Michael Curry has been hinting for a couple of weeks that a tough decision was going to have to be made because the Pistons' best chance to beat Boston and Cleveland is with a big lineup. It's pretty obvious that small-ball wasn't going to cut it. Curry's been throwing out names like Manu Ginobili and Lamar Odom, big-time players who are coming off the bench for elite teams.
But I don't think Rip is hearing any of it. Our exchange went something like this:
So, what's going to happen when you come back, do you think you will jump right back into the starting lineup?
Rip: "Yeah, that's the only option."
Well, there is another option -- coming off the bench.
Rip: "That ain't happening."
This could require an intervention from Joe Dumars.
Curry could sidestep the issue by going back to the small starting lineup, but sub a big man in quickly. That way, Rip and Allen Iverson remain in the starting lineup, and Curry can still keep his big lineup on the court 30-plus minutes. The worry with that is whether the Pistons will go back to getting off to bad starts, which they were doing earlier with the small lineup.