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Thought this needs its own thread.

Tonight Detroit started Cade, Bey and Stewart, but benched them after only 7 minutes, running a 6 man roster the rest of the game.

Now the (non-tanking) result didn’t matter, they got the win against the OKC Funtimes tank squad, most of whom are just happy to be in the NBA, but what is Dwayne Casey doing?

Why bother benching the young guys? Surely you want to give them a few more minutes to get some reps in, it’s not like they’ve got anything better to do in 10 days time…

Yeah it was weird to me when I saw the box score. Should've sat them, by playing them so little all their averages go down.
Either play them enough until you secure the win or dont play them at all

I’d be super mad if were Cade. This affects his PPG and other stats.

You have to assume that they were doing something on-court that the coaching staff REALLY didn't want to see.

Seems a bit overboard - perhaps just bench them until half-time then see if they learned whatever lesson you were trying to send - bu t without more info about what they were doing wrong and how clearly they had been instructed against it perhaps it makes sense.

Yea it is super weird. Was anyone questioned about it post game? Any clues?

Front office probably saw he was playing the rookies and got the word in to bench them. But they were ultimately out tanked.

Odd especially considering Detroit hasnt been tanking. I'm fact they've playing sneaky good

BuddyBuckets wrote:Yea it is super weird. Was anyone questioned about it post game? Any clues?

as a fan of the pistons i'm a bit embarrassed tbh. didn't even mention why they sat stewart.

if they sat them straight off the bat it would at least have some merit, they were resting some nicks on the second half of a back to back. but to play them half a quarter and then bench them comes off like the game plan was to play the young guys and then they realized after a few minutes that they'd have to ramp up their tanking effort.

for anyone curious the game felt like watching summer league.

Sam Presti and OKC are a complete disgrace and the Pistons got sucked into stooping to their pathetic level.

This cost me a championship in fantasy hoops most likely

PlatinumState wrote:by playing them so little all their averages go down.

Am I missing something important?

LordCovington33 wrote:I’d be super mad if were Cade. This affects his PPG and other stats.

How does this matter?

Pistons got the win and all I'm reading about here is averages? What? Meanwhile Lakers lost but hey LeBron's scoring average went up!

KrAzY3 wrote:

PlatinumState wrote:by playing them so little all their averages go down.

Am I missing something important?

LordCovington33 wrote:I’d be super mad if were Cade. This affects his PPG and other stats.

How does this matter?

Pistons got the win and all I'm reading about here is averages? What? Meanwhile Lakers lost but hey LeBron's scoring average went up!

Stats for rookie of the year race
Stats for career averages
Stats for the next contract
Stats for the ego

Casey going full Borrego over here lol

1. Pistons had 3 games in 4 days (and are 2-0 so far)
2. Cade and Saddiq dealing with injuries
3. Casey saw our bench guys were competitive with OKC’s finest tonight and thought “hmmmm… why even put the starters back in? Why not give these bench guys a chance to work against theirs?”

Also. Who cares about the impact on their stats? We’re 70+ games in. Anyone who didn’t have Cade winning ROTY wasn’t changing their mind tonight.

3rd game in 4 nights in 3 different cities , Cade hurt his back 2 games ago.

But yeah like the tweet above says, they definitely would’ve played had it been a normal game, but the coaching staff probably figured out early that they weren’t needed for the win in this game given that they were facing almost a literal g league team on the other side.

I also presume the tank played a part but there is no matching the tank level of OKC

It's a really bad look, but considering that the Thunder played Vit Krejci 41 minutes (the most in the game), I'm not sure they're the worst tanking offender in that situation.

Tbh, I think they just decided they could rest them and still win after they saw that OKC was starting a 10-day contract guy who wasn't listed in the pre-game notes.

Jabroni Lames wrote:Sam Presti and OKC are a complete disgrace and the Pistons got sucked into stooping to their pathetic level.

OKC fans must be weird people. I was checking out courtside fans, they looked happy with Vit Krejci playing 40 minutes.

I guess if the stadium is full every game then why care as OKC management? OKC makes money no matter what product is on the floor.

even with rookies, the line-up OKC put out would have been a shame for the G-League no point making them play such a meaningless game. Casey would've put them in if OKC started to put up a fight but clearly it was the right call since Detroit won and this game made Killian Hayes look like a beast.

I mean OKC has guys like Poku and Darius Bazley who are trash in their own right and should be in the G League and these guys are behind THEM in the rotation.