NBA.com Rodney Stuckey: Ready to Rumble This is not from a homer. So, hopefully some good things to come from Stuckey for the Pistons.
Stuckey played really well. I know it's only the SL, but I haven't seen a Detroit guard have that kind of game in a long time. He might not be big this year, but you can see serious potential for him once he learns the NBA game and develops a feel for what you can and cannot do.
It won't take as long as a lot of people think for him to become a serious big time scorer (per minute played) in the NBA. What will take time for him to get up to NBA speed will be his point guard passing skills. It will also take him a while to bring his defense up to Piston levels, but that should come quicker than his point guard development.
Obviously just going off a couple summer games and his college stats, but Stuckey's a good passer. He isn't Kidd, but he knows when he should pass and what pass to make (and makes it). He's a scorer first, but he's more of a willing (and able) passer than most guys called combo guards. He understands the game. He's also a better defender than people are giving him credit for so far. Porter mentioned how good his defense was after yesterday's game. He isn't Hunter (of 5 year's ago), but he'll compete.
Agreed. I think Billups defense is a little overrated, and he doesn't make many flashy plays either, and most of us are happy to pay him an average of $12+ million through his 30s. The nice thing about Stuckey is that he gets the ball and looks to do something with it. Not a lot of hesitancy deciding if he should pound the air out of it, or dribble around in circles. He either passes, shoots, or drives. No one is going to mistake this guy for Lindsey Hunter on offense, even if his shot is not falling.
The pro game is nothing like the college game. Being a successful point guard in the NBA is way more complex and difficult than it is in college. Being a good passer certainly helps but if that was all there was to it then there would be a dozen or more NBA point guards getting a dozen or more assists a game. Pro defenses are way way more complicated than college defenses and the talent level of course is much better. Even though people think that the pro game is about offense it is a lot more about defense than people think and a lot more about defense than college basketball is. It will take Hot Rod a while to master the intricacies of being an NBA point guard. Nash was not a all star point guard from the get go. In fact he never averaged over 5.5 assists a game in his first 4 years. So there is no reason to expect Hot Rod to master the point guard position so quickly. Steve Nash Statistics - Basketball-Reference.com
I think you misunderstand what Rodney is and what role he is here to play. He isn't here to develop into Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. He's here to be a scorer that can play point guard and shooting guard. He's capable of doing that right now. He will likely/hopefully get better at it as he progresses, but that doesn't mean he isn't ready to do it now.
You might also want to clue Joe D. in on that, because I think he is also under a misconception of what Hot Rod's role will be with the Pistons down the road.
I don't think he is at all. I imagine if you brought up Steve Nash as a future comparison he'd chuckle. There's a reason Dwyane Wade and Chauncey are brought up in comps to Stuckey. They're scorers who play point.
Hobbs has a point here, no reason for people to get upset for his opinion. Stuckey was n ot drafted to be a pass first PG, that was Blalock. All the rhetoric I here from Joe is that Stuckey is a scorer that can develop into an all round PG. Yes, clearly as a point he will need to learn the NBA game and facilitate, but for awhile I mostly expect him to score. The biggest complaint recently has been the lack of a true bench scorer and I know Joe drafted Stuckey to fill this role, it definetily wasn't Afflalo / Meija. Stuckey was defintily not drafted to primarily facilitate scoring from the bench.
His slashing and free throw line pull up jumper look pretty Wade-like to me. No comparison is perfect. When was the last time we had a draft pick contribute right away? This could be unprecedented in the Dumars era.
I don't give a damn if he's a pg, sg, combo guard or combo meal; what I do care about is can we put him on the court with Amir & Max to give the starters a rest and add energy, scoring and athleticism to the game so that when the main guys are on the bench we have some guys who can step in and contribute. If the VSL is any indication of that then we should be very happy.
