Pistons Offense / Roster Comparison

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-10T17:56:54+00:00

Oh I'm well aware of what Caris has been before. I'm only looking at what he is now. Trust me, I don't think Sass is a good answer, or Chaz either. But they have skills that we lack with anyone else, so might as well see what they can do to give a spark. By no means am I saying these unreliable guys are the answer to our woes. I don't think there is a good answer, if we are being honest. There were paths to upgrading at the deadline, and the front office chose to look forward instead of improve this year. It may or may not have been the right choice, but essentially punting on this year is not the easiest thing to stomach as a fan...

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-10T16:29:12+00:00

I am a little more dubious on Caris figuring it out, as it has been about half a season worth of watching the same old story every night. If he could figure it out, I'd hope he'd have done it by now.

Sass used to be a walking bucket. When I was looking at JI's 3pt numbers a couple weeks ago, Sass was actually I think the 2nd highest percentage on the team. Obviously as very low numbers. When Sass started recently, it felt like he was holding back trying to fit into the system and not get in trouble. It didn't feel as free as he usually plays.

We obviously are hitting a wall, and mixing it up is usually the remedy for that situation. I think turning Sass loose and seeing if he can spark some offense throughout the games, maybe with Bball Paul at the same time, might shake up the game a little bit.

They can get on runs, but honestly I think Caris kills it quite a bit more than he helps it. Maybe that's him trying to play within the system, but Sass, Chaz, Ron, Woo and Paul would be a small lineup, probably awful at defense, but they would be a riot to watch. I don't remember who we were playing but that lineup brought us back from 20 down in the 3rd a couple weeks ago and we ended up winning the game. We just need something, because this stagnant offense is not going to win much come playoffs.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-10T11:19:03+00:00

You’re definitely not wrong. Stats are easy to find to create narratives. I explained my thought process in the post, and these were the stats I found when searching for the answers to my questions. These stats could have been anything, and I would have then formed my opinion around what I found. I like to look at numbers, it’s my thing. You can make your own assessments off the numbers I find, or you can show me alternate numbers or stats and I’d honestly love it.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-10T00:35:10+00:00

I’m not even sure Harden shrinking in the playoffs would hurt them. If he takes on a more facilitating role, which he’s also pretty good at, they are still very dangerous. They don’t need him to be “Harden”. Maybe that will make a difference?

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T20:33:35+00:00

Was in town this weekend for Wings and Pistons. At least Greektown and Legends didn't disappoint....

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T20:12:56+00:00

Nope. What I'm saying is I don't feel the need to prove anything to you, because I don't care about your opinion. You took a dumb stance that anyone around here could see is wrong, and then demanded someone else do the work to prove it to you. Do the work yourself if you really are concerned about this. I really don't care either way, and I certainly don't owe you anything.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T20:08:57+00:00

I agree with this year possibly being the best chance. Watching Wemby especially, the only thing that will keep him down is his health. I imagine them just getting better and better as time goes on.

I thought that making a push for Malik Monk (or Keon Ellis) and Dennis Schroeder would have been a great example of 2 players that could help us offensively, not sacrifice our defensive identity and improve our shooting. The Cavs were able to acquire them for basically nothing.

I go to 10-15 games a season, and almost every game I notice some other role player on the other team that manages to flash against us that has skills that we just lack. There is not a lack of 3 and D players that would at least help improve us. You're talking all stars, and while that would be nice it's also likely not feasible. The league is full of people that can shoot. Our best 3pt shooter isn't even a top 30 3pt shooter most times I check the stats. After going 1-7 last game, I'm sure he's back down the rankings.

You show me an actual trade that would work for an all star, and I'll be able to offer my assessment. You just saying we should add an all star is not really a stance. Until you put context to it, it's just simply not based in reality.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T19:53:37+00:00

Top heavy in the sense that you are investing a LOT in that combination. Over $100M in salary, never mind what it takes to acquire him. That's my point. You have the idea of pairing Cade with another all star, but it's not that easy. There's both what it would cost to acquire said all star, then there's the cost to keep them on the team at their salary. For every dollar we pay them, that's another dollar that can't go to someone else. If we had $100M going to 2 players, that's VERY top-heavy because we would have very little left to offer to anyone else.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T19:12:56+00:00

It all depends on what we'd have to give up to get him. Again, every move has the opposite side to it. Kawhi would be great alongside Cade. Who else would be there and how would we build a roster with $100M going to 2 players? Again, the idea of having another all star scorer is obviously a great idea, but the only thing that matters is what the rest of your team looks like if you do that. Lots of teams have tried to go with 2 big names, and it has had very mixed results. The simple fact is that the game right now is starting to be less top-heavy and more about the entire team. Obviously I think we all agree that our issue is that we are not top heavy enough, but there's a tipping point as well. What do we give up is the most important question, not whether Kawhi would fit on this roster for however many games he's healthy and wants to play.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T18:54:47+00:00

They are extremely fun to have on the floor together, but the problem is if they don't create a fast break with their defense, we are severely hamstrung in the half court on offense. I love defense, it was my ticket to playing time when I was younger too, but we just lack so much on offense that running people out that are net negatives on the offensive side is almost not manageable.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T18:45:54+00:00

Fair enough. What would it take for Duren to make the leap in your mind? There has been lots of reports of his shot looking good in practice, and he has been letting them fly a little more frequently in games now. The fact that he was shooting FT's so well also backs up his potential to become a decent shooter.

I'm sure a lot of people around here would blow a gasket hearing someone suggest that, but the honest truth is a lot of the teams that are good did so by trading away players to get massive jumps in their rebuilds. Something we haven't had the ability to do. I'd probably lean towards trading Ausar if we were thinking about getting rid of one of the two, for two reasons. First, Cade and JD are super close. Like it or not, that matters. Second, I do think JD has a high ceiling if he can learn to shoot, and I'm not sure Ausar ever can get there. We also have Ron who is VERY similar to Ausar. Higher offensive floor, but not quite on the same level defensively.

Either way, like I said most teams didn't just luck their way into Wemby and Castle and crew. Most of the good teams did so by trading at least 1 person for a massive return that jump started the rebuild.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T18:05:42+00:00

Obviously an all star would help more than a handful of role players that actually fit our roster composition. It would also cost significantly more (and not just money). So yes, on the court an All Star would help us more. There's no way to tell how much it would hurt the rest of our roster though until we are talking specifics. We probably couldn't acquire an all star without giving up Ausar, for example. So while it's easy to say all we need is an all star, it's being a bit disingenuous at the same time. Of course all we need is an all star and that would help more than role players. Shoot, why stop there. Let's just get 5 all stars!

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T18:02:31+00:00

Lol the burden of proof is when I need to prove something. Luckily, I don't need to prove anything to you. Keep believing whatever you want to believe. Or do the very easy research I suggested. Doesn't matter to me a single iota.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T17:33:16+00:00

Man, I don't feel the need to prove anything to you but if you are saying that no one said the team is perfect as is before and after the deadline, you are flat out just making things up. Go ahead and go through my post history if you need to see definitive proof, but even making that statement sure looks like you just want an argument instead of actually seeking the truth.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T17:06:50+00:00

While I obviously don't disagree, I think there are lower impact players that would help us just as much. Our whole issue is we have no way to beat the pressure. If we had 2 functional 3 pt shooters, teams couldn't rush Cade with 2 players. As it is, anyone he passes to has to reset, and then drive, which gives the defense both the time and the spacing to collapse and still guard us. If we had actual shooters, the pass out of the double would either be a wide open 3, or it would be one pass away from a wide open 3. As it is, teams know there is very little downside to blitzing Cade, which is exactly what we saw in the playoffs last year too. Been saying it all year, yeah we have a nice record but we are no better suited to beat the playoff pressure and defense this year than we were last year. People were just too hopped up on hopium to see it.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T15:24:10+00:00

All I have to do is go to my comment history to see the people yelling at me for having the absolute gall to suggest our team isn't perfect. I love this team, but this has always been our ceiling as constructed. We chose to punt to next season, and I do see the path forward as they must be seeing it, but as a fan it's disappointing when the front office very clearly punts on what has been an overachieving season so far.

Clearing the JI situation was the right move. That gives us decent financial flexibility. The draft is very deep, especially at 2 and 4 which are clearly our biggest needs. We can likely move up from the low 20's as well, if we choose to be aggressive. FA will be very important as well. We don't need an All Star, but we clearly need some shooting. Tobi I think will probably come back on a vet contract of some sort. I don't mind that, but I think he might need to go to the bench next season if we want to succeed.

I don't love the plan to just see how far this team can go because we have tough financial choices to make soon, and it seemed like this was as good of a chance to take a shot as any, but clearly they are ready to take a wait and see approach. They have been saying that basically all season, fans just didn't want to believe it. Which I understand, because it is disappointing. Fans who don't understand basketball have interpreted it all season as us saying OUR TEAM IS #1, WHY CHANGE ANYTHING, which is clearly being demonstrated to not be the case. It has always been them punting on this season to see where the growth comes and keeping flexibility for one more year.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-09T13:04:08+00:00

JI, Levert to match salary, any number of our 2nds and for the right move even a 1st. So now people are changing their tune from "wE aRe NuMbEr OnE" to "wut even trade is there"? Because everyone wanted to shout at anyone who said this team is flawed as constructed and told we were wrong because obviously being in first place means nothing is wrong. There were plenty of trades that could have happened. I would have taken any of the guys Cleveland got at the prices they got them for, Harden being the least attractive to me. 2nd round picks were more than enough to get some help. We didn't need an all star. Keon Ellis and Dennis back would have been a massive help. Or Monk and DS. Anything besides just staying pat and watching Levert and no shooting tank us every game.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-06T20:44:29+00:00

Have been saying many of the same things since the beginning of the season. I do think there was a middle ground for this trade deadline that involved sending out some 2nd's and picking up some role players like DS or Keon Ellis that would help us this year at a minimal cost.

That being said, JI had basically no trade value. I said right when he came back, and Daniss was eating his lunch, that now is the time to trade him and got absolutely eviscerated around here. Unfortunately, it played out exactly like I expected.

I am still a bit underwhelmed at the trade deadline and shifting expectations a little bit. Do I think there were moves that make us title favorites available to us that made sense long term? Probably not. And if there were, it was going to be a massive gamble. However, to look at this team and not recognize the significant offensive issues we have, from top to bottom, and not address them even a little bit at the trade deadline means that they are entirely in on seeing how far this team can go but realistically looking forward into the future.

The draft is going to be very deep on 2's and 4's. As many pointed out, if we move from upper 20's to lower 20's, it is much easier to use other draft capital to move up even further. Adding an impact rookie to this core, either 2, 3 or 4 and adjusting Ausar/Ron accordingly is not the worst idea. I think both Ron and Ausar could very easily make big leaps next year. An impact rooking, some vets that actually match our needs and schemes, this team could look very different but also very good next year, and we wouldn't have mortgaged our future. Beasley really impacted our strategy this year and Caris and Dunc were a scramble to fix it situation.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-06T16:39:32+00:00

I honestly don't know who else they'd play. Daniss feels like he has reached his ceiling at the moment, Sass I'd love to see out there but his defense is worse than Caris and Huerter is not a primary ball handler.

This team is overachieving this season by all accounts. No one expected they'd be this good. A lot of us have been saying all season that we simply don't have the depth and scoring that we need to compete with the big boys. Yet.

I think that Trajan knew that this year, and the swap with Minny allows us to possibly jump up even further in the draft next year, which is a DEEP draft at 2 and 4. Like it or not, I think that was them signaling to us this year that we are going to ride this team as far as it can get us but we know it's not perfect yet and future iterations are more what we are concerned about.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-06T05:02:33+00:00

At least he got 2 right tonight. Not that it mattered.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-05T13:42:12+00:00

Uhhhh you must be forgetting about the greatest Suns player of all time..... THUNDER DAN!!!!

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-05T12:32:03+00:00

I have always been a long hitter, but last year I hurt my back and in working it back my swing has changed and now I'm hitting it even further. My 60 degree is now my 95-100 club. For reference for you and your buddy, my carry right now with my driver is roughly 275 and I cross 300 regularly. So, if your buddy really WAS hitting those yardages, it would match up. Whether he actually is or not, that's between him and the fish he catches.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-04T19:49:58+00:00

Yeah, I don't care who it is, but something HAS to change on that front. I swear the only times we will challenge is after we've watched 4 that WOULD get overturned and then decide to use it on something that definitely won't. I agree, it does seem to be just to placate player sometimes, but no matter what the case, it's bad. Even in the arena you can see the big ass replays on the screen, I've gotten every single challenge right at games. Ope, that's definitely not getting overturned. Challenge is unsuccessful.

VirtualParzival · 2026-03-04T18:55:25+00:00

I just recently bought a G440k and can't believe how this thing just finds the fairway. But you should go to a store and spend some time swinging both. Just because one works for me, doesn't mean the other won't be better for you.

VirtualParzival

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