Official Detroit Pistons thread

[essek031]

Hezonja is not Darko or Vesely, he is going to have good or great NBA career, he's good shooter, good defender and even better athlete with good basketball IQ

[Kstat]

yeah but he's no Bismack Biyombo

is he kstat?

Biyombo is a damn good defensive player. He's battled injuries, but when healthy there are few guys in the NBA better at protecting the rim and the post.

[Deuce]

yeah but he's no Bismack Biyombo

is he kstat?

Knockout blow.

[Deuce]

Biyombo is a damn good defensive player. He's battled injuries, but when healthy there are few guys in the NBA better at protecting the rim and the post.

He's a massive bust at #8. He's a negative value player when you take both offense and defense in to the equation. He is below replacement level, VORP! He has an OK impact on defense and kills the offense. When the team is having success and winning they don't even play him. Played 13 MPG last year when they went to the playoffs.

[froot loops]

[Deuce]

Hezonja is not Darko or Vesely, he is going to have good or great NBA career, he's good shooter, good defender and even better athlete with good basketball IQ

Yeah but he is European. J/K?

[Cody_Russell]

Worst playoffs in all of the major sports IMO: clearly the NBA.
I don't even like hockey, but it's better.
Ranking: 1. College Basketball, 2. NFL, 3. MLB, 4. College Football, 6. NHL 5. NBA. If I liked NHL more, it would probably be hire ranked because the unpredictability is exciting.

All series that have played 2 games are 2-0, mostly blowouts so far.
Can't wait for the 2nd round!

[Deuce]

Worst playoffs in all of the major sports IMO: clearly the NBA.
I don't even like hockey, but it's better.
Ranking: 1. College Basketball, 2. NFL, 3. MLB, 4. College Football, 6. NHL 5. NBA. If I liked NHL more, it would probably be hire ranked because the unpredictability is exciting.

All series that have played 2 games are 2-0, mostly blowouts so far.

If the NBA has a problem it's the atmosphere or lack thereof. The games don't feel bigger than life. NBA media guys love furthering the College game is terrible basketball sentiment and the NBA is played at a higher level. Which is true, but College feels big and important when you watch it. You can feel the tension. It's like Soccer purists who talk about the poor on field product of the World Cup and that League play is played at a higher level, which is also true, but they don't understand the atmosphere. The atmosphere makes it feel live an event.

The NBA has an atmosphere problem.

[froot loops]

The NBA has a first round problem. Upsets happen so infrequently that people can easily remember the ones that do happen. That contributes a lot to the atmosphere problem that Deuce talks about. The skill of the players has a lot to do with it, a lot of what contributes to the college atmosphere is the relative lack of skills on things like shooting and ball handling. You can trap teams, press teams, be physical with them. That gets the crowd into the game. You really can't do that all that much in the pro game(and they call it), everyone is too good.

Generally the Semi-Finals and Finals are great.

[Mainevent]

Yep, when the cream rises, things get intense in the NBA. This year should be especially good with insane GS crowds, Memphis is a good crowd, and even the Clips carry a vibe. If you get a Cleve/Chicago matchup in the East that will be great.

[Cody_Russell]

The only upsets I remember are #1 seed Dallas vs #8 Golden State (which was awesome)... #1 SAS vs #8 Memphis... and #1 Chicago vs #8 Phili, granted Derrick Rose tore his ACL.

But yea, upsets rarely happen. Never against LeBron in the 1st round at least.

[froot loops]

The funny thing about the first round is when you look back at past champions and there is a lot of championship teams have 1st round series go 6 games and in those series the outcome was never in doubt.

The Clips/SA series should be a barn burner. The Spurs looked like crap in game 1 but I imagine they will look a lot different tonight. This may be the end of the Spurs as we've known them. Even if they win the championship, this may be the end of that.

[fontes91]

Back in the mid 90's the Nuggets knocked out the Sonics, who had the best record in the NBA, in the 1st round. I lived in Seattle at the time and it was hard to fathom how that happened.

[froot loops]

Yeah that is the one people point to a lot, it's worth noting that I believe that was a best of 5 series.

[Kstat]

He's a massive bust at #8. He's a negative value player when you take both offense and defense in to the equation. He is below replacement level, VORP! He has an OK impact on defense and kills the offense. When the team is having success and winning they don't even play him. Played 13 MPG last year when they went to the playoffs.

VORP is a pretty worthless stat, and let's overlook the fact the Hornets have Al Jefferson at center, forcing Biyombo to play a lot of time out of position at PF...

but hey, as long as you can declare some sort of victory for yourself, that's what matters, right? I mean, it's worked out so well for you concerning the lions.

His per-36 averages are nearly 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. And he defends the post very well. But yeah, other than that, total bust!