Betrayer

The Pistons just beat an NBA superpower with their only All-Star having a bad shooting night. Let that sink in. First I need to say that Beasley as 9th man on a good/contending team is a laughable take. This is a good team right now. The dude is a league recognized 6th man candidate who outplayed the other 6th man candidate handily last night. He's quite literally doing things this year that only Curry has done with his shooting percent on that volume. The "this is a bad team" stuff I keep hearing is simply doubling down on bad takes from the offseason and stubbornness to come off of preconceived bias. It's so easy to be a contrarian because only 1 team wins the title so you can always say "see, they didn't win it all", but bad teams don't do what the Pistons are doing night in and night out this season. And the best part is that the average age of the core players is 22. JB deserves coach of the year if this continues. Cleveland has been up and coming for a while and if you told people before the season that they'd win a ton of regular season games, it would have at least been in the realm of possibility. No way anyone would believe you if you told them what the Pistons are doing. No way in hell. He's got this entire team buying in on both ends. Guys like Beasley, Harris, and THJ that everyone ridiculed in the offseason for their defense are giving full effort on that end and making a difference. Every one of them had key defensive plays in that game last night. Speaking of which, its time to give Tobias some love as the solid vet floor-raiser many of us predicted he would be in the offseason. He's been very good for a while now. The three point shot could still use some work, but he's been clutch in so many other categories and is at the top of the league in +/-. And finally...Ausar. The last time I witnessed a Piston completely control a game without scoring was Ben Wallace. Ausar in the starting lineup has been that crazy. The number of steals, stops, extra possessions, and running opportunities he generates is unreal. This dude is a lock for All Defense first team every year if they ever let him start playing 30 minutes per night.

He has definitely improved his effort on the defensive end. He's also getting more reps as a passer with Cade getting doubled and turning it over less in those situations. Those are important improvements for sure. That said, the largest improvements in Duren's defensive play have come from JB changing the defensive scheme to trap instead of drop, Ivey's injury, and Ausar moving into the starting lineup. It's no coincidence that he's look passable on defense since those three things have helped hide his deficiencies. I'm still very on the fence about an extension unless it's a really sweet deal. I just struggle with the concept of paying big money to a rim running Center who can't shoot and isn't a positive defender in this version NBA. I'm excited for the team to make the playoffs because I think we'll learn a lot about Duren. Stew is the perfect big man for the playoffs, so it'll be interesting to see what JB does.

Can we talk about Cade's bag of moves? Pull-up three, in-out dribble, post hook, mid-range, drives, you name it. He can score in so many ways and he's still learning. This dude is a force and will absolutely cost this team more money in the off-season because he's going to make All NBA third team. Oh, let's not forget about the 3 steals as he's becoming more of a 2-way player as well. Say what you will about the Tobias signing, but he's been really good for this team. All the players have talked about his leadership on and off the court. His three point shot is still struggling, but he's been good on the board, in the post, making the right play, and just a calming presence when they hit those scoring lulls. He's at the top of the league in +/- as well. Ausar is our Draymond and I love every minute of it. Harden was 5-22 last night with 7 turnovers and a -22 rating with Ausar in his shirt most of the time (Schroder hounded him a bit as well). Yea, he'll have some awkward moments, but the dude had 6 stocks in 25 minutes last night. That's insane. He doesn't have Curry handing him 5 easy assists a game, but his ceiling is higher than Green's due to his athleticism and body-type. Stew is so valuable. His stat-line doesn't show it, but he led the defensive effort for that bench unit at the end of the 3rd and into the 4th when they got the 10 point lead with Cade on the bench. He just makes it so tough for dudes to score, even giants like Zubac struggle against him. I don't expect wins against Boston or Denver, we're still not championship contenders, but regardless this team has been a ton of fun to watch. 32 wins already after coming off of a 14 win season is a crazy story. This team is sitting in 6th - a guaranteed playoff spot right now - while being 3.5 games ahead of the 7th seed and only 1 game behind the 4th seed.

This is a great description.

This. The very reason you play Ausar is to take on the hardest defensive matchups. Some days the refs won't let you play physical, other days they will, and the latter will increase as your reputation for being a tough defender increases (see: Draymond). The more you play him against those guys the more he'll learn and the more the NBA will swallow the whistle. Both are very important long term to a guy who's primarily on the floor due to his defense.

Agreed, the injury really put a kink in my plans. If he doesn't come back this year (doubtful) to prove he's healthy, you might have to wait until next year to get the right value out of a trade. The injury also probably saved the Pistons from having to make an extension decision this summer, so they might simply have to kick the can down the road a bit on the trade and the decision both.

Even though I wanted Ivey more than almost any other player in that draft, I've been on the "find a good trade" for him bandwagon for over a year now. We have very few assets (thanks SVG and Weaver) and Ivey is a good, young asset who also isn't the best fit for the team I'd want to build. Add some draft picks to that (which will be available starting this offseason) and you might be able to score your second All-Star next to Cade. I'm not giving him away or accepting a bad return, but I'm probably actively looking for the right deal. My reasons are simply: - I see his ceiling as a great 6th man on a championship team. That's fine if you already have your two (or three) All-Stars, but we don't. We can't afford to pay all these rookies their money leaving us with no cap and no assets to bring in actual stars. We'll also be paying him #2 money, when he's not a #2 in my opinion. That comes with expectations of starting, which I'm not sure is the right answer because... - You have a 6'6" PG. Why give away one of the benefits of that by starting a smaller SG when you have the opportunity to have Cade be the smallest guy in a switchable lineup? Give me Ausar at the #2 and go find an All-Star SF or PF to pair with Cade. Then add a 3 and D guy at the other Forward spot. - Both the offense and defense have been better with Ausar in the starting lineup instead of Ivey. Take from that what you will, but it's simply a fact. What hasn't been good has been the offense when Cade goes to the bench due to the lack of other creators - again, this is just another case for Ivey as 6th man. Ivey has value, but I see him as a luxury we're not in a position to keep. We need that second All-Star and he's one of the few assets we can use to get one.

You can if you make him the ball handler, the screener, the cutter, or the dunker. It's not that tough as long as you have a couple other spacers on the court. Monty couldn't figure it out at all all last year and benched Ausar after his excellent start and then stuck him in the corner when he did give him minutes. Luckily it only took about 30 games (and a Jaden Ivey injury) for JB to figure it out. Fact is, contrary to internet logic, the Pistons offense has actually been a lot better since Ausar moved into the starting lineup on January 1st. And, of course, the defense has been better as well. Speaking of which, Duren's getting a lot of praise for his recent improvement, and some of that is true, but a lot of it is also what Ausar does to make his life easier along with JB's change to their overall defensive scheme.

That was a fun game last night. I haven't seen a defensive beatdown like that since the Going to Work days. At the beginning of the season JB said that we would tune in to this team in February and be able to say, "That's Piston basketball." He wasn't lying. That was Piston basketball. Monty's total fail makes it a tough comparison, but to be where they are now after last season JB clearly has this team playing greater than the sum of their parts. First Piston coach I can say that about since Larry Brown. We can question his ability to adapt and strategize in reaction to the opponent come playoff time, but to start with they needed internal development and chemistry. JB's doing a "Coach of the Year" level job at that. He may not win it, but he'll certainly get a lot of votes. Ausar was looking like Giannis-lite against the Bulls. Done laughing? Ok seriously, with his build and athleticism, it's not a bad idea for him to watch some Giannis film for the footwork. He can be an absolute terror on both sides of the ball and is an All-Star in the making if he keeps improving. This is why I've been calling for a Cade/Ausar backcourt since pre-season.

The headline and the content are completely different. Congrats to NBAFilmSessions, they got people to click.

It's correct. The NBA scheduling can be odd, especially over the past few years since they've tried to reduce travel a bit.

Exactly. Same thing when people used to say Drummond was a good passer. Making a pretty pass every now and then doesn't make you a good passer. You have to be able to do more good than harm.

That's really disappointing. Not because I care about the Mavs, but just because I wish he was still on the Lakers if he was going to miss a lot of games.

Good win. A little scary for a few minutes, but they made a run and closed this trash team out. These games against inferior opponents are important down the stretch because there are some tough opponents ahead. Need to get these two against Chicago as well.

Didn't realize you posted it in this thread, so I commented about this in the February NBA thread. But my reaction is still the same: How does Cade get in and not Beasley? What in the actual f---?

They named Cade to the 3pt contest and not Beasley. What the actual f---?

A dude who's been the heart of this team and is in the conversation for 6th man of the year says he actually wants to be here and we just immediately go to, "it was a mistake" or "we're gonna pay for that later"? The fanbase trauma is hilarious, even when the team is exceeding all expectations.

Yay for the Pistons. Booo for me. That probably means League Pass will put it on 3 hour delay. Might have to resort to...other options.

ESPN's coverage is terrible and Perk might be the worst of them (though there are several contenders for that spot). I guess he's leading in that category.

All Star teams got picked and they did a terrible job. Cade is on a team full of young guards, while Chuck picked all MVPs, and Shaq picked the old guard. It'll be a Shaq vs Chuck final, which I suppose is probably what they wanted anyway.

I'm still trying to figure out why Garland shot two technical free throws on that Flagrant. I sorta get the one on Beasley who came in with a soft push.

Looks like KJ and a second are re-routed to get Schroeder, so let me rephrase this: Gave up nothing and got a backup ballhandler and two 2nd round picks. Everything else I said still stands.

Dust is still settling, but this is shaping up to be a very successful trade deadline for Trajan. Gave up nothing and got a backup ballhandler (Schroeder), and young 3-and-D wing with athleticism (Martin), and three 2nd round picks. Weaver would've given away picks to get another useless draft bust Center. They're playing with house money right now sitting somewhere between a 6-8 seed when most people had them as a 10th seed or lower to start the year if they were lucky. There was no need to sacrifice the future if the right deal wasn't there. Gain assets, improve on the margins, and see what happens. You probably need a healthy Ivey and access to your picks (after this draft) before you can make a significant trade anyway.

I'd love to see that if only to give teams more ways to compete. But the reason it disappeared is because having that big man in the lane hurts the spacing and is not as efficient as driving and kicking to 4 shooters every time. You have to solve that problem first and then teams will start to look for other ways to score including post-ups and mid-range shots.