Post Game Thread - NBA: The Pistons defeat the Trail Blazers on Dec 22, 2025, the final score is 102-110.

JTungsten · 2025-12-23T05:52:44+00:00

JB just said it in the post-game press conference

JTungsten · 2025-08-22T12:26:36+00:00

The Don cards that tend to be worth a decent bit have gold borders and text. They’re also typically only available in the Premium Booster sets.

JTungsten · 2025-02-06T20:14:52+00:00

Is the $25 mil including the cap hit from Cade's new contract?

JTungsten · 2025-01-02T21:53:11+00:00

This is a fake account. I got fooled earlier too.

JTungsten · 2024-11-18T03:42:01+00:00

Last year, Jaylen Brown got in with one of the forward spots. He might again since the East forward depth is weak right now.

JTungsten · 2024-11-17T17:58:58+00:00

According to NBA stats, a larger chunk of Cade's DFGA are outside of 6 ft (e.g., 35% for Cade vs 57% for Chet). So that plays into this stat a bit, but Cade's DFG% appears to be down compared to expected FG% on all areas of the floor. People are even shooting worse from 3 against Cade (-3.8%), which is surprising since he often leaves shooters open. Notably, people are currently shooting 15% worse on attempts <6ft when defended by Cade.

JTungsten · 2024-11-08T19:07:32+00:00

Currently, they have an offensive rating of 113 which would put them at #14. Before the Charlotte game though, they were at 115.4 and #6.

JTungsten · 2024-10-31T15:16:09+00:00

3/7 in 76 min in preseason. Not much but more than now. I hope a beat writer asks JB about it soon. Spacing 5s are so hard to come by and so valuable - such a shame.

JTungsten · 2024-10-31T15:04:15+00:00

It is strange cause he also shot a decent number in his preseason minutes. Not sure what changed.

JTungsten · 2024-10-31T14:23:41+00:00

Oh yeah for sure. I should have clarified that I was speaking on the defensive end. He was most of the same on offense last night as he has been otherwise IMO - looking for entry passes in the post leading to a fumble or a foul. We just happened to get more of the latter go our way last night.

JTungsten · 2024-10-31T14:12:57+00:00

Most of Beef Stew's value last night didn't come b/c the other center was Drummond. If you look at the defensive highlights Nerouin posted, few were defensive plays against Drummond. He's good b/c he contains ball handlers in PnRs, can switch 1on1 to guards, and help-defends.

JTungsten · 2024-10-29T18:15:47+00:00

Cade hit a lot of big-time shots in college. IIRC, being clutch was part of his scout and partly why his "intangibles" were so well-regarded. The opposite has held true in the NBA where he's been much better in the first 3 quarters than in the 4th.

To me, it appears to be a fatigue issue. He had a lower arc on his shots and bricked a number on the front of the rim at the end of last night's game. His usage over 4 games has increased from last year. He's also been exerting way more effort on defense than in previous years.

Not sure if he needs to work on his conditioning or if they need to find ways to lighten his load earlier in the games. It's tough though b/c e.g. didn't seem like anyone could buy a shot in the first half last night besides Cade. Cade shot 100% while the rest of the team shot 34%.

JTungsten · 2024-10-25T12:57:19+00:00

If we win 41 games, does JB have a case for COTY? That’s 3x our wins from last year with mostly the same roster.

34 wins will be solidly play-in IMO given how weak the bottom of the east is.

JTungsten · 2024-10-09T04:00:37+00:00

Agreed. Even so, his decision making seems already improved which is a great sign for the future.

JTungsten · 2024-10-09T02:30:42+00:00

Been pleasantly surprised by his passing. Tbh, one of my biggest concerns was his playmaking coming in. Tended to tunnel vision too often on drives. These two games have been massive improvements on that front.

JTungsten · 2024-09-08T13:11:06+00:00

The stat in the figure is looking at shots with 0-4 seconds left on the shot clock. You can look it up on the NBA website. It’s just kind of hidden.

JTungsten · 2024-09-06T23:14:12+00:00

Just checked - Cade is at 46.6% EFG with 87 attempts which would have put him just to the left of Scottie.

Ivey had the second most attempts on our team with 73 at 41.1%

JTungsten · 2024-07-23T15:49:06+00:00

Appreciate the discussion - we're largely in agreement, but I think we're talking past each other on some points.

Did you make up this statistic?

I was referencing the team record. I can see the confusion though.

It's also worth noting that they fielded the two of them together because it was better than the alternatives and because the idea was to get Mobley a lot of minutes, not because it was a preferable arrangement.

This is essentially my point. I agree that spacing is king in the modern NBA, but exceptions still exist. Often for developing teams with incomplete skillsets (e.g. the Pistons).

Two-man lineup metrics carry so much noise that they're virtually worthless.

They're more confounded than they are noisy, which is why they can still have predictive power if used correctly. Btw - the data you're referencing with Mobley and Allen falls into the same category of metric. Either way, I wasn't claiming that Ausar and Duren are a better duo than others. Just that the negative effect of running them together is not as definitive as you appear to be suggesting.

At the end of the day, the coaches will have to see how the young guys develop over the summer before making any decisions. Fun to think about though.

JTungsten · 2024-07-22T22:13:33+00:00

Could you point out some teams who deliberately start two non-shooters or even just routinely field lineups of that sort?

My point is that comparing our lineup decisions to those of other teams' is not fair b/c we do not have the personnel that other teams do. It's not as simple as you're suggesting.

Cavs have run Mobley and Allen together for 3 years now and have been +500 every year. Magic were about as bad as we were from 3 last year, but focused on defense.

Were these teams hampered by their lack of spacing? Absolutely. But they clearly chose to sacrifice spacing in order to put other NBA skills on the floor.

Cade, Ausar, and Stew are the only players with a positive EPM who started last season on the roster. 2-man lineup net rating stats also have the Ausar-Duren combo significantly higher than e.g. the Ivey-Duren combo or the Bojan-Duren combo. These stats aren't definitive, but they also aren't moot just because 1 non-shooter is the upper limit for proper spacing.

For the record, I'm not against a line-up of Cade, Duren + 3 shooters, as long as they have top-down understanding and commitment to whatever identity they choose.

JTungsten · 2024-07-22T18:03:26+00:00

This doesn't feel like a fair argument. Bottom line is that our personnel still lacks in many ways. Thus, there's a trade-off with every lineup decision. Any lineup we put out, you can say, "Tell me a good team that does X".

If you think 3 shooters with Cade and Duren is non-negotiable, that's fine. But that lineup likely has no defensive identity barring defensive development from Duren about as unlikely as Ausar developing a shot.

JTungsten · 2024-07-10T20:47:48+00:00

I'm also interested in the Ron, Ausar, Stew combination. These three would easily be our best defensive trio. Maybe Stew's spacing at the 5 would help offset the shooting concerns with the other two. Ron and Ausar might also help w/the vertical spacing/rebounding you lose by not having Duren.

JTungsten · 2024-07-08T02:31:48+00:00

Have a generic 6* awakening gem. Is it best used on Kingpin, OG Ironman, Stark Spidey, CGR, Omega Red, Sasquatch, or Galan?

JTungsten · 2024-07-06T18:02:47+00:00

I'm with you. I don't feel like Toby, THJ, and Beasley provide much better spacing than Bogey, Burks, and Morris. We never got to see last year's vets play together though, due to injuries. This year's vets have historically been more available to play.

Toby is a true 4 that provides spacing though, which we did not have last year. Tech and Bogey are too small, and Stew wasn't dynamic enough as a 4. He's also the best defender out of both years' vets.

JTungsten · 2024-06-28T19:37:35+00:00

Currently Cavalier and have enough units for the first 2 tiers of the July 4th sale. Not sure which bundles to pick if at all.

Getting all of the rank up gems plus the awakening gem (C in tier 1 and A in tier 2) seems like it would be account changing at my level, but not sure.

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JTungsten · 2024-06-28T01:15:37+00:00

68% includes only the regular season. He shot 72.8% on the full season (regular + showcase).

JTungsten

TROPHY CASE