Comments on: Maybe not his best three-game stretch, but this might be Rodney Stuckey’s most meaningful run

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:15:55 +0000

in a sense, joe missed out on a minefield of franchise superstars when he drafted darko. and then he fails miserably at building a team around the guy he’s trying to make his star, and he won’t make any moves to change course.

i hate being taunted with the possibility of a stuckey-daye-monroe-jerebko pistons squad. it sounds like a good number of quality pieces on a good team. but for the next 3-4 years you have to include rip hamilton, ben gordon and charlie villanueva in that discussion. these are the guys you went out, paid a fortune for, and decided to commit to. it’s troubling that dumars leaves their names out of the discussion in the first place; you just gave out two of those contracts a year ago, and the other just two years ago. but once you add those guys, that’s almost a full rotation there. and we’ve seen how good that team can be (read: not very), even with quality players that provide what these guys need, specifically big ben, bynum, and max. and you’re not likely to get too much more help in the next three years. i mean, ben wallace has been their best player. the team’s dreadful. no coach to speak of either. and we’re looking at three years more of this if the organization keeps making excuses instead of changes. too much job security, i think. i hope ilitch doesn’t indulge joe and let him extend tayshaun…

so i’m dying to see what moves, if any, get made by the deadline. joe said he had the chance for “lateral” trades, which i doubt is true. first, i think he’s just trying to create the illusion that his pieces are movable. second, i’d be surprised if there was a true lateral move i wouldn’t approve right about now. we’ve seen how bad this team is, and any change would be for the better.

By: Rodney Stuckey gains leverage in contract negotiations | DetroitBasketball.net

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:39:31 +0000

[...] play and the likely impeding lockout. But with Stuckey having a superb preseason and an excellent start to the regular season (18.7 ppg, 7.7 asp, 4.3 rpg), it might cost Pistons brass more than they previously [...]

By: Rodney Stuckey Gains Contract Negotiations Leverage | DetroitBasketball.net

Rodney Stuckey Gains Contract Negotiations Leverage | DetroitBasketball.net — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:37:44 +0000

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:51:22 +0000

hyperbole about what to do with a player who doesn’t fit is nice, but the reality is that we owe him a lot of money over the next three years; money that counts against the cap that whole time. we’re not the new york knicks, and we’re not going to pay him not to play. if joe can unload him, fine. but if he can’t, stuckey or gordon has to go, right? i don’t think gordon’s contract is prohibitive, but you probably get a killer return on stuckey. it would have been nice to let the guy play his most natural position for us, but there are those two other contracts. and this isn’t working.

and don’t underestimate rip’s abilities when working in a cohesive offensive system. start bynum alongside him and he’s instantly a good starting SG rather than dead weight. and he’s dead weight as long as he has to fend for himself and get hi own shot off the dribble. it’s just not his game.

By: nuetes

nuetes — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:51:01 +0000

@laser

I have no problem using Stuckey as trade bait, if that is what your proposing. The thing if Rip is done for, so your leaving yourself with 1 of the 3 in the end. It’s only a matter of time before Rip is benched, and possibly just sent home to live out his days on the couch if he continues to play this badly. This is flat out unacceptable. He has been beyond bad. If it continues he’s rendered himself worthless. That leaves Stuckey, Bynum, and Gordon (scary, I know) as the backcourt, and Rip as an untradeable worthless cap albatross. Under this scenario I don’t know that I’m comfortable giving up Stuckey, then again under that scenario we are so screwed it wouldn’t even matter. Personally I value front court players much higher than back court players, so whatever it takes to get a premier front court guy, or a guy with that potential, I’m all for it.

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:27:44 +0000

@pcb: for one thing, “most” of the night is nice when you come out with the W, because that’s the “most” that counts. stuckey managed one (1) 4th quarter assist and didn’t get any of his teammates involved. westbrook dished out three on his own to match the pistons’ entire fourth quarter assist total. generally, with that guy i’ll trade 7 points for 2 extra assists, but the bottom line for me is that the thunder ended the game playing team basketball. the pistons ended the game with nearly an entire quarter quarter of isolation plays. a sure way to lose 3/4 of your games with the personnel we have. if you think stuckey won the point guard battle there, so be it. but the other two games he got CRUSHED.

@nuetes: see, i can’t get behind this philosophy that someone agrees with me on stuckey being who we think he is and also being happy with that. it comes down to being able to look past individual accomplishments and value and look at the bigger picture of the team as a whole. stuckey+gordon+rip= a disaster, and we’ve already got major, long-term, unmovable commitments to gordon and rip. so something has to give, and that something looks like stuckey. if joe can move one of the others, god bless him. but it hasn’t happened yet. the team is going nowhere with this current roster, and there are a lot of major pieces LOCKED into place, so we have to get creative and move guys who we can move. unless you think those three guards can succeed together, in which case i’ll believe it when i see it. which will be never.

By: detroitpcb

detroitpcb — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:06:11 +0000

@laser

i was at the OKC game and i certainly did not see Stuckey get outplayed. He dominated Westbrook for most of the night.

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Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:35:31 +0000

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By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:23:22 +0000

Over the summer, Dumars said of Stuckey something resembling, “he’s been good but sometimes good is not good enough. We need him to be great.”

This three game stretch has been the best “good” Stuckey has been. If he were “great,” he would’ve protected a 7point lead against the Nets, found a way to win against the Thunder, and settled the offense to beat the Bulls.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy and he’s continued to improve but Detroit should be at least 2-1 if Stuckey were better than good.

By: nuetes

nuetes — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:02:30 +0000

See I don’t expect stardom out of Stuckey, therefore I’ve lowered my criteria for assessing him. He doesn’t have to be the leader, or the vocal one, or the clutch one, he just has to be efficient and take advantage of what the other team gives him. I don’t expect him to make plays out of the ordinary, or create something when it’s not there anymore. Don’t be a liability. Be above average. He’s done that so far this season. Of course I could find some faults if I decided that Rondo, Nash, or Paul are the measuring sticks, but I don’t. I’ve developed arbitrary measures like 45% fg, 15 ppg, 6 apg things like that. If he’s meeting or exceeding those numbers he’s doing a good job. He can’t do it all, or be it all. Unfortunately this roster isn’t equipped with that player.