Things about this team that need to be justified.

[Umbra]

I've always been a Piston fan, and will be til I die. I've been a fan since the day Grant Hill was drafted. First player I ever focused on. So I've seen the atrocious teal years, the glory years and these terrible years. But, I have never been as frustrated with this team as I am now. There are a lot of questions that fans need answers for, and most of us expect these answers not to be appropriate in our eyes. I need to let this out lol, so here we goooooo.

1. Are we going to acquire players who can actually help Brandon Knight?

This team is focused on Brandon Knight as the future at the 1, barring any crazy PG coming here. Obviously he has been inconsistent, but I feel like people are awfully hard on him. No, not because he had a lockout shortened season, no training camp in his rookie year, not any of that. What I would like to know is why this team expects Brandon to be a PG when we have no perimeter threats. Stuckey can't shoot to save his life. Singler is a bench player for his career. Bynum has heated this up this year, but we have no idea what is going to happen to him. Calderon is our PG right now, but we don't know if he'll be here next year. We do have legitimate threats down low, but floor spreading is one of the most unappreciated aspects of the game, and when your best three point shooters are Kyle Singler and Charlie Villanueva, your PG will not develop passing perimeter habits and abilities. We need consistent 3 point threats at the 2 and the 3 if we want to maximize Drummond's, Monroe', and Knight's abilities.

2. Why do we have players starting who wouldn't start on any other team?

Alright, this one may be a bit outdated now that there are only 2 of these. But at this point, there is no justification for Maxiell to be starting still. He has vanished quietly all year, and would not start a single team in the NBA aside from us. I like him, but I would much rather Drummond START and get more minutes with Monroe, even if we keep him at the 20-25 he's been getting recently. Our small forwards consist of two second rounders and a bum, and the best player should be the starter, so Singler should be starting right now. However, this guy will not be able to stay in front of better small forwards in the league, and therefore a better small forward is obviously necessary. I would have also said Tayshaun here, but he's gone so obviously he's not a problem.

3. Why doesn't Drummond play with Monroe as much as possible?

This one is the one that I would laugh at any excuse Lawrence Frank gives me. There is absolutely no reason for Drummond to not play 90% of his minutes with Monroe. I was reading Keith Langlois's (who I rarely agree with) mailbag and he said the synergy with CV, Bynum, and Drummond is really good. That still doesn't convince me that Drummond doesn't play with Monroe all that much is a good thign. If anyone can change my mind I would lick Drummond's shoe.

4. This one is more about fans, but do you guys still support Stuckey?

I'm so sick of him. I want him gone. I would take pick 60 for him. His game does not help us, and it certainly doesn't help Knight at all. Do you guys like him/support him still?

[DetroitDon15]

I've always been a Piston fan, and will be til I die. I've been a fan since the day Grant Hill was drafted. First player I ever focused on. So I've seen the atrocious teal years, the glory years and these terrible years. But, I have never been as frustrated with this team as I am now. There are a lot of questions that fans need answers for, and most of us expect these answers not to be appropriate in our eyes. I need to let this out lol, so here we goooooo.

1. Are we going to acquire players who can actually help Brandon Knight?

This team is focused on Brandon Knight as the future at the 1, barring any crazy PG coming here. Obviously he has been inconsistent, but I feel like people are awfully hard on him. No, not because he had a lockout shortened season, no training camp in his rookie year, not any of that. What I would like to know is why this team expects Brandon to be a PG when we have no perimeter threats. Stuckey can't shoot to save his life. Singler is a bench player for his career. Bynum has heated this up this year, but we have no idea what is going to happen to him. Calderon is our PG right now, but we don't know if he'll be here next year. We do have legitimate threats down low, but floor spreading is one of the most unappreciated aspects of the game, and when your best three point shooters are Kyle Singler and Charlie Villanueva, your PG will not develop passing perimeter habits and abilities. We need consistent 3 point threats at the 2 and the 3 if we want to maximize Drummond's, Monroe', and Knight's abilities.

2. Why do we have players starting who wouldn't start on any other team?

Alright, this one may be a bit outdated now that there are only 2 of these. But at this point, there is no justification for Maxiell to be starting still. He has vanished quietly all year, and would not start a single team in the NBA aside from us. I like him, but I would much rather Drummond START and get more minutes with Monroe, even if we keep him at the 20-25 he's been getting recently. Our small forwards consist of two second rounders and a bum, and the best player should be the starter, so Singler should be starting right now. However, this guy will not be able to stay in front of better small forwards in the league, and therefore a better small forward is obviously necessary. I would have also said Tayshaun here, but he's gone so obviously he's not a problem.

3. Why doesn't Drummond play with Monroe as much as possible?

This one is the one that I would laugh at any excuse Lawrence Frank gives me. There is absolutely no reason for Drummond to not play 90% of his minutes with Monroe. I was reading Keith Langlois's (who I rarely agree with) mailbag and he said the synergy with CV, Bynum, and Drummond is really good. That still doesn't convince me that Drummond doesn't play with Monroe all that much is a good thign. If anyone can change my mind I would lick Drummond's shoe.

4. This one is more about fans, but do you guys still support Stuckey?

I'm so sick of him. I want him gone. I would take pick 60 for him. His game does not help us, and it certainly doesn't help Knight at all. Do you guys like him/support him still?

The answer to this is far different from where you are going. Knight looks like he has a low basketball IQ right now. I bet you he will tell you this as well. He doesn't understand the game from the PG spot. The question is who do you blame? Is the blame on Knight for not applying himself and learning the position better, is the blame on Frank for not making the offense better suited to his lack of instinct and the fact that he hasn't improved his PG skills since draft night, or Dumars for drafting him over Kemba Walker who looks like the better player right now? I will admit Knight has some bad guys around him but Singler, Monroe, and Drummond are all guys who are long term. He doesn't play well with Drummond at all. I blamed Dumars/Frank at year's end last year but now I am leaning towards Knight because I'm not seeing the progression on his part.

[joseph mamah]

1. maybe im giving Joe too much credit, but im going to assume hes smart enough to figure out we need shooters on the perimeter to complement Moose and Dre and make BKs life a little easier.

2. we have scrubs starting because we have a garbage roster.

3. supposedly because they are the only two Centers on the roster that can play, but thats a lame excuse. id like to know the answer to that one myself.

4. Stuckey has to go.

[Cowology]

By all accounts Knight is a hard worker, so I wouldn't attribute it to a lack of effort. Nor do I particularly blame Frank. I simply believe it's going to take Knight some time. Players develop at different speeds and Brandon is only 21 years old.

Moving him off the ball will be good for him. It doesn't mean we're giving up on him as our future PG, so much as acknowledging that right now it's too much for him. We need to ease back on his responsibilities and simplify some things.

I'd hope that Bynum is moved by the deadline with BK then taking up the majority of the backup PG minutes while hopefully learning something from Calderon. But we'll see.

The Maxiell thing is a bit tougher for me to swallow. I was with the whole "bring Dre along slowly" plan most of the way. It was smart to ease him in, keep his minutes down and put him in selective situations where he could succeed and gain confidence. And it made sense to keep him with CV & Bynum due to their synergy. It also made sense to keep JMax in the starting lineup, where he plays his best ball, in order to boost his trade value.

But I thought the time to make the move was the Tay/Jose trade. Drummond has proven he deserves to be in the starting lineup. If we pass the trade deadline and Maxiell is still our starting PF I will be discouraged. Until then I'm only slightly disgruntled.

Stuckey? Been very very patient with him but I'm over it. I see glimmers. I see potential. I see a tease. For whatever reason it doesn't work here. He doesn't fit and should be moved.

We obviously still have some holes, but we've also been showcasing players (to great effect) and are in a pretty good position to address some of those issues in a serious way via trade and FA. If 9 months from now we haven't made significant additions to this roster I'll be pretty ticked off. But I don't think that will happen.

[Jodi]

1. Are we going to acquire players who can actually help Brandon Knight?

Yeah I think we'll draft a SG or trade the pick for a talented 2 or 3...I'll make my draft predictions this summer...

2. Why do we have players starting who wouldn't start on any other team?

Maxiell may not be great overall, but he plays good on-ball defense...Drummond gets lost on the defensive end...Watch our next game and notice how Drummond sometimes loses his man or tries to predict a pass and steal the ball then it results to an easy 2 points for our opponents...

3. Why doesn't Drummond play with Monroe as much as possible?

I think we'll see those two play together more often after the All-Star break...

4. This one is more about fans, but do you guys still support Stuckey?

I still support Stuckey...Our dumba$$ coach just doesn't know how to play him...

[theBigLip]

1. Help Knight? How about help the team. Either way, yes, we need a SG and SF that can score.

2. As mentioned, we have a crap roster.

3. Start Drummond already!

4. Long over Stuckey. I do think he will be traded by the deadline.

[Dirtgrain]

1. Are we going to acquire players who can actually help Brandon Knight?

This seems a strange line of thinking--that helping Knight should be the focus, instead of helping our cornerstone bigs. Usually, with this idea of bringing in players to "help" another player--that player is already great (e.g., when Lebron was in Cleveland, Wade in Miami before Lebron came, and so on). I'm all for Knight getting better, but he has to show some consistent greatness before a GM should build around him.

2. Why do we have players starting who wouldn't start on any other team?

You can say that, but is it necessarily true? I could see Maxiell or Singler being a starter on a team like San Antonio, depending the rest of the roster. It's not that rare to have at least one starter who underwhelms. We have too many starters who underwhelm too frequently. Let's hope for talent upgrades.

3. Why doesn't Drummond play with Monroe as much as possible?

We've speculated the crap out of this one.

4. This one is more about fans, but do you guys still support Stuckey?

I wanted the Pistons to get rid of Stuckey after the rebellion. Now he totally disappointed us with his crap play early on (and maybe his attitude recently). I have a hard time letting go of the expectation that Detroit should get something of value for him in a trade--it sucks, dammit. I hope he goes on a streak and boosts his value and gets traded for a mid first rounder or a contributing player.

[Snakebites]

Yeah, the answer to number 2 is that we simply don't have a particularly strong roster.

Obviously I'd like to see Drummond starting, but we don't currently have a better alternative at small forward.

We are in a position where its the wings we should be investing money and draft picks into, though I'm unsure about the names available in free agency or in the draft in the 7-11 range that we'll probably be drafting in.

[mercury]

Don't have to justify Singlers minutes... the last 4 games since sliding over to SF... 12 points, 5.25 rebounds and shooting 48.8 %

[ComboGuardCity]

I don't Singler is the long term solution at the 3, but he is giving us exactly what Tayshaun did at the 3 the past couple years.

At this point, if Joe doesn't move Bynum at the deadline, I'll think he doesn't know what he's doing yet. Having 3 guys under 6'3 on the roster, who are rotation players is not productive.

[coolness]

1. dunno
2. dunno
3. dunno
4. no

[Pharaoh]

1. Are we going to acquire players who can actually help Brandon Knight?

Just acquired Jose Calderon to school Knight on the ways of the PG... and we'll have plenty of salary cap space to sign/acquire players that compliment Drummond, Monroe and Knight this off-season

2. Why do we have players starting who wouldn't start on any other team?

We start scraps because that's what we have on the roster right now. Maxiell is an expiring contract and while some believe he's being showcased for a trade the fact remains Andre Drummond is a rookie big man that has some serious issues in his game. We start Max to protect Drummond... and IMO that is the only reason we start Maxiell! He's been in the league long enough for other teams to know what he can do... and while he too has serious flaws in his game he's not a major part of the future like Drummond.

Protect the future is why Maxiell starts. Singler starts because Stuckey is craptacular and/or Jonas Jerebko doesn't seem to have a place on this team now.

3. Why doesn't Drummond play with Monroe as much as possible?

He;s young and has plenty of potential but he also has some stuff to work on before he's capable of being let off the leash. His PER is amazing, his stats per 36 minutes are out of this world but on the court - where the actual games are played - his man to man D is poor... his offensive game is almost non-existent... and in the few games I've seen he seems to chase blocks... often leaving his man open...

Drummond has the potential to be great... but slow and steady wins the race

4. This one is more about fans, but do you guys still support Stuckey?

Failed as the starting PG. Failed as the starting SG. Not too bad as a 6th Man type.

Do I support him? Yeah, sure, why not? He's a Piston and I hope he does very well.

Do I want him on this roster? No! Joe tried to win with Stuckey. It didn't work. Now we've got 3 young guys that appear to be on the right track... Stuckey is yesterday's news and it's time for him to go

[chrbal]

Reply to No.1 Andre Drummond is this teams centerpiece. Knight is this teams current PG of the future.