Comments on: How the Detroit Pistons overestimated Charlie Villanueva’s rebounding ability

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:15:37 +0000

Charlie is one of my favorite pistons, and i take him for what he is. I know he can’t defend as well as others, but he has a lot of great strengths. I do not want to see Charlie go, but this article really made a lot of sense. I still don’t want a trade to occur, but I now feel a bit different about possible post-charlie life.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:37:41 +0000

I just came across this post on stealing rebounds from teammates. It's a great read on this same topic.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:33:10 +0000

Jason, that’s an interesting possibility. My biggest question is how he’d guard opposing small forwards. But if last summer’s commitment to conditioning continues, and wasn’t just a response to a poor season, maybe he could pull it off.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:30:40 +0000

Fafnir, I’m not sure exactly what his Milwaukee coaches desired (he played for three there), but it seems pretty clear Kuester has made Villanueva’s 3-point shooting part of the team’s offense. The Pistons don’t have many post threats, but too often, they don’t have reliable 3-point threats on the floor, either. (That last sentence makes me cringe.)

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:10:08 +0000

Dave, I consider dropping two percentage points on the defensive glass a big change. That alone would account for dropping 10-15 spots in team rebounding ranking (if a player's teammates aren't making up for some of the drop).

Like I said, I consider Villanueva's 3-point attempts a key part of his offensive-rebounding decline, but what is the cause and what is the effect? Is Villanueva not offensively rebounding as well because he's taking so many 3s, or is he taking so many 3s because he's not offensively rebounding as well (because of his teammates)?

I charted every player the last four years 6-foot-9 or taller who qualified for the scoring title by their 3-point attempts per 36 minutes and their offensive-rebounding percentage. That trend line is statistically significant. The red dots represent Villanueva.

In Milwaukee, Villanueva grabbed many more offensive rebounds than would be expected based on his 3-point attempts. In Detroit, he's near or below the expected number. What accounts for the drop? I'd say it's his teammates' being better offensive rebounders.

By: Laser

Laser — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:02:07 +0000

boy is my interest in this team dwindling. if we don’t make any legitimate changes next month, taking an extended hiatus from them is going to be a lot easier than i thought.

i mean, rip is on the outs, even though he looks to be entirely untradeable. meanwhile, it looks like the team wants t-mac to be a big part of the team going forward, even though he’s just a year younger than rip (give or take, given the injuries and the time he missed) and had decent chemistry with the guy.

i’m not sure about you guys, but as someone who’s been screaming from the rooftops how bad this roster looked a looooong time ago, none of this sits well with me.

By: bg8

bg8 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:53:07 +0000

@ quick

come on man, you could never say that any player could never be a starter on a championship caliber team. for example, if you trade cv for bosh, the heats is still a championship caliber team, if you trade cv for bass, magic is still a championship caliber team, and so on. anybody can be a starter on any championship caliber team, its all about the player around you.

now if you say you could never imagine cv being the focal point of a team and them being a championship caliber team, than thats fine. that would be a vailid opinion of yours

By: Dave Hogg

Dave Hogg — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:39:10 +0000

Good points, but I agree with the commenter above – you missed a key ingredient. Charlie’s defensive rebounding numbers haven’t barely changed. The difference is, with Ben Wallace as one of the NBA’s best offensive rebounders and Charlie on the perimeter, he’s getting no offensive boards at all.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:41:26 +0000

It’s not that everyone WANTS to trade Tayshaun, it’s that we all realize he gives us the best option at landing a need position in return.

He will be forever loved by the Pistons, but the fact is – he is getting 10 million this year, and will want something similar in the years ahead. We have capable wing players, so to commit that much money to keeping him around isn’t that good of an idea.

We need a PG, and a defensive minded BIG man. That’s where our money should be spent.. Though something tells me Dumars has his eyes on a premiere Shooting Guard this offseason..

By: steve

steve — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:16:33 +0000

i like the idea of developing younger players like monroe and daye. i really like the idea of trading cv, for anything or nothing. also why does everyone want to get rid of tayshan? i always thought of him as a guy who plays hard the whole game and plays hard on defense. cv seems quite the opposite, which is why we need to get rid of him. if the pistons are never going to have a superstar, they need everyone to play tough defense and hustle for rebounds.