But the worst thing about the Pistons is its bench. While the Wolves bench is second in the league at 44.5 PPG, the Pistons bench only scores 19.4 a game...worst in the league. I look for the starters to play their usual sticky, slow down game, and our reserves to blow their reserves out. I predict that after this game, there will be a big line waiting to jump on the Wolves' playoff train. Put this in your pipe and smoke it, Vegas...Wolves win 105-90!
Fun with numbers. Another way to look at it is...
- Detroit has the 2nd best starters in the league, behind only Golden State. Minnesota is 26th if we compare starting units.
[Note: Just pointing out that there might be some noise behind certain numbers...]
Good point, abe. But that's another reason I like tonight's matchup. The first quarter of Wolves' games aren't pretty, but it seems like we generally come out of them ahead or at least close. And if you can do that against the Pistons, you can do some real damage against their horrible bench. Of course the last time we had a really bad first quarter was against another team with great starters...the Warriors. But Rubio missed that game. I think he is going to give Jackson and his 4 TOs per game fits tonight.
I think it depends on a lot more than Rubio. Detroit will run a ton of PnR action with Drummond, so it won't be only on Rubio to contain it. That guy is a beast.
But as I said when he was drafted... there's never been an elite NBA player who was THAT poor at shooting free throws.
He's at 42% right now... after a "hot" start to the season. That will be a problem at the ends of games and in the playoffs for Drummond and the Pistons. They need the ball in his hands... but need to keep him off the line.
apparently you haven't heard of a man named Chris Dudley
Shoot.
I forgot Dudley averaged 7/9 for a 56-loss Nets team once.
[WAIT: Dudley shot 53.4% from the line that season!]
Stanley Johnson vs. Justice Winslow was somewhat of a debate around these parts during the college season. I had limited visibility to Stanley's game, but I was not impressed the few times I did see him, whereas I really liked Winslow. So far in the NBA, neither are very impressive, but I know it's early still.
And having seen Winslow, I'll be interested to see Johnson too.
Sorry for the tangent, but have any of you watched Porzingis this year? I really only watched the highlights from his big night the other night and a couple of those putback dunks. From the highlights, it looks like he's got pretty quick hands, and obviously, a 7'3" 20 year old who can play inside and shoot from range is a nice thing to have.
SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I'm looking forward to/scared of seeing Drummond.
And having seen Winslow, I'll be interested to see Johnson too.
Sorry for the tangent, but have any of you watched Porzingis this year? I really only watched the highlights from his big night the other night and a couple of those putback dunks. From the highlights, it looks like he's got pretty quick hands, and obviously, a 7'3" 20 year old who can play inside and shoot from range is a nice thing to have.
If Porzingis can stay injury free he is going to be great. I feel better about the NBA when Jackson is going against the grain and succeeding.
Foot injuries always seem to get those really big guys. I'd love to see a chart of average career length for all players broken down by height, and then another of what ended the players' careers at each of those heights.
But holy cow, even with a shorter career expectancy, Porzingis has a ton of promise and he's already playing well.
SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I'm looking forward to/scared of seeing Drummond.
And having seen Winslow, I'll be interested to see Johnson too.
Sorry for the tangent, but have any of you watched Porzingis this year? I really only watched the highlights from his big night the other night and a couple of those putback dunks. From the highlights, it looks like he's got pretty quick hands, and obviously, a 7'3" 20 year old who can play inside and shoot from range is a nice thing to have.
I am stationed in CT and not having a professional team I get the Knick's and Nets often, so yes seen lots of Porzingis and he's every bit of good that I'd thought he'd be and more. Now with that being said he's not the guy from the other night that put up 29, I think that is his first game over 20 all year. His size effects shots in a Yao Ming type of way and like Yao Ming you'd think he'd be a better rebound at 7'3" than he has shown so far. He has had double digit boards in probably half his games if I had to guess. My wife is a Knick's fan (BOO) so I have probably seen 3/4 of their games. By years end I think he will get his average up around 14 points and maybe even 10 rebounds per game. His jump shot appears to be a weapon even out to the 3 point line but its early in the year and like most young players how he develops in the off season will mean quite a bit for his future out look.
SameOldNudityDrew wrote:I'm looking forward to/scared of seeing Drummond.
And having seen Winslow, I'll be interested to see Johnson too.
Sorry for the tangent, but have any of you watched Porzingis this year? I really only watched the highlights from his big night the other night and a couple of those putback dunks. From the highlights, it looks like he's got pretty quick hands, and obviously, a 7'3" 20 year old who can play inside and shoot from range is a nice thing to have.
I am stationed in CT and not having a professional team I get the Knick's and Nets often, so yes seen lots of Porzingis and he's every bit of good that I'd thought he'd be and more. Now with that being said he's not the guy from the other night that put up 29, I think that is his first game over 20 all year. His size effects shots in a Yao Ming type of way and like Yao Ming you'd think he'd be a better rebound at 7'3" than he has shown so far. He has had double digit boards in probably half his games if I had to guess. My wife is a Knick's fan (BOO) so I have probably seen 3/4 of their games. By years end I think he will get his average up around 14 points and maybe even 10 rebounds per game. His jump shot appears to be a weapon even out to the 3 point line but its early in the year and like most young players how he develops in the off season will mean quite a bit for his future out look.
But when you look at his age and the fact he can put more weight on, yeesh, there is a lot of upside to be had in what is already a pretty effective player. Glad he's in the East!
longstrangetrip wrote:There's something scary coming to town, and it's name is Andre Drummond...KAT may not have slept well last night. But you know what...the rest of the team just isn't that good. For some reason Vegas has the Wolves favored by just one point (closed circuit to Cool...bad number?), but I think they win this one by double digits. That's why I'm teeing up the GDT, because I love low-hanging fruit.
First, let's give Drummond his due. 19.1 PPG and 18.9 RPG...are you kidding me? He's the reason the Pistons are the best offensive rebounding team in the league, and offensive rebounding is the reason the Pistons are 6-5. But my sources say there is a pretty good center playing for the Wolves too. If KAT blocks out and rebounds like he has been rebounding, and Sam makes sure he is on the court whenever Drummond is, we win this one going away and get to see lots of Tyus and Rudez.
Frankly, the Pistons are just not that good, and especially on the road. Their recent 4-game road losing streak included 9 and 12 point losses to woeful Sacramento and the Lakers. Nobody other than Drummond impresses me much. Their second best player is Reggie Jackson, and even though he is scoring 20.6 a game, his stats are not very impressive. 42.6% shooting, 34.8 % on threes, 4.1 turnovers per game against only 5.6 assists...Rubio could pressure him into 8 TOs. Pundits were excited about KCP coming into the season, but he's only shooting 29% on threes...in fact the team is making 31% of its threes. And my guy Stanley Johnson is making my prediction that he would be in the ROY conversation look like one o the worst calls of the year...Stanley has a PER of 8.6 and making only 37% of his shots. Their third best player is probably Marcus Morris (yawn).
But the worst thing about the Pistons is its bench. While the Wolves bench is second in the league at 44.5 PPG, the Pistons bench only scores 19.4 a game...worst in the league. I look for the starters to play their usual sticky, slow down game, and our reserves to blow their reserves out. I predict that after this game, there will be a big line waiting to jump on the Wolves' playoff train. Put this in your pipe and smoke it, Vegas...Wolves win 105-90!
The line has flipped to favoring the pistons by 2.5. I don't know that I have ever seen that much movement on a game in a short period of time. Is Rubio back out, or this something else we don't know about?
