Vinnie Johnson's First Game vs. Pistons after Leaving Detroit

[@plainsimple244]

Vinnie Johnson didn't leave, he got waived ... Vinnie Johnson should have been on the 1991-92 Pistons. You see how Mark Aguirre refused to come out on the switch and screen and stayed with the screener? All those guys on the Pistons knew Vinnie should have been on their team.

[@mangrove]

I don' t think Vinnie every forgave Jack McCloskey for waiving him. I was at the gane where Isiah's number was retired, and after McCloskey waxed poetic about the 3 guard rotation of Isiah, Joe and Vinnie, the camera showed VInnie's reaction. He wasn't smiling. Really, he looked like he wanted to strangle McCloskey. VJ should have retired a Piston; he was one of the OGs remaining, even predating Laimbeer by several months. Detroit waiving him was a surprise; even at 35, he still had something left in the gas tank.

[@plainsimple244]

@@mangrove Something like that you don't forgive because McCloskey messed up a possible dynasty of 3 or more. So we are talking about Vinnie Johnson on the 1991-92 Pistons, which takes away pressure off of Isiah and Joe to be perfect, you had Darrell Walker so your guards are set without worrying about a possible injury .... It's obvious you should have kept Edwards because all he'll do is score and draw double teams so you needed his size against a team like New York, Cleveland, and Chicago -- a lot of those games were Detroit being outmatched, which is why they lost early ... still hard to watch that Knicks' series with all the offensive rebounds the Knicks had ... Woolridge didn't fit on that team because he didn't work for rebounds; as big and athletic as he was he should have averaged 8-10 a game but he was a stand-still scorer who couldn't score consistently because he had no post game and shot ... at least Dantley had a shot and post game and could get to the line at will .... They should have started Aguirre that season and if you are going to have that front line you should have used Brad Sellers more with Laimbeer and Aguirre all season or make Rodman work on his offensive game so you could start him because Worm could handle the ball, get his own shot, rebound, run the floor well, make good decisions on the break and had 3-point range while getting to the line. I still don't know why Dennis Rodman NEVER worked on his game offensively from 1988-1992 ... had he done so just with his ball handling and shooting, Detroit could have won two more titles at least because now you couldn't trap them and he could average double figures just being aggressive and looking for his shot .. you know he's going to be unselfish, doesn't need the ball, now he can shoot and handle and you are looking at another 20 points a game with 15 rebounds -- but yet Rodman NEVER got in the gym and worked on his game offensively -- the first thing you do when you go to a court is pick up a ball and shoot... not Rodman ... How the hell do you work on rebounding in the offseason to improve? It was impressive going from 12 to 18 rebounds from 1990-91 to 1991-92 for Rodman, but he should have practiced his game more. I still think McCloskey waiving Vinnie Johnson and trading James Edwards was NBA politics where McCloskey more than likely had no choice because they wanted Jordan to win and keep winning...the Pistons and the rest of the league knew they were injured in '91 so them coming back mad and healthy with Johnson/Edwards was going to be problems for the rest of the league, especially when you look at the 'transactions' they could have kept both Walker and Woolridge while keeping Edwards/Johnson -- makes no sense unless you want Chicago to win and McCloskey had no choice.

[@jgallagher1359]

@@plainsimple244 Guys...try to be somewhat realistic here. McClosky was AWESOME. They got swept and looked terrible. Vinnie, you can see in the video, can barely move. His shooting had also fallen off. Edwards was also toast at that point. If anything more moves should have been made, not less. everyone was toast.

[@plainsimple244]

@@jgallagher1359 The '91 Sweep: Why did Detroit get swept in '91? They got swept because Thomas took only 9 shots in game 1 and only 9 shots in game 2; Joe Dumars took only 10 shots in game 1 and just 10 shots in game 3; Laimbeer took just 7 shots in game 1 and just 2 shots in game 2 while Chuck Daly played John Salley only 9 minutes in game 2 while playing James Edwards only 11 minutes in game 2 and just 9 minutes in game 3. If your scorers don't shoot and your coaching staff doesn't play your front court major minutes, what will happen? You will lose. If Detroit did this vs. Atlanta/Boston or prior vs. any opponent, they would have easily lost. This is why they got swept and looked terrible -- plus they never ran their offense through -- go look at the start of all the games, they came out in game 2 a little focused but stopped executing. Edwards was not toast, he had a solid role with the Clippers and was good enough to play until 1995-96 and would guard Mourning, Ewing, and Shaq, he still had a lot of great game left in him, especially in 1993 with the Lakers ... so he couldn't do this with Detroit? As far as Vinnie Johnson, remember, he was the only guard producing vs. Chicago -- he and Aguirre produced the most offensively ... so you keep him because Johnson can create double teams, you also have Walker to play back-up point guard so if Thomas goes out or if Johnson is needing time to get back into it, he can ease in ... Detroit still could have kept Edwards/Johnson while adding Walker/Woolridge having a 10 man rotation being deep and healthy working through the season with the revenge factor. THEY NEVER GAVE THEMSELVES A CHANCE TO BOUNCE BACK TO SEE IF THEY COULD WIN -- THEY BROKE UP A TITLE-CONTENDING TEAM and for what? Oh, to keep Jordan winning -- that's the reason why all that happen. So that's what McCloskey did, more than likely had had no choice but it made NO SENSE to break up a title-contending team like that, especially when you know HOW to win and Thomas, Dumars, and Rodman were all-stars in '91-'92; Edwards and Johnson could have just come off the bench as they did in '89, right? Imagine a bench of Johnson/Walker, Edwards/Salley and Aguirre in 1991-92? That's a deep team, but we have to let the Bulls keep winning because it's a business. Bottom Line: The Pistons helped the Bulls win in '91 and had to get rid of Johnson/Edwards in '91-'92 to let Jordan keep winning. Remember, that was the only team beating Jordan -- to this day, a healthy Isiah Thomas-led Pistons team is the last team to eliminate Jordan in the post season. HAHAHHAHA You cannot risk Jordan losing in '92 or in '93, which is why in '92-'93 they got rid of Salley while adding Olden Polynice, Danny Young at guard and then later Alvin Robertson. Imagine the '92-'93 Pistons with a front court of Laimbeer, Aguirre, Rodman, Polynice, and Salley with Alvin Robertson who could play 3 positions -- come on? From 1989-'93 the Pistons lost the following guys: Mahorn '89; Edwards/Johnson '91; and Salley '92. So look at what happened from 1991-93 and what Detroit could have had. Go back and look at the terrible moves the Pistons made from 1989-93.

[@DennisFontanilla-m2n]

Vinnie johnson plays like Lonnie walker