Detroit losing streak continues. Now under .500

[Palos]

As Chauncey Billups got traded for this over rated and aging Iverson, I knew Detroit won't be contender. Now their under .500 and their Eastern Conference Finals streak is now in danger I see this team a major revamp next season. Its possible to say that Rasheed, Rip, Tayshaun will have their last season as a Piston. My opinion is, not trade this core guys but to amend their head coach and trade this " The Answer". Pistons might also miss Playoffs for the first time since a long time and this makes AI the biggest loser of all time. I really hate this guy I mean he is not a team player he is an individual player like the likes of T-Mac. If I am Joe Dumars I will totally revamp the loser inevitable guys in my team. This really intriguing as this season ends.

Detroit Basketball for the mean time is now DEAD!

[bowdown]

just doesnt feel right for a team that has Rasheed, Tayshaun, Hamilton, Iverson on the same team. Even stucky is a stud. just goes to show how much chemistry is important for a successful team.

[NovU]

It's sad that this is happening. AI brought nothing but problems for the Pistons. Ball movement & defense which have been the Piston's trademark for success has completely disappeared. Overall, NBA.com has this pretty well summarized.

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/j ... index.html

Its possible to say that Rasheed, Rip, Tayshaun will have their last season as a Piston.

It's very likely Rasheed will be a goner, but I think the Detroit will try to keep Tayshaun.

[benji]

just goes to show how much chemistry is important for a successful team.

Actually, goes to show how much good players are important instead of having "names" who are actually losers and grind your offense to a halt.

[Andrew]

My opinion is, not trade this core guys but to amend their head coach and trade this " The Answer".

Well, since he's a free agent at the end of the year and the trade deadline has passed that's not going to be a feasible option. However, that means they can just let him walk and clear his salary from the payroll. It seems unlikely they'd do a sign and trade, especially when the cap space they're working towards could be used to make a bid for a top free agent in the near future.

That's the chance Joe Dumars is taking right now, gambling on a few more years of (potentially) respectable success to overhaul the roster in the longterm and in that respect Iverson was a roll of the dice, a single season experiment that could benefit the future with his expiring contract. With Stuckey's emergence, the loss of Billups is one they can quite possibly recover from as they reconstruct the team.

[Angelo]

They should just trade Iverson back to Philadelphia or any other teams

[Andrew]

They can't trade him at this point. The deadline has passed and he's a free agent at the end of the year. They could always do a sign-and-trade but that seems unlikely.

[Valor]

They should just bench Stuckey and start AI and Rip together...

[diddy]

he-he to detroit, finally that boring team comes down! it's time to change something, wallace^2+Prince+RIP+Billups era is over. they should shake things up, cuz you can't play 10 years with the same roster good! they should keep stuckey, prince and rip and get someone good for Wallace and AI's salary at FA market!

[Modifly]

I mean he is not a team player he is an individual player like the likes of T-Mac.

T-MAC is an individual player? Just because his team never made it past the first round doesn't mean he aint a team player. Kobe was never a team player until the last three years or so.

[Spree#8]

And you think that Iverson is the only person we should blame for what's happening in Detroit?

Well, his haters do for sure. Because they don't want to see that there are also other factors that cause it.

Let's say it in the beginning. Billups is a PG, Iverson is a SG.

You can't trade a PG for a SG and expect this SG to become a PG and do exactly what the former PG did. And it seems like the Pistons did it. Iverson is a SG and Hamilton is too. Rip is now pissed off because he comes off the bench and makes the chemistry even worse. Two Pistons' best players play the same position. Iverson and Stuckey both aren't pure PGs and they both need to have the ball to be effective. Rip needs a good PG to be effective. And in result, none of them is effective because they don't get what they need to be effective.

It's a shame that nobody sees Sheed's fault. He could still be one of the best big men in the league, but he just throws one 3-point brick after another and often has terrible FG%. Nobody sees that Prince doesn't play well either, specially on offense.

Also, there's no team defense in Detroit at all and that's something you can't blame AI for. He can create some mismatch, but I didn't notice players regularly score career highs or something on him (well, I'm not saying Iverson is a good defender, but still he won't destroy the whole team defense on his own).

As I see it, AI really tries to do what he's told to do. He doesn't attempt a lot of field goals (sometimes he attempts even less than 10, while all his career he was attempting over 20), he plays for team. But that's not his game and that's why he's playing his worst season ever.

Nobody sees Curry's fault either. 8 losses in a row, last 10: 1-9. That's pathetic. Sometimes I just think the Pistons are doing everything they can to force Dumars to fire Curry (BTW thanks Joe for fantastic coach). Curry doesn't now have a point guard that would do most of his job for him. Billups now does it in Denver for George Karl.

The Pistons would now bee a lot better if they had a pure PG (like Billups) and good coach. Simple.

Still, that trade with Denver wasn't made to make the Pistons better, but to clear lots of cap space. Sheed's and AI's contracts are together about $35 million. The Pistons will be able to sign a good free agent in the summer.

[Hoyasaxa]

The Pistons' problems stem from bad coaching, really. From Saunders onwards it's been going downhill...

[Robert]

They goin lose 10 in a row maybe even more and theyre not making the playoffs

[NovU]

And you think that Iverson is the only person we should blame for what's happening in Detroit?

Well, his haters do for sure. Because they don't want to see that there are also other factors that cause it.

Let's say it in the beginning. Billups is a PG, Iverson is a SG.

You can't trade a PG for a SG and expect this SG to become a PG and do exactly what the former PG did. And it seems like the Pistons did it. Iverson is a SG and Hamilton is too. Rip is now pissed off because he comes off the bench and makes the chemistry even worse. Two Pistons' best players play the same position. Iverson and Stuckey both aren't pure PGs and they both need to have the ball to be effective. Rip needs a good PG to be effective. And in result, none of them is effective because they don't get what they need to be effective.

It's a shame that nobody sees Sheed's fault. He could still be one of the best big men in the league, but he just throws one 3-point brick after another and often has terrible FG%. Nobody sees that Prince doesn't play well either, specially on offense.

Also, there's no team defense in Detroit at all and that's something you can't blame AI for. He can create some mismatch, but I didn't notice players regularly score career highs or something on him (well, I'm not saying Iverson is a good defender, but still he won't destroy the whole team defense on his own).

As I see it, AI really tries to do what he's told to do. He doesn't attempt a lot of field goals (sometimes he attempts even less than 10, while all his career he was attempting over 20), he plays for team. But that's not his game and that's why he's playing his worst season ever.

Nobody sees Curry's fault either. 8 losses in a row, last 10: 1-9. That's pathetic. Sometimes I just think the Pistons are doing everything they can to force Dumars to fire Curry (BTW thanks Joe for fantastic coach). Curry doesn't now have a point guard that would do most of his job for him. Billups now does it in Denver for George Karl.

The Pistons would now bee a lot better if they had a pure PG (like Billups) and good coach. Simple.

Still, that trade with Denver wasn't made to make the Pistons better, but to clear lots of cap space. Sheed's and AI's contracts are together about $35 million. The Pistons will be able to sign a good free agent in the summer.

Trust me, AI has more fans than haters. And the bottomline is AI's arrival ruined winning era for the Pistons and the chemistry. He's a superstar, All Star starter. I believe he has to carry bigger roles to fulfill than other Pistons as he has a name to live up to, "The Answer". There are of course other factors/people blame on, but AI has rather more reasons to be blamed.

[kingrjames]

Ei just wanna drop by to share my thoughts.....Based on the performance shown now by the pistons,for sure being thrown out of the standings is possible to happen.They've been playing at their worst,beating up with teams that are below 500 mark?you've gotta be kidding me...Anaway,I guess with that adjustment made by the pistons upon trading billups for iverson is a big mistake....I mean billups has been playing with good numbers,he leads his team in scoring and makes everybody get involve both in offense and defensive ends.There's nothing wrong with his playmaking, so I was shocked when he was traded to nuggets just for iverson,come on they have different style of play,come to think of it....billups is a scorer and a playmaker and iverson is only a scorer ,...ANAWAY we can't do anything about it...but probably they'll have to fire curry ,anyone who votes for that........ Coz in my opinion curry shouldn't be there....C'mon a rookie coach for a championship contender team?!

[benji]

Chauncey Billups:

Offensive Rating
2004-05 NBA 121.0 (6)
2005-06 NBA 127.2 (1)
2006-07 NBA 123.1 (2)
2007-08 NBA 126.7 (3)
2008-09 NBA 120.0 (9)
Active 117.4 (4)

He's a superstar

Lulz.

[Palos]

Chauncey Billups:

Offensive Rating
2004-05 NBA 121.0 (6)
2005-06 NBA 127.2 (1)
2006-07 NBA 123.1 (2)
2007-08 NBA 126.7 (3)
2008-09 NBA 120.0 (9)
Active 117.4 (4)

He's a superstar

Lulz.

Yes Chauncey is categorized as a superstar but an under-rated one compared to AI which is way way ahead in terms of popularity and individual skills.

The problem is, when AI joined Detroit he ruined the defensive/offensive pattern. As you see the previous Detroit's success they had a great chemistry and a winning attitude and ofcourse defense was their main concern.

Detroit had no legitimate or go-to-guy player before which gave them the first team to win the championship without a legit go-to-guy player. Also for that other teams found it so difficult to stop or make points especially Larry Brown/Flip Saunders' days.

Who to blame:

1. The trade of Billups to Iverson
2. Rookie Coach

Sheed,Tyshaun,Rip = No firepower on their eyes. I think they just want these season ends tomorrow and move more evenly.

[diddy]

ai is great player, but he isn't champion, he can't work for a team as Chancey can. so that trade was a #1 mistake! they'd better trade RIP, and give his minutes to Rodny!

[Andrew]

They should just bench Stuckey and start AI and Rip together...

That wasn't working out much better though. I think at the end of the day AI's just a bad fit for the team but Billups was moved to make way for Stuckey and to get an expiring contract (Iverson's) in return so that coupled with Sheed's contract (which also expires this offseason) they can be players in the free agent market moving forward.

[Spree#8]

Trust me, AI has more fans than haters. And the bottomline is AI's arrival ruined winning era for the Pistons and the chemistry. He's a superstar, All Star starter. I believe he has to carry bigger roles to fulfill than other Pistons as he has a name to live up to, "The Answer". There are of course other factors/people blame on, but AI has rather more reasons to be blamed.

As I said before, there are lots of factors causing it. AI is one of them, sure. But not because he's bad/weak or something, it's because he doesn't fit the Pistons and has a terrible coach (as every one in his career, except Brown).

[Robert]

Well they finally one a game I think Hamilton is gonna start starting again and Iverso comes off the bench

[Andrew]

Perhaps, but the reason Hamilton started was because of Iverson being injured and unavailable. I don't think AI coming off the bench will work out that much better.

[Robert]

Well I really just want to see Stuckey come off the bench

[benji]

I don't think AI coming off the bench will work out that much better.

Iverson fits better with the second unit. (Provided Curry actually plays a second unit instead of playing only seven players. Don't put it past him. This is a guy who's seen Jason Maxiell and said "nah, DNP-CD" far too often.)

Rip is best when he doesn't have to create his own shot, Iverson is best when he is creating shots. Maxiell-Johnson-Hermann-Afflalo is Iverson's kind of unit. The first three guys can all bail him out if he needs it but won't take the ball from him. And Afflalo is a defensive stud, which lets Iverson freelance more, which is where he's always been best defensively. He can still play 32-36 minutes a game while getting 2/3rds or more with the second unit and the rest in "crunch time."

I'm still convinced the Iverson trade and Curry hiring was made just so Joe had a real excuse to blow things up and start over. Pistons would've contended yet again (and fell short yet again) with last years team and Flip. It was better to get the jump on things early instead of pretending to contend again.

[Robert]

Yeah I think this is gonna work out for them