Lack Of Development

[dd24]

Of course we've been without our starting PG but these young guys don't seem to be getting better. I just saw this stat today....

[QUOTE]Mika Honkasalo: I wonder at what point does Drummond lack of development become concerning? Pistons are currently 8.7 points better without him.

[Nastradamus]

Lol, KCP has doubled his assists and is shooting 38% from 3 with his usual stellar D. WHat the hell do you want from the man???

Johnson sucks though and Drummond is a concern. I think Reggie is a factor, as Drummond and him pick and roll well together. I know Johnson is trying to change his shot mechanics and that can take some time to show results on the court. Offensively, its mental with him as much as physical right now. His D numbers are strong at least.

[Aussie Dunker]

We are 3-1 in our last 4 including a huge win over the Clips who some predict to challenge for a title, and 2 AWAY wins over Charlotte and Boston, both are top 4 seed hopefuls.

But it is a long season and so far we have been disgustingly inconsistent.

KCP is sneakily having a really good year, he has changed his role on O and is noticeably more comfortable and controlled with the ball in his hands and off the dribble. And yes shooting 38% from deep is elite, and so is his D.

And with Stanley, I still have hope that he will get better as the season goes on. But it is starting to sting a little that both Booker and Turner were on the board when we drafted Stanley...... Eeek,

It is hard to judge this team and the development of players without seeing our floor general out there. Games 25 - 50 should tell us a lot

[Aussie Dunker]

So our last 3 games have been Road Wins against potential top 4 East seeds

Hornets by 23
Celtics by 7
Hawks by 36

So a 3 game road winning streak against potential top 4 East seeds with an average winning margin of 22 points.

And we get Reggie back sometime in the next week - things are looking up

[Nastradamus]

Hit a bump with Orlando, but Chicago was a nice win

[dd24]

I guess if there's one year we're mediocre this one would be the one to do it. There's a ton of PG's projected to be taken in the lottery of this draft. That's one position we don't really need to draft for. Although a few of those SF's would be nice since Stanley Johnson is looking not so great so far. The SG class seems awfully week so far so we better hope KCP doesn't walk.

[Aussie Dunker]

So Stanley has played an average of like 3 minutes per game over the past 6 games - apparently his work ethic is inconsistent, according to comments made by SVG. Then Stanley comes out and says that his work ethic is fine....

Cracks starting to show - he doesn't look invested. Makes me think perhaps Winslow would have been the better pick here, as his work ethic is known to be elite....

[dd24]

We all had high hopes for him last year. Now he's starting to look like a bust on our roster. It would really suck if he ended up somewhere else, had a chance, and just exploded though. I feel like SVG isn't good at developing young talent. He's the type of guy that likes people with a little more experience. At least a few seasons worth. He's talked about rookies in general before and said how it takes them at the minimum 3-4 seasons before they even know how to play defense.

[ZMonkey11]

So Stanley has played an average of like 3 minutes per game over the past 6 games - apparently his work ethic is inconsistent, according to comments made by SVG. Then Stanley comes out and says that his work ethic is fine....

Cracks starting to show - he doesn't look invested. Makes me think perhaps Winslow would have been the better pick here, as his work ethic is known to be elite....

Yea, things aren't looking good for this kid. So much promise during Summer League and now we are reminded that Summer League is just that, an amateur league during the summer.

We still got a little bit of time before the trade deadline to see what we can do to mix things up.

[dd24]

He's already in the trade rumors now. I'd hate to give him up for nothing to another team and see his game blow up.

[ZMonkey11]

I'd hate to see him go away for nothing, too. But, due to KCPs injury, he was just called up from the D-LEAGUE!

This is how much promise this kid is not showing. High draft pick to the D-League after a full season in the L.

All the interviews I saw of him, he looked like such a good kid with a square head on his shoulders. I don't know so much about that anymore.

[dd24]

Here's the latest


Sources have told CSNChicago.com the Pistons have resisted overtures for [Stanley] Johnson but with the recent developments, expect executives for rival teams to be more aggressive. No one can deny what Johnson can physically bring to the table and if teams view him as an undervalued commodity by the Pistons, things can get interesting with the trade season kicking off December 15. CSN Philly

[Nastradamus]

Stanley is shooting better from 3 this year than Booker and his D rates extremely well

[dd24]

28 three pointers attempted vs 127. Not to mention teams put more of a focus on guarding Booker out there because they know he can shoot and is a go to scorer. I think at this point we would all take Booker.

[Nastradamus]

28 three pointers attempted vs 127. Not to mention teams put more of a focus on guarding Booker out there because they know he can shoot and is a go to scorer. I think at this point we would all take Booker.

I mostly just thought it was funny. Booker isn't really playing well at all though. He does very little other than shoot and right now he's not shooting. I'm sure he will, but he looks more Jodie Meeks than Klay Thompson right now.

[dd24]

I agree with that.

[Nastradamus]

Man, we suck

[dd24]

Yeah, I was going to post something today and just noticed that you did lol. 3-6 since Jackson came back. The Pistons are sitting in last place in the division. And while with the exception of the Cavaliers we're all within a few games of each other I knew this was just a tough division going into things. We're all going to beat each other up. I like the young talent the Bucks have. Parker and Giannis are better than Detroit's young guys. Indiana has a solid roster. George is obviously better than any player we have. Chicago is on a downward slide but they've got veterans that will keep them winning some. I think without some major development we're stuck in mediocrity. Drummond hasn't taken the steps we needed him to on the offensive end. Embiid has only played a few months in the NBA and is coming back from injury and looks a million times better on the offensive end. We had high hopes for Stanley. He looks the part physically but hasn't got it going. There's no big time players available via trade. The one thing we have is assets that we could potentially move but I don't see what good it would do. The only bright spot lately has been Leuer...

[Nastradamus]

Yah, only a game and a half out of 5th too.

Clearly we have chemistry issues right now. SVG says he won't roll the same starting 5 out again next game. Leuer in for Harris?

We just need to work Reggie back in and Harris needs to get his head out of his ass.

[dd24]

According to Yahoo it's more likely going to be Leuer for Morris. Harris will probably still start.

[Aussie Dunker]

Yeah I would say Harris will start at the 3 with Leur at the 4, and Morris coming off the bench in a 6th man type role where he can be the go to guy - I have ALWAYS thought that is where Morris would be best suited, coming on against other teams second units and being our leader / scorer. He would thrive.

[dd24]

I think he'd make a pretty solid 6th man too. He's just so inconsistent when he's starting. One day he's on fire, the next he puts up 6 points.

[Nastradamus]

Ugh, Harris sucks as a 3. He'd be much better on the bench with Ish where he can just score in bunches off assists.

[dd24]

Harris is the one with the big contract. They're going to give him more of an opportunity.

[Nastradamus]

I like it so far

[Aussie Dunker]

Leuer's contract is starting to look like one of the best in the NBA - he is a very nice fit next to Dre, very smooth stretch 4. Really impressing me this season...

[dd24]

We're not that far off from the lottery at this point. If we're going to be bad, we may as well do it right for once. If we could land a guy like Josh Jackson that would really help turn things around. Then we could trade Stanley Johnson while teams still think he has potential. The guy has actually got some minutes the past 4 games and has done nothing.....

[Nastradamus]

His defense has been awesome this year though, maybe 2nd best on the team. He could be our SF version of Tony Allen it seems.

What we need to do is start him. Our starting lineup needs D and a guy who doesn't need shots and Ish-Harris-Leuer-Bullock-Boban is a very nice bench. IDeally Bullock would be replaced with a better player who can also shoot 3s like Bullock.

[dd24]

What's odd is SVG says he plays people off of defense and not how they can score. While I agree, he actually has played good defense one would think he would then get a little more PT. Over the past 4 games he has but that's it. Even with his defense the team still has been terrible in that aspect of the game. I think it is 29th in the NBA over the span of the last month (give or take). So we started out pretty solid defensively. Now we are absolutely terrible.

[Nastradamus]

What's odd is SVG says he plays people off of defense and not how they can score. While I agree, he actually has played good defense one would think he would then get a little more PT. Over the past 4 games he has but that's it. Even with his defense the team still has been terrible in that aspect of the game. I think it is 29th in the NBA over the span of the last month (give or take). So we started out pretty solid defensively. Now we are absolutely terrible.

He's also developing a guy long term though, making Stanley earn his time. I think he's done well with him. Stanley seems to be hitting a small stride and hopefully it continues going up!

[Aussie Dunker]

I actually wouldn't mind seeing a starting lineup of:

Dre
Leur
Stanley
KCP
Reggie

I think it is pretty solid / good on D, and I think Leur is probably our best deep shooter of all the forwards.

With a bench of:

Baynes
Harris
Morris
Bullock
Ish

That could perhaps be the best bench in the league?....

I think we should atleast see if this first unit could hang with the other teams first unit, because this 2nd unit could smash most teams 2nd units and create a huge advantage for us

[dd24]

We haven't had a young guy develop into an elite star level player. Without any of those this team is just mediocre. We really need to get lucky in the lottery one of these seasons. So even having a fairly deep bench it doesn't really matter when your starting 5 just isn't quite as good. A single player can make a huge difference in basketball.