Crymson wrote:oldncreaky wrote:
Robinson replaced Beasley
Levert replaced Hardaway Jr
No one replaced Schroeder
Sorry, but what? LeVert and THJ play nothing alike, LeVert has played in a handling role before -- including under JB in Cleveland -- and Langdon was clear that he was being brought on to contribute some handling.
It is clearly a net loss for the Pistons, particularly as both Beasley and THJ had career years, and Dennis was on his best behaviour for 25 games
No offense, but if you're going to talk about the Pistons, know about the Pistons first. THJ had nowhere even remotely in the area of a career year. He used to be a viable starter for a contender. He's very far from that now, and Dallas paid to dump him because he was no longer a viable postseason player at all. For the Pistons, he genuinely did nothing well outside of shooting wide-open threes and did everything else poorly; he did badly as a rebounder, passer, and defender. He was a minus player through and through, and he was thoroughly expendable.
Ivey will replace Schroeder's minutes. Prior to his injury, Ivey was just starting to have some success running Detroit's bench when Cade sat. It will all make sense if that small sample size of success last season -- it was really only a handful of games -- translates to this season. If it doesn't, the Pistons will have a glaring need at backup PG.
Again, no offense -- but you're speaking on the basis of very little information. Ivey did not function well as a lead handler, and JB didn't really even trust him to fulfill that role. When Cade was off the floor, it was playmaking by committee. Might that have changed later on in the season? Perhaps. But I strongly doubt that Langdon is banking upon Ivey to execute in that role on his own.
Ivey AND LeVert will replace Schroder's handling. I'd imagine the idea is to have two of Cade, Ivey, and LeVert on the floor at the same time.
Got to agree to disagree
I've been watching both LeVert and Hardaway for more than a decade, since their time at UM. Both are SG/SF wings. I'd put both of them into the category of bench scorers, both with bad habits/tendencies of tunnel vision and chucking. Both of them can get baited by good defences into taking bad shots. Neither one should be in the starting line up of a good team at this point of their careers. Neither one should be tasked with leading the bench of a good team.
I'll concede to you that LeVert is a much better ball handler than THJ, and has significantly more to his game -- but if he is the guy tagged with running/leading the bench, there is little in his career that makes me optimistic, and I'm not expecting some new growth in his game in his 30s. If LeVert is the answer, I think we still have a hole at backup PG, but I guess we'll find out.
THJ might have had the first season of his career where he wasn't a significant minus on D. He managed to play and contribute to a decent club while starting 70+ games, and played well with Cade. He exceeded expectations by being playable -- for him, that
was a career year.
Ivey has had a chaotic first 3 years. First year, Cade's injury, so Ivey forced into a role he was nowhere near ready to take on, especially playing alongside Hayes in a mostly dysfunctional offence -- where things actually improved when they went to the bench for Cory Joseph and Hami Diallou. (If Joseph is an improvement, you're hopeless). Second year, coached by a checked out Monty who still insisted on starting Hayes. Third year, a few glimpses of competence and coming around, and then the broken leg. As I said, very small sample of success for Ivey, and unless you watched every Pistons game as I do, it would have been really easy to miss those moments.
I get all the arguments for being sceptical about Ivey, and agree with them. He has rarely had two consecutive good halves, let alone two consecutive good games. Glad they did not extend him early. It's a "prove it" year for him. But when the Pistons FO lost Schroeder and made little or no effort to fill the hole at backup PG, that tells you something. Ivey will get a shot at a larger role; if they do it by committee, I think it is more like making sure you have 2 ball-handlers from among Cade/Ivey/
Thompson and maybe Levert rather than handing the bench lead role to LeVert.
