Comments on: Everyone loves Walker Russell

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:11:32 +0000

I feel like Walker Russell will be a great add to the roster and will only bring a energy to the team thats much needed. Lets go DP! Now lets work on getting some shooting guards and a Center. Now thats the key!!!! Come on Joe.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:56:36 +0000

i don’t know how anyone could watch the team play and not agree that it was a better team with stuckey. there will always be issues about his proper role, but i don’t think there’s any question that the team is, overall, a better team.
imho, it’s not even arguable.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:14:05 +0000

Are you actually being intellectually that dishonest where you would assert a valid principle of logic that doesn’t pass the eye test regarding the case in question? In other words, do you actually think the Pistons haven’t been better when Stuckey has started and didn’t he obviously contribute to those wins?

By: frankie d

frankie d — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:09:02 +0000

both wade and randolph are very good players. obviously. but there are very specific and identifiable reasons why their teams might function better without them. those reasons have more to do with how their individual skills fit into the team context, but to deny that their presence contributes to certain on-court problems ignores how teams function.
while max’s way of putting it may be somewhat inelegant, i agree with his general view. the pistons are pretty obviously worse when stuckey does not play. without his presence, monroe is really the only player who consistently gets to the rim. jj and max and knight will occasionally get to the rim, but none puts the pressure on the defense like stuckey does.
i don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team has not won a game when stuckey out of the lineup. and the only game they’ve won when he didn’t start was the charlotte game, where he’d just come back from a few games off the previous game.

By: frankie d

frankie d — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:47:17 +0000

gee…i guess my eyes have been deceiving me.
i guess when i see the team playing better when they’ve had a player with true point guard skills – tmac last year and russell this year – it was all an illusion (in fact, i thought that you recently justified t-mac’s presence on the team by pointing to the fact that his passing made monroe a better player, and therefore, it was worth whatever the team lost in player development.)
what i see is this: when guys like tmac and russell are on the floor, the team runs with a purpose and efficiency that simply isn’t present when others play the point. yes, stuckey doesn’t turn the ball over, but other than getting his own shot, he does precious little to facilitate the offense. the offense without tmac or russell typically becomes a “i got mine, now you get yours” series of off the dribble jump shots.
imho, the “well, the league is different, so true point guards are passe – ” talk has been so discredited, i’m surprised anyone would try to resurrect it.

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:34:58 +0000

“the Pistons have been a poor to mediorce team when he starts and have been a historically bad team, maybe the worst of all time as they have managed just one win, when he does not.”

Correlation does not equal causation.

By your logic, these are good players:
James Jones — Heat are 5-1 when he starts and 12-5 otherwise
C.J. Watson — Bulls are 3-0 when he starts and 17-6 otherwise

And these are bad players:
Zach Randolph — Grizzlies are 1-3 when he starts and 11-8 otherwise
Dwayne Wade — Heat are 9-5 when he starts and 8-1 otherwise

By: Dan Feldman

Dan Feldman — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:20:47 +0000

Which is more an indictment of the rest of this team than praise for Stuckey. It’s sad how turnover-prone every other Pistons guard is. And when you must play two of the others together for extended minutes? Yikes. Turnover city.

Stuckey has value to this team because he doesn’t turn the ball over much. But going forward — assuming Gordon isn’t a long-term contributor here and Knight cuts down on his turnovers with experience — that role isn’t nearly as important. Then, Stuckey must prove he can help the Pistons’ offense on the possessions they don’t turn it over by shooting efficiently and getting to the line consistently. So far, the results in that regard are mixed.

By: Max

Max — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:00:11 +0000

Some have questioned how Stuck fits on this team and I would simply reply that they are much, much, much, much worse without him,

By: Max

Max — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:57:34 +0000

You didn’t address anything I said and it is a total fallacy to compare stats from year to year to make a judgment on whether a player is playing well or more importantly is vital to his team’s success. If a player’s role dictates for instance that he should do nothing but defend the hell out of his opponents without taking the unnecessary risk of going for steals for block shots, such a player may not even show in the box score, but he might vital to whether a team wins or not.
When you focus on the opposite of team, which is individual player stats, you lose focus on whether a player producing numbers is even good for the team because production from one player is at the expense of opportunities for his teammates. PPG and other stats are largely the result of a stratagem by a coach and there is many a player getting no minutes who can put up almost exactly the numbers of the player who is getting the minutes instead.
Rodney Stuckey has been playing hurt this year and he has generally played in a new position with a new backcourt mate and a new emphasis on Monroe, for whom barely a play was run all of last season–Monroe got his points like a garbage man Cedric Ceballas without one play called for him the entire game more often than not, You add all of that up and of course his numbers would be down but your remark does not address the fact the Pistons have been a poor to mediorce team when he starts and have been a historically bad team, maybe the worst of all time as they have managed just one win, when he does not.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:41:23 +0000

Career low FG% and rebounds per game so far. Also, his scoring average, assists and steals per game are the lowest since his rookie year. He’s really only had four or five good games this season. Not all of that is his fault, since he has a smaller role in the offense and he’s been hurt, but the guy is not having a good season.