i usually didnt agree with pharaoh

[Crymson]

The saddest thing is... even if Reggie and Blake are healthy and they play at full potential, Dre keeps improving, Leuer come back and starts to look like when he arrived, all our youngs improve a bit...

Even with a great run and a 1-4 spot, our ceiling is being raped by LeBron as any other team in the East.

What in the world gives you the impression that this roster could get a 1-4 seed?

[In SVG We Trust]

The saddest thing is... even if Reggie and Blake are healthy and they play at full potential, Dre keeps improving, Leuer come back and starts to look like when he arrived, all our youngs improve a bit...

Even with a great run and a 1-4 spot, our ceiling is being raped by LeBron as any other team in the East.

What in the world gives you the impression that this roster could get a 1-4 seed?

You just need to read, it's not even that hard

[theBigLip]

A few comments...

We certainly missed out on a great pick (Mitchell) as did several other teams. I still think Kennard will be a long term starter in the league, but certainly not going touch Mitchell's ceiling (does he even have one?). But the draft is hard. You can pick out any year and do a "hind sight" re-draft, and the order changes significantly. There are a lot of GMs and scouts that are either not good or it just shows that it's hard to determine which players will keep pushing their game while others just coast and don't get any better.

I like the post about how much luck has to do with sports. I think there is a bit of a middle ground, and it applies not only to sports but to life. You work hard and make good decisions and that puts you in a good place to take advantage of opportunities. So you go to college, not that you know exactly what job/career you will have for sure, but you will be ready for those opportunities. Same thing with the draft or managing cap space - the draft is hard but you got to keep your picks so you have a chance to draft a star. You manage your cap space so when a great trade opportunity comes up, you are in a position to take advantage of it. I think we are failing in those last two areas. All I can say is Blake better play like an All Star next year otherwise that is going down as one of the worst trades in Piston history.

[Wallace_Wallace]

The last time the Pistons won a playoff game I was in middle school...I just graduated college...

I thought it was just me

It's like ever since we started paying close attention to how basketball is played, the Pistons sucked the whole time

[Spider156]

The saddest thing is... even if Reggie and Blake are healthy and they play at full potential, Dre keeps improving, Leuer come back and starts to look like when he arrived, all our youngs improve a bit...

Even with a great run and a 1-4 spot, our ceiling is being raped by LeBron as any other team in the East.

Right. Fans think it matters. After Lebron it'll be Golden State. After that it'll be the next 3-4 superstars on one team. The talent discrepancy is changing in the NBA though. A player like Lebron won't come again to the league, I think he's the best basketball player the NBA will ever see. Past that and we'll see Curry's and Durant's. And they'll team up. And teams will continue to lose. Don't get fooled by these contending average teams like Utah. They'll eventually lose and people will forget them and realize nobody had a chance against Golden State anyway. It's a waste of time to want to win. Enjoy the game not to win but to be entertained.

[Spider156]

The last time the Pistons won a playoff game I was in middle school...I just graduated college...

I thought it was just me

It's like ever since we started paying close attention to how basketball is played, the Pistons sucked the whole time

Yeah that's sadly what happened to me too. I started watching during 04 and it went downhill since then and I'm realizing what a waste of time it is to follow any team. Just enjoy the game to be entertained not to win. You'll appreciate it more.

[Spider156]

A few comments...

We certainly missed out on a great pick (Mitchell) as did several other teams. I still think Kennard will be a long term starter in the league, but certainly not going touch Mitchell's ceiling (does he even have one?). But the draft is hard. You can pick out any year and do a "hind sight" re-draft, and the order changes significantly. There are a lot of GMs and scouts that are either not good or it just shows that it's hard to determine which players will keep pushing their game while others just coast and don't get any better.

I like the post about how much luck has to do with sports. I think there is a bit of a middle ground, and it applies not only to sports but to life. You work hard and make good decisions and that puts you in a good place to take advantage of opportunities. So you go to college, not that you know exactly what job/career you will have for sure, but you will be ready for those opportunities. Same thing with the draft or managing cap space - the draft is hard but you got to keep your picks so you have a chance to draft a star. You manage your cap space so when a great trade opportunity comes up, you are in a position to take advantage of it. I think we are failing in those last two areas. All I can say is Blake better play like an All Star next year otherwise that is going down as one of the worst trades in Piston history.

Nobody comes to Detroit so I think we're doing a fantastic job in getting Stars to detroit the way we are. Picks are also the only thing GM's have to leverage. They're very relative. The value of picks change tremendously throughout the year and it's the only thing a GM has to push for a trade. I think picks are worthless if you know how to use them as assets. There's a reason Stephen Curry and Charlie Villanueva both got picked at the 7th spot. It's all luck dude. I'm also pretty sure a player landing in the right situation makes a massive difference. SJ on the Spurs would be a monster. Mitchell on the Pistons would be a bench warmer.

[Crymson]

A few comments...

We certainly missed out on a great pick (Mitchell) as did several other teams. I still think Kennard will be a long term starter in the league, but certainly not going touch Mitchell's ceiling (does he even have one?). But the draft is hard. You can pick out any year and do a "hind sight" re-draft, and the order changes significantly. There are a lot of GMs and scouts that are either not good or it just shows that it's hard to determine which players will keep pushing their game while others just coast and don't get any better.

The big issue here is that the front office's approach was fundamentally flawed; it was less simply missing out on a prospect than it was a case of management incompetence. The Pistons were down to the two of them. The roster wasn't one role player away from contending, and it had no slam-dunk prospects in the cabinet. Van Gundy passed on a player with a much higher ceiling in favor of the safe pick; and it wasn't a win-now move, because he was vocally unsure if Kennard's defense would even allow him a spot in the rotation. And then he signed Galloway to play backup shooting guard. It was senseless all around.

All I can say is Blake better play like an All Star next year otherwise that is going down as one of the worst trades in Piston history.

Nothing about that trade made sense. It was shockingly foolish. I think it'll go down as a horrendous trade even if he does make the team, though I doubt he will; even if he plays well, he's now boring to watch, and that'll lose him the fan vote.

[Wallace_Wallace]

The last time the Pistons won a playoff game I was in middle school...I just graduated college...

I thought it was just me

It's like ever since we started paying close attention to how basketball is played, the Pistons sucked the whole time

Yeah that's sadly what happened to me too. I started watching during 04 and it went downhill since then and I'm realizing what a waste of time it is to follow any team. Just enjoy the game to be entertained not to win. You'll appreciate it more.

I still try to support the Pistons. Whenever they’re near Vegas (LA, Utah, Phoenix), I try to go the games. But it sucks to go there and watch them get their asses kick besides Phoenix. I hope eventually they find the right blend of players and put an acceptable product out there for the fans.

[Crymson]

A few comments...

We certainly missed out on a great pick (Mitchell) as did several other teams.

All of whom drafted based on the draft's BPA list, and zero of whom were down to a choice between Mitchell and Kennard.

I still think Kennard will be a long term starter in the league

Questionable. It's unclear if he'll ever be able to keep up with the league's starting wings on either end.

Nobody comes to Detroit so I think we're doing a fantastic job in getting Stars to detroit the way we are.

By making trades that are devoid of any basketball sense whatsoever?

[Spider156]

A few comments...

We certainly missed out on a great pick (Mitchell) as did several other teams.

All of whom drafted based on the draft's BPA list, and zero of whom were down to a choice between Mitchell and Kennard.

I still think Kennard will be a long term starter in the league

Questionable. It's unclear if he'll ever be able to keep up with the league's starting wings on either end.

Nobody comes to Detroit so I think we're doing a fantastic job in getting Stars to detroit the way we are.

By making trades that are devoid of any basketball sense whatsoever?

It makes a lot of sense if our players can stay healthy. I think we're a very talented team when we have Reggie Jackson and there's a reason SVG hasn't been fired yet.

[Crymson]

It makes a lot of sense if our players can stay healthy.

It makes zero sense regardless of health. Griffin is a horrendous fit with Drummond and probably a poor fit with the similarly ball-dominant Jackson, and the Pistons are now pitifully short on shooting in a league in which shooting is everything. That doesn't even get into the degree to which Griffin's contract has crippled the organization within the bounds of the salary cap for the next two seasons, or the fact that after two seasons in which injuries played a major role, the organization has opted to make itself tremendously more vulnerable to injury.

There's a reason that this frontcourt is unique in today's NBA: it doesn't work. The Clippers were the last to have anything of its like, and deliberately traded out of it; indeed, the front office didn't even want it last summer to begin with--Jerry West and company did not want to re-sign Griffin--but Ballmer insisted. The Pistons paid a big price in order to solve LA's problems once Ballmer came around. They've now got about $60 million per season for the next two invested in a frontcourt combo from which they cannot hope to get anything near full value.

The trade was almost certainly made at the behest of Tom Gores, who clearly wanted a big name on the team. I think very poorly of Van Gundy, but I don't think he's dumb enough to have pursued this on his own. Moreover, it conflicts with every bit of his basketball philosophy and with what he'd spent 3.5 seasons building around Drummond.

I think we're a very talented team when we have Reggie Jackson and there's a reason SVG hasn't been fired yet.

Reggie Jackson is a mid-tier point guard at his peak--which he may never reach again--and SVG hasn't been fired because this team's owner is a fool whose poor decision-making has put this organization at a perpetual disadvantage since he bought it. Any well-run organization would've fired Van Gundy after he punted the 2016-2017 season. He's been a gruesomely bad coach and substandard executive.

This team doesn't have very much talent from top to bottom, and what talent it has is very poorly allocated.