Offseason Grades Revisited

[ElectricMayhem]

While I'm digging up old data, here are the offseason grades everyone gave. It makes you think twice before being so hard on Dumars...For all our hare-brained analyses, visit:
http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1267959

Jennings:
BayAreaTreyArea: B
Liquorish: C
Defor: C
dVs33: C
ElectricMayhem: C+
Jodi: A
Natopher: B+
Spider156: B
AVERAGE GRADE: B

KCP
BayAreaTreyArea: A
Liquorish: A
Defor: A
dVs33: A
ElectricMayhem: B+
Jodi: B
Spider156: A-
AVERAGE GRADE: A-

Josh Smith
BayAreaTreyArea: B
Liquorish: A
Defor: A
dVs33: B
ElectricMayhem: A
Jodi: A
Natopher: A
Spider156: A-
AVERAGE GRADE: A-

Chauncey
BayAreaTreyArea: A
Liquorish: A
Defor: A
dVs33: A
ElectricMayhem: A
Jodi: B
Natopher: B
Spider156: A
AVERAGE GRADE: A-

Bynum
BayAreaTreyArea: B
Liquorish: F
Defor: F
dVs33: C
ElectricMayhem: D
Jodi: C
Natopher: B+
Spider156: B+
AVERAGE GRADE: C-

OVERALL
BayAreaTreyArea: B
Liquorish: B+
Defor: B+
tmorgan: A+
Clarity: B+
dVs33: B
ElectricMayhem: B
Jodi: B
Natopher: A
Spider156: A
AVERAGE GRADE: B+

[MotownMadness]

Lol, What the hell were you guys thinking. There's a difference between fans trying to accept these moves and root for their team and Dumars being paid millions to know how to build a team. A GM should know better and know if these guys will fit and what kind of damage it will do if they don't. This is a simple case of hope in a offseason by Pistons fans because that's all we got. But if you were to look up responses in the offseason from fans of other teams and just about every basketball analyst then you would see most everyone knew it wouldn't work. I don't think anyone thought we would be this bad though.

[ImHeisenberg]

I guess I missed that thread.

With the amazing power of hindsight, I'd give every signing an F; and C for KCP.

[Neptune]

Haha! Just like Motown said, Piston fans have a lot of hope in there team. You gotta respect that

[ElectricMayhem]

I'm not afraid to look stupid once in awhile. Here is a gem I wrote...

JSmoove- A. Getting a player of his talent at that price was a coup. The 3rd best FA in a strong FA class went to Detroit. I've mentioned it in other places, but the last time we were searching for FAs as a losing team, we weren't even able to overpay Tim Thomas to come here. We'll work out any issues later. If a trade needs to happen, it can happen. But for now, we got great value.

[ImHeisenberg]

I'm not afraid to look stupid once in awhile. Here is a gem I wrote...

JSmoove- A. Getting a player of his talent at that price was a coup. The 3rd best FA in a strong FA class went to Detroit. I've mentioned it in other places, but the last time we were searching for FAs as a losing team, we weren't even able to overpay Tim Thomas to come here. We'll work out any issues later. If a trade needs to happen, it can happen. But for now, we got great value.

Most of sold ourselves on the off-season moves. We wanted this team to make a turn around, and we expected it as well. We all knew the fit was questionable, and none of us really had much faith in Cheeks. But, we hoped for the best.

Obviously, we're witnessing a monster garbage fire. But, everyone is hopeful in the off-season. Then again, if Smith and/or Jennings is still on this roster come training camp, I doubt we'll see nearly as much optimism this time around.

[whitehops]

I think it's still much too early to judge KCP, especially considering how raw he was coming into the league.

the rest though...

[ComboGuardCity]

Yeah I convinced myself we could have been a better version of the Grizz with a good coach.

[ImHeisenberg]

I think it's still much too early to judge KCP, especially considering how raw he was coming into the league.

the rest though...

That's why I give it a "C". It can go either way. He has 3-point range, he just needs to be more consistent with it. Obviously, having an offensive scheme that would put him (and everyone else) in a position to succeed would be the first step towards achieving those results. As it stands now- KCP and Co aren't really in a situation to excel, not when Jennings and Smith are sucking up about 30 shots per game.

Defensively, I still love KCP. He would probably be in the ROY race if he played for a team like Chicago or Indiana, they would adore and covet his skill set.

[whitehops]

I think it's still much too early to judge KCP, especially considering how raw he was coming into the league.

the rest though...

That's why I give it a "C". It can go either way. He has 3-point range, he just needs to be more consistent with it. Obviously, having an offensive scheme that would put him (and everyone else) in a position to succeed would be the first step towards achieving those results. As it stands now- KCP and Co aren't really in a situation to excel, not when Jennings and Smith are sucking up about 30 shots per game.

Defensively, I still love KCP. He would probably be in the ROY race if he played for a team like Chicago or Indiana, they would adore and covet his skill set.

I agree with your whole post, but especially the bolded part. I could see him being jimmy butler 2.0 if he was on the bulls. heck, he could be a similar player to butler on the pistons in a couple years if he got the coaching.

[Defor]

Hmm , I'll have to sip a little less coolaid next yr.

[paQo the BAWSER]

When the season started, I always thought that Smith plays SF at the start of the game, but only 8 or 10 minutes at that position.

Then, when I saw he was playing as SF, I though "Well, we'll start the offense passing inside at Smith/Monroe, who are good passers, so if Smith or Monroe shoots, they did it alone".

Then I saw the team was a monologue of Jennings ran out the possession and if he couldn't find a good shot or pass, he shot or pass to Smith to shoot awful shots.

Then, I though "WTF is that s**t??? We need to start the plays from inside to out, like Pacers do it"

Then, we fired Cheeks, who was a bad coach, for Loyer, who is an horrible coach.

And we're still here, su**ing d**ks and do our worst.

[Pharaoh]

Blame Joe for hiring Cheeks, who couldn't implement a real system and lost the players almost immediately.

Smith is talented, so is Jennings - in the right system. But we never had that system.

I supported the signings and trade because we obviously got more talent...but I was the guy posting about bringing in guys like Millsap, Redick and Korver and wanted to keep Calderon

People thought I was nuts!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[dVs33]

I was a fairly optimistic fan before this season, so i'm not surprised of the grades i gave. i wasn't a fan of either the jennings or smtih signings, but both moves had potential. I think the biggest problem this season was coaching. cheeks wasn't capable of control jennings/smith or developing a defensive scheme, so once that happened, the season was gone.

[pistons773]

I grossly overestimated our defense this year. Jennings was a known subpar defender and I was unhappy to see him coming, but I thought we were average or above average at every other positions (Monroe servicable/average, Drummond above average, Smith above average, KCP above average, Singler average, Stuckey above average, Billups average to above average (didn't realize how old he would look)). We even seem to have regressed as the season progressed and that speaks to effort and coaching. I think there is some hope for improvement if effort and cohesion were there. Add a #8 pick and dump our useless bench pieces and we could be in the playoffs next year. I think coaching is really important for that to happen. I'd be thrilled if one of the Smith/Jennings failure were shipped out for a shooter or someone defensively capable. I know not to hope for both to ship out.

[NCHeels2008]

there's a small chance that the pistons could end up with an equal or worse W-L record to last year; that's so crazy considering how much talent was added

[joseph mamah]

there's a small chance that the pistons could end up with an equal or worse W-L record to last year; that's so crazy considering the resources they had to work with

Fixed

[Neptune]

there's a small chance that the pistons could end up with an equal or worse W-L record to last year; that's so crazy considering how much talent was added

Agreed, agreed, agreed. It's really an embarrassment man.

[paQo the BAWSER]

Man, I love Drummond, but this season he has defended bad as hell. It's not only he's fault, he plays C at a dysfunctional team which can't defend the P&R, but he got his fault too.

Smith and Monroe playing out their position doesn't help too much, and have one of the worse perimeter defenders like Jennings is killing us.

For me, the main problem of the team is Jennings. He ruined so many games with his horrible shot selection in the 4th quarter. Smith has got an horrible selection too, but when he drives to the basket he often could finish the play with success.

[wallace72]

there's a small chance that the pistons could end up with an equal or worse W-L record to last year; that's so crazy considering how much talent was added

Man,
this is so pathetic, so embarassing for our fans.