First year coach Michael Curry had to make his first tough decision today and decided to bench Richard Hamilton and start Amir Johnson.  For how long?  We won’t know for sure, but after a five out of six losing streak – something had to be done.  During that stretch, the Pistons tried out a small ball lineup with Tayshaun Prince at the Power Forward 5 slot. 

Obviously, this failed miserably as they could not rebound and lost to teams such as the Oklahoma Thunder.  They were completely over-matched with this experiment and it showed big time.  So, something had to be done. 

But wait, NBA playas have egos… So?  Who sits??  Well, Rip did the right thing and became the super-sub.  He said that he wanted to do what was right for the team; despite reports last week that he did not want to come out of the starting five. 

I think this was the right move for the team.  However, I doubt that Amir Johnson is the answer to the size deficit in their lineup.  Rasheed has looked even more apt to camp on the three point like this year and Amir has looked like a role player thus far.  With Maxiel declining a bit after last year’s late push, I guess they had no other decision.  Besides that, Jason does not have great size to play the five. 

What about Antonio McDyess??  I think he’s best served on the bench. Altough, he seems like one of the only Pistons this year who wants to hustle this year. 

Well good luck to them now.  I think Rip will be good off the bench and maybe bring some spark.  I hope it works because the Pistons have looked horrible for the past two weeks.