That was the third season. We played the Sixers in the 1st round of the 04-05 season. Webber was there. And yeah, it's not a matter of us not liking him. i like his attitude and is one of the best little men to ever play. i like him. i just seriously question if this will work out for our team.
It's sad when you have to agree with Gary Payton. On a side note watching him on NBATV is strangely entertaining. I'm really beginning to like him.
To bad he is already 40 years old, has a ring and can't help out here. Did anyone hear Curry's post game [STRIKE]excuse[/STRIKE] commemts tonight?? What did he and Piston media spokesman AI say?
Wow. Listening to him makes me want to throw up. I find that show to be annoying. But the Mavs/Spurs is a great game....playoff intensity.
Then be specific in your criticism. What exactly is he doing that prompts your earlier rant about his ruining teams? Is it his shot making? His speed? Effort? I'll give anyone, that he can't defend a lick, and it is damn embarrassing. Curry is guilty of bad lineups and not having his team ready to play on Sunday. He's not guilty of missed shots. He's not guilty of bad passes, or stupid fouls/techs. Likewise, AI can't defend, but he's been sharing the ball, not trying to hog it, he's been making his shots, and he's been very active. AI is not to fault for no interior D. Little offensive rebounding. He's not on the hook for people charging. Or airball jump shots. Right now, a very talented team is very dysfunctional. Maybe this gets right. Maybe it does not. It is very disheartening to see people say they want to see the Pistons lose, or that the Pistons should trade players to contenders. A lot of stowaways on this ship. And it's really disheartening. I'd like to think, that when times get tough, the PF.com crew doesn't come apart at the seams. That we're not all sunshine patriots. I'm not defending AI as much as I am trying to defend some objectivity. The guy is here, through no choice of his own, and he puts on OUR uniform and goes out and gives a good effort. Maybe he comes up short, maybe he's not a winner. But unlike bums like Darko, or CB the last 2 years, or Sheed in the regular season, I really feel like AI is being honest and sincere with the game, turkey day practice notwithstanding. I need to sleep.
I think this is going to be an interesting year. Let's just pretend we don't have any influence over the outcome of the season and save ourselves a lot of money on Tums.
I saw virtually no problem with AI's game tonight. Good shot selection, and he made them. He was not matched up with any strong offensive players on the other team. He looked very active in defensive rotation, and got back in transition pretty well. There was a whole lot wrong with the team tonight. AI was not part of it, as far as I could see. The vast majority of our problems all stemmed from one thing, players playing power forward who had no business playing power forward. This opened the middle for Washington, and once our middle is open, its over. Here is perhaps the worst condemnation of Curry you could give him tonight - look at Washingtons two big runs. Between the end of the 2nd quarter, and I guess about mid-3rd quarter, Washington went on something like a combined, what, 40-6 on us. And Curry never adjusted during either run. It was clear we were short a big, and Curry just would not adjust. He did finally relent toward the end of the 3rd, putting in Dyess and Sheed together, but a whole lot of damage had been done to us.
in short. -his defense. -he is not a playmaker for the most part in the traditional sense that a PG is supposed to be(horrible sentence fragment, i know), but wht he does get you are "highlight reel assists". he gets assists numbers, but there is a difference. there is a reason that he is regarded as an undersized shooting guard and not a PG. And it doesn't have to do with how much he passes. i think he gets a bad rep for being selfish. and yes, i do think he's caught up in his image, and his shadow. this isn't 2001 anymore. it could be that he is incompatible for us, or that he's been put in a position to fail by playing alongside Rip. i never questioned his effort (on the offensive end at least).
OH MY GOODNESS. After listening to that interview I've lost what little of left I've thought of Curry. YOU CANT PLAY DEFENSE WITH 4 UNDERSIZED GUYS ON THE COURT AT ONCE! We couldn't play defense? LOOK AT YOUR LINEUPS! We shot 51 percent and got killed because you put the defense in a position to fail! He doesn't have a clue. What should I think of a guy who can't adjust to studs like Songaila?
Observations: I called us playing at mid-level a few weeks back. We have fallen below that. 1) The team can play well for stretches. The offense cannot keep it up however. 2) The defense is generally horrible. We cannot make stops and therefore cannot stop runs. 3) We have no go to play or player to stop runs no matter who is in the game. 4)We have too many players who play "old". 5)Our youth are not high draft choices and are not at or near a star level to overcome our problems when we play "old". 6)We have no apparant defensive system in place given our poor on ball defense in general. 7)We still have great potential but in reality are probably not that good--at least not now. This is a time when one would have predicted a decline based on the make-up of the team. 8)This is the second coach who does not have confidence in the youth or is trying to send them a message. What are these coaches seeing? Despite progress, our young bigs are not at or near the top of the young big NBA hierarchy.
I wonder how many of NBA's "darling" teams have to play successive games against NY and the Wiz on the road? I hope the Washington brass was watching this game thinking they're too bulky at the SF and a good way to win back the fans trust would be to bring TGRH back. DET, in all honesty, might be the worst defensive team in the L. How about Butler going in a straight line full court to end the 1st half. Curry was a dog tonight. I know in accounting sometimes a - is a credit and vice versa. You think maybe Curry doesn't know how to read the =/- stats? Tay couldn't take Bernie Lomax off the dribble.
Someone on another board heard this as well. Bad move I think. Pop gets away with calling his team soft and whatever all the time, but Curry is not Pop. He simply does not have the clout (championship ring) to get away with that. The problem is not personnel, as someone stated; the problem is the combinations Curry puts out there don't work. It's clear he hasn't communicated enough what players' roles are because except for a few of them, no one seems to know wtf they're supposed to do out there. He complains about the D when the fact is, when you play small ball your defense is gonna suffer. What happened to accountability? He can't seriously think this is all the players' fault, can he? This guy is in serious panic mode and its damn disturbing. Players aren't playing hard? I guess that's part of it, but would you want to play for a coach who looks like he has no clue what to do, and looks like he's scrambling?
I don't see how one can pin this one on AI. That was some of the most half backed rotations that I have ever seen. Starting to wonder if Curry has a clue as to what he is doing. Its painfull watching this. Other team gets good shots or if they miss at least they have a chance for a put-back. With us its one ( clank ) and done. Don't even seem to be a decent jump shooting team now. This madness has to end. Prince is not a PF. We have a glut of PF's and only one SF so start the SF at PF? Its madness. Curry is trying for the mad scientist award - trying to re-invent the game or something. Someone needs to tell him that its not working. What did Maxiel do to deserve this? Even Amir for that point or Kwame. Dumars needs to straighten this out.
Max...Max...Max...Everyone is in the mix. This is great!!!! The big men are tiny. Everyone's height is to produce, regardless, while in the game. Tay=40 minutes for 8 points Affalalo=18 minutes for 0 points Herrmann=13 minutes for 3 points Total= 71 minutes for 11 points Sheed (the lonely 4th quarter), Amur and JMax no longer have the good wishes of the confidence level. Time for accountability at the millionaire level. Dixon whitewashed their ass. Good thing that Darko couldn't play in this game.
Every once in a while I realize that too and try to come to grips with it. We all talk about what needs to be done, but don't and can't actually do anything about it. We are along for the proverbial ride. Right now we're off the highway, lost, and rolling through a rough neighborhood, hoping that we don't break down.
I think Curry is just starting to loose it, clearly his insticts aren't as great as Joe thought they were gonna be. I can't understand why you just don't play with a "standard" linup with an actual Center, PF, SF, SG and PG. Players are just out of their usual positions although Rip did well tonight. Also, Curry was a fairly good one on one defender and he thinks that everyone can play that way. He is more into one on one defence then on team defence. That's why all the openings, some players just cannot play one on one and need the help of team defence. Look at Boston everywhere the ball is there are atleast 2 players standing nearby for teamhelp (if needed). At this moment i must say that it doesn't look like it's a team/player problem anymore but a rotation/playerposition problem and that's purely on the coach.
