Pistons coach Michael Curry... oops. Wait.

They need to blow up the team if they go in that direction. Rip and Tay are all they have.

 

Que? They were coming off another Eastern Conference Finals trip. Had they not made the Billups gaffe, they may have been back. They were better than the Magic this year. Not the healthy Celts, or the Cavs, but the Celts weren't healthy. It could have been Stones, Cavs conference finals.

 

Did you really just call Billups a pure shooter? You mean the Billups who for his career is 41% from the field and 38% from 3? Make sure you don't let facts get in the way of your argument. That's hillarious.

Billups is a very good player but far from a pure shooter.

 

Better than the Magic who happened to beat those Celts and Cavs?

 

We did see the impact Billups had on the Nuggets. You subtract Iverson, insert Billups and I can see it. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion by any stretch, but given that the Celtics took a step backwards with the Garnett injury, it's reasonable to think that a Billups-led Pistons team could have been right there in his absence.

Remember, I don't think anybody in the east in 09 was as good as the 08 Celtics.

 

Good points but to say it such absolute terms is the problem I had. Billups is a great point guard and would have had Detroit in the mix but I still think they were a notch below the other 3.

 

Laimbeer is being pushed by some of the radio yackers (ironically, since they spend a disproportionate amount of time yammering on about how pathetic/irrelevant/ worthless the WNBA is), but it would never work.

Much of Laimbeer's coaching is based upon physical domination/intimidation of his players: getting right up in their faces in spit-splattering tirades and telling them point blank they are going to do what he fucking tells them, etc etc etc blah blah yadda yadda.

When you are 6-11 and about 300 (he's packed on a few since his playing days), that works great if your biggest player is 6-4 and maybe 200 pounds.

When half your team is as big or bigger than you, that shit won't fly any more, and it's only a matter of time before you end up head first in a garbage can (especially if he doesn't have Mahorn or Isiah around to bail his ass out).

And the average NBA player today was 8 years old when Laimbeer hung up his sneakers. They aren't particularly impressed by the Bad Boys any more. For the vast majority of the nation, the Bad Boys were the thugs who lucked into a couple of titles between the majesty of Bird/Magic and the era of Jordan.

Laimbeer's NBA niche is to be the "bad cop" assistant for an easygoing "players' coach" kind of guy.

 

No I didn't. I called him a true shooter. He was fucking lights out behind the three point line. Consistent as hell from the charity stripe and clutch in the second half. Stuckey can't shoot threes, is not clutch and does not make his teammates beetter.

The Pistons were 3-0 against the Magic this year.

 

Lights out behind the 3 point line is not 39%

 

Well, it wouldn't affect Tayshaun. CV's a 4, not a 3. Though Rip, on the other hand, is likely gone, though only God knows why. Mercurial signings for Detroit, signing too scorers who don't do much else.

 

Don't underestimate his impact. Where are the Nuggets without him? He's such a great facilitator. He has a great feel for doing what it takes to make his team better and that seems to be his primary concern on the floor. If that means playing a secondary role, he will. If that means shouldering a bigger burden, he will. He's a true bottom-line player.

I'm a fan, you could say.

 

The Pistons core led by Billups maxed out. They didn't have the fire they used to. Billups lost his legs the past two years in the playoffs. Without him... well, we've seen they weren't getting any further than the ECF. Take him out of the equation completely and you get this season.

Getting to the ECF is one thing, but not getting over for three straight years is another. It was time to move on.

We can argue Billups' merits all we want, but the guy is gone. He's 33 and wasn't going to bring the Pistons back to the title level.

I think some people forget what Joe Dumars built in about three years after he took over. He got rid of the veterans who'd maxed out/not shown a competative fire/were dead contracts and brought in younger guys. Those guys were nomads, unproven or headcases but they were hungry and Dumars took advantage.

Now, he's doing it again. He's ridding the roster of the older veterans who've maxed out/not shown competative fire/were dead contracts in favor of younger, talented guys. But he's doing so while not trying to completely start from scratch. He's staying competative.

Gordon and Villanueva are just pieces of the puzzle. Dumars isn't done.