Comments on: Has the Pistons’ history made adjusting to life in Detroit more difficult on Charlie Villanueva than it needed to be?

By: Laser

Laser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:57:40 +0000

yes. on a good team, charlie v would simply be a wildly overpaid role player. on this team, he’s hopeless.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:34:20 +0000

@everyone:
I agree with the general sentiment that Villanueva will probably never “fit” the mold of a Detroit basketball player. He just doesn’t have that physicality in him.
But I also love when great systems find uses for one-dimensional guys like Villanueva. He’s an offensive threat, and a unique one. I would love to see the Pistons figure out a way to use him that will highlight his one strength and hide him defensively on the floor. I’m not sure there’s a way to do it, but his offensive ability is the reason I hold out some hope that he can be a useful player.

By: nuetes

nuetes — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:21:01 +0000

i want darko back.

By: Laser

Laser — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 02:44:21 +0000

@koz: ‘cept we didn’t pay darko $35+ million.

By: DoctorDaveT.com

DoctorDaveT.com — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 02:20:26 +0000

Hey, PP,
Nice article, Patrick. However, I think the Terry Mills comparison is dooming.
As an Ann Arbor homer, I loved it when TMills played for the Pistons. I watched him win the NCAA championship from my TVs in my dorm room. Had about 20 guys there that night. So, when he was with the Pistons, that was great.
I loved watching him shoot the threes. When he was on, it was a lot of fun to watch. But unless your name is Bill Laimbeer, C/PF should not be shooting 3′s exclusively. They should be parked in the paint. Mills might have played playoff hoops with the Pistons, but didn’t anybody think they were championship caliber?
Comparing CV to TMills? One word comes to mind: “soft.” Now, Mr. Hayes, that’s a relative term. I recognize CV would clean my clock and probably leave me for dead on the court; but I’m not comparing him to me – I’m comparing him to the 70 PFs that have contracts to play NBA hoops. And in that group, CV is soft.
I don’t mean he’s a sissy boy; I get it that he played through a tremendous amount of pain. I’m using the word “Soft” to describe his style of play, his lack of good defense.
OK – I read the article, about how much energy he puts into it. I’m not knocking his ethic either. It’s his game.
The other guys you mention in that article: Laimbeer, Mahorn, Rodman (one of my favorite players to ever wear the Pistons uniform), Williamson, Wallace & Wallace – do you know what else they have in common, besides being fiercesome? They’re NBA champions. Not NCAA champions (a la TMills), but NBA champs.
CV hasn’t shown me he can play PF on a championship caliber team. I sure hope I’m wrong on this, but CV isn’t a starting answer. That is, until JJ went down. Now he has a year to show me how wrong I am.

By: koz

koz — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 02:12:26 +0000

Charlie V = Darko II

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:42:06 +0000

A hearty congrats on the article.

I don’t think Villanueva will ever embody Detroit basketball, that’s my personal feeling. I happen to think he’s an underrated scorer and could be a good 6th man on several NBA teams (I think LeBron and CLE could have used him last season). He’s still young enough to be more than a 6th man but, at this point, I see him as Al Harrington with some upside.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:16:20 +0000

Patrick: Congrats on becoming a SLAM contributor. For my money, you are the best Pistons writer out there, so it’s good to see that you are getting recognition for the writing.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:11:43 +0000

@nuetes

that is because the turnaround baseline jumper is one of the toughest shots in basketball.

I don’t think CV’s position away from the basket hurts him because he is a legitimate threat for the three but you are absolutely on the mark that he really does not have a go to move. Sheed spent way too much time out there in my opinion because nobody could stop his turnaround inside but he just didn’t like bumping down there for long stretches. Cv has the same aversion to regular contact on the offensive end. To give Sheed credit, on defense he used contact & his body as effectively as any big in the league so i always figured he used the O-end to rest. Unfortunately Cv is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Sheed when it comes to a defensive game. Sheed’s was a thing of beauty, especially later in the game.

By: nuetes

nuetes — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:29:48 +0000

Congrats on the article as well.

I’ve seen the Terry Mills comparison before and I’d agree. The only difference being that Mills tried hard, he just had no athletic skills whatsoever. CV doesn’t seem like he’s putting in the effort on the court. Maybe he is, and maybe what I’m seeing is him actually trying, but it just doesn’t look like it.

I’ve always said he should embrace the Corliss role. Come in off the bench and rack up as many points as possible before it’s time to get off the court. Corliss was a scoring machine. He shot a higher percentage than CV though. Villanueva spends too much time away from the basket, and really has no go to thing. Corliss was a beast on the baseline. The baseline jumper is a dying big man art.