Reggie is the problem

[ComboGuardCity]

We lost to the Magic with Reggie. We beat the Magic with Ish. The proof is in the pudding. What do we do with Reggie? Do we trade him? Let him come off the bench? Package him with KCP for a shooter off the bench?

Now that I've got your attention and your blood pressure boiling, realistically, how long before Reggie is 100% acclimated back into our team and our Pistons start clicking at full steam? Vote in the poll and leave your thoughts.

[Moses ShamMoses]

I think we'll continue to hover around .500 for the next 7-10 games before we break away from the pack of mediocrity.


well i was sort of right...just didnt think they would be WORSE after Reggie got going

[ImHeisenberg]

I picked 30 games. That's a large enough sample size to make an informed decision.

[MrBigShot]

I know the post is satirical but it's actually quite an accurate depiction of yesterday's game thread, sadly.

Things literally went from bench Ish start Beno to bench Reggie start Ish in about a week, with Reggie having played one game.

[In SVG We Trust]

Dre comes first if you want to see what's not working on this team.

[Cowology]

Whether it was Jennings, DJ, Reggie or Ish it has taken each PG around 12-15 games to really click in SVG's system. I'd guess it's about the same this time around.

Yeah Reggie is not exactly new, but still a lot has changed. With no training camp together we saw a LOT of pick n'roll last year. This year we are seeing much more of SVG's offense being implemented and the team playing at a much faster pace. Guys like Mook & Tobias are finding their spots in the offense and Reggie will need to adjust to that. He'll also have to get used to KCP taking on a larger offensive workload. He's going to have to figure out how to pick his spots and not completely dominate the ball.

I'd guess we continue to hover around .500 or maybe a few games over up until game 35 or so. Then I expect we'll take off and finish around 50 wins, probably good enough for 3rd in the East. But in the meantime we'll continue to panic over ever loss and even ugly wins. We'll want to trade Reggie, Dre, KCP, Stanley, and fire SVG at various points. Sooo... pretty much just more of the same.

[bballnmike]

I really don't think it'll take that long, if anything it's just a matter of when Reggie will be in good enough condition to play his normal minutes, which will allow us to move towards our regular rotations.

It's not like in the past where we've brought a new pg into the system or brought in a new starter mid-season. Sure there'll be some new wrinkles for him to pick up, but Reggie will be fine once he's fully got his legs under him

[JD43320]

Dre comes first if you want to see what's not working on this team.

Yup. When the Pistons' broadcast crew is calling out Dre for not trying you know he's bad. Had Baynes been anything better than complete dog crap against Orlando Dre would've been benched.

[Blkbrd671]

being that it took us 15-20 games to really start to click CONSISTENTLY, i would guess around 10-15 realistically.

My main concern is clicking defensively, which RJ has shown a very small sample of over the past 1-2 seasons.

[MotownMadness]

Dre comes first if you want to see what's not working on this team.

Yup. When the Pistons' broadcast crew is calling out Dre for not trying you know he's bad. Had Baynes been anything better than complete dog crap against Orlando Dre would've been benched.

I've been noticing Kelser even calling him out about his poor effort lately, It's getting bad.

[Pharaoh]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

2 - Expecting ANY team to not skip a beat when they add or subtract key personnel

People say "Pistons kicked in the minute Josh Smith got axed"

I said key personnel - not ass clowns! There are numerous examples of units performing better immediately after a clown is removed...

Not as many examples of a unit continuing to hum along like it's no biggy when you add a major piece

IMO a lot of people struggle to remove the rose coloured fan glasses and look at their favourite sporting teams through a real world lense.

Change your lense and you become less judgmental when things go badly but retain all the optimism

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

[Darko Miliminutes]

i wanted to pick 5, but i'm a wuss and said 10.

[JD43320]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

This is dumb. Do you give zero percent at work? And by that do I mean you openly and blatantly refuse to do a task you are responsible for simply because a co-worker got the last snickers bar out of the vending machine? Do you do that every few days? Because that is what Dre does. If he thinks he deserves the ball in the post and doesn't get it he quits on the play. He starts walking back on defense before the shot has left the shooters hand. Remember when Dre use to crash the offensive glass? When you factor in minutes he is having the worst offensive rebounding season of his career. It's not just an issue of him giving less than 100%. It's an issue of him giving up on plays when things do go exactly how he wants them. It's happening so often and it's so blatant now that even the people that are paid to be his hype men are saying live on air "What the f#%^ are you doing?"

[DBC10]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

This is dumb. Do you give zero percent at work? And by that do I mean you openly and blatantly refuse to do a task you are responsible for simply because a co-worker got the last snickers bar out of the vending machine? Do you do that every few days? Because that is what Dre does. If he thinks he deserves the ball in the post and doesn't get it he quits on the play. He starts walking back on defense before the shot has left the shooters hand. Remember when Dre use to crash the offensive glass? When you factor in minutes he is having the worst offensive rebounding season of his career. It's not just an issue of him giving less than 100%. It's an issue of him giving up on plays when things do go exactly how he wants them. It's happening so often and it's so blatant now that even the people that are paid to be his hype men are saying live on air "What the f#%^ are you doing?"

I agree with this. I don't necessarily think it's about zero effort, but it's also not simple as "oh he's not giving 100% effort, so what" type scenario. It's more along the fact that we all know what he's capable of night in and night out which is, a dominant garbage man and being a pick machine. He can play better but also making the ABSOLUTE most of his minutes like he did when he was a rookie and tearing up the glass and interior as if he was going to be benched if he didn't do so. So far, I think there's been less accountability out of him, no one is really holding Dre responsible when he's having "one of those games." I'd reckon he'll take to advice better from someone well established in the league rather than SVG yelling at him.

Which is why I was severely disappointed when Rasheed wasn't kept on during the SVG transition of 2013 (2014?). He knew how to work with Dre thorough his mental funks, and it's pretty evident now that Dre has nights where he's just not up there mentally.

[MrBigShot]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

2 - Expecting ANY team to not skip a beat when they add or subtract key personnel

People say "Pistons kicked in the minute Josh Smith got axed"

I said key personnel - not ass clowns! There are numerous examples of units performing better immediately after a clown is removed...

Not as many examples of a unit continuing to hum along like it's no biggy when you add a major piece

IMO a lot of people struggle to remove the rose coloured fan glasses and look at their favourite sporting teams through a real world lense.

Change your lense and you become less judgmental when things go badly but retain all the optimism

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

These guys aren't working regular jobs, they are playing a game for a living and they get to take off 4-5 months off per year depending on whether or not they make the playoffs.

There is nothing wrong with expecting players who get paid millions of dollars to play a sport to bring effort consistently imo. That should be a given. Missing shots? It happens, sometimes you have an off night. Making a mistake on defense? It happens, look it over in film. Turning the ball over too much? It happens, maybe you are on the 2nd night of a back to back and are playing sloppier than you should be.

But the one thing that should never be in question, as long as the player is healthy, is effort. It's part of being a professional. And it's not like it's a wide spread issue with our roster either...Baynes, Leur, Ish, KCP, Tobias, Marcus ect... all bring effort consistently. Your stance on this isn't what I would've expected considering how hard Australian players play. Baynes always brings 100% and Dellavadova practically tries to kill people out there with his level of effort defensively lol

[Pharaoh]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

2 - Expecting ANY team to not skip a beat when they add or subtract key personnel

People say "Pistons kicked in the minute Josh Smith got axed"

I said key personnel - not ass clowns! There are numerous examples of units performing better immediately after a clown is removed...

Not as many examples of a unit continuing to hum along like it's no biggy when you add a major piece

IMO a lot of people struggle to remove the rose coloured fan glasses and look at their favourite sporting teams through a real world lense.

Change your lense and you become less judgmental when things go badly but retain all the optimism

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

These guys aren't working regular jobs, they are playing a game for a living and they get to take off 4-5 months off per year depending on whether or not they make the playoffs.

There is nothing wrong with expecting players who get paid millions of dollars to play a sport to bring effort consistently imo. That should be a given. Missing shots? It happens, sometimes you have an off night. Making a mistake on defense? It happens, look it over in film. Turning the ball over too much? It happens, maybe you are on the 2nd night of a back to back and are playing sloppier than you should be.

But the one thing that should never be in question, as long as the player is healthy, is effort. It's part of being a professional. And it's not like it's a wide spread issue with our roster either...Baynes, Leur, Ish, KCP, Tobias, Marcus ect... all bring effort consistently. Your stance on this isn't what I would've expected considering how hard Australian players play. Baynes always brings 100% and Dellavadova practically tries to kill people out there with his level of effort defensively lol

Go around the league and find one team (outside the Spurs) where every single dude brings it every single night over the full 82.

Can't be done!

Doesn't mean I like it or wanna see it. Just means I can understand it.

The same way I can understand Stanimal calling out Lebron, calling out KD, calling out God! It's a competition and he's here to kick ass and chew bubble gum but he's all out of bubble gum.

That doesn't mean I think it's advisable to call out the best of the best in a playoff series. It means I understand it though

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

[Pharaoh]

The problems are:

1 - expecting players to give 100% every single night.

People say "they're paid to perform every day"

Well, those of us with jobs know WE don't give 100% every single day!

People then say "but they're paid millions"

So? They're paid relative to what job they do, just like you.

This is dumb. Do you give zero percent at work? And by that do I mean you openly and blatantly refuse to do a task you are responsible for simply because a co-worker got the last snickers bar out of the vending machine? Do you do that every few days? Because that is what Dre does. If he thinks he deserves the ball in the post and doesn't get it he quits on the play. He starts walking back on defense before the shot has left the shooters hand. Remember when Dre use to crash the offensive glass? When you factor in minutes he is having the worst offensive rebounding season of his career. It's not just an issue of him giving less than 100%. It's an issue of him giving up on plays when things do go exactly how he wants them. It's happening so often and it's so blatant now that even the people that are paid to be his hype men are saying live on air "What the f#%^ are you doing?"

Zero effort? Umm ok.

The world isn't black or white dude. There is a whole lotto room between 0% effort and 100%.

Extreme just for the hell of it?

Does Dre have issues? Yeah! We agree on that. Now what?

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

[hoophabit]

Seriously? Drummond got 11 shots and made 5. 10 pts, 10 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks? Certainly not his best game, but to be asserting that the Pistons lost because of Drummond is scapegoating.

I went with 5 games because I'm a hopeless optimist, and because I think the team and coach want the ball to move.

[MotownMadness]

Seriously? Drummond got 11 shots and made 5. 10 pts, 10 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks? Certainly not his best game, but to be asserting that the Pistons lost because of Drummond is scapegoating.

I went with 5 games because I'm a hopeless optimist, and because I think the team and coach want the ball to move.

Anyone who watches knows when he's not trying. He just let Vuc and Ibaka completely bully him cause he had a not give a crap night. I don't care if he scores 10 points throwing up hook shots what i want him to do is hustle on the defensive end and attack the glass on offensive rebounds.

[7r5ur]

Seriously? Drummond got 11 shots and made 5. 10 pts, 10 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks? Certainly not his best game, but to be asserting that the Pistons lost because of Drummond is scapegoating.

I went with 5 games because I'm a hopeless optimist, and because I think the team and coach want the ball to move.

Anyone who watches knows when he's not trying. He just let Vuc and Ibaka completely bully him cause he had a not give a crap night. I don't care if he scores 10 points throwing up hook shots what i want him to do is hustle on the defensive end and attack the glass on offensive rebounds.

Those two were scorching from mid range and long distance. Dre ALWAYS struggles with those types of players. I don't know that I'd pinpoint that 100% on effort.