Betrayer

To be fair, Portland wasn't going to last long in the playoffs. They're a classic regular season team. Last in the league in assists means they depend way too much on 1 on 1 play to be successful in the playoffs where defenses kick it up a notch.

Goaltend that can't be reviewed...whatever NBA, the review rules are a mess. But enjoy those Lebron ratings dollars for round 2 if you need them that bad. Heard about the Budenholzer thing this morning and all I could think was, "I'd take him over SVG in a heartbeat."

The only time I've seen Stanley look decent handling the ball is on the break because he can put his head down and power his way to the hoop, Stuckey style. Any other time he looks pretty bad trying to run the offense...so I guess the Stuckey comparison still works there too.

I don't doubt you're right, but I don't agree with it. It's time to move on from SVG completely.

Stan the Coach must be fired. He's been abysmal.

Gores is fooling himself - and trying to fool the fans - if he thinks that removing SVG from just the GM job is going to solve this. Stan's coaching has been just as bad, if not worse, than his GM'ing. He needs to be fired, period.

I'm pretty sure that's covered in orientation day in the NBA.

Terrible. We all know that SVG is a problem, but Dre is right up there on the list too. He's great at racking up stats, but he makes a ton of boneheaded plays every game that are essentially the same as turnovers. It's like a quarterback that throws for 500 yards but also has 3 Interceptions and a fumble. You just can't win like that.

I've watched every game, even the blow outs, for the past 15 years, but it's even getting tough for me to watch now. It's difficult to have anything to root for when your team has no present and no future. They've maxed themselves out trying to assemble a playoff team that can't even crack the 8th seed in the East. There's no future to tune in for because they've botched their draft picks and have no pick this year either. It's not like you can enjoy watching Booker and Mitchell grow...instead you have Stanley and Kennard. Kennard's a nice player, but he's just a future role player, not a perennial 20 ppg star in the making. If you're hoping for him to become Klay, Ray Allen, or Reggie Miller, don't hold your breath. The whole thing is a train wreck. The only way forward is to make some major changes. That has to start with firing Stan from both positions. He's a poor GM, having mortgaged the future (to be fair, some of that may come from Gores desire to "win now" and increase the value of his investment), but somehow he's an even worse coach that has lost his players and can't find a way to utilize the talent he's acquired. From there you have to look at moving Dre. It contrasts with the "win now" mentality, but you have to be thinking about the draft and move Dre for a package that includes a lottery pick. Reggie also has to go. Smash that core down and start over, but it has to start with a decisive move to replace SVG very quickly so you don't lose time in the off-season. Maybe there are other routes, but I'm not seeing many good ones. Certainly nobody is taking Josh Smith, er, I mean Blake's contract right now.

I really I could have seen Jordan's face when he saw this cover. With his ego I can't imagine there was anything left unbroken in his house.

I chuckled at that too. Other than that, they're both right. Stan, Drummond, and Reggie all need to go. There's nothing to argue about. But, it's ESPN and that's their content these days. Apparently, a couple of commentators screaming over the top of each other what people want to watch.

And without the draft pick I thought there was no reason for me to secretly hope they don't make the playoffs. Now I have one.

Nice game by Stanley. He's clearly better off the bench and the starting lineup is better without him. I saw a post about him playing PG...let's not fool ourselves. Stanley is fine at handling the ball in transition but that doesn't make him a PG. I'm a fan of Ish but he doesn't belong in this starting lineup. Whoever you're playing at backup PG right now (seems to be Byucks), start that person and let Ish go back to the bench squad where he's more effective. That's going to be his role in a couple of weeks when Reggie returns anyway. Moreland...you know what they about blind squirrels, and against the worst rebounding team in the league even Moreland can find some nuts. Let's not get excited. He's still a 3rd string Center at best.

Amen to this.

SVG the coach is an absolute joke. Zero meaningful adjustments. Zero gameplan. Has no idea how to utilize the strengths of his own players. Just throws his hands up and says "I don't know" after every loss. The spacing is terrible and any idiot can see that. Even average players like Ish and Stanley could be effective if you put them in the right spots, but SVG can't figure that out for some reason so he keeps starting 4 guys who can't stretch the floor together (Ish, Stanley, Drummond, Griffin). And then, of course, he loves to roll the entire bench out at once and wonder why they "just can't get it going". Maybe it's because the bench is made up of D-League players and scrubs so you need to figure out how to stagger your lineups better? And yes, Blake isn't what he once was, but he's much better than what we've seen since he joined the Pistons. SVG has put him in the worst possible position with no spacing and basically just iso post up plays while Drummond stands there clogging the paint behind him. How about staggering your bigs as much as possible and running the elbow pick and pop to death with Blake when Drummond's out of the game? Ish has the speed to get to the bucket or shoot the mid-range shot and Blake can hit the open 15 footer or roll to the basket. If the defense collapses you have Bullock/Galloway, Kennard, and Tolliver out there for the open shot. That can be pretty much your entire second unit offense. Yes, I said second unit. Put Ish back in the second unit where he belongs. I love the guy, but he can't be effective out there with a bunch of guys who can't shoot. The starting unit needs a PG who can shoot the three (Nelson or Galloway until Reggie returns) and Ish needs to get back to sparking the bench unit which has been abysmal. C'mon SVG, this is some pretty obvious stuff. Maybe in the offseason his brother will give him a call to tell Stan how to add a new play or two. One other note: This team has zero chemistry. Watch other teams and see what happens when a guy hits the ground. Heck, Charlotte's bench players got up to help their guy off the ground at one point. When a Piston player hits the ground you'll maybe get one guy to walk over eventually when he's done talking to the ref about something else. Weak.