Hart

I know Ivey isn’t perfect but really want to see him get some crunch time possessions. 

Got a chance to win this one.  Maybe try to stay away from the Cade hero ball.

Hopefully Gores has enough sense to move on from Weaver after the season.   

If Monty won't play Ivey heavy minutes because of his defense, what's he going to do with Bojan?  

The honeymoon phase for Monty certainly didn't last long. 

We might not have playoff caliber talent but I don't think we 2-10 caliber talent either.  Something is wrong with this organization from the top down.  

If Monty wants to help Cade, maybe find a point guard that can run the offense.  

I do think some of Cade's problems would be solved if we just didn't lean so heavily on him as the point guard.  He won't get the 8-10 assist per game but the turnovers would go down and I personally think the shooting would improve.  Cade expends a tremendous amount of energy trying to carry the offense as a point guard, more so than other guys because he is not that athletic for an NBA player.  

I think the Pistons are going to have a hard time moving forward as long as they view Cade as their franchise savior.  

7 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

If Cade Cunningham weren't Cade Cunningham, Monty would have put Killian back in the game and tried to recapture the flow the offense had that went straight down the tubes when Cade came back in. It's terrible to watch a team double Cade all the way out to the time line and the Pistons don't have the movement, passing, or shooting to pick up the easy buckets that should be making available.

I didn’t watch the game but know exactly what you mean because it’s been the same story basically every game.  At some point, it’s more on the coaching than it is on Cade for putting so much emphasis on him running the point.  Maybe they think it’s part of his growth and he needs to figure it out.  I’m skeptical of that.  I believe long term, the Pistons need a guy that is going to be the point guard to handle a large share of the point guard duties next to Cade.  

We obviously don't know what the development of Ausar will look like but for this year at least, him and Stewart is not a good forward situation for us.  We really need Bogey back and starting next to Ausar.  Ausar can guard the other teams best forward and Bogey will help make up for what Ausar lacks in his game right now.  

I know Cade does most of the ball handling but Sasser does not have a turnover his last three games, which encompasses 76 minutes of basketball.  That feels impressive to me for a guard. 

Sasser quickly becoming one of my favorites.  

I wonder if the players get annoyed with Jalen Rose.  

I feel better about Cade as a basketball player with each passing game but I feel worse about Cade as our point guard with each passing game.  

Sasser has a lot of "big shot" in his game.  I don't know if he is a starter on a good team but I'd start him on this team and keep giving him as many minutes as possible.  

At some point, the Pistons will learn that trying to have Cade go 1 on 3 in the crunch time is not the best offense.  

Has Ivey even played this 4th quarter?  Monty seems to really be sending a message about defense.

Ausar is just pressing on offense tonight.  He doesn’t ever stop playing hard though.  Something small to be encouraged about tonight.  

Do we need a 2024 draft thread?

I thought Ivey showed more offensive ability sooner than I expected last year.  I was really excited about him.  But I agree the defense is becoming a real concern long term because you can't have a guy out there in crunch time who gives back on defense equal or more than what he gives you on offense.  Best case scenario for him then becomes an offensive spark off the bench.  Which is really disappointing for the 5th overall pick and a guy with his talent.  

19 hours ago, NYLion said:

I'm starting to wonder if Cade is a PG. He's one of the worst ball handlers I've ever seen and it seems to be getting worse and worse.  It's not like the handle itself is bad, it's that he's very lazy/careless with the ball and stuff like that just doesn't seem fixable. 

I don't see him as a full time point guard, at least not yet.  It's not just the turnovers.  He doesn't handle the ball as well as point guards do, or have the athleticism to offset this.  He is definitely a plus ball handler for a two guard but not to the level of a point guard.  

Sometimes I get the feeling that Piston's fans, and maybe the organization itself, feels like Cade is a failure in some sense if he does not turn out to be a great point guard.  That is totally the wrong mentality.  Cade can be a very good player without being a very good point guard.  There is value in being a great passer as a shooting guard (it will just be 4 or 5 assists per game instead of 8 or 9...nothing wrong with this).  His three point shot looks to be really developing.  He can still play some pick and roll and take guys off the dribble in a two guard role.  He plays hard and is a good defender.  I just don't see the necessity that Cade has to be the next Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, or Luka Doncic.  

7 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I was in and out of the game and I didn't realize Killian had 0 points.  How does a guard play 26 minutes and not score?  And only 1 assist?  Time to start Sasser.  

Sasser played well and was in the game down the stretch but they basically just sat him in the corner on offense to do nothing but watch Cade.  I agree he needs to start and he needs to be more involved.  
 

Let’s see what we got here. 

4 minutes ago, buddha said:

no burks, no duren, no bogey, no morris.

this loss is frustrating but understandable when youre missing four of your best players.

The first time I was really frustrated with Monty.  People will make excuses but I really just didn't see it necessary for four guys to just stand around and wait for Cade to do something the last 6 minutes of the game.  We made 3 field goals in the last 10 minutes of the game.  

This is a frustrating L.  Cade tried to play hero ball and while he had some bad breaks (including once again getting no calls from the refs), it really cost us in the 4th quarter.  He's shooting well from outside right now but that pretty much gets negated when he is just out there dribbling the ball around trying to create offense with little to no success.  The Blazers got back into the game because Sharpe got hot when Ivey stopped playing defense and then they won the game when the Pistons stopped moving the ball and just waited for Cade to take over.   

Okay...that was not a foul.  They are just bailing Sharpe out now.  

Give the ball to Sasser and let Cade play off the ball a bit.  Maybe something good with happen.  This whole wait for Cade to take over thing is not working.