Detroit Pistons & NBA Talk

The challenges stuff is really bad tho. It’s costing them a LOT in this series.

that’s fine

it’s easily fixable

i mean the most it could’ve cost them is 10 points, right? so it’s been extremely pivotal in this series, but echoes mich bball a few years ago where spending a bunch of time on how to perfect close-game strategy is probably not as worth it as just trying to avoid being in close games?

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I think you’ve got this rather wrong. Year to year clutch correlation is low, it’s not a thing in your power to fix. You can very obviously fix not doing a dumb thing. 2 pts is an enormous amount of swing in a close game and this is the playoffs. If the games aren’t close, it’s almost certainly not because you’re coasting to a title.

The upside is what mgl says. The org should have somebody figuring out challenge strategy and JB should be amenable to implementing it.

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when the games are decided by one or two points…

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Inside NBA coaches challenges: All 30 teams ranked by success, and the strategy behind when to use them | Sporting News.

Interestingly, the Pistons are league average basically. Also:

Another consideration is the type of call to challenge. Years ago, many coaches would burn their challenge on low leverage possession calls which, if won, might result in a jump ball as a best-case scenario. Nowadays, those challenges are saved in order to take points off the board or keep a star player out of foul trouble.

Challenges have wildly different chances of success based on the type of call, which also factors into a coach’s decision. Out of bounds challenges are successful 76.5 percent of the time. Goaltending is overturned at a 74.1 percent rate. Foul calls are only changed 52.7 percent of the time.

Time of game is also important.

“We try to wait until the fourth quarter to use it,” Bickerstaff said. That follows the trend from most coaches — only 12 percent of challenges are issued in the first quarter, as compared to 39 percent in the fourth quarter.

With so much information to juggle and snap decisions necessary, it oftentimes comes down to “your gut in the moment and what you see,” Bickerstaff explained.

Those gut decisions can oftentimes backfire. While head coaches get most of the blame or credit, they’re usually most successful when they leave it up to an unheralded assistant or video coordinator behind the scenes who is watching the replay.

“I can remember those where I didn’t wait [for assistant Brittni Donaldson] because we might not have information, and usually I’m wrong,” Snyder admitted. “So my best strategy is to listen to Brittni.”

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Challenging 4 minutes into the game isn’t a good decision. The idea that he should have just hung onto the challenge for another 44 minutes is faulty logic. There were other plays after the first challenge that should have been challenged. That doesn’t mean they would have won that challenge to have the extra challenge.

I thought everyone was a fan of Coach JB?

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everyone other than @Dizzo 's buddy

My faith in sports fan humanity is restored a bit that my friend seems to be the outlier.

So sounds like he’s just kind of tilted a bit for some reason? A couple times he’s let his guys persuade him for no good reason.

The number of remaining possessions bears a great deal on whether or not you should pull the trigger. You’re not trying to max expected points, you’re trying to max expected wins. The possible win expectancy swing due to remaining possessions possible in a 4th quarter challenge is much greater. And it’s not like we’ve seen a shortage of possible challenges throughout the playoffs.

In international basketball news. Germany basketball will be looking for a new coach. He’s been named Canada’s coach.

https://x.com/michaelgrange/status/1917698105622904874?t=rF8x1mgGHcAPFU7k77VJDg&s=19

To fill your four factors withdrawal:

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https://x.com/shamscharania/status/1917716475575500888?s=46

MIP keeps what credibility it still has for now

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Glad the 8th pick in just his 3rd year while still on his rookie deal met your qualifications :wink:

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My take is that you won’t find that many coaches that can instabake a top ten defense with a lineup whose wing “stoppers” are Tim Hardaway and Tobias Harris with Jalen Duren at center. Who here is a “good defender” before this season? Stew, Thompson, and……they’re top ten! That’s amazing!

I’ll deal with wonky reviews especially if the team just decides to deputize some guy to sensibly min/max that stuff

We Stan Norm Powell

It’s definitely not a dealbreaker but it’s something to write down given what led to his dismissal in Cleveland

Did the Cavs underachieve in the playoffs last year? Didn’t they lose to the Celtics and didn’t they have some injuries?

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