buddha

bulls got blown out in game one and then had a players only meeting. one game into the season. lol. and then went to overtime to beat the soft as a pillow raptors. the bulls are exactly the same team they were last year (and the year before that). derozan and lavine are ball stopping scorers. vucevic is an immobile big whose shot has become less reliable but still pours in 15 and 10 every game. he's also tired of watching lavine and derozan go one on one all night, every night. they had a big shouting match on opening night. coby white is the latest point guard to play now that lonzo ball has been injured for three straight seasons. he's increased his playmaking abilities and improved his shot. he's still small and should be able to be beaten by detroit's bigger guards. caruso is the other guard and is a great defender/pest until he inevitably gets hurt and misses two months. the bench is ok. headed by old friend andre drummond and ayo donsumno. torey craig has been good this year on that unit. all in all, the bulls are a team that can beat you if lavine and derozan are on. if they're not, the bulls are awful. and lavine and derozan dont play much defense most of the time. i suspect caruso guards cade. it would be nice to see ivey play to take advantage of coby's lack of size (caveat, coby is better at defense this year, but he still isnt great). as we know, killian cant score on anyone. up front, stew and duren should be able to run circles around the bulls' frontcourt, but vuc is a wiley vet and if he's hitting his shots he might get to duren. duren should kill him on the boards and in pick and rolls wirh cade. ausar on derozan will be a good test for the rookie. nobody seems to be falling for derozan's 5 million pump fakes anymore so we'll see if ausar can read a scouting report and control his impulses to try to block everything. derozan doesnt run or pay attention on d so look for ausar in transition or sneaking in the backdoor. i think the pistons can win this game unless lavine goes off for 40 like he occasionally does. on the second half of a back to back/3 in 4 nights and on the road? probably not.

they double team cade constantly, they never double team ivey. if they single covered cade, he would be as successful as ivey. and i like ivey! i thought this was a much better game for him. the question is whether ivey can handle the ball well enough and defend well enough to be a second guard next to cade instead of killian. i hope he can be because killian's lack of shooting ability hinders the offense with cade.

good to win a game when cade plays like ****.

god bless george blaha. he's the voice of the pistons. but he's 78 and it shows.

i hope they fine the sixers repeatedly. make them hurt for having harden on the team. he's such a cancer. i know daryl morey is a smart guy and del loves him like a brother, but his fascination with james harden is difficult for me to figure out. great player until crunch time and always willing to sabotage his team to get into a different situation.

"the calls are coming from inside the house!" warde manuel should probably get his organizational house in order.

he puts in a lot of money and doesnt seem to try to influence decisions anymore. but he used to and we'll see if he returns to his old ways. he's also a complete douchebag, so there's that.

crosby will cost you multiple firsts. and the raiders still probably wouldnt do it.

yes please. they're hideous. it was probably gores' idea.

teach copp how to do that.

so nice to have something real to overreact to!

killian didnt play as badly as you guys are making it out to be. he guarded one of the heat's best players for most of the night and did a nice job of it. the ability to handle the ball is important, especially when the other team is doubling cade all the time, someone else has to be able to pass and initiate the offense and let cade get open. killian does that. everyone is high on ausar because he stuffed the stat sheet, but his defense wasnt that great and his offensive contribution is put backs and one made three (and one abysmally missed three). he cant handle the ball, he cant run the offense, he has to stand in the corner and hope for a back door alley oop. they ignore him on offense. he was the lowest +/- on the team yesterday (a stupid stat, but still...) stew has to become a legit threat from 3 or he cant play with duren and duren must play because he's such a great athlete. bagley would have been better than stew in the floor spacing regars, although having him come off the bench and score is probably his best role. not having morris was an issue because he could have played the killian role with better shooting and spaced the floor. ivey is a problem. ivey must pick up the defense in order to displace killian. he cant sulk like he did yesterday. if he cant stay in front of anyone he won't start, if he wants to sulk and not embrace the 6th man scoring role he's no good to anyone. have vinnie talk to him or something. ivey has to hit. he has to be able to shoot or get to the bucket to free up cade. or lead the second unit with bagley and score. he was worthless last night. stop sulking. when bogey comes back i assume he takes ausar's or stew's place. i cant see duren sitting. when morris comes back he takes killian's place. i dont know what the plan is for harris. he can space the flooe but barely played and not at all with cade.

i assume killian plays because he's the point guard and can pass, run the offense, and play defense. ausar is a swiss army knife but probably doesnt know the offense well enough to play point guard (and his handle isnt good enough yet). so killian plays and ausar doesnt. neither can shoot. someone other than cade has to handle the rock. now, why hayes and not ivey? has to be defense.

ausar provides even less of an outside threat than killian. ausar is going to be a great player one day if the shot improves, but not yet. he was even worse than killian on offense. ivey might have been the worst player on the floor not named tyler herro (only because wiseman didnt play).

pistons players of the game: cade cunningham and tyler herro.

tom gores makes me root against detroit.

cade's gonna make me get the nba package. god dammit.

14-0 run all led by cade. passing, shooting, driving. he looks like luka lite tonight.

cade looks like the guy who should have been drafted #1. ivey coming off the bench kills him because they have no shooters to space the floor. cade has similar issues but is a more complete player and can create space easier.

they already do it, so sure.

cant shoot for ****.

i'm just shocked you can admit harbaugh is a better football coach than anyone, even tommy! 🙂

are you still holding to your "harbaugh runs for public office" prediction? or does spy gate ruin his chances at the republican nomination?

cant wait to give up our first round pick to houston! although weaver's real plan was to be so bad that the pick never conveys? i know you were in favor of his first draft and resetting the team. and i agree there was value there, but they dealt a ton to get bey and stewart and drafted killian 7. so we got a backup guard, a good undersized role player in stew, and bey was dealt for garbage. that draft is killing us. the overall point being he had assets and he turned them into a very shaky foundation of a team. and he gave up FUTURE assets to attain that foundation, leaving us with less to work with. it all amounts to a slow rebuild. how long before gores demands we trade for harden? lol.

there's my man! i was wondering where bonghit went. this is like catnip for him. 😀