1. do not expect Pistons to score 110 every night 2. rotate and (in)activate players - it does not matter, Pistons D still allows 100+ scores.
The Pistons found two teams back to back who are actually poorer teams. Wow! How bad do you have to be to get a top five pick. The Pistons are now on track for maybe the 6th or 7th position in the draft. I wouldn't read too much in these wins. Toronto and Sacramento are plum bad. On the draft. Washington bad. Cleveland bad. Minnesota can't win. And the Clippers, with all the fanfare, are still behind the Pistons. The trouble with the 6th or 7th pick is that you have to be real lucky to get a top big. Monroe was lucky. He should have gone higher. You may get a top point guard.
Pistons seeded 11th right now. They may flirt with the 8th seed but should be able to avoid the playoffs in a very weak Eastern Conference this season. My guess is that Rip is not playing because he'll be traded by Monday/Tuesday.
Did Stuckey ever get back in the game in the 1st half after initially subbing out? If he did it was only for the last few minutes or so. In any event it looks like the Pistons have figured out that he can't play a lot of minutes early if they want to get what they got out of him last night late. Hopefully Stuckey is paying attention during shoot around so he is aware of the changes. I am not a big stats guy, but Cousins put up nearly identical stats to Monroe in half the PT. Monroe played well though don't get me wrong. Both these guys need to hit the D glass if they want their teams to win some games. At 1 point late in the first half T Evans had 8 assists to 7 for the entire Piston team. What was weird was that the Pistons were scoring despite being down double figures. This wasn't one of their 27 pt halves. The Pistons are only 1.5 games behind Milwaukee for 3rd place in the Central.
I, for one, am glad that of the two talented rookie centers, we've got the one who is a great teammate and mature kid. Cousins would scare the hell out of me if he were a Piston. I think kids that are this immature, and the word I'm reading from David Thorpe (I think) and others is that scouts and players think he's the most immature player they've ever seen come into the league, almost never grow out it. All I can think of is that Cousins = Isiah "J.R." Rider. People who are hopeful for him argue that he's young and he can mature. I think that's way too simplistic. The kind of personal transformation he needs to make is something that isn't predictable - it's something that will require great humility, great personal responsibility. It's not something that just happens in time as people get older. I for one would not place a bet that he'll cause that type of personal breakthrough. Meanwhile, I love Monroe's game. As talented as Cousins is, I believe Monroe has as much upside. And I believe Monroe has a much better chance of achieving his upside potential than Cousins has of reaching his.
