Holy balls it's been rough sledding thus far for the Pistons, and by rough sledding I mean they've smacked head on into a tree and are in the process of bleeding out while they wait for help that may never come. After dropping another game to the Hornets last night, the Stones have lost 8 of 10 and fell to 7-16 overall and I still honestly believe they're somehow worse than their record indicates. Watching them play on a nightly basis is almost nauseating. But who's to blame?
I blame the players for having no heart and quitting 23 games into the season. I blame Kuester for not being able to rally the troops and win games in a league where half the teams don't give a shit on a nightly basis. But mostly I blame Joe Dumars for compiling a team that is as soft as a tickle from Millen's mustache and as untalented as they are disinterested in winning.
Stockpiling several mediocre players at a select few positions has ultimately been the Piston's demise and Dumars was at the helm. Sure John Kuester is the coach and the one in the locker room. He's the one calling plays and making game time decisions, but how in your right mind can you blame him? What do you expect him to do with this flaming pile? The Pistons' front court might be the worst in the league and between Greg Monroe, Charlie V, Ben Wallace, Jason Maxiel, Austin Daye, and Jason Wilcox there isn't a player who would start on a playoff team in the entire bunch. Dumars has brought in the wrong guys at the wrong positions since trading chauncey and the team is still reeling. Most notably...
Austin Daye is Tayshaun Prince without the ring. We barely have use for one of them let alone two, wasted draft pick.
Stuckey is a true 2 guard who can't score when he plays the 1. Bringing in Gordon to play the 2 when you already have Rip makes zero sense. Now we got a log jam and we're stuck with Stuckey playing the point. Dude is mediocre at best.
Ben Wallace was done in this league the day we let the Bulls sign him and bringing him back afterwards hasn't boosted the defense or provided leadership of any sort. I kinda thought Ben would have more heart than this and not let the defensive effort get this bad.
Gordon is the only one on this team that can score whenever he decides to but not starting him over Hamilton and Stuckey is a crime. You can't justify his signing without trading Rip.
Basically the players have packed it in, the coach has no hand, and Joe D seems content to hang tight till he gets fired. Does that about sum it up? I'm completely checked out on the Stones already. Comment if you feel otherwise and I look forward to hearing from none of you.
And if anyone gives me shit about jumping off the ship I say to you, enjoy watching this abortion of a team. I'll be back when we fire Joe D and Illitch takes over.
I haven't watched a Pistons game since I lived with you on Kingsley.....in 2004.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I ate, drank and shit Big East basketball the last three years of my life...
ReplyDeleteOh....and skeeters.
ReplyDeleteWell sure, Joe D has made some awful moves recently. But 2 things...1) saying he is "content" is inaccurate because ever since Davidson died, his idiot wife basically has Joe handcuffed. She won't let him do anything because that dumbass doesn't want him spending her money. Karen Davidson couldn't give 2 shits about this team, so she should sell it to someone who will and take her millions and run the hell out of this state.
ReplyDelete2) Its funny to me people that give Joe D so much shit are the same ones that loved him after his first 5-6 moves (draft tayshaun, trade for rip, trade for ben, pick up sheed, pick up chauncey, pick up dyess), and also are the same people that praised dombrowski for turning around the tigers then wanted to crucify him after d-train/sheffield/washburn etc, then are all on his nuts again after this offseason's moves. This shit is cyclical. Bad moves are made. I personally thought getting ben gordon was awesome when it happened. He was coming off a monster year and an especially monster playoffs and looked like a rising star in the league. But hey, it hasn't panned out. Shit happens. When it becomes a tradition of mind bogglingly bad moves, like with Matt Millen, then you cut the leash. But I'm still convinced that with new ownership, Joe D can build a team from the bottom up just like he did before. The 2004 team wasn't a fluke, when he traded Stack for Rip i thought he was out of his mind, but look at the outcome. I don't know, I think I'm in the minority, but I'm not ready to place full blame on him yet.