Talk of trades, lineup changes and the wisdom of playing for a draft pick – just what you'd expect when a team opens the season struggling as the Pistons have. On with Mailbag ...
Jon (East Lansing, Mich.): With the rest of the season looking rather bleak, why not just have a "fire sale?" Greg Monroe is what he is and our bench looks pretty pathetic. Jerebko has noticeably declined since his rookie season and Singler is inconsistent. You know how we feel about Jennings and Smith. The only players worth holding on to in my opinion are Drummond, KCP, Dinwiddie and, give or take, Mitchell. I would shop everyone on the team and just see what I could get out of it, even if it means taking less in return. At least then SVG would be able to do what he came here to do and have a chance at instilling a new identity and culture. What are your thoughts?
Langlois: I think it's fair to assume that a team that starts 3-19 is very much open to changing the roster. I think it's fair to assume that conversations are frequent and ongoing with teams across the league. That happens in good times; it happens on another level in bad times. The problem, of course, is that when you get off to that kind of start, potential trade partners are dealing from a position of strength. They understand they're talking to a GM with a heightened sense of urgency, for one thing, and the Pistons didn't get to 3-19 because a bunch of individual players are exceeding expectations – quite the contrary. And that means they'd be selling low. Once again, please understand that trading Greg Monroe is so unlikely – due to the fact any trade requires his consent, and he has very little reason to do so and waive his Bird rights – that it's a non-starter. If he was, instead, a typical pending unrestricted free agent instead of one playing under his qualifying offer, then he would be a very valuable trade chip and the likeliest player to be put in play and fetch an attractive return. I think Andre Drummond is pretty close to an untouchable and it would take something unexpected for Van Gundy to part with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but anything else is possible. Keep in mind that next Monday, Dec. 15, is the first day that the vast majority of free agents signed over the summer can be traded, which increases the number of proposals that can happen significantly. Stan Van Gundy said earlier this week that the start has, to a degree, changed the way the front office is going about its business. Without saying it explicitly, I think you can probably draw from his words that the future is now a little more heavily weighted over the present than it was when the season started.
Kobina (Decatur, Ga.): If, in April, the Pistons are within reach of a top-three pick and go on another one of their season-ending "win streaks" to drop down to the seven to 10 range, shouldn't fans feel completely betrayed by them again?
Langlois: The Pistons went 3-9 over their last 12 games last season, Kobina. I'm not sure that qualifies as going on a winning streak to ruin draft position. As it turned out, it put them in the No. 8 spot and then when Cleveland – about time those guys caught a break, hey? – vaulted into the No. 1 spot it pushed them back to ninth, meaning they had to convey their 2014 pick to Charlotte. The good news is they keep this year's pick. And I've heard a few scouts say this draft might just wind up having as many high-end prospects as that one – though it remains to be seen how big an impact last year's draft really will have. Nobody is taking the NBA by storm just yet. I also don't know that there's a clear dropoff point yet defined. As each draft approaches, conventional wisdom usually settles on a certain number of "franchise" players, never mind that conventional wisdom is almost always proven incorrect when the results come in. I can't get too worked up about a few wins potentially meaning drafting two spots lower in the lottery. Not when Greg Monroe proves to be a much better player than Evan Turner, taken five spots ahead of him, or Andre Drummond proves the much better player than Dion Waiters, taken five spots ahead of him, or Thomas Robinson, taken four notches ahead. Whether anyone feels betrayed by that is up to them.
Philip (@Agridome): When does Jodie Meeks come back and, if so, will we see a three-guard lineup at times?
Langlois: Meeks is scheduled to practice today and Thursday, then – if he reports no setbacks or difficulties – he hopes to be able to get some spot minutes on Friday night. Stan Van Gundy is being a little more cautious, saying next week is more likely for him, but that's his prognosis before seeing Meeks in practice, which will be the biggest factor in when he gets his first action of the season. Van Gundy has said that he thinks training camp injuries for players new to a team are the most difficult because of all the learning and familiarity with teammates and system that is lost. He has said it might not be until the February All-Star break before Meeks really hits his stride. Meeks says his conditioning is coming along and he is looking forward to experiencing his first full-contact practice. Will we see a three-guard lineup? Again, that will largely depend on how Meeks performs. But one of the lineup combinations Van Gundy was most eager to test in the preseason was one that featured both Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at the wing positions. He felt that using two high-energy players who ran the floor hard and both represented a 3-point shooting threat would give the Pistons potential matchup advantages.
Clark (Santa Cruz, Calif.): Do you think SVG would ever just decide to start Dinwiddie, KCP, Singler, Drummond and one of Datome/Mitchell/Jerebko just to try something completely new? It's hard to imagine things getting worse. As a fan, I think it would be eaiser to accept losing if we were at least playing with less talent or at least less experience on the floor.
Langlois: At 3-19, I'm guessing there is virtually no lineup combination Van Gundy hasn't considered, Clark. As he said after Tuesday's loss to Portland, everything is on the table. He said he would like to play more than one ballhandler at a time. The 13-0 run in Tuesday's fourth quarter that made it interesting came with two point guards – Dinwiddie and D.J. Augustin – on the floor together, as well as Caron Butler, another capable ballhandler, and Jonas Jerebko, whose presence almost always increases ball movement. But Van Gundy thinks defense first and my guess is his first thought about a forward combination of Singler with any one of Datome, Mitchell or Jerebko is that it would tough for those guys to rebound adequately and prevent most opposing power forwards from overpowering them in the post. Jerebko can hold his own with a lot of power forwards, but Van Gundy really tries to match him more with the stretch-four types more than the traditional paint dwellers. Mitchell has the athleticism but doesn't have much in the way of a body of work put into evidence about his ability to shoulder a bigger role. Datome would be miscast as a power forward. Singler probably would be better equipped to guard fours than Datome, but – again – most matchups would put him at a size/strength disadvantage.
Scott (@brodiegames): Is there any indication SVG is open to reducing Josh Smith's playing time? To the layman, that feels like addition by subtraction.
Langlois: Look, I get that Smith takes the brunt of fan frustration for the way the last two seasons have played out. But if everybody on the roster was playing as close to expectations as Smith, the Pistons wouldn't be 3-19. It enraged fans last year that he took as many 3-point shots as he did – in part, a function of the offense and the time he spent playing small forward – but he's down more than 50 percent over last season (3.4 attempts per game to 1.4). He's doing most other things well to very well. His assists are at a career-high rate of 4.9 per game, up significantly over last season's 3.3. His shooting percentage is down at 38 percent. Stan Van Gundy says he still expects Smith to start making shots at closer to his career norms and doesn't see any underlying obvious reason for the decline, which stems mostly from the fact that he's not finishing as efficiently near the rim as in recent seasons. I don't think the Pistons get better by reducing Smith's role in any dramatic way.
Haris (@harisahmad_1):I heard rumors that SVG wants to hire a shooting coach. Did he ever get one? Seems like we need one more than ever now.
Langlois: He mentioned over the off-season that it was something worth considering. He didn't bring in anyone specifically assigned as a shooting coach, but each assistant coach has a few players under their supervision for drill work and they do videotape work to look for flaws in mechanics. Maybe it's something Van Gundy revisits at some point.
Jason (Chicago): In all the chaos and disappointment being discussed about the Pistons right now, noticing Josh Smith's numbers has given me some hope. He's rebounding, usually grabbing a couple of steals and blocks and isn't shooting the three nearly as much. The next thing I would like to see is Josh trying to position himself more in the paint to score more at the rim. Is there any truth to this or am I just making this up?
Langlois: See above, Jason. He is generally playing well. One of the issues with asking Smith to post up more or take the ball from the wings or elbows to the rim more is that the paint is usually packed against the Pistons for obvious reasons – bodies are needed there to defend Greg Monroe's post scoring ability and to keep Andre Drummond off the offensive glass, but also because the Pistons aren't shooting particularly well so defenses are willing to gamble on their outside shooting and loading up inside. For all the talk about the Pistons not shooting well in the paint and, even closer, in the restricted area, as well – all very true – it's not necessarily the case that those close shots are all great shots. Many of them – a higher percentage than other teams, I would venture to guess – are heavily contested shots.
DeMarcus (Lawrenceville, Ga.): "(Stan) Van Gundy is a smart guy and a good coach. He's not going to keep repeating steps that don't lead to progress or success," is part of a response you gave recently to a Mailbag question. The Andre Drummond-Josh Smith frontcourt has only had a few games to prove fruitful, but if it doesn't yield better results how long do you think it'll be before he switches the pairing? While I could see Monroe and Smith, what about Drummond and Monroe as the frontcourt pairing?
Langlois: It's been a combination he's used judiciously, DeMarcus, and the crux of his reasoning, I think it's fair to say, is he's concerned about getting burned by perimeter shooting. When Josh Smith fouled out of the overtime loss at Boston last week, Drummond and Monroe – though both enormously productive in that game with a combined 56 points and 21 rebounds – were left to defend Boston's frontcourt duo of Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger and their perimeter shooting quickly put the Pistons in an eight-point hole in overtime. There's a tradeoff to be had, for certain, but Monroe and Drummond have to score with great efficiency in the paint to make it a worthwhile tradeoff if the other team is converting 3-pointers at even the league average rate.