NYLion

That's the thing, besides the fact that this is a 3-32 team and the primary objective should be developing potential core young players, it's not like the players ahead of Ausar and Sasser are earning their minutes. Killian with a big fat 0 on the scoresheet despite playing 17 minutes, Livers is a 3 and D with a 3 that's disappeared and D that isn't that good anyway. These guys have been in the league a while by now, we know what they are at this point so what's the point of wrecking Ausar and Sasser's confidence by benching them for the sake of playing these guys who bring nothing to the table anyway and have no upside to be more than what they are now? Burks and Bogey I get in a sense because the Pistons are so shooter starved but even with them, they're liabilities when the shots aren't going down and should be limited when they have an off shooting night yet Monty continues to play the hell out of them even when the shots aren't falling. If we're going to have to suffer through a 3-32 season, at least let the young guys play through their mistakes instead of force feeding us old guys and young vets who have no future here. Just a bottomless pit of hopelessness this season mixed in with Gores and Weaver spewing verbal diarrhea when they do speak and to top it off one of the worst drafts that I've ever witnessed in my 3 decades or so of following drafts with literally no prospect that looks like anything more than a good role player as of right now, never seen anything like it. Seriously, who is any good? Ja'Kobe Walter looks interesting, that's about all I got really.

Monty Williams... That's all

Ausar with 8 minutes and a +3 while Livers gets 22 minutes and a -7 Sasser with 6 minutes and a +4 while Hayes gets 16 minutes and a -4 Livers and Hayes with a combined 5 points. Somebody try to make sense of this. The Pistons have had a lot of dark eras since the "Going to Work" years but a 3-32 team that isn't interested in developing key young players has to be the worst by a longshot and this coach is a big part of it.

I don't believe that was Weaver on the pod because I don't see 50 million "umms" in the quote.

The Shaqtin' segment cracks me up but this one was particularly hilarious. Also, good god is Killian bad but we knew that already.

I could live with Evans and Nacua over Amon-Ra, it's pretty much a toss up, but Stafford over Goff is bogus. That was a reputation selection.

Schefter is a shill and Florio is a known Lions hater so nothing more to see here. In any event, I just have a hard time caring about the screwjob anymore. What's done is done and nothing is going to change with the league (and it's not just the Lions, bad reffing has screwed a lot of teams) so.... on to Minnesota.

The Lions are going to play most of the starters, they still have a shot at the 2 seed as much of a longshot as it is. What I'm more intrigued about is who their 1st round opponent is going to be. The Rams are playing a Niners team that truly has nothing to play for and the Packers get the Bears at home and while the Bears are vastly improved, that's a winnable game. It looks like Rams-Lions is destined to happen, the way the Lions and Rams games unfolded this week and the Niners now having nothing to play for because the Eagles blew a big lead to the Cardinals of all teams at home. Stafford playing his first playoff game in Detroit is destiny. The Football Gods are willing it into existence.

It was really nice to see them get that monkey off their back, just wish it happened sooner so that ghastly record wasn't on the books. Cade playing like a star in the last 10 games or so, I know he's 29 so probably doesn't fit the timeline but Siakam to pair with Cade and Duren would be a really interesting trio if they were miraculously able to land him somehow.

Oh I didn't forget that one but they scored anyway so it doesn't get talked about but it was an egregious non-call. Even Aikman was baffled

Also, Dan Campbell exploded at the officials. He NEVER does that so that must tell you something

Hutch was unreal, his best game as a pro. Shame it was wasted but also very encouraging that the defense played well against a top offense.

I'm not sure he gets in on a good throw even, the defender was there. The throw didn't help though. It's just Ben Johnson trying to be cute, almost worked with Decker though but just like with Campbell the cuteness (aggressiveness) can be a blessing and a curse.

I have so many thoughts about this game, I don't know where to begin. I can't even blame the refs really, the Lions beat themselves in so many ways. This game was right there to be had and the likely #2 or even #1 seed and they fumbled it. Campbell going for it on 4th and 5 earlier in the game instead of kicking the FG, the Barnes whiff (WTF was that?) that led to the Lamb TD, Goff with some needless throws, throwing to James Mitchell? to win the game? Ugh, I went into this game with a relaxed mentality because the 3 seed was in the back pocket but this one really stings. They made their path to a SB a whole lot more difficult and it didn't need to be that way.

Now THAT'S how you call a drive outside of, again, the dumb 3rd down draw play from the shotgun. This is the Lions defense, a running team that sets up playaction.

The scheme has been ****. Decker one on one with Parsons on the 4th down, Decker and Jackson crashing down inside freeing up Lawrence on 3rd down, where's Montgomery?, going to the draw play too often on 3rd down etc. Lots of issues with scheme and player usage in that half.

Jackson and Decker were horribad in that half and I don't mean to fuel the TP Hate Johnson Narrative but that half wasn't one of Ben's finer moments, to say the least.

People need to chill on Ausar, a rookie in an impossible situation to succeed. Look at his confidence the first 10 or so games of the season compared to now, night and day. A good coach would figure out a way to incorporate him into the rotation despite the shooting issues but this coach is too interested in "sending messages" than actually letting these young players work through difficulties so now we get a kid with wrecked confidence. That method of breaking them down before building them back up works for some but most young players need the confidence of their coach to have confidence in their own game and Monty has effectively lost the confidence of just about every young player on this roster. There's a bundle of talent and Basketball IQ to work with Ausar so I hope this coach or the next one doesn't waste it.

Ziggy Ansah outcome with a 6th round pick is a homerun. Not sure if you meant this as a bad thing or not.

I'd love to **** on A-Aron as much as anybody but that's a misleading headline. He did nothing but compliment the Lions after that, Amon-Ra in particular. He said he's not happy because he will root for the Packers, I can respect that.

I think it is guaranteed if they lose. Fair to give Teddy some minutes in his final game but they have to give Hooker a quarter or two to at see something out of him. Hopefully they win this week and make next week meaningful.

I know people don't want to hear it but the best possible solution, since they have no interest in making real changes to the front office, is to stand pat with the young core and target mid level vets that know how to play a 2 way game. Like it or not, THIS group (Cade, Ausar and Duren) along with the 2024 pick will be the Pistons core so these are the guys they'll have to develop. Get rid of the dead weight, free Ivey, and bring in some competent support players. Guys like Siakam, OG, Harris and Bridges (why the F would they target this piece of filth?) are not going to move the needle in any meaningful direction, the Pistons are just too many players away from being 1-2 players away. Those are the type of players that a team like Orlando, Houston or Indiana should target. Teams that are 1-2 players from contention, maybe OKC with their war chest of assets to work with.

Actually, Isiah Thomas is underrated because the stat nerds like to use solely spreadsheets to determine how good a player is. I'll take that guy in a big game against just about anybody in history but I digress. Speak about not caring, do many people even care about the NBA before the merger? There were some classic players back then but the NBA didn't really become what we know it as today until Bird/Magic graced the league. If we want to talk team success over the decades, what have the Bulls done outside of the MJ era? The Sixers have had a lot of bad teams over the years but also a lot of great players so it depends on criteria. Anyway, yes we can agree to disagree but also agree that Gores ruined the franchise.

I think "mostly bad" is hyperbole. They had 46+ win seasons from '84-'92, had 3 down years then 46 and 54 in the Teal era then 3 down years before winning 50+ from '02-'08 so that's essentially 6-7 mediocre to bad years in a 25 year period.

Probably not the Sixers in terms of name brand but the Rockets and Bucks certainly. Are we talking "storied" in terms of team success or in terms of great players. It's hard to compete with Alcindor, Big O and Giannis so the Bucks are more storied in that respect. I'm not even sure about the Bulls, they had the Jordan era and nothing else. In any event, the Pistons were one of the more successful NBA franchises in the modern era before Gores took over.