There has been some mention that Ben has been left out of the new offence. Without first referring to any stats I agree that it does feel that way a bit. So I thought I would check out some stats to see if this feeling is justified.

Here are Ben's stats comparing this season so far (17 games) to last season.
--- MIN PTS REB AST STL BLK T/O FG% FT%
'05 36.1 9.7 12.2 1.7 1.43 2.38 1.1 45.3 42.7
'06 35.5 9.0 11.5 1.8 1.47 1.71 1.0 48.6 50.0

Offensively his points are only down a little (0.7), however his FG% is up. I think the thing skewing his points production is the fact the pistons as a team are up 6.6 from last season. Every other piston starter with the exception of sheed has upped their point production on last year.

Rip - 21.8 (up 3.1)
CB - 18.2 (up 1.7)
Tay - 15.9 (up 1.2)
Sheed - 14.5 (no change)

Most of his points seem to be coming from dunks and layups due to drives and dishes from CB and Rip, as well as the occasional lob and offensive put-back. His jumpshot seems to be seen less frequently this season. His FT shooting has been better, apart from that atrocity against the Clips.

The effort is still there even though it appears he has been playing through some minor injury. He has been getting a lot of tap-outs if he can't actually rebound the ball as well. This has been exceptional and doesn't register on the stat sheet.

I think the way things are going at the moment there is no real need to get Ben more involved. I don't feel there is a strong need to run many plays for him specifically. He can't post himself up well and usually ends in a fadeaway or losing the ball, his jumpshot is not a consistent option right now and he is not good at going one-on-one.

As long as he gets enough touches and passes in the offensive flow, such as the high and low pick and passing to cutters in the lane from the post, and if he keeps active on the offensive glass, teams will have to respect where he is on the floor on the offensive end.

The thing I would like to see from him is work on a baseline jumper like Dyess does. That shot would be there for him a lot without having to run specific plays for it just because that open shot is a result of penetration from the guards and good passing; things that are already happening.

I have only seen half of the games this season but from the material presented I would have to say: MYTH

However, there is room for improvement. Thoughts or opinions?

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