That's very true. You do need a center who can pass if you are going to have a high octane offense. Look at any great offense team throughout history and they always have bigs who can pass. We will see if Kwame is up to the challenge. I was also wondering if Ben Gordon could be the end of the Rodney Stuckey experiment. Everyone has been assuming that Ben means Rip is gone but that may not be the case. Ben used to play some point in College so just because the Bulls did not play him there does not mean he can't do it. Besides who is likely to sit - the guy you just gave a 55mil contract to or the 3rd year player who did not do very well at point last year.
Good thinking Max. I like Stuck and hope he makes it, but I'm just not comfortable with him as our pg. If he can change that, all the power to him. I guess last year was not very conducive to any young player's success considering what was going on with the team. Still, even if BG CAN play the pg, I doubt he plays it well enough to oust Stuckey, though.
Stuckey did have his chance last year and failed to secure his spot. He may still have a chance but Contacts speak louder than words.
Pistons' Charlie Villanueva wouldn't mind starting season as reserve | detnews.com | The Detroit News Lee356, we need some new rotations with CV in the 2nd unit.
Starters seem to be set: Stuckey Rip Prince Big Ben Kwame So is the bench: Bynum Little Ben Daye/Maxiell/Jerebko Charlie Wilcox Summers and Washington will probably play a lot of "I spy" this season. Gordon and Charlie will share the 6th man of the year award.
It would be one of the best 2nd units that the league has seen for quite some time. Especially when you consider that it will only be 3 to 4 of them at a time with Stuck, Rip, or Tay mixed in. I'm not sure if it makes a lot of sense to pair Ben and Kwame together. It will be painfully obvious that we won't be going to the post, so defenses will key on Stuck and Rip and Tay will be left to "create". There may not be a good combination here though. We used to have bigs that only shot jump shots and never went into the paint. Now we have bigs that never leave the paint... but they have no post games, so they are just steady cloggin'.
It appears to me we have some guys that like to shoot, and some bigs that like the crash the boards. Let em shoot.
The way I see it, we have the following categories of offensive players: The Drivers- Stuckey Bynum The Jump Shooters- Rip Ben Gordon Shooters with Post Ability- Charlie V Prince Daye Jerebko Summers Active Dunkers- Maxiell Wilcox Washington The Stiffs (bunnies only)- Ben Wallace Kwame
Guys who like to play in traffic - Stuckey Bynum Ex-Huskies who settle for jumpers - Rip Ben Gordon Guys with no eyebrows and/or small luggage - Charlie V Prince Daye Jerebko Summers Guys that can't score unless it's a dunk - Maxiell Wilcox Washington Small-hands guys who can't shoot free throws - Ben Wallace Kwame
All 3 of these rooks have small luggage. Don't you read Langolis? Piston Rookies Carrying Tiny Suitcases - True Blue Pistons (fyi, I was having trouble with this link earlier)
I'm assuming his luggage is small until proven otherwisae. I hate it when these rookies' luggage gets all hyped up before the season starts.
With Rip coming back, I am going to try to write down a rotation that does not use Rip as the small forward - ever. I feel playing Rip at small forward will lead to nothing but disaster - as it did last season. Rip is too slight a player to contend with small forwards in this league. Its just a groin injury waiting to happen. We start Stuckey, Rip, Jerebko, CV, Ben Wallace. Bynum comes in early for Stuckey. A good 5 minutes early, which would keep Stuckey to a maximum of 38 minutes per game. Gordon comes in a bit early for Rip. We start the 2nd quarter with Bynum, Gordon, Stuckey, JMAX, Wilcox. The last 5 minutes: Stuckey, Rip, Daye, CV, Ben Wallace. 2nd half: Same except Daye replaces Jerebko 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Summers finishes the 3rd quarter at small forward, and begins the 4th quarter there. Just 4 to 5 minutes for Summers for now. And Rip plays the whole first quarter while Gordon plays the whole 4th quarter. The last five minutes we go with Bynum, Gordon, Stuckey, CV, Ben Wallace. For the game, for minutes: Stuckey 38 Bynum 29 Rip 26 Gordon 22 Jerebko 16 Daye 9 Summers 4 JMAX 14 Wilcox 14 Ben Wallace 34 Charlie Villanueva 34 Kwame is the 12th man dressed. Now, to address the fact Stuckey is playing too many minutes. Play Gordon as a point guard for five minutes (the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter), bringing his minutes up to 27 per game while reducing Stuckey's down to 33. This leaves Bynum playing 29 minutes at point to just 14 minutes at point for Stuckey. When / if Tay comes back. Play him sparingly, saving him for the playoffs. Keep playing all the youngsters. Keep Stuckey down to 26 minutes per game the last month of the season ensuring he is ready for the playoffs.
