Rip the SF...?

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2008/12/curry_plans_to_shake_up...arti.ht
Pistons' Curry plans to shake up starting lineup

The most likely lineup Curry will look at will involve Rodney Stuckey
coming in to run the point, joining Allen Iverson, Richard Hamilton,
Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace.




http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/rob_peterson/12/07/knicks.pistons/

NBA.com's John Schuhmann noted that the Pistons finished last season
fourth in defensive efficiency per 100 possessions. This year they're
20th. If you watched the Knicks slice-and-dice, pick-and-roll and
drive-and-kick the Pistons up-and-down the Garden floor to the tune of
65 points in the first half, you may have guessed the Pistons were 30th.

Iverson -- who has defended the passing lanes as well as any NBA player
in history -- isn't a lockdown defender and because of his size has a
hard time getting through pick-and-rolls. On Sunday, the Knicks
consistently exploited this weakness on screens early and often. No play
epitomized this better than the one that gave New York its biggest lead
of the day.

Chris Duhon, who had a game-high 25 points and nine assists, turned the
corner into the lane off a screen from David Lee. As the Pistons' posts
sagged to stop the drive, Al Harrington circled from the wing to the
spot Duhon and Lee vacated at the top of the key. Duhon turned and
whipped a pass to Harrington, who caught it in rhythm and calmly drained
a three to give the Knicks a 58-29 lead.

On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:14:55 -0800, Terraholm
wrote:

>http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2008/12/curry_plans_to_shake_up_starti.html
>Pistons' Curry plans to shake up starting lineup
>
>The most likely lineup Curry will look at will involve Rodney Stuckey
>coming in to run the point, joining Allen Iverson, Richard Hamilton,
>Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace.
>
>
>
>
>http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/rob_peterson/12/07/knicks.pistons/
>
> NBA.com's John Schuhmann noted that the Pistons finished last season
>fourth in defensive efficiency per 100 possessions. This year they're
>20th. If you watched the Knicks slice-and-dice, pick-and-roll and
>drive-and-kick the Pistons up-and-down the Garden floor to the tune of
>65 points in the first half, you may have guessed the Pistons were 30th.
>
>Iverson -- who has defended the passing lanes as well as any NBA player
>in history -- isn't a lockdown defender and because of his size has a
>hard time getting through pick-and-rolls. On Sunday, the Knicks
>consistently exploited this weakness on screens early and often. No play
>epitomized this better than the one that gave New York its biggest lead
>of the day.
>
>Chris Duhon, who had a game-high 25 points and nine assists, turned the
>corner into the lane off a screen from David Lee. As the Pistons' posts
>sagged to stop the drive, Al Harrington circled from the wing to the
>spot Duhon and Lee vacated at the top of the key. Duhon turned and
>whipped a pass to Harrington, who caught it in rhythm and calmly drained
>a three to give the Knicks a 58-29 lead.

First off, the loss to the Knicks, THE KNICKS!!!!!, is worse than the
loss to the 76ers. Worse because at least the 76ers proved last
season they are a good team on offense and defense and can play with
anyone. The Knicks, on the other hand, are rebuilding this season and
have to deal with the soap opera that is Marbury. Yet the Pistons
made them look like world beaters on Sunday. Not just in the 4th
quarter, but the whole game.

Now about the story of moving Rip to SF....the only issue with this
lineup is Tayshaun at PF. Yes he's got long arms and is pretty
athletic, but there are plenty of PFs in the league that could just
drive him into the paint all night long and either wear him out or get
him to commit too many fouls.

Pistons have a much better advantage against teams when you have Rip
(the Rip of the pre-AI days) running around the floor making the other
SG chase him and then having to be defended by Rip. Tayshaun at SF is
also a handful on offense and defense for just about every other SF in
the league.

Coach Curry may want AI to "take over" games but that isn't getting
wins for the Pistons. It's taking away their defensive match ups and
AI's porous defense puts a strain on the 4 other guys on the floor.
Sure AI gets a steal now and again, but it doesn't cancel out all the
times the other teams PG drives through him, around him, gets him
stuck in the middle of a screen so he can't defend or blocks him out
from a rebound...all the things that didn't happen when Chauncey was
the Pistons' PG. Coach has to come to the realization that the
Pistons first must get their defensive swagger back and secondly need
to have a PG that can run the team first and worry about his own shot
second. The only solution I see is to start Stuckey at PG and have
Iverson coming off the bench.

If they go with the proposed line-up from the MLIVE report, it will
just lead to more embarrassing loses like the last two, IMO.

Regards,

////
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Steve