Betrayer

JJ has a really good basketball mind. I have no idea what kind of coach he'd make, but I'd definitely interview him. Unfortunately, we haven't even picked our POBO yet, so we'll miss out on even interviewing most candidates and probably be stuck with Monty regardless.

Last night was ridiculous. Two amazing games with crazy endings. That Denver comeback was epic, especially on a night where they shot so terribly from three. Lakers have to be feeling pretty defeated after Lebron, AD, and Russell were all playing well and they still couldn't hold a huge lead despite Denver playing like garbage.

That was the only good game of the day, after a bunch of good ones on Saturday.

I’ll say it once again this year - the Pistons are the victim of identity theft. Miami is now the “going to work” team. Call the cops, or better yet steal Quinn to be our coach this offseason after making Hammond the POBO.

They’re probably going to lose Claxton or simply not want to pay him. Getting a rookie (or Duren) could be appealing since they’d be on rookie contracts.

Topic and Wemby are gonna be a nice combo. He can set Wemby up on offense and Wemby can cover for his poor defense. Rough draft for the Pistons. Risacher takes a big dive and nobody in the top 5+ other than Sheppard can hit a three. Maybe you take a chance on Sheppard's poor size, length, and athleticism not killing him since his raw defensive numbers are so good despite those concerns. He can certainly shoot, but you could just be getting Sasser 2.0, except with a top 5 pick this time. If you do pick him then it's time for some trades (Ivey and/or Sasser). I'm probably still leaning towards the idea of drafting Sarr and using Duren in a trade package, but that could also blow up in your face because Sarr looks really raw. You'd definitely have to bring in a vet rebounder and rim protector (not Wiseman) to give Sarr time to develop and show him the ropes. I suppose you could just let Sarr come off the bench behind Duren and make the decision at the deadline, but you still need a veteran 3rd big (again, not Wiseman). I suppose you could also trade the pick. It won't net you much on its own, but maybe in combination with Ivey (and/or Duren) and a future pick to get you an actual player (Mikal or something).

So glad someone else noticed this. I was so confused while watching this and listening to him talk.

They said they're going to do it quickly, but if James isn't just making up names and they're actually going after guys from Orlando and Milwaukee, then it probably doesn't get done until at least after the first round of the playoffs. Then that guy has to come in and decide if he wants to keep Monty and Gores, then conduct a replacements search, which means all those good replacement names will be gone.

If Giannis doesn't play a couple of these games, the Bucks could very well be headed home early.

I can only hope they're letting the players do their thing and seeing them off before the firings begin and then we don't even need to see those two take the podium.

Tell me that the NBA has gone soft without telling me the NBA has gone soft. These dudes would have been broken by week 2 in either of the Pistons championship eras.

I just hope it's PHX and LAL. GS can go in the next round so I don't have to watch Daymond choke anyone out.

It seems like Gores is the "fire you on a Friday" type of boss. He thinks he's running a more classy organization by not creating mid-season drama and apparently has a blind spot to the fact that doing nothing has created even more bad press and media attention. Basically, I suspect that even if he had made the decision already, he would wait until the end of the season. But who knows, maybe this is all wishful thinking and we're going to be stuck with these clowns for 5 more years.

They've already failed spectacularly. You don't fail any better than setting franchise, NBA, and even cross-sport records for losing. If they don't get fired now, they never will. And unfortunately, nobody can fire Gores. He'd have to choose to sell and that has little to do with success or failure at the sport itself.

Which is why it's silly to want them to fail. You aren't punishing anyone but us.

Sadly, when I read your intro line I thought this was going to be any one of Duren's offensive plays from the past 30 games.

I need to see him play 65 games for that max contract. He's not helping the case against him being injury prone and/or soft.

Where do Monty, Weaver, and Silas fall on that list?

I like how Omari has been calling this team and org out a lot lately Jaden hit a lot of threes. Coach still ripped him after the game for his turnovers and shot selection. One of those two will be gone this offseason for sure. They can’t coexist. Jalen did another Drummond impression all game. All you had to see was that play at the 10 minute mark in the first quarter. Messy dribble drive into a bad contested shot that leads to a fast break by Memphis that Duren didn’t get back fast enough to contest. If that doesn’t say Dre, I don’t know what does. Of course he continued to do that stuff all game, so it didn’t end there. Malachi who? Along with the Sasser hype train, I think we can officially get back off the “Wiseman is improving” train as well. Honestly, without Cade both of the bigs are looking suspect.

I agree, there is still potential there and I also agree that it just may not happen here. However I think there are also two more questions to ask: Even if they develop a bit more, do they fit? If these guys were superstars I wouldn't care about fit, but it's clear to me that they aren't and so they need to fit next to your franchise player. We need someone who can shoot and defend better than Ivey next to Cade. We also need a Center who can either space the court or defend, and Duren does neither well. You especially need him to space the court if you plan to develop Ausar. Sure, you could play Ivey as sixth man and maybe Duren shares minutes with a spacer or comes off the bench, but that gets to my next point... We don't have a lot of other assets. @Deleterious asked what we could get for these players individually, and I don't know the answer to that, but I think you have to find out because we really don't have many other assets that can be packaged to improve this team. It's not that I dislike J&J and wouldn't want to see them on my team in some capacity. It's simply that they're both young and still have "potential", which is one of the few things you can sell to improve this roster. That clock is ticking though, so you'd have to do it this offseason. In regards to whether or not this franchise is capable, I doubt it. That's why you need to clean house (GM and Coach both).

Feel sorry for the player and the team...but watching Stephen A Smith nearly cry over this was definitely a guilty pleasure.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I guess it turns out that watching every single Piston's game since 2001 earned me something other than 15 years of pain 😄

Carmelo would have been a champion.

Nice game from Flynn, but the bigger story to me was Jaden and Jalen. Jaden continues his streak of playing terribly. Missing layups, missing threes, turnovers, and poor defense. No Cade in the lineup and you'd think he'd come out swinging. Instead he sat on the bench watching Flynn. Jalen once again did his best Andre Drummond impression. Terrible dribble drives that end in a blocked shot or turnover. Jumpshots that he's not capable of making. Complaining to the refs on offense when they don't bail him out of terrible decisions while Atlanta runs it down the court to score. When that draft happened, I thought we came out on top. But the more I see, the more disappointed I get. Maybe it's just bad habits learned from being on a team with no winners or winning culture. Either way, change needs to come at the end of this season, and the more I see the more I'm OK with one or both of these guys getting moved.

Hiring a President instead of firing Weaver is idiotic. We don't need more cooks in the kitchen. We've already got Weaver, Gores, and Tellem all pulling in different directions. Just clean house. Silver lining is that Monty's seat is warm and firing him is a possibility. While it doesn't have as much impact on the long term outcome of the franchise (that's Weaver), it impacts the style of play I have to watch on court, so I'd welcome that change at least. Of course, if you don't clean house in the front office, I don't know what kind of coach is going to come here. I doubt you're getting Atkinson or Quinn to leave their franchises. Maybe Ollie after the Nets hire their actual coach.