First off, I was hoping to read some of those Detroit blogs first before writing in on what I thought the Pistons should do.  Detroit Bad Boys hasn't said much yet - the commentators are all clamoring for a Van Gundy to replace Flip as coach (either one, though Stan got mentioned more).  I actually championed this move over at The Starting Five.  The question, as D-Wil posed it, is which coach could the Pistons hire that would command the respect of the veterans more than Flip... my answer was a Van Gundy.

Need for Sheed hasn't weighed in with much yet.  Hell, even Mind of Boney is reeling from the lose still.  But Bill Simmons and a few others have, and their take is the usual: tear them down!  Blow up the team!  They are a failure... start all over again.

Um, let's take it easy guys.  Did the Spurs blow up their team when they didn't make it to the Finals last season?  A trip to the ECF is not a bad season.  Let's look at Simmon's article closely:

"It seems like the Pistons have reached a fatal point -- they've gone as far as they can go with their current nucleus, they can't retool with lottery picks or major free agents..." 

Sure.  Because it's not like their team was built on lottery picks (except for Darko) or major free agents (nope, only minor free agents, like Billups).

"... they're coming off a series in which a flawed Cavs team conceivably could have swept them 6-0 if two plays had gone differently;"

Yeah.  And they could have won the series if their coach understood when to double team LeBron, and when not to.  And had any knowledge of substitution patterns. 

"They don't have the right personnel for the Nash-era NBA..."

Um, has a Nash-era team won a NBA championship in the so-called Nash-era? The Spurs aren't a Nash-esqe fast break team, and neither are the Cavs.  Nor were the Heat last season.  What they all are, in fact, is historic era championship team traits - strong defense (Pistons, Spurs, Cavs), good rebounding, or big man in the middle (Duncan/Shaq).  Cavs don't have the big man, but they are a defensive and rebounding team.  More on that in a bit.

"The other option? Re-sign Billups, hope McDyess and C-Webb come back, hope to get lucky at No. 15 with the likes of Rodney Stuckey, and waste their entire free agent exemption on this year's Nazr Mohammed."

Or they could sign this year's Chauncey Billups, a free agent exemption that turns out to be an All-Star.  Not saying it's easy, but Joe Dumars did do it once already, right?  

Okay, enough criticizing.  Let's get to it... first off, let's figure out what went wrong against the Cavs.  Flip Saunders is getting loads of blame, and rightfully so.  He let Gibson kill the Pistons in Game 4, then let LeBron kill them in Game 5, and Gibson again in Game 6.  He clearly did a poor coaching job.  He also did an awful job of utilizing his bench.  

I remember when Simmons criticized the Pistons for not having a bench; turns out this season they did, but Flip didn't trust his young guys enough.  Contrast to Mike Brown in Cleveland:

Game 1:  The four starters for Detroit (Webber is a starter, but he splits minutes pretty evenly with McDyess - by the way, both of them are D-U-N, son.  Word, McDyess?  That dude was done when he was on Layden's Knicks.  And Webber?  Sorry, but Gary Payton is like "You need to give it up") played 39-43 minutes each.  The bench consists of Dale Davis getting 5 minutes, Jason Maxiell getting 13, Lindsay Hunter getting 13 (Allan Houston's alleged comeback originated when he found out Hunter was still playing), and Delfino getting 4 minutes.

Now, before we go any further, let me make it clear: I could be wrong, but from what I've seen and heard, Delfino, Maxiell, and Amir Johnson are all nice.  Flip Murray is a decent 6th man on most teams.  As opposed to Hunter, McDyess, Webber, and Davis, who are all 5 years removed from their peak.  D-U-N.  All four.

Not surprisingly, Cleveland was able to win the 2nd quarter, thanks to their bench.  Not by much (17-16), but still.  The fourth quarter went to Detroit, but keep in mind they still have fresh legs.  Also keep in mind that Mike Brown has not yet figured this out: outside the top 6 guys in his rotation (Gooden/Anderson split time evenly), the three bench players played a total of 30 minutes (Snow 16, Marshall 9, Gibson 5). 

Game 2:  Prince and Billups top 41 minutes.  Sheed only has 32, but that's because of foul trouble.  Rip plays 36.  Cleveland outscored Detroit 34-18 in the 2nd quarter.  Detroit wins the fourth quarter (and the game) thanks to the defense, as they outscore the Cavs 19-13.  The starters were able to close out on the defenders in the fourth, not allowing open shots.  Mike Brown is adjusting more, playing Gibson for 19, Marshall for 20, and Damon Jones for 10.  

Maxiell plays 21 minutes, providing 15 points of offense on 7-9 FG.  Delfino was also productive in his 11 minutes, hit 2-3 3PTA for 6 points, plus 2 rebounds and an assist.  Hunter and Flip Murray play 12 combined minutes for 2 points.

Game 3:  The starters all top 36 minutes, with Prince getting 43.  Delfino and Maxiell get a total of 6 minutes played.  Um, did they suck that badly in Game 2?  Cleveland wins the second quarter 24-21, and the fourth 26-19.  They use Gibson for 29 minutes (mostly because of Hughes sprained ankle).  Flip Murray plays 20 productive minutes, gets 8 points, plus 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Game 4: Billups and Prince - 45 minutes each.  Hamilton topped 40, too.  Maxiell got 11, Delfino 2, Lindsay and Flip 13 total.  Guess Flip S. thought Flip M. was too productive in game 3?  Cleveland wins the 2nd (24-21) and 4th (26-20) quarters.

Gibson plays 35 minutes, gets to the line 12 times, and scored 21 points.  With LeBron in charge of the offense, Gibson does what he needs to do - slash and get to the line, shoot threes (only 1-4), and play defense (2 steals, tough defense on Billups, who had 5 turnovers).

Game 5: Sheed is the lowest at 45; Prince has 49, Billups has 53 (!), and Rip had 48 minutes.  Rip, keep in mind, is a high-energy player (running off curls and screens, needs fresh legs to elevate on his jumper).  Cleveland wins the 2nd quarter again.  Maxiell plays 27 minutes, and gets 9 points, 5 rebs, 2 blocks and a steal.  Not bad for a role player.  Delfino gets 8 minutes, doesn't do much (two assists, a steal, no points).  

Game 6:  Detroit finally wins a 2nd quarter - oh, wait.  It might have to do with the 21-minute Clock Delay that allowed them to use their starters in the 2nd quarter.  Billups 43, Prince 39, Sheed 30 despite being tossed midway thru the fourth (otherwise it would have been 38 for him).  Cleveland wins the 4th 31-16 thanks to their fresher legs, as Detroit could not close on Gibson, allowing him open looks at the basket.

Let's give credit to this victory where it's due:  Mike Brown gets some credit.  A long time ago a friend of mine developed a system to judge movies.  It would break the movie into 15 categories, ranked 1-10; categories like "acting", "dialogue", "cinematography", etc.  The point was that under the general movie ranking system, a movie like Men In Black could get 4 out of 5 stars, because it is good at what it trying to do.  Which is fine, but then a movie like Citizen Kane will get 4.5 stars out of 5 (or maybe Gone With The Wind is a better example).  Are they really that close?  No, but by breaking the movie down into categories, it makes it easier to evaluate more accurately.

Mike Brown is the same way.  Most people will tell you he's an awful coach, because his offense is limited.  Truth is that Brown is an excellent defense coach - he's managed to win all season long without ever really having an offense.  Nor does he have a great defending team - none of the players, except for Hughes, are great man to man defenders.   

The Cavs aren't too different from the Ewing Knicks under Riley/Van Gundy - they are tough on defense, won't allow easy baskets, closeout well on threes, force you to shoot from the perimeter.  And their offense consists of tossing the ball to the superstar, and let him use up the shot clock doing his move.  In NY, at least Ewing was getting the ball close to the basket; in Cleveland it really is LeBron getting the ball at the 22-foot range.  Mike Brown - great defense coach, okay on the adjustments, good with the subs (does a smart young/vet sub pattern - Gooden/Varajeo/Ilgaukas, Sasha/Marshall, Jones/Gibson/Hughes/Snow), terrible on offense.

Back to the point: The Pistons are alright.  The Eastern Conference isn't getting better - maybe Rashard Lewis comes to the East (maybe).  Grant Hill is probably going west.  Vince is staying.  Oden and Durant go West.  Gerald Wallace is unknown.  Jermaine O'Neal is also probably going West, for less talent.  In other words, the East is still going to suck.

The Pistons can win.  They need a coach that they respect.  They can resign Billups if they want (why not, unless Joe thinks he can get a younger point).  Sheed, Prince, Hamilton and Billups are all pretty affordable, talented, have played together for a while, and proven winners.  Instead of breaking them up, get them what they need - a bench.  Better yet, play the bench you have - Delfino is nice, Amir Johnson supposedly is, too, and Jason Maxiell is a good young player with "bad intentions every time he touches the ball" (forgot which site I saw that on, sorry).  

Detroit needs to get rid of the deadweight eating up playing time for the young'ems.  Goodbye, Chris Webber.  Don't worry, you may never get the ring (unless you go to Miami and attach yourself on Shaq's ride), but at least Philly is paying you another $19 million next year!  You are the Allan Houston of the 76ers, yo.  Good bye Antonio McDyess.  Even if he uses his option, chuck him somewhere.  Trade him and the 17th pick to the Knicks for our #23 and Nate Robinson.  You can call him a slightly shorter Daniel Gibson without attitude but with ups.  Hell, getting rid of McDyess shouldn't be too hard, or at least bench him.  Lindsay Hunter is approaching Julio Franco territory.  Just get him a nice job in the booth, and that's it.  A 40-year old SG?  Rip is gonna die.  One more reason you need a Nate Robinson.  Let Amir Johnson do his thing, backing up Sheed and Maxiell.  If the young guys can develop some chemistry, maybe you can win a second quarter in a playoff series next day....

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