Betrayer

Can they offer him an extension during the season? Not sure if he'd take it because he's playing himself into a much bigger contract, but just wondering.

The problem is you'd need to give up picks to get people to take those contracts, which is the opposite of what you want to do if you're going to rebuild. They've really screwed themselves by waiting too long to blow this thing up with players that were losing value the entire time.

Not a fan of the point differential tie-breaker. I'd rather see a points system like they do in Summer League where you get points for each quarter you win, or something like that. It feels like NBA2K out there with starters trying to run up the score in a 20 blow point blowout. Either way, that was a heck of a game by the Pistons on both ends. Outside of a turnover stretch to start the 4th, they really cooked the Pacers. Outside, inside, defensively. That was the whole package, especially the effort.

Every team in the league runs 3 or 4 guys who can shoot in their starting lineup. That's called NBA basketball and nobody is saying you shouldn't do that. That leaves you room for 1 or 2 guys who are questionable shooters and Ausar is one I'm putting in the game without question. I'm prioritizing his minutes over Holland's as well. Give me an All-NBA defender with top 5% athleticism, steals, blocks, great rebounding, good passing and bball IQ. And that's from someone who wanted Cam Whitmore over Ausar in the draft. Just don't be a dumb coach and stick him one pass away in the strong side corner (yet) like Monty did or like JB has done with Holland. It's literally the dumbest place to put a guy who can't shoot. Better yet, on offense he can be in the pick and roll as either the handler or screener. He can be the DHO hub like how they're using Duren (or how Draymond is often used). He can also operate out of the dunker spot as you called out. It works even better with Stew in the lineup since you can invert them. Now, not only do you have better spacing but you also have a better defensive Center in there to go along with Ausar's elite defense.

One of Ausar's 4 three point attempts was a 3/4 quart heave to end the quarter. So, he's actually shooting 33% in the 2 games he's played. He probably won't shoot that on the year, but if he does I'll certainly take it from a potential All NBA defender.

Pistons really squandered a weak November schedule that could have seen them get to .500 or better. Get ready for some rough times ahead with the next 5 games being: Pacers Sixers Bucks Celtics Knicks After that you get Utah, which is winnable, but then a west coast trip against the Suns, Lakers, Kings, and Nuggets before coming home to face the Magic on Jan 1. Ouch.

Well, that was painful.

You can't talk about this game without talking about the terrible defensive rebounding. Duren and Stew were out there protecting the rim, but nobody was boxing out their man and closing the possession (Tobias and THJ were big culprits). Defense ends with a rebound, otherwise it's still bad defense. That and the free throw misses were a real problem. This team hates prosperity and keeps trying to find unforced ways to loose. Ivey's shot saved them, but they really have to stop the self-inflicted wounds. With that out of the way, there were definitely some positives in this game. Ivey played a great game, had a low turnover count, and hit the game winner. Duren was out there protecting the rim and showing some serious effort on both ends. Ausar's return! He looked rusty as you'd expect, but the handle and the shot form both looked way better, he made a couple of nice defensive plays, and even played primary ball-handler on a few possessions.

Could use a win in this one after a rough week of losses. Also, I'm starting to figure out who Holland reminds me of - Josh Jackson. From his lack of shooting (but still not afraid to hoist them) to his feisty attitude. Josh was still that same player in year 4...hopefully Holland won't be.

Nice breakdown of what happened on defense in this game.

Graphic I saw today on Reddit showing where the Piston's players from last year are now. You're right, I probably could've gotten some run with the team:

I'll be at this game tomorrow. I'm hoping we get to see Ausar suit up.

Guarantee you Ausar is in better shape than most of the vets in the league who just show up to camp having done nothing all summer. He's been cleared to play, so give him 5 minutes per half in the next game and work it up from there. This "reconditioning" needs to get off my lawn.

Duren’s catching local media/podcast heat over his defense in this game (and in general). This was a classic Andre Drummond game with a bunch of empty stats. He looked completely lost on the defensive end regardless of JB trying numerous defensive looks to take the pressure off of him. At the very least it’s time to split the minutes evenly between him and Stew. Not 30 minutes for Duren in a game where he’s getting torched. The on/off stats between the two of them would say it should be taken even further.

I was really hoping he'd need a couple weeks of "reconditioning" before getting back on the court. Team was better with Beasley in the starting lineup.

This team is going to be the death of me. What’s so frustrating is how they keep trying to beat themselves. Turnovers, free throws, giving up offensive rebounds. All things that should be easy enough to turn around, yet here we are game after game doing the same things. Maybe I shouldn’t complain because they’re clearly a much better and different team than last year, but wow it’s stressful to watch them keep punching themselves in the face Glad it ended in a win this time, but they’ve really got to clean up the self inflicted wounds.

"Reconditioning" - now injuries get to take even longer. I don't recall that term existing a few years ago. Sure, you had minutes restrictions to ease guys back in who've been out for a while, but not 2 more weeks tacked on to every injury that had the player out for a few weeks (yes, I know it's been longer for Ausar, but the Pistons did this with much shorter injuries last season). Bring him back. Let him play 15 minutes to start getting his legs. An out-of-shape Ausar is still in 10x better shape than Harden at the beginning (or middle or end) of every season. Guys like Burks, Bogie, and Morris came to camp like they spent the summer at Burger King last year. Yes, this is an old man rant. Get that "reconditioning" off my lawn.

From what I've heard/read about this from local pods and writers, it's a combination of two factors: 1. JB's system doesn't have the Center playing that role. He admitted this in a recent postgame interview and said "that's on me" and that he needs to look into how he can incorporate it more since it's a skillset that Stew had last year. 2. In the offseason JB communicated to Stew that his role would be a paint focused Center again and wanted to maximize his strength on the offensive glass, Stew was excited to get back to banging and rebounding, and so he's not looking for his shot even when the opportunity arises. Hopefully JB sees what we see and will adapt his system over time. They need to invert Stew and Holland. Same with Ausar. Defenses simply ignore those two wings on the perimeter and that allows them to collapse into the paint.

I swear I’ve aged 10 years watching this team over the last week. Every game down to the wire and crazy endings. Pistons had a decent showing in this one on the road with 4 rotation players out and another getting kicked out. Just couldn’t put it away. Didn’t help that Giannis turned into KD from the perimeter and hit all his free throws on top of it.

Tonight's game is versus the Bucks (Raptors are Friday). Ivey and Tek are both out with toe injuries. Probably goes without saying that THJ will be out. Expect a lot of Sasser and Holland minutes, maybe even some Wendell Moore.

That THJ play was scary. Luckily the CT scan came back negative. Not sure about a concussion though. Either way, I'm sure he's going to miss some time. Up 9 with about 1:40 to go and they nearly threw this one away. Ended the 4th with turnovers by Beasley, Ivey, and Cade and then started the OT with 4 more bad possessions. They did everything they could to give it away on the offensive end, but credit to the defense for keeping them in the game. Heck of an out of bounds play call from JB and some great execution from Beasley to set that screen and Duren to catch the lob. Nice pass by Cade as well. Think Monty would've dialed up that play?

Celtics are on the list twice at 4 and 17. Edit: Looks like 17 should've been the Nets.

Despite finding dozens of ways to shoot themselves in the foot, the Pistons were within inches of winning this one (again) against a solid team. We can point to any number of mistakes down the stretch, but on a larger scale the three point shooting, offensive rebounds, and turnovers really did them in over the course of the game. Even just replacing Holland's minutes with Ausar probably would've won us this game despite all the mistakes.

Defensive effort across the board has been better this year. Even poor defenders like Beasley and THJ are at least giving effort on most plays. Pistons have the 14th ranked defense in the league. If you would have told someone that before the season started, they'd have said you were crazy, especially after the Pistons brought in mostly shooters and weak defenders to shore up the offensive spacing. Coaching matters. JB isn't elite, but his teams play defense, his rotations usually make sense, he works the refs, uses his challenges, and I've seen some nice in-game adjustments here and there. Night and day from Monty "The Terrorist" Williams.

But wait, I thought consensus on here was that Donovan Mitchell wasn't a good player? 🤣