'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 56

[nasty daddy]

Link to volume 55: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=953540&p=21139200#p21139200

This thread will contain Pistons news, injuries, free agent signings, trades, draft and news throughout the NBA, plus scores from both the NBA and college.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Bosh plays his game: Chris Bosh does two things very well: He's efficient from the floor and he gets to the line. The Pistons weren't able to take Bosh out of his game at all as the big man went 5-10 from the floor and earned 20 free throw attempts. He's getting to the stripe over 16 times a game so far this season.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Is Stuckey pressing?: Starting point guard Rodney Stuckey had another subpar shooting performance, going 5-18 from the field, with all of his points essentially came in two short bursts, one at the start of the first quarter and another at the end of the third. It's the fourth straight game where Stuckey has shot under 35 percent from the floor.

Another disturbing trend that's emerging is how many of Stuckey's shots are getting blocked. Against Toronto he had five shots swatted. Also, it might just be me, but the referees seem reluctant to give Stuckey many calls in the lane. He regularly draws plenty of contact, but there are times where he doesn't seem to have complete control of his body. It's something worth keeping an eye on.

On a positive note, Stuckey did pull down a career high 10 rebounds one night after tying his personal best with nine against Orlando.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Why Wilcox?: Chris Wilcox played 10 minutes and the biggest number on his stat line was five personal fouls. He was 0-3 from the floor and pretty much incapable of stopping the any of the Toronto players he defended. It's early in the season, but he's not making a strong case to stay in John Kuester's rotation.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Light of Daye: In his first significant action of the season, rookie Austin Daye had a really nice stretch during a key fourth-quarter run where the Pistons were actually able to take a brief lead after being down double digits most of the third quarter.

Daye started off the fourth quarter by making the first three-point shot of his professional career. He also was active without the ball on the offensive end, setting quality screens that freed up Will Bynum to work his magic off the dribble.

On the defensive end Daye had two blocked shots, the second of which he recovered and brought the ball up on a nice-looking fast break that resulted in foul shots at the other end of the court.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Villanueva looking better: Charlie Villanueva had his best game as a Piston, scoring 16 points, on 7-13 shooting, and grabbing seven boards. Villanueva is still relying too much on the three ball, pulling the trigger from long range six times.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

What the Blogs are Saying:
Need4Sheed: "Another heroic effort from Will Bynum, who did his best in the fourth to get the Pistons back in it. He tied the game up with this drive and finished the game with16 points, 6 assists and a steal in 33 minutes. I know he prefers “The Thrill” but I can’t help screaming Bynumite, when he does something spectacular."

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/11/post.html

Motown String Music: "Detroit's defense as a whole isn't so much the problem as it is the perimeter defense. It's atrocious. Two out of three times down the floor, it seems like, the opposing team gets an uncontested three point try. Raptors shot 24 threes tonight and I wouldn't argue much with anyone if they told me all of them were wide open attempts. Luckily, they only made eight of them."

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... _does.html

Ripped from the airwaves: Does a Tayshaun Prince for Chris Kaman trade make sense?
Last night on my drive home from work, I tuned into Valenti and Foster on 97.1 and they were discussing potential Detroit Pistons trade options with callers. One trade both hosts advocated was sending small forward Tayshaun Prince to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Central Michigan alum Chris Kaman. The concept isn't necessarily original, but does it make sense? Would that trade help both rosters? Does it work out financially? Let's take a look: First, would a one-for-one exchange financially work under the rules of the NBA collective bargaining agreement? Since both the Clippers and Pistons are over the salary cap, the salaries of Kaman and Prince must meet the 125 percent plus $100000 of the aggregate salary rule. Looking at the salaries of both players, this wouldn't be an issue since Prince is making a little more than $10.3 million and Kaman is set to earn $10.4 million. Perfect. Now that we know it's possible, we can analyze whether the trade makes sense for both teams. A concept often neglected in hypothetical trade talk is the logic of the trade for the other team. Most Pistons fans agree that the team is in need of a post scorer, but do the Clippers have a need for a small forward with Prince's skill set, and do they have a plan in place to absorb the loss of Kaman?

The Clippers currently have a two-man rotation at small forward with veteran Rasual Butler, the current starter, and 2007 lottery pick Al Thornton, who is playing significant minutes off the bench after recently being replaced by Butler in the starting lineup. It should also be noted, Butler is in the final year of his contract. While Prince would add some veteran stability to the position, especially on the defensive end, it's hard to imagine the Clippers long-term plan is to continue bringing Thornton off the bench, unless the team would be willing to play him at both forward positions. It's also difficult to say whether the Clippers could afford to give up Kaman. When No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin returns from injury, the Los Angeles front court will be crowded with physical front court players. Kaman being the odd man out isn't out of the question, but the player more likely to lose playing time to Griffin is Marcus Camby. Camby, who is in the final year of his contract with the Clippers, is a dynamic rebounder and shot blocker. If the Clippers decide to move a player before the trade deadline, a healthy Camby could draw plenty of interest from a contender.

Assuming the Clippers would be willing to deal Kaman for Prince, how would that affect the Pistons' rotation? Obviously, Kaman would immediately be plugged into the starting lineup as a legitimate post-scoring threat who can rebound and block shots. How would John Kuester opt to handle the two forward positions? There are several options: First, the Pistons could shift their current starters down a position, moving Ben Wallace to power forward and Charlie Villanueva to small forward. Villanueva has never been a very good man defender and could really struggle guarding the elite small forwards in the Eastern Conference, but having Ben Wallace and Chris Kaman waiting in the post could cover some of those weaknesses. A second option would be moving Wallace or Villanueva to the bench and starting one of the two rookies, Austin Daye or Jonas Jerebko. Finally, Kuester could boldly opt to utilize a three-guard set from the opening tip with either Richard Hamilton or Rodney Stuckey starting at the three, depending on whether Ben Gordon or Will Bynum were moved into the starting lineup. The conclusion that we can reach is the trade is plausible, but not necessarily ideal for either squad. The idea that the trade would be a double homecoming for Kaman and Prince make it even more interesting to talk about. The chance the Pistons pull the trigger on a trade-deadline deal isn't out of the realm of possibility and as The Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp points out, the constant speculation will be among the most interesting story lines this season.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20091105/B ... rade-block?

Rip Hamilton sorely missed; Tayshaun on trade block?
Ben Gordon just laughed after Wednesday's loss at Toronto when asked whether teams were playing him differently since Rip Hamilton has missed the last four games with a sprained right ankle."Honestly, I haven’t played with Rip enough to tell if that’s the case or not," Gordon said with a grin. "Obviously, our guards are getting a lot of attention because we rely on our perimeter players to score a lot."

That's somewhat of an understatement as Rodney Stuckey, Will Bynum and Gordon have pretty much carried the offense most of the season. But you can probably make a case that the team would be undefeated if Hamilton hadn't missed any time.

It's a given that they miss his scoring and defense, but Rip's constant movement not only frees up the other scorers, it also creates space inside for the bigs. Rip also is good at setting up bigs and is a solid playmaker with a high basketball I.Q.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20091105/B ... rade-block?

THE TRADE FRONT: Tayshaun Prince's last-hour scratch from Tuesday's victory over the Magic set off trade alarms, and with good reason.

With Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye coming along and Hamilton and Stuckey getting time at small forward, one can see where Prince could be expendable.

But Joe Dumars killed the trade rumors, and a league source told me today that "the Pistons are talking like everybody else. Nothing special." Still, it's something to monitor as the season progresses.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 91105.html

RIP-ple Effects
As badly as John Kuester wants Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince back in the lineup, he can’t want it any worse than Rodney Stuckey does. The RIP-ple effect of Hamilton, especially, being out of the lineup is perhaps most telling in Stuckey’s shooting numbers. One game isn’t a very reliable sample size, obviously, but in the 22-point win at Memphis to open the season a week ago, Stuckey shot 6 of 10. In the four games since then, Stuckey is 22 of 72. I’ll save you the math – that’s 30 percent shooting. And perhaps more troubling than the shooting percentage is the number of shots Stuckey is putting up. Eighteen a game is a little high for a point guard – or, for that matter, for any player in an offense designed to spread the shots around. But Stuckey’s shot total is less an indictment of him than a nod to the reality of the situation. Without Hamilton and Prince, and with Charlie Villanueva scuffling, and with the other four veteran big men who’ve gotten cracks at the frontcourt rotation combining to score 49 points in five games … well, Stuckey is balancing a lot on his sturdy shoulders these days.

Ben Gordon seems less affected by Hamilton’s absence, though his minutes – as they have for Stuckey and Will Bynum, as well – are up dramatically. After playing 26 in the Memphis win, Gordon is averaging more than 41 since. Gordon scored 22 on 12 shots in the one game he played with Hamilton and is averaging 25.8 on 16 shots since. That’s not all that hard to digest, really – Gordon’s role hasn’t changed all that much since Hamilton went down, only the amount of time he’s playing it. Stuckey’s role has changed in that one of the two primary scoring threats on his flanks – at least until Villanueva establishes his niche, as he took a step toward doing with his 16-point game at Toronto – is no longer available to him.

And until Villanueva gets rolling, and until he earns the full trust of John Kuester defensively to warrant more than the 26 minutes he’s getting, the lack of a frontcourt scoring option puts even more of the onus on the backcourt to shoulder the burden. Without Prince to co-anchor the defense along with Ben Wallace, Kuester can’t afford to be tolerant of defensive lapses, further squeezing Villanueva’s minutes. Stuckey’s not going to continue to shoot 30 percent with Hamilton out, of course, and this isn’t to suggest missing mid-range jump shots has anything to do with Hamilton in or out of the game. Only that Stuckey is necessarily more focused on scoring when he only has one other scorer in the game with him, as he often does, and that such a focus on scoring means he’s taking a greater number of tough chances than otherwise. More of those RIP-ple effects, not all of them bad.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 91105.html

Will Bynum is getting extended minutes, including a high of 33 in Wednesday’s loss at Toronto, and growing more comfortable as a take-charge leader. And that work he put in over the summer with Tim Grover in Chicago is showing in his markedly improved shooting range and consistency. Though the 3-point shot isn’t likely to become a staple of Bynum’s repertoire, the fact he went 2 of 2 against the Raptors indicates his increased confidence in the jumper. He rarely popped one from outside 18 feet a season ago, shooting just 19 triples – one every three games – making just three.

It will be a great luxury, once Hamilton and Prince return, for Kuester to go back to using Bynum more selectively. Somewhere around 20 minutes a game would allow Bynum to go full bore on pretty much every possession – and that’s another thing that will lighten the load on Stuckey’s shoulders.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 91105.html

Jonas Jerebko on consecutive nights and Austin Daye in Toronto are already justifying the delight of Joe Dumars’ front-office staff on draft night by showing up big in one or two areas. And that’s all the Pistons – at least the full-strength Pistons – really need from the rookies: supplement them in their areas of strength now, worry about their all-around games later. Given their druthers, the Pistons would have rather nursed Jerebko and Daye along, just as they are DaJuan Summers, in practices so their mistakes wouldn’t cost possessions in games that count. But the Hamilton-Prince absences cost them that luxury. The flip side is nothing accelerates the learning curve quite like real game experience. Even if the Pistons are asking limited roles of both Jerebko and Daye now, they both have the stuff of terrific all-around games. The fact Jerebko did a defensive job that skilled defensive veterans would have envied on back-to-back nights against two pros with offensive skills as diverse and multifaceted as Vince Carter and Hedo Turkoglu – that’s like batting against Justin Verlander one night, Tim Wakefield the next – trumpets his athleticism and tenacity. Jerebko is being asked to be a defender/hustle guy right now, but you can see the roots of a well-rounded offensive game already sunk, too.

One night after missing all five of his shots against Orlando, he made all three against Toronto – including a triple. One of the first things Pistons personnel director George David told me about Jerebko last summer, after the draft, was that he was struck how effortlessly Jerebko could shoot 3s. And if he’s playing small forward, as he has in Prince’s stead, Jerebko gives the Pistons a rebounding force at that position. In the present, Jerebko does a nice job of keeping the ball moving with purposeful passes. In the future – perhaps the near future – you’ll see that he can put it on the floor with positive results. In Las Vegas, a few times he called to mind Turkoglu, of all people, for the way he wound his way to the basket, without any explosive movements, by keeping his dribble alive and his head up. The Pistons love his potential as a pick-and-roll big man, too. As for Daye, get accustomed to seeing him block shots without leaving his feet, as he did to Marco Belinelli.

The play he made to block a shot, dribble the length of the floor and set up a scoring chance for a teammate flashes all of his unorthodox skills – the incredible length, ballhandling and vision. Well, almost. The skill that really jumps out with Daye – and it hasn’t really translated much to games yet – is that shooting stroke. We saw Daye shake a little of that rookie awe factor in Toronto; once it’s left for good, you’re going to see a shooter who on some nights will rival Gordon on the wow meter. At least one more game – Friday night at Orlando – the Pistons will have to live with and hope to benefit from those RIP-ple effects that are touching both their frontcourt and their backcourt, their offense and their defense.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/video/2009/1 ... index.html

Chucky's Travels
Pistons guard Chucky Atkins has traveled far and wide for his second appearance in the Pistons uniform.

Video in the link above^.