Betrayer

I'm not seeing that burst that made him a tantalizing prospect. Combine that with poor finishing, poor defense, and poor PG play. I get that he's coming off of an injury, but other than the lack of burst the rest is consistent with how he's always been. The three point shooting might be real, but I'm not sure it's enough. The most painful thing for me to watch is his screen navigation. He just dies and sticks to even the weakest screens like the screener is made of magnets and Ivey's bones are made of metal. Watch Ausar or Ron navigate a screen and then watch Ivey - your eyes will start bleeding.

STEW!!!! What a game! Offense was a struggle in this game overall, but the defense was looking good once the second unit came in with Holland, Jenkins, and Green. Glad JB rode those guys in the second half. Can we be done with the Ivey at PG experiment? Daniss is the backup PG on the current roster and when Cade sits, that's who you play. His shot can be streaky, but he knows how to run the offense and he play defense. Also, can we see more of Lanier please? When Duncan is out or you need more shooting, that's who you play in that spot. He's a decent defender, he has size, and he can shoot off of movement. I'd rather see him get minutes than Careless LaVert who I'm done with.

That's a lot of words to say, "I F***ed up. This is on me." JB is a great coach when it comes to making bad teams very good, building a culture, and putting in an overall scheme. He's not good at lineup management or any sort of in-game strategy. He's what I thought Monty would be: An amped up version of Casey. The in-game Xs and Os probably aren't fixable unless you get him a really good play-calling assistant coach. However, these lineup screw-ups seem like they should be correctable if he would just own it and realize his mistakes. It's not rocket science. It's as simple as, "Defense is how we win and we're giving up too many points tonight, so let's play our best defenders instead of sitting them down the stretch."

They beat us (#1 team in the East) and they beat the Spurs, who beat the Thunder (#1 team in the West). Clearly Utah is the best team in the NBA and they're winning a championship.

“Playoff JB” shows up again and benches one of the best perimeter defenders in the league then goes into the postgame complaining about defense. And where was the guy JB just said was the best rim protector in the league? Also on the bench. Inexcusable. Yeah, they’ve could’ve won anyway with some free throws made throughout the game and some better execution down the stretch, but I'm pinning this one on JB for making them play with one arm tied behind their backs.

League should be addressing fouls and referees, not tanking. Fix the game by allowing the defender the right to his space and making it a no-call or offensive foul when the offensive player initiates contact.

Came to say that as well. Terrible list.

Outside of a second scorer to help Cade, I want them to focus on getting a couple 2-way players. The odds of getting a second scorer who can also defend are slim, because those are All-Stars, so I won't put that requirement on that slot. However, any other slot you're trying to fill I'm looking for "3 and D" at a minimum for me to consider the trade. No more role players who play great D but can't shoot or guys who can shoot while getting targeted every play on the other end like Duncan.

This is why you can't take him off the floor regardless of his shooting. Getting stops and creating easy buckets on the other end more than makes up for his lack of shooting. JB playing him less than 30 minutes a game is a crime that I'm sure we'll revisit come playoff time just like last year when it cost us the series with the Knicks.

I've been meaning to call this out as well. It's really weird because last year I distinctly recall commenting about how good they were with their challenges, especially after the Monty season where he couldn't ever get one right. This year the problem I'm seeing is JB goes too far with wanting to show his trust in the guys and be their buddy. I see them pleading with him to challenge and him doing it when he should be trusting the guys behind the bench with the iPads.

That 4th quarter defense was insanely good from guys like Ausar, Holland, Stew, and Green. I felt like I was counting off stock after stock for about 6 minutes of game time. 16 Steals and 10 Blocks total with Ausar having 7 stocks, Stew having 5, and every player in the starting lineup getting at least 1 steal. Held Charlotte to under 90 points. Great stuff.

Career 42% 3pt shooter who's a very good defender...sign me up.

The Pistons could have shot better and that would have solved the issue, but this might have been the worst officiated game I've seen in years. Ref initiates contact with Ausar and so he tosses him. Should've just been one tech. Meanwhile Lebron basically arm wrestles a ref last week and doesn't get anything. That same ref gives JB a tech for pulling Cade off the court as they're heading to the locker room. That shot clock violation/non-possession call was bogus since Washington had both hands clutching the ball before dropping it. Same ref doesn't give JB the timeout as he's calling for it while standing right next to him on the sideline when Duren gets the rebound. Oh, and Duren was fouled big time on that rebound with AD draped all over him. Oh, and AD was standing out of bounds. At one point it was something like 21 to 7 on FTAs and Dallas wound up shooting something like 16 more than the Pistons even though we're the team always going to the paint. Someone check that ref's Fanduel account. What a joke.

A few bad apples always have to ruin for everyone else. The occasional $5 prop bet on a lower tier player just for fun is really the only time I open my betting app.

Josh Hart's thumb is gonna have a busy offseason if that happens.