1/7/26 7:00PM Bulls @ Pistons

[buddha]

i'm leery about a team in the playoffs with daniss and chaz as your backup pg/outside shooting.

otoh, i dont think you'll see either of them in the playoffs.  caris and ivey will be backup ballhandlers and outside shooting.

which is also worrying...

[Deleterious]

I'm struggling to understand Ivey. His injury should not have been debilitating, but he doesn't seem capable of getting downhill anymore and has been relegated to being a spot up shooter. 

Maybe it's mental.

[Betrayer]

9 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

I'm struggling to understand Ivey. His injury should not have been debilitating, but he doesn't seem capable of getting downhill anymore and has been relegated to being a spot up shooter. 

Maybe it's mental.

I'm not seeing that burst that made him a tantalizing prospect. Combine that with poor finishing, poor defense, and poor PG play. I get that he's coming off of an injury, but other than the lack of burst the rest is consistent with how he's always been. The three point shooting might be real, but I'm not sure it's enough.

The most painful thing for me to watch is his screen navigation. He just dies and sticks to even the weakest screens like the screener is made of magnets and Ivey's bones are made of metal. Watch Ausar or Ron navigate a screen and then watch Ivey - your eyes will start bleeding.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

I'm struggling to understand Ivey. His injury should not have been debilitating, but he doesn't seem capable of getting downhill anymore and has been relegated to being a spot up shooter. 

Maybe it's mental.

yeah  - unless they messed something up and left him with a slight misalignment of his ankle or some weird thing, otherwise there aren't may injuries you would expect a more complete recovery from than a broken fibula. 

[NYLion]

5 hours ago, buddha said:

i'm leery about a team in the playoffs with daniss and chaz as your backup pg/outside shooting.

otoh, i dont think you'll see either of them in the playoffs.  caris and ivey will be backup ballhandlers and outside shooting.

which is also worrying...

The Pistons are loaded at guard and Jenkins has done nothing but play well. Small sample size and all but Jenkins looks like he has the makings of a good player. Lanier has shown some flashes as well but he's like the 13th/14th guy on this roster when healthy so I don't see any issues there.

The Pistons depth is tremendous, I don't see how even the biggest skeptics would think any differently, my biggest concern is that Cade is a legit star then there's a huge drop off to the #2 guy. I don't see the Pistons having a guy to pick up Cade in clutch situations when games grind to half court basketball in playoff intense games, it's something they struggled with in the Knicks series when they lost just about every 4th quarter and it's something that still hasn't been addressed. Maybe they're hoping Ivey is that guy eventually but he's certainly not there yet. All Championship teams have that guy, Brown on the Celtics, Murray, Jalen Williams, AD, Klay and KD etc. The old Pistons had Dumars and Rip. I don't see that guy on the Pistons now.

Other than that concern, this is a really good team that should be taken seriously but are they a championship contender? I'm not sure I'm ready to pull the trigger on that right now but it's a really good team. People wanted to see them measure up against good teams, you included, and what they've done is crush the Lakers and Knicks and mostly handle the Cavs before they made a late run to make it closer than the score indicated. Are you ready to admit that they're good?

Edited 21 hours ago by NYLion

[NYLion]

7 hours ago, Betrayer said:

STEW!!!! What a game! Offense was a struggle in this game overall, but the defense was looking good once the second unit came in with Holland, Jenkins, and Green. Glad JB rode those guys in the second half.

Can we be done with the Ivey at PG experiment? Daniss is the backup PG on the current roster and when Cade sits, that's who you play. His shot can be streaky, but he knows how to run the offense and he play defense.

Also, can we see more of Lanier please? When Duncan is out or you need more shooting, that's who you play in that spot. He's a decent defender, he has size, and he can shoot off of movement. I'd rather see him get minutes than Careless LaVert who I'm done with.

Agreed with all of this although with Ivey I think we need to give it more time. He's still clearly hampered by the injury and has done a solid job scoring efficiently despite in limited minutes. Agreed though that Jenkins should be lead PG of the bench, I have a good feeling about him, he knows how to run a team and has scoring ability. 

Green is an interesting guy. I wish he was a few years younger but he's a guy I'd love to keep around for another few years if possible, he makes a positive contribution every time he comes in and he's a perfect fit for this culture with that dawg mentality. He and Holland are menaces off the bench and, along with Jenkins and Stew, are the driving forces behind arguably the best bench unit in the league.