Official Detroit Pistons thread

[chemiclord]

The thing about the Ewing Theory is that at the point Ewing's career wound down, it's dubious that he was all that much better than the guy who replaced him (Ewing had been battling some severe injuries near the end of his career that had made him a shell of himself, and Marcus Camby wound up taking up the mantle of interior presence). On top of that, 1999 was really more of the Knicks getting hot at pretty much the perfect time. The Knicks haven't been particularly relevant since Ewing left... kinda throwing shade on the very origin of the theory.

In truth, I feel that the sort of people thrown out as Ewing Theory contenders at the end of the day... just really aren't as good as the narrative surrounding them.

[Forsh]

Former Ewing theory guys?

Elgin Baylor
Dave Bing
Bob McAdoo
Adrian Dantley
Patrick Ewing
Stephon Marbury
Vince Carter
Every Ohio State QB during 2014.

David Robinson in 1996-97 ...

[Kstat]

David Robinson in 1996-97 ...

The Spurs went 20-62 without david Robinson in 1997. That is the exact opposite of the ewing theory.

[Forsh]

The Spurs went 20-62 without david Robinson in 1997. That is the exact opposite of the ewing theory.

You're quick ... thanks a billion

[Futureshock]

Bob Lanier? Dave Debusschere?

Bing played exactly 1 1/2 of his 12 NBA seasons without at least one future hall of fame teammate.

He was traded twice and both times his old team did better without him.....

Compelling arguement. In the face of compelling...

Hold it...

Didn't Dumars play with Hill and T Mills? (j/k)

You have a valid point Stat

[Kstat]

Nah I love Dave Bing. CGVT is a tool so I decided to play devil's advocate. They added Bing to NBA 2K last year and he was one of my favorite guys to use (they added Lanier too but he sucked).

I do wonder if Bing's domination of the ball hurt his team in the long run. Wherever Bing went his team struggled in the postseason. A lot of lead guards during his era dominated the ball, but for whatever reason Bing couldn't make it out of the first round with one of the top 4-5 centers in the league during an era where you only needed two great players to be a contending team. Rick Barry won a NBA championship practically by himself during that time, playing with rookies and rejects.

Also, it can't be overstated: the dude is blind in one eye. That cannot be good for depth perception. Spike Lee claimed he had to look down at the floor markings to judge how far he was from the rim. God help him in the modern era with the 3-point line.

I would still take Dumars for this reason: he didn't need to dominate the ball. I sincerely doubt Bing would have played as well alongside Isiah. Dumars could go an entire half without shooting the ball and still be effective because of his outstanding defense and ability to blend in the flow of the offense. Bing obviously is a better one on one guy, but it would be easier to build a winning team around Dumars.

[*JD*]

Bill Simmons coined the Ewing Theory in 1999. It's a theory that If you take a specific star player off his team and replace him with nothing (or a significantly less talented player), they will actually play better as a result.

Josh smith last season became a modern example of a Ewing theory guy.

And Moose, albeit a smaller sample-size.

[ghandi]

I always thought it was called addition by subtraction...never heard of the Ewing theory before.

[chemiclord]

The Ewing Theory specifically refers to a team's "best" or "franchise" player... one who you would think would greatly hurt the team if he was unavailable.

Josh Smith isn't even CLOSE to what would fit the Ewing Theory... even if the Ewing Theory wasn't a crock of bullshit to begin with. What the Ewing Theory should REALLY state is, "A Hall of Fame caliber player at the end of his career proves to be adequately replaced by a younger player who at that moment turns out to be a better fit even if there's no comparison of the two in their respective primes."

But that isn't suitably dismissive enough of New York for Simmon's Bahstan sensibilities, so he had to improvise.

[CGVT]

Josh Smith isn't even CLOSE to what would fit the Ewing Theory... even if the Ewing Theory wasn't a crock of bullshit to begin with. What the Ewing Theory should REALLY state is, "A Hall of Fame caliber player at the end of his career proves to be adequately replaced by a younger player who at that moment turns out to be a better fit even if there's no comparison of the two in their respective primes."

Exactly.

Simmons is a jackass

And... anybody that brings up Bill Simmons to support his argument is as big a jackass as Simmons.

[fontes91]

The Ewing Theory specifically refers to a team's "best" or "franchise" player... one who you would think would greatly hurt the team if he was unavailable.

Josh Smith isn't even CLOSE to what would fit the Ewing Theory... even if the Ewing Theory wasn't a crock of bullshit to begin with. What the Ewing Theory should REALLY state is, "A Hall of Fame caliber player at the end of his career proves to be adequately replaced by a younger player who at that moment turns out to be a better fit even if there's no comparison of the two in their respective primes."

But that isn't suitably dismissive enough of New York for Simmon's Bahstan sensibilities, so he had to improvise.

You know, for a guy with a slow leak in his head, sometimes you think pretty good.

-- Hawkeye Pierce, M*A*S*H

[DanO]

[Kstat]

You know, for a guy with a slow leak in his head, sometimes you think pretty good.

-- Hawkeye Pierce, M*A*S*H

Especially when he's dead wrong.

Ewing's replacement in 1999 at center was Chris Dudley.

[chemiclord]

Especially when he's dead wrong.

Ewing's replacement in 1999 at center was Chris Dudley.

Maybe for the first 20 some odd games of the regular season. By the end of the season and playoffs, it was Camby who was their primary interior presence.

Marcus Camby - 945 MP, 7.2/5.5/0.3, 3.5 WS
Chris Dudley - 685 MP, 2.5/4.2/0.2, 1.5 WS

Information taken from: http://www.basketball-reference.com/...999_depth.html

Just stop while you're behind.

[Kstat]

Given that one guy was playing center and the other guy was playing power forward, that's reallly relevant...LOL

Which guy started at center once ewing went out in the playoffs? What's that, Chris Dudley? ok then.

That depth chart is wrong. Btw. Camby was always the backup PF to larry Johnson on that team. Post-Ewing Dudley was the starting C and Kurt Thomas played backup. in emergency situations LJ was the 3rd centers. JVG didn't trust camby at all in the middle because he was too skinny.

In case you were wondering, JVG stands for Jeff Van Gundy. He was the NY coach in 1999.