“Mr. Hayes not to sound like a Lakers fan (I’m a diehard Pistons fan since ’84), but the Lakers, a well-run organization, has won about 16 NBA Titles and have only missed the playoffs on two or three occasions, during the last 40+ years.”

Well, what conversation are we having right now? Clearly, historically, the Lakers are one of the two best and most successful franchises in NBA history. Right now? They’re being run by the half-wit, unqualified sons of the team owner after he allowed them to run some very intelligent basketball ops people out of town.

“But, the you can’t convince me that at this point in both, Bynum and Fisher’s careers that Bynum is not as good or better than Fisher.”

But do you think that really mattered in the trade? Houston didn’t acquire Fisher because they need PG help. They are solid there with Lowery and Dragic. They acquired him because the Lakers said, ‘Hey, we’ll give you our first round pick if you absorb Fisher’s salary for an expiring contract.’ The Lakers wanted to get out of paying Fisher next year and they were willing to give up a first rounder to do it. Houston said, “Sure, we’ll do that.”

This wasn’t like Houston going around the league searching for PG help. They don’t need it. If they wanted a third string PG that badly, they would’ve just signed a guy out of the D-League to a 10-day contract. They got a first round pick for flipping a draft bust in Hill who is terrible for Fisher, who they will probably buy out anyway.

Yes, the Pistons could’ve probably pursued a deal like that for Bynum. But would it have been worth it? The Lakers are ditching salary so they can not pay so much luxury tax. The Pistons aren’t paying luxury tax, so they don’t have that kind of motivation to make deals that dump future salary but also give away future assets to do it.

As for the SGs, I said I didn’t think he was a top 10 SG, I definitely didn’t name 20 I thought were better. And you’re right, that has changed, provided this performance from Stuckey is truly the Stuckey that Detroit will be getting for years to come now. Right now, he’s playing like an All-Star. He’s not Wade or Bryant, but he’s definitely playing like an elite guard right now.

Stuckey is experiencing what happens when any player realizes something very simple: If you want big contracts, if you want fans to like you, if you want the organization to treat you like a cornerstone, you don’t get those things without performance. Up until two months or so ago, Stuckey had not grasped those things in his Detroit tenure. I’m happy he is, but he does still have to do this over the course of an entire season. The talent is undeniably there. The motivation has to match all the time.

“I said Knight and Stuckey was the back court of the future for a while, got called a Stuckey Slappie”

Well listen, people predict things all the time based on potential. Far more often than not, players who took as long to realize their full potential as Stuckey has taken never fully reach their ceiling. If the light doesn’t go on fairly early, it usually doesn’t go on. Stuckey looks like he’s going to be an exception here, which is great. But it also doesn’t change the fact that it took him too long to play with this kind of effort and performance. He’s had it in him. I’m glad he’s getting it. But there are also countless examples of players with upside and potential like Stuckey over the years who never get it.

When I said Stuckey should start a while back when Stuckey was coming off the bench you argued that Ben Gordon was a better option…a lot has changed between then and now and I LOVE it.

I said Knight and Stuckey was the back court of the future for a while, got called a Stuckey Slappie, and now by the looks of it on HERE there’s plenty of Stuckey “Slappies” to go around…feels good not to be part of a bandwagon where people finally warm up to someone I been backing up for years.