I know it's just the preseason, but we are 4 games in. That's a large enough sample size when you consider minutes played by the players in question.

I've been a big proponent of giving Stuckey a chance at the point. Never calling him anything more than promising. But there is a glaring problem through 4 games.

Stuckey is averaging 1 assists in 4 games while playing around 27 minutes a contest. While I have never been one to support the idea of inflated assist totals as a requirement for a PG. 1 a game is inexcusable. Here's a list of player averaging more assists per.

Will Bynum
Rip Hamilton
Ben Gordon
Tayshaun Prince
Ben Wallace (averaging the same, 1 APG)

I'm actually throwing Kuester under the bus here a little. He should be forcing Stuckey to initiate more offense. That is not a cop out though, Stuckey needs to start passing the ball the next 4 games. Hopefully Villenuva will help Stuckey's assists as he won't be scoring off the dribble as much as the other guys we have scoring. Right now our perimeter heavy offense leads to less assists because guys are taking more than 2 dribbles before scoring, negating an assist.

Other numbers and observations.

Jerebko - averaging about 5 Rpg, the guy is looking more and more like a high energy stud with enough finesse to get a few plays run for him.

Bynum - 18 ppg while shooting 50%
- leads team in assists at 4pg
- plays about 25 min pg
- Has outplayed all our guards, albeit mostly against bench players.

Daye - Leads team in block PG at 1.5. Shooting touch looks good, but has mixed results, 40%.

Kwame - looks fantastic, 8 ppg 7.5 rpg, and Ben has really upped Kwame's game. I think Kwame has a new, also small handed, role model.

Ben Wallace - Looks rejuvenated, acting as a leader, has enough left in the tank to impact the team's identity on defense.

Rip - Numbers are what you expect in preseason, good %'s, says he feeling out teammates instead of scoring, which I believe.

Gordon - leads team in scoring, playing the most minutes, providing exactly what expected, but nothing more.

Wilcox - Looks active, shade over 7pp and 4rpg in only 18 minutes. Could see good good minutes if he keeps shooting 60 plus %

Tayshaun - really looks terrible. At this point we may have to fear a hit to his trade value. The team doesn't seem to be missing his production so far.

Stuckey - scroring great, shooting solid, not passing enough. Has been asked to guard at SF and is playing with more ball handlers at one time than possibly any other team in the league. Still, looking less and less like he can be anything more than a SG playing dress up as a combo guard.

Summers - surprisingly very quiet after great Vegas League. few minutes. Looking like the odd rookie out for active roster spot.

Maxiell - great fg%, 6pp 5rpg. With how Ben and Wilcox are playing you have to wonder if he will be edged out of minutes by our taller bigs.

Villenueva - Yet to play, really making the rest of the front court players numbers seem out of perspective. Talk of him coming off the bench speaks volumes of perimeter scoring and Kwame/Ben combo. Still, you have to think that talk is just a motivational tool by Kuester. The real stinker is that Villenueva said he'd be fine with it, not the kind of thing you want to here with his supposed lazy history.

I think Q will try to develop Stuckey into a play maker and set up PG with scoring ability. He needs to mix up his offensive game with setting up teammates. Then he won't be predictable and he would be harder to defend.

Stuckey's assists this PRESEASON have been poor for two real reasons:

1) The primary starting scorer (Rip) has mentioned more than once that he is deferring in the preseason for other guys to get a scoring chance. This is why Rip has so many assists and Stuckey has so few. Once the season starts we will see Stuckey's assists jump up from this alone.

2) Q's half court offense really seems to be a "more than one pass" offense. I have seen multiple plays where 4-5 guys are touching the ball.

Definitely cause for concern, but let's give him a little more time under a new coach with a lot new teammates, particularly after the regular season gets under way. I think many of us are questioning what to expect from Stuckey, and rightfully so. He's definitely still trying to find his way.

Given all the factors of this preseason, from what I mentioned above to the fact he's even played small forward for stretches, and the fact that it is preseason, I'd refrain from making too much out of it just yet. If it continues say even the first 5 games of the regular season, then something will definitely need to be done.

quote:

Originally posted by Thinnimusprime:
Tayshaun - The team doesn't seem to be missing his production so far.

Hmmm...looks like the defense has sucked heavily without Tay. Coincidence?

Last season, Stuckey averaged 4.9 assists. This season, he's been bringing up the ball, and then passing off, and heading to the corner, where he can take a pass within his shooting range. Maybe he isn't comfortable standing beyond the 3pt line, where PG's generally stay.

Maybe this is something coach Q wants to experiment with. Coach Q only criticizes the defense, never the offense. Maybe he wants to see who has court vision and passing ability. In Cleveland, where he ran the offense, LeBron had more assists than Mo Williams.

Once the season begins, hopefully, Stuckey will get back to calling plays, and trying to run the offense.

thanks for the breakdown Thin. I've only kind of seen one game on the internet (lagging, blurry), but from what I read and saw it seems accurate.