Betrayer

My super early take that I reserve the right to change before the draft: My top 5 are: 1 - Victor - You have to take him, but I have Kristaps concerns. 2 - Miller - Character concerns, but hard to pass up the all around package. 3 - Hendricks - Athletic PF that can shoot? Yes please. 4 - Amen - He may never learn to shoot, but he'll be a plus defender, athlete, and wing slasher/creator. 5 - Ausar - On the fence here, but Ausar is a good placeholder until I do more research. I left Scoot out because if Victor's gone and Scoot's still on the board, I'm trading back a couple of spots for more assets. The "highlight" film I've watched on Scoot doesn't impress me. Getting to the bucket in G-League isn't tough (just as G-League MVP Saben Lee), he's too small, and can't shoot. Also, his assist to turnover isn't great either. I don't draft for fit on a bad team, but if I don't see the guy as head and shoulders above the ones behind him, then I don't need another lead guard on this team. Move back, get assets, and get the wing you need. I'll roll the dice on missing out on Scoot the Superstar, because I just don't see it.

Good draft to use Bojan and "stuff" to get a another pick in the second half of the first round. Someone is going to slip out of the top half and if you want to improve from a bottom 5 defense you can't have him as a starting wing on this team. He won't be here when it's time to compete anyway, so get something for him while he's coming off of his best season as a pro.

Really curious to see how this in-season tournament looks. Could be fun. All I know for sure right now is the betting websites are loving the idea.

That pass was awesome, but it went to his head. In the second half he was trying to throw the game away with some terrible Jokic-wannabe passes that turned into turnovers. Luckily we tanked harder.

Saddiq Bey revenge game incoming.

Butler pushed McGruder into Duren when he was going up to block Love's shot. As a result of Duren's legs getting taken out his chin collided with the side of Love's head really hard. There was a lot of blood all over Love's jersey. They both went out and didn't return to the game. The good news is that even though the Pistons were leading for much of this game, they found a way to let Miami go on a big run at the end of the 4th.

Vecenie talks about "Future NBA All-Star" Jaden Ivey (and others): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wpG3Sq6cK8

Casey doesn't run anything close to a competent NBA offense.

In other breaking news: It's Not 1990 Anymore

Is that smoke that keeps passing in front of the camera?

This could backfire. Some defense might get played.

Yea, there were a couple of passes that I thought were too hot, but definitely a couple that the big man should've caught regardless. One of the ones for Bagley would've been a clean layup, but he just blew the catch. More importantly for me is that I'm seeing him make some really good reads when the defense reacts to his drives. That's the type of stuff people said he couldn't do coming out of college. Same with the mid-range game which is showing some nice signs. Also of interest is that Cade shot 31.4% from 3 in his rookie year and Ivey is currently shooting 33.2%. He also has a better assist to turnover at 1.68 to Cade's 1.51. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Ivey is the better player, just that he should be getting a lot more love than he is, especially for the improvements he's made in just his rookie year.

This was a fun game. Ivey with 26 and 12 assists. He's really showing a ton of improvement in his game this year in so many areas that were supposed to be his weaknesses. Still makes mistakes, but I'm loving a lot of what I'm seeing. Also, he's so much better without Killian next to him taking lead guard possessions and providing nothing when he's playing off-guard. Even a washed up vet like McGruder provides more next to Ivey. Next year we need to stagger Ivey and Cade so one of them is on the court at all times to run the show. Let Killian go and get a vet PG (similar to CoJo) who can just be insurance and locker room influence. We have our lead guards now, save those other roster spots for 3 and D wings. Wiseman with a really nice offensive game. Benefited from Ivey screen and roll all night. Had some really good plays on defense and some really bad ones. Also, needs to get more than 5 rebounds, but you can definitely see the potential. This team looks so much different when they have some wings who actually try on defense. Doesn't matter that one of them is on a 10-day contract (Omoruyi) and the other is just a role player (Livers). Much as I like Bogey's scoring, I wouldn't mind seeing him moved as part of a deal to bring in a 3 and D wing or another pick. We desperately need better wings around this young core of Guards and Centers.

Getting rid of Bey helps. Also Bogey has played much.

I hear the concern, but I don't think it's that black and white of an issue. Ivey has plenty of reps off-ball with Killian (or CoJo) running the point, so I think he's seeing both scenarios. We also shouldn't expect Cade to initiate the offense 100% of the time like Luka. Especially in transition, I think you're going to want Ivey to be the one pushing the ball up the court. And there will be times where it makes sense for Cade to get the ball off of a weakside screen so the defense isn't completely locked on him from the moment he crosses half court all game - and vice versa for Ivey. Good teams have multiple playmakers that can initiate the offense. Look at Boston, where Tatum's usage rate is 32.7 and Brown's is 31.4. Sure, you'll have Cade running the show in crunch time, but for the rest of the game you want to have multiple looks to throw at the opposition. Also, to @gehringer_2's point, we need Casey out of here. The guy religiously runs a 5-in, 5-out lineup and can't figure out how to stagger. We've got to find a coach who can manage the simple task of keeping one of Cade and Ivey in the game at all times. That will allow each of them to run the show solo for about half of their on-court minutes.

Meanwhile, the Rookie of the Month is Paolo and his averages are: 16.6 PPG, 3.3 APG. 7.5 RPG, 37% FG, and 3% 3FG, on 45% TS No, that's not a typo. He shot 3% (1 for 33) from 3 point range in February.

He's still a work in progress, but the growth and development in Ivey this year is clearly visible in both his stats and the eye test.

I was at this game so I wasn't happy to hear we weren't fielding a NBA team. Would've been nice to at least see Ivey. Wiseman and Bagley both looked solid though. Of course, Livers has played more than 3 games now, so he's out with an injury again. Really wish that kid could stay on the court, but he could be a nice role player in the league. Ball breaking his ankle is bad news, but I still think it's highly unlikely we pass CHA in the standings even though they struggled against our G-League team once Ball went out. Good news is that SAN won a game. They also play HOU back to back this weekend, so somebody has to win those games. We have 1 game remaining against HOU, which could be a big one. That said, I'm not sure it matters where we fall if we don't land a top 3 seed. Picks 4-8 feels pretty tight talent-wise. So, as long as we're bottom 3 to land those top odds, that's all I'm worried about now.

Really good show from the Lowe Post with Givony as a special guest. Talking about the 4 tanking teams (Spurs, Pistons, Rockets, Hornets) and which one you'd want if you could choose based upon current situation. Detroit was picked #1 by Lowe and #2 (after the Spurs) by Givony. It's a great listen.

(EDIT: This should've been in the Toronto game thread) Yep, I watched it. I watch them all. Last couple of games, I have to say that the Pistons defense has looked a little better. Either the lack of Bey or maybe the message that Bey got traded because he wasn't playing defense, or maybe just guys having more energy after the All-Star break rest, but they look a little more engaged and connected on that end of the court. Let's see if it continues. Livers is showing why he's a better fit in that 3 and D role than Bey. Marvin put up some Drummond numbers. You can tell he knows his job is at risk. If Wiseman lights a fire under him, great. Wiseman was solid as well. Way too many fouls, but he also had 10 rebounds in that time period. I'm not seeing All-Star, but he could be a really good backup big. Ivey struggled with his shot after shooting lights out last game, but some of those passes were really nice. 5 assists in the first quarter and 10 for the game. He continues to show development in that aspect of his game. They really need to move Killian to bench PG and start Burks. Get Killian playing his future role (if he has one) and put the spacing around Ivey. Plus, I don't want to see CoJo anymore and that would solve it.

I didn't get it then and it makes even less sense now. Plus, he was signed after we had already drafted Duren and picked up Noel in the trade. We still had Olynyk too. Sure, in the grand scheme, a 12M/yr contract isn't going to kill you and could be nice salary filler in a bigger trade, but that doesn't make it a good move. That says less about Bagley and more about the poor roster construction beforehand. Going from Stew at Center to any warm body that can catch a lob and finish in the paint was going to help Cade who was top ten in the league in getting double-teamed.

I'm probably the only one still watching all these games, but at least it was a close loss this time which kept it exciting. Ivey's game has been developing before our eyes. You can see things clicking for him and he's begun to develop a mid-range game as well as making reads and passes that he definitely wasn't making in the first couple months of the season. His shot efficiency is improving as well, especially on catch and shoot threes. I think the stat I heard was 87th percentile on those, which bodes well for playing alongside Cade next year. Casey is still a heck of a tank commander. Tie game, you need 1 stop to send it to OT. What's your lineup? Bojan and Burks, with Stew at Center? Wow. Please get this clown out of here this offseason. Wiseman was seriously struggling in the first half, but looked pretty good in the second half and wound up with 10 rebounds. Also, his defense is not nearly as bad as reports indicated. He's no lock-down defender, but he's not Marvin Bagley bad either.

Better version of Keegan Murray?

Wiseman looked solid in his first game. Outside of some "getting acclimated" mistakes, I saw some positive signs. I'm definitely curious to see how he develops. I like the activity and he seems to have a nice touch on offense. Rebounding instincts didn't look great, but with his size he just gets some anyway. I wouldn't say his shot block timing was great either, but again his sheer size deterred a bunch of drives and caused at least one turnover from the Celtics that I saw. Nice mobility and athleticism for his size as well. Can we move Killian back to the bench? I don't like the starting lineup pairing with Ivey who operates better with the spacing and vet savvy that Burks provides. Then Killian can just play bench PG where he's at least a little valuable rather than shooting guard where he's absolute trash. If he's going to remain on this team, it's as a bench PG anyway, so get him used to that role. The bonus is that I wouldn't have to watch CoJo anymore.

That's my hope for how he's used. I'm done with Stew at Center. I want 30 minutes of Duren starting at Center and all the backup minutes to Wiseman. But I've heard reports about the organization wanting to start him (next to Duren). Not sure I buy those reports and maybe it was taken out of context about something they "might" do when we play a team like the Cavs. Still, I'm curious to see what this coaching staff does.