship every year.

[Bosh-Tyme]

-pistons have an all defencive team, we dont
-pistons have a coach who actually makes good plays with structured offence, we dont
-pistons have 4 really good scorers, we have only 1 (and whoever decides to show up for that night)
-pistons dont have euro's and cba players in their lignup, they have experienced nba vets

[SWN]

I've always considered Rip Hamilton the definition of what a slasher should be, I have a hard time seeing why you wouldn't call him one. I know he deson't get all the way to the rim proficiently, but he gets close enough and then pulls up for the jumper.

[bstein14]

Offensively, the Pistons usually try to exploit mismatches.

Some nights its Billups, sometimes its Rip, or Prince or Sheed.

They attack mismatches in the half court set... that's why they are the most efficient offensive team in the NBA.

And finally they do have a slasher in Stuckey, who's very quick and can get into the paint with the best of them.

[elephunk]

Have you seen, what the end-result of a Joey Graham post up is, more often than not?

[Andiamo]

ummm..because the pistons have plays.

[curryfries]

Hey and the Pistons have a real center, oh wait...........

[C Court]

Hey and the Pistons have a real center, oh wait...........

Touche

Sub, we obviously need an upgrade at the 2/3. Does it have to be a slasher? Not necessarily. We just need better than we've got. Lets just say we need an athletic scorer who can create their own shot, similar to Rip.

[Stealth68]

Give the team sometime... Thank the creator you guys can't blow up the team prematurely...

Folks they won 47 games last year with a much worst start than this year I might add. Injuries have our starting PG not available due to injury... and trust he makes a difference as evidenced by the game he was hurt in... Further they've already beaten San Antonio, Dallas and a much better New Orleans team. This team will learn and get better by experience and playing the tough teams they'll win some and they'll lose some... Left to you guys we'll never let our players grow into the Billups and Hamilton's that we see today... Billups especially was basically a journeyman until he landed in Detroit...

Maybe once the Raptors starting lineup gains some experience together... they currently average 2.4 NBA years of experience versus the Pistons @ an average of 10.8 NBA years. As well, this is the only their second year of playing together and being a winning team versus the Pistons that have been a 50+ winning team since 2002... The Pistons backcourt Billups and Hamilton have been together since 2002... and the starting lineup with Mcdyess...

Imagine being the Nets, Milwaukee, NY Knicks... many experts expected better years thus far than they are showing...

[Mr. Perfect]

No Slashers? Chauncey and Rip put a lot of pressure on defenses. Plus they have two low-post threats in Rasheed and McDyess and they play championship defense.

[Tommy Gun]

Chauncey gets to the line 6 times a game, Rip 3.5 and Prince 3. Compare that to our guys and you will see that they're not in the same league. Caldy 1, AP 1, Moon 1, Kapono 1, Delfino 1...it's pathetic

[Don't_Reach]

The OP raises some important points...HOWEVER...what he failed to realize is that all 5 pistons starters are good players on their own. But they play together cohesively. They are all strong 1 on 1 players, thus, they can have plays run for them individually. Add to that, they're all veterans. The youngest being Tayshaun Prince, and they didn't run plays for him consistently until 2 years ago.
Also, take a look at their age...they're all veterans. They're games have matured. And compare them to the Raptors.
Billups - 31______T.J. Ford - 24
Hamilton - 29____Parker - 33
Prince - 27______Moon - 27
McDyess - 34____Bosh - 23
R. Wallace - 34___Bargnani - 22

Its unfair to most of the Raptors starters because they haven't really developed their games, with the exception of Parker and maybe Bosh

[Kabookalu]

Hamilton and Billups aren't really in that slasher mold but they slash a lot more than any of our guards with the exception of TJ Ford, who's injured. Plus, if they really need a high percentage shot, they could always feed the ball down low to Sheed.

[AB_21]

Isn't Prince the definition of a slasher?

[andyo]

I don't think their system needs a slasher although I'd argue that Tayshaun fits that role...you got Chauncey who is so versatile..a a tremendous shooter, slasher, and post player. You got Sheed, Maxiell, Mcdyess to post and set hard screens while having Rip run around them like crazy...and then you have Tayshaun who basically spots up or slashes occasionally...Besides that their defense is second to none practically, they rarely command double teams and their inside help defense is as good as anyone...I can only think of one team with better defense on any given night and that's the Spurs...but this defense usually comes only during playoffs time for them..

If you watched the raptors last night, I found ourselves out of the game from the start. We were outclassed by far in every way.....we were intimidated, we couldn't score on them, we couldn't play defense on them, they blocked our passing lanes and forced us to make bad passes. Simply put, Detroit is at a completely different level then this team.