Game 39: Pistons vs Rockets 7:30PM EST

[MortSahlfan]

Watch on YouTube

[bstein14]

LCA going to be completely empty with this snow storm.

[whitehops]

my guess is bojan won't play tonight, he's been downgraded to questionable with calf soreness and during shootaround didn't have a jersey on.

stewart is probable though.

[flow]

Oh man. Stewart back almost makes it worse.

We may field a starting lineup of Hayes, Livers and Stewart with neither Cade nor Bojan. That starting 5 (doesn't matter who the other 2 are) might be the worst offensive lineup to ever start an NBA game. No hyperbole.

.

[MortSahlfan]

Too bad about the injury. Bojan makes everyone else's job easier (most of the time).. I notice he'll always anticipate things, such as trapping Ivey/Hayes in the corner with a double-team, since he'll help to avoid the turnover. Hit 3s without too many dribbles. It's usually catch and shoot, or the one-dribble side step corner 3.

I was hoping Stew would come off the bench, even if it was just the typical one-game many coaches do, just to see how he'd do. But I doubt Monty sits out both Wiseman and Bagley and have him backup the 5.

[Snakebites]

Every game feels hopeless.

[bstein14]

Oh man. Stewart back almost makes it worse.

We may field a starting lineup of Hayes, Livers and Stewart with neither Cade nor Bojan. That starting 5 (doesn't matter who the other 2 are) might be the worst offensive lineup to ever start an NBA game. No hyperbole.

.

That starting lineup needs Burks to to drop a bunch of points... or Sasser to play like a 1st option out there. Not sure that Ivey has it in him if he's going to be the #1 focal point of the defense but we'll see.

[MortSahlfan]

Even though Sasser doesn't received regular minutes, but he's still shooting 42%... I think pairing him (in the future) with Cade would allow him to guard 1's, but play the shooting guard on offense.

[thesack12]

Even though Sasser doesn't received regular minutes, but he's still shooting 42%... I think pairing him (in the future) with Cade would allow him to guard 1's, but play the shooting guard on offense.

Marcus Sasser's ceiling is a Will Bynum caliber player. In being a sparkplug off the bench for a meh team.

Sasser is a much better shooter than Bynum was, but Will was a better hall handler and much better penetrator and finisher.

[7r5ur]

Even though Sasser doesn't received regular minutes, but he's still shooting 42%... I think pairing him (in the future) with Cade would allow him to guard 1's, but play the shooting guard on offense.

Marcus Sasser's ceiling is a Will Bynum caliber player. In being a sparkplug off the bench for a meh team.
Sasser is a much better shooter than Bynum was, but Will was a better hall handler and much better penetrator and finisher.

I agree that Sasser is probably a spark plug off the bench, not the part about "meh team" though.

A 5-11 guard that can't shoot in Bynum vs. a 6-2 guard that is a great shooter and can create his own shot are 2 drastically different players, especially in today's league that values shooting so much. Monty just has no clue how to use him, so he throws Sasser out there in some bizarre floor general role instead of making him the secondary ball handler and running plays for him as a score-first guy.

He's shooting 47.5% on catch and shoot threes and somehow the coach of the worst shooting team in the league can't figure out how to run plays for him off-ball to get shots like you do with Bojan or Burks.

[Kalamazoo317]

I think Sasser can definitely be part of a competitive 9 man playoff rotation.

[SuperBad]

He reminds me of Tony Delk who was a piston for a minute, was a good two way bench player, and ounce had back to back 50 point games for the suns, I think he played for the last flip Saunders team here on the playoff run, but Boston still put us down.

[thesack12]

Even though Sasser doesn't received regular minutes, but he's still shooting 42%... I think pairing him (in the future) with Cade would allow him to guard 1's, but play the shooting guard on offense.

Marcus Sasser's ceiling is a Will Bynum caliber player. In being a sparkplug off the bench for a meh team.
Sasser is a much better shooter than Bynum was, but Will was a better hall handler and much better penetrator and finisher.

I agree that Sasser is probably a spark plug off the bench, not the part about "meh team" though.

A 5-11 guard that can't shoot in Bynum vs. a 6-2 guard that is a great shooter and can create his own shot are 2 drastically different players, especially in today's league that values shooting so much. Monty just has no clue how to use him, so he throws Sasser out there in some bizarre floor general role instead of making him the secondary ball handler and running plays for him as a score-first guy.

He's shooting 47.5% on catch and shoot threes and somehow the coach of the worst shooting team in the league can't figure out how to run plays for him off-ball to get shots like you do with Bojan or Burks.

Agree that Bynum and Sasser's skillsets fit into their respective eras. If you switch either of them, they both would struggle to last in the league.

Sasser doesn't really have the ability to penetrate, get to the foul line, or facilitate for his teammates. He's short and while he has decent overall length he's also short on athleticism so he will struggle to finish and get by a lot of defenders. So I don't really think he would be a great option to be as a secondary ball handler on a good team. If he's a higher usage type of player, than that team probably wouldn't have a lot of playmaking talent around him.

Sasser's overall game is limited, IMO I think his best role is a sniper off the bench. Still having said that, there aren't a ton of smaller sniper types in the league. Because he's a quality shooter I guess he could work as a starter in strictly a spot up type of role with 3 higher end playmakers on the floor with him. Say something like the Mike Miller role during the Lebron/Wade/Bosh era Heat teams. But there aren't many of those types of situations around.

[7r5ur]

Marcus Sasser's ceiling is a Will Bynum caliber player. In being a sparkplug off the bench for a meh team.
Sasser is a much better shooter than Bynum was, but Will was a better hall handler and much better penetrator and finisher.

I agree that Sasser is probably a spark plug off the bench, not the part about "meh team" though.

A 5-11 guard that can't shoot in Bynum vs. a 6-2 guard that is a great shooter and can create his own shot are 2 drastically different players, especially in today's league that values shooting so much. Monty just has no clue how to use him, so he throws Sasser out there in some bizarre floor general role instead of making him the secondary ball handler and running plays for him as a score-first guy.

He's shooting 47.5% on catch and shoot threes and somehow the coach of the worst shooting team in the league can't figure out how to run plays for him off-ball to get shots like you do with Bojan or Burks.

Agree that Bynum and Sasser's skillsets fit into their respective eras. If you switch either of them, they both would struggle to last in the league.

Sasser doesn't really have the ability to penetrate, get to the foul line, or facilitate for his teammates. He's short and while he has decent overall length he's also short on athleticism so he will struggle to finish and get by a lot of defenders. So I don't really think he would be a great option to be as a secondary ball handler on a good team. If he's a higher usage type of player, than that team probably wouldn't have a lot of playmaking talent around him.

Sasser's overall game is limited, IMO I think his best role is a sniper off the bench. Still having said that, there aren't a ton of smaller sniper types in the league. Because he's a quality shooter I guess he could work as a starter in strictly a spot up type of role with 3 higher end playmakers on the floor with him. Say something like the Mike Miller role during the Lebron/Wade/Bosh era Heat teams. But there aren't many of those types of situations around.

When I say secondary ball handler, I mean secondary when he's on the floor (likely off the bench). While his bread and butter will obviously be as a sniper off the bench, his points per possession on pick and rolls is higher than Cade's, so he's not exactly bad there for a rookie. He just needs to be put out there in a shoot-first role. He tends to do that in garbage time, but when you put him in and have him run sets for Bojan or whatever, the results are unspectacular.

I'd like to have them run him off screens like a Rip/Redick/Steph type of offense and see how he does with that, rather than just park him at the 3-point line or make him pretend to be a floor general. On top of the 47.5% on catch and shoot threes, he's shooting 65.5% on midrange 10-16ft shots, which is elite. Run him off of some curls and get him the ball in motion.

[thesack12]

I agree that Sasser is probably a spark plug off the bench, not the part about "meh team" though.

A 5-11 guard that can't shoot in Bynum vs. a 6-2 guard that is a great shooter and can create his own shot are 2 drastically different players, especially in today's league that values shooting so much. Monty just has no clue how to use him, so he throws Sasser out there in some bizarre floor general role instead of making him the secondary ball handler and running plays for him as a score-first guy.

He's shooting 47.5% on catch and shoot threes and somehow the coach of the worst shooting team in the league can't figure out how to run plays for him off-ball to get shots like you do with Bojan or Burks.

Agree that Bynum and Sasser's skillsets fit into their respective eras. If you switch either of them, they both would struggle to last in the league.

Sasser doesn't really have the ability to penetrate, get to the foul line, or facilitate for his teammates. He's short and while he has decent overall length he's also short on athleticism so he will struggle to finish and get by a lot of defenders. So I don't really think he would be a great option to be as a secondary ball handler on a good team. If he's a higher usage type of player, than that team probably wouldn't have a lot of playmaking talent around him.

Sasser's overall game is limited, IMO I think his best role is a sniper off the bench. Still having said that, there aren't a ton of smaller sniper types in the league. Because he's a quality shooter I guess he could work as a starter in strictly a spot up type of role with 3 higher end playmakers on the floor with him. Say something like the Mike Miller role during the Lebron/Wade/Bosh era Heat teams. But there aren't many of those types of situations around.

When I say secondary ball handler, I mean secondary when he's on the floor (likely off the bench). While his bread and butter will obviously be as a sniper off the bench, his points per possession on pick and rolls is higher than Cade's, so he's not exactly bad there for a rookie. He just needs to be put out there in a shoot-first role. He tends to do that in garbage time, but when you put him in and have him run sets for Bojan or whatever, the results are unspectacular.

I'd like to have them run him off screens like a Rip/Redick/Steph type of offense and see how he does with that, rather than just park him at the 3-point line or make him pretend to be a floor general. On top of the 47.5% on catch and shoot threes, he's shooting 65.5% on midrange 10-16ft shots, which is elite. Run him off of some curls and get him the ball in motion.

Agree that he should have more usage and plays ran for him on THIS team, but I don't know if the perpetual motion Rip/Reggie type of role is the best one for Sasser.

That type of usage requires you to have a strong mid-range game, which is all but extinct in today's NBA. Even if you want to try and use Sasser in those types of playsets, he's going to have to prove he can catch and shoot while in motion and not just in spot up situations. He'll also need to be able to shoot over defenders, because he'll be in traffic coming off those curls. I'm not sure he can do that.

[WoyTreaver]

Nice starting lineup. The Rockets are running a layup drill. It’s a matter of time. We’re gonna get killed

[7r5ur]

What is this horrible camera angle? ZOOM OUT

[WoyTreaver]

Kill and Stew need to work on that “inbounding the ball after the other team scores” thing. God knows we do it enough

[MotownMadness]

Hayes just dribbles and passes it off every time lol

[Cowology]

Poop salad