By
Kevin Patra
⋅ December 27, 2008
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I’ll start by admitting it (I guess they call that “transparency” now): I am from Detroit. I grew up a fan of pretty much every Detroit team-except the Shock, because I don’t believe in rooting to two teams that play the same sport [please get the joke, please get the joke, please get the joke]. However, I will promise to you the reader that I will not be a homer and shout about how good my teams are. In fact, I usually will do the opposite, I will tell you how they are screwing up. I am a perfectionist; it can always be better, and nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems (except for the Lions, they are always that bad).
Since the recent trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson the Detroit Pistons have played mediocre at best. Most of the blame from fans and pundits alike is thrust upon Iverson. Some claim he’s too selfish and doesn’t fit in. Others say he needs to be more like the “Old Allen” and be that dominant player. More correctly, many point out how he never really fit with Richard Hamilton.
Some say Rasheed Wallace and his baby-like tantrums and sulking are the problem. Still others say the entire Pistons’ attitude is killing them, and Tayshaun Prince even went as far as to blame technical fouls.
One person I don’t hear blamed very often is coach Michael Curry. With six head NBA head coaches already fired this season, the free pass given to Curry says two things:
1) Iverson is a better smoke screen to deeper problems than even Joe Dumars anticipated.
2) Chauncey Billups is like that ex-girlfriend you broke up with because she rarely put out. Then about two weeks later you realize she always was way out of your league, but its too late because she’s already hooked-up with another guy; meanwhile girls half as hot as her are consistently rejecting you.
Curry’s leadership among the players has yet to be questioned, he still seems to have their respect. We have yet to see Rasheed sit on the scorer’s table during timeouts or wave off the head coach like we saw with Flip Saunders.
While the play calling has been suspect at times, and I’m not sure if even the players know what works.
But lets put that on the Iverson trade because the patented Billups-to-Hamilton fallback play is out the window. While the coach should take more charge on the play calling while trying to integrate a new player in Iverson and a first time starter, Rodney Stuckey, I will give Curry a pass on this.Being a first year coach comes with some growing pains, so I won’t demand perfection in year one (unlike all those Rich Rodriguez haters out there).
What I won’t give him a pass on is his inconsistency in how he handles his roster and playing time.
He is employing what I like to call the “guess and check method.” As in: I guess we will start Amir Johnson; oh that didn’t work. I guess we should start Kwame Brown; oh he sucks-maybe I should have known that by now. I guess we will go small.
Unfortunately all of his guesses haven’t checked out. And if I learned anything from public school science class, its that the guess and check method just wastes your time. Better to do the research and find the part that fits the best without going through the motions every time.
A quick sampling of Pistons’ box scores will illustrate my point:
October 29, 2008, (opening night) 100-94 win vs. Indiana:
Amir Johnson (starter): 21 min, 6 rebounds, 6 points, 3 blocks.
Antonio Mcdyess: 19 min, 5 rebounds, 8 points
Jason Maxiell: 18 min, 4 rebounds, 7 points, 1 block.
Walter Herrmann: 16 min 2 rebounds 10 points
Kwame Brown: 3 min.
Rodney Stuckey: 16 min, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 8 points
November 7, 2008 (Allen Iverson’s First game) 96-103 loss to New Jersey:
Amir Johnson (starter): 18 min 7 rebounds, 2 points
Jason Maxiell: 15 min, 4 rebounds, 1 block
Walter Herrmann: 16 min, 1 rebound, 3 points
Kwame Brown: 14 min, 3 rebounds, 2 points
Rodney Stuckey: 23 min, 6 assists, 9 points, 2 rebounds
November 19, 2008 96-89 win vs. Cleveland
Kwame Brown (starter): 18 min, 2 rebounds, 4 points
Amir Johnson: 8 min, 4 rebounds, 4 points, 1 block
Jason Maxiell: 20 min, 3 rebounds, 6 points
Rodney Stuckey 23 min, 2 rebounds, 9 points, 2 assists
Walter Herrmann: DNP Coach’s Decision
December 12, 2008, 114-110 win vs. Indiana
Rodney Stuckey (starter): 34 min, 21 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists
Jason Maxiell: 14 min, 4 rebounds, 8 points
Antonio McDyess: 24 min, 14 points, 4 rebounds
Walter Herrmann: 3 min, 1 rebound
Kwame Brown: DNP Coach’s Decision
Amir Johnson: DNP Coach’s Decision
December 21, 2008, 85-79 loss at Atlanta
Rodney Stuckey (starter): 36 min, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 20 points
Antonio Mcdyess: 25 min, 7 rebounds, 6 points
Amir Johnson: 8 min, 4 rebounds, 2 points
Walter Herrmann: DNP Coach’s Decision
Kwame Brown: DNP Coach’s Decision
Jason Maxiell: DNP Coach’s Decision
I think that five games are enough.
I haven’t done it, but I’m pretty sure if you charted the minutes played for most of these players into a line graph it would look like the current stock market trends.
Now there are some reasons for the volatility in playing time: The Iverson deal, getting McDyess back after a month, and a shift in philosophy (which we will get to).
However, every coach at every level will tell you that their players play better when given a consistent role on the team. Heck even the water boy does his job better when he knows the time-out routine.
It is understandable that not all the players can play significant minutes, and maybe it really did take 12 starts for Curry to realize how bad Kwame can be. But framing your playing time off the blueprints for the new Cedar Point ride isn’t helping anybody.
Before Christmas on his video blog Curry answered the question of how he is handling his three Big Men:
“It is kinda tough, our other Bigs have done a really good job for us, so we are trying to find ways to get them involved. What I usually look at are match ups that are good for them. And so when we play really big guys, teams with big centers, a lot of time those are great games for Kwame to play. When we play someone like a Josh Smith at the four spot that is a great game for a guy like Amir, and mostly everyone else is really good for Jason Maxiell.”
I’m not sure that Curry remembered that he played Amir a total of 8 minutes against that very Josh Smith he referred to-by the way, Smith played a total of 43 minutes; Curry liked the match-up so much he played Amir on Smith less than 1/5 the time he was on the floor.
Also, Coach Curry I’d like to ask a follow-up question:
Ummm, you say that “mostly everyone else is really good for Jason Maxiell” but then you don’t play him at all against Atlanta, or earlier in the year against Washington. Doesn’t he match up well against Al Horford (an undersized forward) and the small lineup of the Wizards?
My bad, no sports journalist would actually ask those questions so we will never know.
If you glaze over the Pistons’ stats it is evident that Curry is riding the starters. If I’m not mistaken though, that was one of the biggest criticisms against Flip Saunders in his first few seasons with the Pistons.
Another one of the reasons Saunders was fired was because he didn’t focus enough on defense, that is what Curry was brought in to bring back: defensive grit.
Of course they rarely do that either, as they give up leads quicker than the Detroit Lions. Blame it on Iverson if you want, but the head coach brought who was ‘known for defense’ when he played in the league should not be guiding a team who can’t stop anybody-I’d like to go on a limb and say he was only ‘known for his defense’ because you can’t be known for your offense if you don’t score, and they had to justify starting him for reasons besides that his legs looked good in those teal shorts.
Which brings us to his current implementation of a smaller lineup. Can a team who has been known for defense start with a small lineup and still claim to be able to stop people? There is no surprise that they can’t protect their own rim when he ends games with 4 small guys on the floor and a center who would rather wade between the three point arcs.
Is there a problem with playing four smaller guys during stretches of the game? Absolutely not. In fact, I think Saunders should have done it more last year. But to have that as the base you start from does not give you a great foundation. It puts Rasheed in a position to pick up quick fouls, and takes Prince from guarding the better shooting small forwards.
Perhaps we can explain this away by saying that Stuckey should start (and recent evidence shows that he should) and that the team just wants to keep both Hamilton and Iverson happy. However, in the long run this isn’t good for the team.
If it means that Curry needs pull one of his shooting guards aside and explain that for the betterment of the team they are coming off the bench. If it’s good enough for Manu Ginobili, it’s good enough for either of these two.
Bringing in Michael Curry was supposed to bring stabilization and a strong personality to lead the Pistons with defense and toughness. None of which is happening.
So can you tell me again why Curry is feeling no heat for the Pistons erratic play?

Good call on this one Nostradamus. Pistons are 8-2 in their last ten and will almost certainly finish in either the 4th or 5th spot in the east. Looks like going small has “checked out”. I can’t defend Curry’s comments, but you can’t properly analyze a game from a box score. This isn’t fantasy sports. Do they put helpside D (point the pistols) or deflections in the box scores? What about extra possessions from diving for loose balls? Was anyone in foul trouble? Watch the game and then you can critique his decisions. Plus trading of the floor leader, intergrading Iverson, playing without McDyess for a month, coaching Wallace, and installing a new system as a first time head coach…what the hell has Curry been up to? Fire his ass now. Knee-jerk reaction much? I mean Dec 27th…come on.
rag,
never said “fire”, never even said he should be on the “hot seat”; just commenting on how odd it was no one was even questioning his subbing pattern (which actually Pistons beat writer Chris McCosky later did). It seems obvious that they are playing better now than when they were going small. The recent injury to Rip actually proved my point, that one of them needs to go to the bench so that they can play with more cohesiveness. Fact is the injuries have actually lessened the players Curry can play, and made his rotations better, which for a rookie coach obviously has helped. Again this was never meant as a knee-jerk reaction—and I did say in the article I was giving him a pass on most of the other things except how he was playing his bench, specifically his bigs, because it made little sense—but as an analysis of something I felt wasn’t being talked about much. And it was published on the 27, but actually written on the 22nd I’ll take the fall on that one, as we are just getting the site running.
Kev,
I believe you may find sense with Curry’s rotation patterns by accepting that none of the bigs are championship caliber NBA starters. Kwame, Amir, McDyess, Maxiell, Fabio are all bench players on good teams. From my vantage point…the Piston’s scrutiny sits in the lap of Joe Dumars. For every nice move he has made Rip, Prince…there is a crippling move Darko, Nazr Mohammed. Dumars hasn’t provided Curry with an option in the frontcourt. The Iverson deal does clear future cap space, but you have to ask yourself “who would want to play there?” Wade? LeBron? Bosh? Wade would want to surround himself with an aging cast and the immature tantrums of Wallace?!? With a lone shining light coming from Rodney Stuckey?!? No thanks…I’d take my chances with Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, South Beach, and no state income tax. The opportunity for this cast of Pistons to win another title has passed.
OK, I veered off topic a bit but my gist is this…#1-watch the games & #2-give the coach a little time. As Don Nelson would agree…it’s much easier coaching a team that isn’t expected to do anything than a team that is expected to succeed.
Lastly, thank you for focusing on items that aren’t being talked about much. Darfur, Melissa Miller’s personality, and Michael Curry’s big man substitution patterns.
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