NYLion

Harder for him to flop/foul bait when he's being defended by a player of similar size, plus Schroder has quick feet defensively so Brunson has a harder time driving by him.

Pistons almost gave it away again but Schroder bailed them out , would like to see Cade more aggressive when the Pistons need a 4th quarter bucket. They could easily be up 2-0 in the series, it feels like they controlled the majority of the first two games. Hopefully Stew can get back for Game 3 with two days off in between, that would be huge.

Smart move and advice I should take

IF it wasn't for those guys the Pistons would have lost by 30. They were fantastic most of the game then ran out of gas in the 4th

Lol this guy with the coach again.

Cade, Ausar and Duren were not ready for playoff basketball, all three were hugely overwhelmed. The vets played lights out for most of the game then cooled down in the 4th and the team was cooked once that happened. If Stew is too injured to be at his best I think the Pistons get swept, he's the anchor of their defense and the Knicks were getting everything they wanted at the rim the moment he went out.

He has a dirt cheap contract for next season and the Lions can franchise him the year after so unless they're getting the offer of a 1st for him (not going to happen) then it makes more sense to hold on to him and if he progresses even further and is due for the really big payday then that would be a good problem to have to trade him at high value or pay him. I see zero chance of that happening this season, no draft pick is going to bring what Jamo brings next season and the Lions are in win now mode next season.

I'm not saying that the historically great season isn't good enough, what I'm talking is the baseline these coaches had to work with before this season. Bickerstaff took over one of the worst teams in league history with a roster that had question marks all over it including Cade btw while the other two coaches took over teams that had contending rosters already. Not taking away from what Atkinson and Daigneault have done and if either won CotY I wouldn't begrudge it but the reality is that they had tremendous, proven rosters to work with coming into this season so they had a very strong baseline to work with. There is something to be said for the jump from good to great to be tougher than the jump from bad to relevant but the Pistons bad was so bad so historically bad that to jump to a playoff position immediately is arguably the biggest turnaround in league history so I just have a hard time not having Bickerstaff first because of that. Anyway, as you said there is no criteria for coach of the year so it's all just opinions at the end of the day and it's fine to agree to disagree. Coach of the Year doesn't mean much in the grand scheme either way.

The roster is arguably worse than last year, they had Cade and Ivey last year. The Pistons added some solid vets but most people were scoffing, here included, at the Harris and Beasley signings and THJ trade so some serious hindsight here if anybody says to the contrary although I think a few liked the Beasley signing as a decent vet add. Every young player has progressed this season and while these are talented guys, I'd like to think coaching has at least something to do with it and/or distancing from the Monty stench. Actually, Del brought up a good point about Tyronne Lue. He should also get consideration keeping them in the playoff race with all the injuries they've had to deal with, I've always felt like Lue was underrated as coach but I digress.

Come on Buddha, we've been posting here a long time and you've never EVER been guilty of overrating a Detroit team lol. You're quite the opposite actually, lets be honest here. This is not an award, or shouldn't be, for the coach that coached the best team. It should be coach of the year, the coach that did the best job, did the most with least. Again, OKC and Cleveland were already very successful teams while the Pistons were arguably the worst team in league history and the Pistons are solidly a playoff team just like THAT under Bickerstaff. I'm sure you, just like everybody else, thought that 30 wins would be a successful season so lets not pretend like any of this was close to expected then they lose Ivey and even less so. Just about everybody pegged OKC and Cleveland as real contenders coming into the season and, yes, each team took another step forward but there was a base of a title contending core with both. Those coaches did a great job but Bickerstaff took on the much harder job with far less resources and somehow turned it around in one year engineering one of the biggest turnarounds in league history, to reiterate. That's coach of the year to me

Again, it was an 11 win jump. OKC was already a Championship contender last year, they just happened to be even better this season. Do you remember how bad the Pistons were last year? Maybe not because I do, they won 14 games last season and were solidly in the playoffs this season, one of the biggest one season jumps in league history. I don't know why you're diminishing that accomplishment a team, btw, that was missing their 2nd best player most of the season. I'm not saying that the other two aren't worthy candidates but what Bickerstaff has accomplished is a miracle quite frankly, those other guys had very good teams going into this season.

They were a 57 win team the season prior. Bickerstaff led a 14 win team to 44 wins and that's without their 2nd best offensive player the entire second half of the season. How that doesn't warrant coach of the year is beyond me.

Good win and also illustrates why it'll be tough to justify paying Duren because Stew is the guy you want out there in the 4th against quality bigs. The Pistons likely don't win this game without Stewart's defense.

He won't be back this year unless the Pistons go very deep in the playoffs but it's still a good sign of progress that he's cleared this soon. On another note, the Western Conference race is bonkers. Before the games last night, 5 teams were tied with the same exact record. There are going to be two championship contenders dropped to the 7-8 seed. The west continues to be the far better conference for what feels like the last 20 years.

I don't think it matters much in terms of the final outcome IMO. All 3 opponents will be heavy favorites, I actually think the Pacers are the worst matchup but all teams present matchup nightmares for the Pistons.

Jaden Ivey? Harris being out hasn't helped either. There's some guys missing from the team that we'll see next season. The reality is that they're missing a dynamic scorer with Ivey out so that's a big chunk of their secondary offense, ballhandling out of the lineup. Regardless, this is a wildly successful season but realistically one or two playoff wins at best should be the expectation. They're not beating the Knicks in a playoff series barring some divine intervention, they don't have enough experience or firepower to compete in a playoff series.

I'm not worried about the guard matchups, the nightmare matchup is Turner like you mentioned. Duren can't cover him, the guy becomes Jokic when he plays the Pistons. Siakam isn't a good matchup either because the Pistons don't have a true 4. Against the Knicks, KAT is the matchup problem, any big that can step out on the perimeter is a problem for Duren. We all like the progress but until he improves his perimeter defense, it's going to be a problem in a league that is filled with stretch bigs.

Sounds weird to say this about the Pistons but it's all about the playoffs now, the rest of these regular season games don't mean much. Get Cade back up and running for the Milwaukee games just so he can shake the rust off and...that's all that matters at this point really.

The Pistons have great chemistry with their young guys and are on a big upward trajectory so why are they breaking up the core? Ivey I can see possibly as trade bait because he hasn't been a part of this resurgence and he might be their most valuable trade piece but I can't see Duren being traded, he's been a big part of this culture being built and has obvious chemistry with Cade. I think Cade, Ausar, Duren and Holland are their building blocks. You just hope that Ausar or more likely Holland develop a solid 3 point shot.

The Pistons are actually in one of the most favorable cap situations in the league. More than half the league will be well over the cap and I believe only a few teams will have more cap space than the Pistons in the offseason. This second apron has really put an emphasis on drafting and developing and thinning out depth on rosters so depending on how teams move money around this offseason, I can't see much player movement occurring outside of trades.

It could be a one or two-off in this case and it's hard to take too much from regular season when top teams cruise to the finish line sometimes but the wins against Boston and Cleveland (although Boston was without Brown) makes me think that the ceiling for this team is higher than I previously thought. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect more than a win or two in the playoffs but it's nice to know that they're capable of kicking into high gear.

Would rather keep him. He was just miscast as a pure PG, play him alongside a PG off the bench so he can focus on scoring and you have something with him.

Cade is really adept at getting those sneaky blocks but that particular block was next level. His defense doesn't get talked about much and it's still not top notch but it's very much improved.

Kind of a lucky shot by Cade but that was a really good win against an experienced team that was playing desperation basketball at home. A good test of playoff intensity for this young team.

The Pistons sure know how to take care of business against teams they should beat. Outside of that Wizards slip up, the Pistons aren't just beating these teams they're pounding them. The issue is, as expected really, is that they struggle against playoff teams. 0-4 in their last 4, against Denver, Clippers, Warriors and Thunder. They were competitive in 3 of those games but it's indicative of a team that is likely a one and done in the playoffs. Wildly successful season either way but the bottom line is that I hope Langdon doesn't rest on his laurels this offseason and makes a push to bring in a significant player to team with Cade. I wouldn't hate it if they ran it back with this group and see where internal development takes them with a healthy Ivey but I feel like there might be a somewhat limited ceiling with this group in terms of championship contention. Anyway, that's looking ahead. Right now, this team is real fun to watch with an upward trajectory which we'll take over last seasons' disaster.