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?

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