I think it’s clear he chose Detroit partially for being able to be the #1 option. But to say that the other reasons are “lip service” is silly when there’s been so much coverage about it recently. Dude says his favorite book is the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I will assume his interest in Black identity is incredibly serious.
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Bingo, this is my point.
Are you arguing that benching Griffin will prevent winning?
I believe there gonna trade Ellington, and keep feeding young guys big minutes. If they win with all three rookies getting 25+, with Svi and Sekou as well, how can you complain about winning???
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Although I think all but one of their wins have come with Blake in the line-up, it’s hard to point to too many of those W’s as games where he was the deciding factor. I really can only think of the game vs. the Lakers.
I know a few games into the season, there was data about how much more effective the Pistons were with him off the floor. The efficiency gap probably closed but It’s been a rough year for Blake. He’s not close to what he was on offense (though he can still pass) and, outside of being one of the best at taking charges, offers little on defense.
It seems like injuries have either taken away his explosiveness or that he mentally doesn’t trust his knees enough to test them. He’s had zero dunks this year and hasn’t even attempted one. That’s pretty shocking from one of the most explosive dunkers the NBA has ever seen. And one that’s still 6’9" or 6’10" (and muscular) so you’d think he’d still be able to do it at least once every handful of games.
I’d say the Pistons are still better with him on the floor but the difference is minimal.
I wish him well wherever he winds up. He gave the last good years of his body to the team, embraced being in Detroit, and tried to be a mentor for the young guys. However, I think he’s going to have some adjusting to make. I’m not sure what kind of player he can be if the offense isn’t primarily being run through him.
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I hope Ellington can get hot again, so we can at least get a 2nd round pick for him. He had such a torrid January but has cooled off quite a bit since coming back after missing a couple of games.
Ya I think you laid it out very well. Blake in 2018 was an MVP caliber player and I’ll always remember him for dragging us to the playoffs. He completely changed his game while his body completely failed him
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I’m saying it was funny for you to scoff at the notion of the Pistons straight up benching a vet in the name of tank, only for this news to come out thirty minutes later. Obviously it’s not the same thing as benching Grant. It’s just funny timing. Lighten up, my man 
And I think you underestimate how bad Sekou has been if you think this won’t help the Pistons lose games. He’ll be the main minutes beneficiary of this.
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Sekou’s been playing a little better lately. Nothing close to his magical first week or so last year but he’s starting to look more comfortable out there. Really, any improvement is welcome over how he looked the first month of the season.
You watch more than I do, and obviously I can point to his extremely negative value in PIPM and BPM and say he’s an anchor, but that doesn’t really get around to who is replacing him may be worse. I just assumed that shooting 36% on over 10 shots a game isn’t helping.
Getting him more minutes is the super important thing here, comfort level seems to be such a big thing with getting him on the right track.
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I will admit to LOATHING Blake for most of his career - I thought he was a whiner, a ref-baiter, and played on teams that I generally thought under-performed their talent level and routinely melted to “tougher” teams (watching the Gasol/Randolph/Conley Grizzlies stomp a mudhole in them 3 times a year always was one of my favorites, as it would almost always involve Blake trying to flop a charge-call on Randolph and end with ZBo taunting him while he was on his back). I REALLY thought he was wildly over-rated.
His season in Detroit forced me to accept a solid measure of grudging respect.
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Not helping much, for sure. He still draws attention and really worked well with Ellington. I think Blake’s chemistry and passing was a huge factor in Wayne shooting over 52% from 3 in January. However, Blake also took the air out of the offense quite often too.
If I’m weighing Blake as a positive/negative this season, It’s going to come out to something like 51/49% or closer. Playing in the final minutes of games, though, it was more like 40/60. He did not get stronger as the games went on and Casey had him logging a lot of minutes, relative to his health. 3 minutes more per game than last season.
He does ref-bait a lot but he also legit gets hit in the face a lot and not get calls. This year, the lack of whistles has been noticeable. His drop in FT per game (3.1 this year vs. 6.8 for his career, so probably 7 a game prior to this season) is due in part to taking more jumpers but also to hardly getting any calls.
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Blake also is attempting his career lows (by a wide margin) inside the paint.
I was just listening to the Dunc’d On “15 in 60” (where they review all teams in 1 conference). Much of the Pistons bit was devoted to speaking about the Rose trade, the return, how playing time will shift with that and Griffin’s demotion…but Nate did remark, on Griffin’s demotion:
“This opens up more time for Stewart who is just f*****g relentless - it’s awesome. There is absolutely no stop to him, whatsoever.” They also noted that Stewart has actually done a better job than expected (to this point) protecting the rim. He said that teams still shoot a bunch, so there is some noise, but Stewart’s hustle should make him acceptable defensively.
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It’s the NBA…everyone ref-baits and especially the “stars”. I think Blake early in his career suffered from being the biggest and most athletic guy on the court in a lot of games and didn’t get some of those calls and got beat up a bit. I thought he was wildly over-rated early in his career but as he started to develop his game more I came to really respect him. The guy made the league due to his strength, finishing ability, and insane athleticism. As age robbed him of that he could have flamed out fast, but hung around by developing his passing and shooting.
Honestly, I think he’s the best comp out there for Zion. And if I were advising Zion I would have him reach out to Blake as a mentor for how he dealt with things during his career and evolved his game.
It is hard to judge him this year with his jumpers and low FT% just because of the way he’s being used and the fact that he’s basically Miguel Cabrera right now. The talent is still there, but it can only come out in small doses at this point.
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The Pistons were supposed to play SA tonight and Dallas tomorrow. Instead, there wasn’t a game tonight and they’re playing the Bulls tomorrow.
Gotta roll with the times!
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I guess this one fell into the Good for the Lotto category. The Pistons blow a 25-point 2nd quarter lead and Delon Wright comes up short on the game-tying three.
Jerami Grant did have a career-high 43 points. His previous high was 32 points (twice) earlier this year.
Prior to joining the Pistons, he’d never had a 30-point game.
Also, Washington won. Sadly, the T-Wolves blew a 4th quarter lead and lost in OT.
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Some were worried the Pistons were winning too many games just for a boon. PGs now down to Smith and Lee. https://twitter.com/omarisankofa/status/1363533196047040512?s=21
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