| Tonight's Game
No Game Today.
Upcoming
Wednesday Jan 7 10:00PM
at Portland Trail Blazers
Game After
Friday Jan 9 9:00PM
at Denver Nuggets
Pistons Standings
Pistons Record: 21-11, 5 ½ Games Back In Division |
|
|
|
 |
| Author |
Message |
Dave
|
|
Post subject: Michael Curry plans to give Pistons a tune-up
 Posted: Sep 30, 2008 - 12:53 AM CST
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 18, 2005
Posts: 82
  
Status: Offline
|
|
Michael Curry, as a rookie head coach, isn't looking to overhaul the engine in his first training camp -- which opens with Media Day today.
Curry's initial mission is to clean the engine, rejuvenate it, and make sure all the parts that have powered the Pistons to six straight Eastern Conference finals appearances are working properly.
By going back to the basics and making sure no detail is overlooked -- be it conditioning, commitment or execution -- Curry hopes to eliminate the breakdowns that have stalled the Pistons the last three conference finals.
"Let's first understand that this group of guys has been really successful," Curry said. "There's not a lot of major things with the game of basketball that you are going to come in and teach or show them. But what you can do is hold them accountable to doing all the little things they need to do every day. When you do that, you get the best out of your guys and you don't feel at the end of the year that maybe your team underachieved."
What does Curry mean by little things?
One is conditioning. Curry told his players they will be spending time with strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander every day, either before or after practice.
"We aren't going to just run guys into the ground," he said. "The vets and the heavy-minutes guys might not do as much on the court on some days, but strength and conditioning and player development is going to be a fixture. If you do it every day, then your conditioning is going to build as the season goes on and we will be sharp throughout the year."
Curry is also a proponent of daily drill work. Drill stations, similar to what college and high school programs use, will be a staple of Pistons practices. No skill is too fundamental or mundane for drill work -- even for a veteran team.
"We have more than 40 drills right now," said Curry, who especially loves one-on-one drills. "You have to throw different drills at these guys. They've played so much basketball that if you give them the same thing every time, they are like anybody else in any other profession -- they will get a little bored. We want to avoid that. We want to stimulate these guys to the point where they will have spent two hours on the court and not even realize it."
The younger players, especially those who played in the Summer League, have experienced the new practice regime and speak highly of it.
"It's all about building consistent behavior and consistent habits all year long," Arron Afflalo said. "If you build inconsistent habits in your intensity and the way you play the game, and try to rely on your talent level to pull you through, it can hurt you in the end. I know Coach Curry focuses on playing the game hard every time so there will be no excuses come playoff time."
Said Rodney Stuckey: "Things are different around the practice facility. With Coach Curry around it's more fun, the whole vibe is different. I know MC (Curry) will hold guys accountable and people are going to have to be ready to play."
With 14 players on guaranteed contracts, the roster is all but set. The only non-guaranteed player in camp is former Pistons draftee Alex Acker. After two successful seasons in Europe, Acker is trying to claim the 15th spot. The Pistons, though, might keep that spot open, either for Lindsey Hunter (who isn't expected to return until well after the All-Star break) or to have flexibility to add another player later.
Here are some of the main story lines that will play out over the next month:
Will Amir Johnson start? Curry has made it clear that the Pistons' second-best frontcourt player, by far, is Antonio McDyess. But he also has made it clear the best way to use McDyess is off the bench, to play pick-and-roll with Stuckey.
Thus, the fifth starting position is wide open. The battle will be between Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and Kwame Brown. Curry, from the sound of it, will give Johnson the first crack at winning the spot. He feels like his athleticism, his enthusiasm and his ability to collect second-chance points on offense and disrupt shots at the basket on defense will work well in tandem with Rasheed Wallace.
But Johnson will have to prove he can handle his individual defensive matchups, avoid constant foul trouble and limit his turnovers.
Brown, the big-bodied free agent the Pistons signed this summer, is the lone true center on the roster. His presence would allow Wallace to play at his natural power forward position. With Johnson, Wallace would have to defend centers on most nights.
The question with Brown will be how much or little will he be able to provide at the offensive end.
Maxiell, who performed well as a fill-in starter during the playoffs last season, might be too undersized to handle a full-time starting role. The coaching staff worries about the amount of energy he has to expend to be effective. They think he might be more productive in shorter bursts off the bench.
Can Pistons develop a low-post presence? Curry is determined that the Pistons will play a more inside-out offensive game this season, even though the personnel hasn't changed and the Pistons still don't have a true low-post scoring threat.
"Points in the paint will be one of our main focuses," Curry said.
Curry plans to incorporate a more aggressive, motion-oriented attack to facilitate more post scoring. Points in the paint, he said, can come from dribble penetration and motion, not just from traditional low-post isolation plays.
Assistant coaches Darrell Walker (New Orleans) and Pat Sullivan (New Jersey) both come from teams that run motion offenses, and Curry will lean on their expertise.
He already has talked with Wallace, telling him that more plays will be run using him on the low block and imploring him to condition himself accordingly. It takes a lot of energy to fight for position in the low block every night.
That said, coaches have been trying and failing to establish a consistent low-post offense here for seven years.
Will all the guards get their minutes? Curry calls Stuckey his sixth starter. The plan is for Stuckey to play 30-plus minutes a night, same as starters Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton.
Certainly, as he showed in the playoffs last season, Stuckey is ready for the increased responsibility. The tricky part will be how Billups and Hamilton react. Hamilton balked at having his minutes reduced last season, claiming he could never get into a comfortable rhythm.
Afflalo, too, is expected to play 20-plus minutes a game.
It will be intriguing to see how that all plays out.
Can a 10-man rotation work? The plan is to play all five frontcourt players, plus Stuckey and Afflalo, regularly. Curry also said he expects Walter Herrmann to be an integral piece of the puzzle, backing up Tayshaun Prince.
Clearly, Wallace and McDyess will have their minutes reduced, particularly in the first half of the season. Billups' days of playing 36 to 40 minutes a night are gone as well. But to see how Curry juggles all these worthy players will be interesting.
"Our goal is not to set a number (on how many players will play regularly) but to prepare guys to play certain roles," Curry said.
"I told the players, we have a very talented team and it's not just our starting five. Sometimes you are going to come out of the game not because you are tired or you made mistakes, but because it's time for others to have a chance to play."
How will combinations sort out? The Pistons can play big -- with Brown, Wallace and Herrmann across the front. They can play small and fast with Johnson, Maxiell, Prince, Hamilton or Afflalo and Stuckey. They can use a three-guard lineup with Hamilton, Billups and Stuckey. They can use Prince at any one of four positions.
They can be a traditional half-court team and they can press and attack full court.
The goal in camp is to uncover what combinations work best in each situation.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... /809290340 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Sub-Forum
