Betrayer

This is Lavert's former team. Sorry, that's where the minutes are going.

Agreed. I always felt Weaver's strength was drafting. On the other hand, he also falls in love with draft prospects and will do anything to get the ones he wants. Maybe it doesn't go anywhere, but I'd be dialing him up this offseason.

That would be completely idiotic as we saw in the first series, the playoffs last year, all season long, and every statistic shows it as well. So, yea, he'll probably do it.

We all know they're going to sign him. I'm just asking for some intelligence. Let the market dictate his value and see what offers come in. Don't bid against yourself and just offer him 40+ right out of the gate.

I wouldn't be so happy about Cade's matchups. Against Tyson he was 5-18. Against Mobley he was 5-15. Not sure about Wade, apparently he didn't guard Cade much this year so maybe that's a better matchup this year even though it hadn't been in the past. Struss is a decent defender with size. Hopefully JB will run screens to get some of the weaker defenders on Cade. Problem is that Mobley will be lurking and Cleveland's big men eat up Cade's drives. In order to prevent Mobley from roaming, they'll need to do what they did to Orlando and pull Ausar into the screening action. But Mobley isn't Suggs who Cade can dominate in the paint. You don't want that switch. A smarter move might be to run off ball screens with Ausar and Duncan to force Cleveland to switch in order to prevent the open three. That will lock Mobley on a guy he can't leave. Now you're free to run your offense, pull Ausar into another screen to get Cade a mismatch, or whatever. Mobley can't leave the shooter or you make him pay. Overall though I think Cade will need to have that three point shot and the middy rolling like he did in the last three games against Orlando otherwise it could be a long series for him (and us). Your point about Harris being guarded by Harden is a good one. In general, the Pistons should do everything they can to target Harden on defense over and over the same way they'll try to target Duncan. He's decent at deflections but not much else on defense because he gives zero effort. He can't really guard anyone on the court. You're point about Duren being stronger is a good one as well. I was surprised to see he actually had some really good games against Cleveland's front line this year. But so did Allen, going for 20+ in 2 out of 3 games. Mobley had some killers against us as well, averaging 18 pts, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and nearly 45% from three.

Regular season Duren isn't even worth a max contract. You don't max a Center unless he's an MVP candidate. You laugh uncontrollably if an agent brings up the max for a rim running Center that isn't a good defender and can't shoot outside of 3 feet. He's a starter and a high level role player. Average starter salary is 23M, so he should get just a bit more than that.

I have no fear of the Knicks or the Sixers. Getting past Cleveland will be a much tougher challenge.

Sounds right up Weaver's alley. He wanted to draft Duren at #5.

From the moment I saw Bane's contract 3 years ago I said it was an overpay. The worst thing you can do in the NBA is max out an "almost All-Star". Especially in the new cap. Bane isn't a #1 or a #2. He's not an All NBA player. If he makes an All-Star team some year he'll be squeaking in as a reserve. Sound familiar? Jalen Duren, this is you I'm talking about. You want those guys on team friendly contracts, like Trey Murphy's deal. Not a max.

Why? He already had 3 years left on his deal and we haven't even gotten to play a game in the second round of the playoffs yet. Are they trying to get ahead of the CotY awards in case he wins it? Previously we had a Weaver organization that made moves on top of moves, recklessly firing "all the bullets in the clip" and shedding assets along the way. Now we have the opposite. An organization that is loyal to a fault. This is the type of organization that cripples its future by giving Duren a max contract, so get ready for it.

Harden and Mitchell on the perimeter. Allen and Mobley inside. Really tough matchup because it's not just about who you put Ausar on and if Cade will have the energy to guard the other. These are much better offensive creators than Bane who stands there and waits to shoot a three. Expect to see a ton of screens targeting Duncan and Harris to get them on Mitchell/Harden. Also, there are real concerns about foul trouble for both Ausar and Cade against some of the best foul baiters in the business. That's just the perimeter. On the inside you also have to deal with the fact that Mobley and Allen can totally shut down the inside and that's really the only place we can score. Allen is also a terrific offensive rebounder and we're not great at stopping that. If you're hoping for Super-Cade to save us, just know that he had a 44 TS against the Cavs this season. He also averaged 5.8 turnovers and was a -7.3 on the court. They had 4 matchups this season: Game 1: Loss 116-95. They killed us. They had everyone but Harden. Game 2: Win 114-110. No JD for us. No Allen or Harden for them. Game 3: Win 122-119. No Mitchell or Harden. Game 4: Loss 113-109. No Mitchell. This matchup is Piston's kryptonite because they can hunt mismatches on offense, get guys in foul trouble, and shut down the paint. We need our guys to get hot from three for a series to keep up with their ability to score since the paint will be very difficult to navigate, but that's just not really our strength.

Both series in the West should be sweeps.

Best Duren game of the series by a mile.

Why do we struggle so much with the press? One pass and you have a 4 on 3 advantage if you push it. We’re playing like we’re trying to dribble out the clock even though there’s plenty of time.

Definitely. Toronto plays tougher, but Cleveland is a terrible matchup.