Comments on: Picking Greg Monroe was great, and taking Terrico White was OK, but together, those moves don’t add up for the Detroit Pistons

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:55:31 +0000

Tads, I haven't finished sizing up White's half-court credentials. But simple logic says they're lacking. Given his speed and jumping ability, I think we'd agree he has potential to be a very good fastbreak player. But if he was also good in the half-court, he wouldn't have gone in the second round. Players who excel in the fastbreak and half-court go in the lottery.

More on this in the coming days, but his turnovers decreased because he moved to shooting guard and didn't have the ball in his hands as often. Plus, he often shot before he had a chance to turn the ball over.

As far as your hypothetical big-man rotation, only Ben Wallace has proven he can be relied on at center, and he'll be gone in a year or two. Monroe probably will once the season starts, but nobody is a sure thing. Maxiell played better at center than power forward last year, but that's so counter-intuitive, I'm not sure what to make of it. Villanueva, Jerebko, Summers and Thomas are forwards. Of those four, only Thomas can reasonably masquerade as a center, and he barely cuts it.

There is definitely room for a project center on this team. You can never have too much size.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:47:23 +0000

Josh, White would bring a change of pace. But most teams don't play their reserves as a unit. They play them with other starters. There are certain lineup combinations that could play up-tempo with White, but I'm not sure how much John Kuester will cater his rotation to a second-round pick.

And I expect White to make the team, even if Hamilton isn't traded. For one, the Pistons knew White wasn't polished when they drafted him, so no sense cutting him immediately. Two, they could use his cheap contract to fill the roster.

By: tads

tads — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:26:41 +0000

Terrico White is unfairly cast as a full court player just because he is fast and jumps high. He also hits open shots on a consistent basis and can take advantage of size mismatches through post ups, and he has alot of highlights where he scores off of back door cuts, all things that are useful in the half court.
His turnover numbers aren’t gaudy, and decreased about 25% from freshman to sophomore year. This implies that he probably doesn’t force it too often, and he has good ball handling skills. If he can become merely serviceable as a point guard, and doesn’t do anything more than take the ball up the court and takes the safest of shots, I might rather him as a back up point guard over Will Bynum. Now the second line won’t have Ben Gordon guarding the larger of the two guards. Moreover, since him and Stuckey have roughly the same skill set, it would make for more consistent offense.
The second round is for projects, if we would have got a project center we would still need to go out and get a real Center from the free agent market that is ready to play now. There were probably only 3 nba ready bigs in the draft and we got one of them, any of the guys available in the second round would only play in summer league. If we get this FA, I’ll say Tyrus Thomas, then we have Thomas, Monroe, Villaneuva, Wallace, Maxiel, and occasionally Jerebko, and Summers putting in work down low, it’s hard to make an argument that we have less of a log jam there than we do between our guard positions. So of the people we had available to us at 36, we got the person that Joe D thinks will be the shiniest diamond, but that is still a little rough.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:36:09 +0000

Dan, I actually agree that White doesn’t fit in with the half-court system well, that the Pistons roster and team philosophy fit a half-court system better, and that White has a lot of holes in his game. But let’s not forget that often teams will try to bring in players with their second or third units that switch up the tempo. Chances are White won’t even make the roster unless Hamilton is traded, but I think you would agree he has the physique and skills to potentially come off the bench and impact the game with a burst of scoring if he continues to develop.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:52:14 +0000

Tarbaby, Stuckey would definitely be better playing up-tempo. Before the Pistons picked Greg Monroe, I wanted them to play faster. Even if most of them are better playing a half-court game, the Pistons have guys who can play multiple speeds.

But Monroe completely changes that. He's good enough that you can adapt your team to his needs, and I believe he'd be best in a half-court offense.

So where does that leave Stuckey? I'm not sure. It's certainly something I'll be exploring in the coming weeks. I wouldn't be opposed to trading him, but his half-court game has improved. I'm at least a little curious how Stuckey would run (or help run) the offense with a playmaker like Monroe in the pivot. So, I wouldn't just dump Stuckey, but the Monroe pick may have diminished his value to the Pistons (emphasis on may).

Speaking of dumping, I think when Hamilton is healthy next season, you'll realize he's still too good to give away for anyone willing to absorb his contract.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:31:38 +0000

Caleb, White might be a first-round talent. I think he falls into the early second, but you can certainly make the case.

But he doesn't hold that type of value for the Pistons. His skill-set is completely suited to an up-tempo team, which the Pistons aren't.

By: Tarbaby

Tarbaby — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:08:14 +0000

"But aside from Rodney Stuckey and Chris Wilcox, the Pistons have a roster full of players who fit in the half-court offense." great. with this admission that our lead guard (and the guy we've hung the team's future on) doesn't fit a half-court offense, how can you advocate continuing to play that way? just because it's how our crusty old veterans play? stuckey runs the worst half-court offense i've ever seen on a professional level. the only glimmers of success we had were then tayshaun and bynum had the ball in their hands. so something's got to give. me, i'd trade stuckey in a heartbeat and replace him with someone who actually IS a point guard. and if that's not an option, i'd just let rip go to anyone willing to take on that contract. i'd give our backcourt a shot with bynum and stuckey starting and gordon, white and sometimes daye as reserves. then add a solid rotation big and suddenly things don't look so bad.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:38:48 +0000

i LOVE WHAT NUETES SAYS– TO ME WHITE IS THE MOST UNDERATED IN THE DRAFT- JOE DUMARS DID GREAT WITH THAT PICK WHIT SHOULD HAVE WENT IN THE FIRST ROUND

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:58:45 +0000

Max, I completely agree than fixing the defense should be the Pistons' main objective. But that doesn't automatically increase the pace. Plenty of teams play good man-to-man defense and don't force a ton of turnovers. For example, the Bobcats had the league's best defensive efficiency and ranked 24th in pace.

Although, I agree playing better defense could be a simple way to increase the pace.

Varnado and Alabi were both guys I liked more than White, but top guy was Gani Lawal.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:49:22 +0000

James, I think you take the best player available for your team. White is certainly talented enough to qualify as the best player available in that range of the draft. Just not the Pistons.

I'm also very pleased with Monroe.