Name a current Piston who played for the Knicks.

They won the tickets by answering Wednesday’s trivia question:

At this very moment (hint, hint), 20 NBA players have a career scoring average of at least 20 points per game and have played for only one NBA team. Name them.

Here are the 20:

• Alex Groza
• Billy Cunningham
• Blake Griffin
• Carmelo Anthony
• Dan Issel
• David Robinson
• Derrick Rose
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Dwyane Wade
• Geoff Petrie
• George Mikan
• Jerry West
• John Havlicek
• Julius Erving
• Kobe Bryant
• Larry Bird
• Michael Redd
• Paul Arizin
• Paul Pierce
• Tim Duncan

Those are the 20 I had in mind when I asked the question, but three other players – Kevin Durant, Elgin Baylor and Bob Pettit – played for one franchise their entire career. The trick is their team changed cities, leaving them in a gray area, but I counted those guys, too.

At this very moment (hint, hint), 20 NBA players have a career scoring average of at least 20 points per game and have played for only one NBA team. Name them.

To be eligible:

1. Send your answers to PistonPoweredContests@gmail.com (one e-mail per entrant).

2. Order your answer alphabetically by last name, and number them. Put one player on each line.

3. Follow PistonPowered on Twitter (and include your Twitter in your e-mail, so I can verify).

Each correct answer earns you an entry in the lottery for the tickets (limit: 20 answers per person), so feel free to answer, even if you can’t name all 20 players.

I’m going to split the tickets into groups of two, but the same person could win both sets.

1. The Hawks eliminated the Pistons from the first round of the playoffs in 1997 and 1999. Who led Atlanta in points for both those series?

Steve Smith

2. Name the five people who have written posts for PistonPowered.

Lisa Gentile, Eric Woodyard, Graham Simmington, Patrick Hayes and Dan Feldman

3. Of the players the Hawks acquired in the trade that brought Rasheed Wallace to the Pistons (not players later taken by draft picks Atlanta received in the deal), who scored the most points for the Hawks?

Bob Sura

Once again, I’ll give the tickets away by trivia questions. I’m splitting the tickets into two groups of two, and if you answer two of my three questions correctly, you’ll get one entry into the lottery for a set of tickets. If you answer all three correctly, you get another entry into the lottery. So, if you answer two correctly, you can win two tickets. But if you answer all three, you could win up to all four.

1. The Hawks eliminated the Pistons from the first round of the playoffs in 1997 and 1999. Who led Atlanta in points for both those series?
2. Name the five people who have written posts for PistonPowered.
3. Of the players the Hawks acquired in the trade that brought Rasheed Wallace to the Pistons (not players later taken by draft picks Atlanta received in the deal), who scored the most points for the Hawks?

E-mail PistonPoweredContests@gmail.com with answers to win!

In case you were wondering, here are the answers to the trivia questions:

1. Who led the Pistons in scoring during the Suns’ inaugural season?

Dave Bing

2. What was the title of PistonPowered’s first post?

Welcome

3. Which Michigan native leads players drafted by the Suns in career scoring (not necessarily points with the Suns)?

George Gervin

To be eligible, send your address and correct answers to the following questions to PistonPoweredContests@gmail.com.

1. Who led the Pistons in scoring during the Suns’ inaugural season?

2. What was the title of PistonPowered’s first post?

3. Which Michigan native leads players drafted by the Suns in career scoring (not necessarily points with the Suns)?

Here are the trivia answers:

1. Z

2. http://eric32woodyard.wordpress.com/

3. Hungry

Thanks to cufflinks.com, we’re also giving away Detroit Pistons cufflinks. Just e-mail your name, address and correct answers to the follow questions to PistonPoweredContests@gmail.com, and you’re eligible to win.

1. The Fort Wayne Pistons initial logo was a tin-man-like character dribbling a basketball. Which letter appeared on his chest?

2. What is the URL for NBA shoe expert (among his many talents) Eric Woodyard’s website (answer can be found on this site)?

3. John Salley famously nicknamed Chuck Daly “Daddy Rich” for his lavish suits, but what was Daly’s nickname growing up in Punxsutawney, Pa.?

But just how undersized is he?

Daye’s official bio lists him at 200 pounds, but in a recent mailbag, Keith Langlois said Daye weighs 209 pounds now. I’ll give Daye the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn’t make much difference.

Starting power forwards

Compared to other starting power forwards, Daye weighs far less. In fact, there’s as much of a difference between Daye and the next-light starting power forwards (Rashard Lewis and Lamar Odom) as there is between Lewis/Odom and Blake Griffin.

For the visually inclined:

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But pure weight might not be the best measure. Daye is 6-foot-11, so his 209 pounds are pretty spread out. That makes it even more likely Daye gets outmuscled by opponents. Let’s look at his relative pounds per inch:

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No matter how you slice it, as long as he remains Detroit’s starting power forward (which I can’t imagine will be much longer), Daye will be overmatched every night. Not most nights. Every night.

Starting small forwards

There are plenty of fans who want to trade Tayshaun Prince, so Daye can start at small forward. Obviously, this would make Daye less overmatched, but overmatched nonetheless.

In terms of weight:

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And in terms of pounds per inch:

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Backup small forwards

A third option is making Daye the backup small forward. This would help the situation more than making him a starting small forward, but it’s not a complete fix.

Weight:

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Pounds per inch:

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Everyone else

There are only 50 players in the league who weigh less per inch that Daye. I though it would be fun to make a Sporcle quiz to see how many you can name. (If you’re not interested in challenging yourself, start the timer and hit “Give up?” above the timer after about about 15 seconds. The answers will appear).

If you look at the list, it’s full of quick guards who would easily blow past Daye.

There just aren’t many, if any, opponents Daye matches up well with.

What this all means

Daye’s body type makes it extremely difficult for him to guard and rebound against NBA frontcourt players. He’s also too slow to stay with many backcourt players. I don’t see either of those things changing anytime soon, if ever.

But Daye will often be a mismatch on the other end of the court. His offensive game is diverse, and opponents will struggle to cover him.

All I ask from Daye is that he do his best when it comes to defense and rebounding. Arnie Kander believes Daye is on the right track. From John Niyo of The Detroit News:

"He has learned how to widen his base," Kander said of Daye, whose massive wingspan — along with his smooth jump shot — made him one of the more intriguing draft prospects coming out of Gonzaga a year ago. "You can amazingly get strong if you have technique, and now he’s getting into his legs and using his strength in a real way.

"He’s an amazing talent, he really is. But he’s also a bright kid and he picks things up very fast and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get better."

I didn’t really see that in the opener against the Nets, but that’s only one game. Daye can and probably will get better.

For Daye, I think it’s important to appreciate the challenge he faces. But for Joe Dumars, I also think it’s fair to question drafting a player with such limitations.