The Answer Needs to Become the Finisher

I will keep this brief. If the Pistons have a chance in hell of beating Boston and winning a ring this year...Iverson needs to come off the bench. And excel at it.

Not Rip.

Iverson.

I'll tell you why. Iverson is a great help defender. And great in the passing lanes. But, unfortunately for us, he's an awful one on one defender. Which means he gives up penetration. Gives up uncontested jumpers on the perimeter and basically allows the whole defense to break down. What's tragic is, If we still played zone, maybe he wouldn't be such a liability.

Case in point: Against the Cavs. Opening of the fourth quarter. Pistons up by eight. "Boobie" Gibson then proceeds to score eight consecutive points in the first three minutes of the quarter and ties the game single-handedly. Gibson's "defender" during that stretch? AI.

Now, I know Mark Jackson LOVES AI. And I know his heart is huge and is effort is great and he's small but tough. But the bottom line is his defense makes our defense awful. 

Now, will bringing him off of the bench make his defense better? No. But you don't have to be a great defender to be a dominant bench player. I know Micheal Curry hangs on my every word, so I'm going to spell it out for him.

1. Start Dice and Rip. You want this to be a defensive team with big energy? Start the 6-7 guard and 250 lb energizer bunny. You do this and we get off to much better starts in games.

2. Rotate 10. In the first half. You want AJ. Max. AI. Bynum. and you pick between AA and Fabio. The reason you want Bynum in there  is because you want to a) run but b) play up. Have Bynum and AI press the ball full or 3/4. This will speed the game up. Which lets AI put up more shots in a shorter period of time.

3. go to more pressing and trapping with this unit. This will allow AI to do what he does best defensively: help and play the passing lanes. This is gimmicky and only works for second stringers, But AI isn't a liabilty on defense

4. Rotate only eight or nine in the second half. We've got to free up more minutes tor stuck, Rip, Tay, and AI.

5 See if you can Camby for Sheed. Sheed's tired. Camby is still runnin. and hitting the boards and tossing shots out of the paint. And, he might not have Sheed's range, but hes good 18 feet. That's enough to keep the lane clear for everybody else

6. Push the ball! After makes. After turnovers. after After misses. Push the ball! Cut Stuckey loose!