Ben Gordon
Richard Hamilton
Will Bynum
Rodney Stuckey

They are ALL SCORERS NOT PLAYAMKERS

You could argue that Bynum and Stuckey are more suited to play PG because of their body size and ability to take it off the dribble, but you cannot deny the fact that both are not effective in making plays for other teammates. Instead they are more inclined to make their own plays. And admittedly they are both good at what they do, capable scorers that can isolate and drive, catch and shoot, etc.

But the fact remains they are NOT playmakers, they cannot run an offense, and are not any better than most shooting guards in this league at creating plays for teammates.

It just seems to me that we are overloaded with these types of "boarder line" point guards that would probably be more effective in the system playing at SG. On the other side we are weak in two areas, playmaking and defense

Why doesn't Joe D look to diversity our talent. Instead of having 4 guys are very good at scoring the ball, we should be looking to get guys that can distribute the ball, guys that can rebound the ball, and guys that can play defense.

Currently the team looks like this: (5 stats = best, 1 = not very good)

Scorers:
Bynum ***
Hamilton ****
Stuckey ***
Gordon ****
Villanueva ****

Defenders:
Wallace ***
Maxiell ***
Prince ***
Daye? **
Wilcox **

Playmakers:

Chuckey Atkins **

With all those scorers, they should score more than 94 against Memphis. I think coach Q should make a point of teammates setting each other up in positions where they can score. This team should be a good scoring team, but they don't have any player that will get a ton of assists.

what baffles me is that stuckey still doesnt get how to be a point guard, its really not that hard, pass pass pass, then put the team on your back when we need ya, an by me saying putting em on ya back, im talking bout making the right decision, not necessarily scoring, but making the right pass, to the right team mate. he needs to realize the more he trys to score the harder it is to score later on in the game. it's all about getting your team mates going, if you get everyone going, not 2-3 guys going it only makes it that much easier in the end, instead of the defense knowing who to lock into, if i need to expound on this more at a later time ill start getting irritated

deja vu really, ah smooth an hot rod are more similar then many realize.

we might as well just let gordon play PG. i can't see him being any worse than stuckey. and he's probably a lot better suited for the chauncey billups fantasy that people keep trying to pin on stuckey

i honestly have been thinking the same, i just havent been ready to make a post bout it, till i seen some games consecutively

quote:

Originally posted by Voice of Reason:
what baffles me is that stuckey still doesnt get how to be a point guard, its really not that hard, pass pass pass, then put the team on your back when we need ya, an by me saying putting em on ya back, im talking bout making the right decision, not necessarily scoring, but making the right pass, to the right team mate. he needs to realize the more he trys to score the harder it is to score later on in the game. it's all about getting your team mates going, if you get everyone going, not 2-3 guys going it only makes it that much easier in the end, instead of the defense knowing who to lock into, if i need to expound on this more at a later time ill start getting irritated

deja vu really, ah smooth an hot rod are more similar then many realize.

Remember that while we think that he should get it by now, PG is the hardest to learn and last season was more of a set back than development. What am I saying by that? Well Curry was a moron and we had so much going wrong with the rest of the team that even though he started, everything else caused so many problems that it was nearly impossible to get better. He had a few great games and then every team knew he Stuckey could do and guarded him far more effectively. That is when he began to struggle. We need a PG with Stuckey's offensive ability (when he was playing his best early last season). We just need our PG to be a play maker and assist getter before getting their own on Offense.

quote:

Originally posted by DAYE POWER:
we might as well just let gordon play PG. i can't see him being any worse than stuckey. and he's probably a lot better suited for the chauncey billups fantasy that people keep trying to pin on stuckey

Gordon is at his best as a scorer. Throw last season out the window for Stucky. Curry and all the things going wrong last year may have set him back as a player even though he started. With a better coach he could learn to be a play maker.

You can never have to many scorers.

Having to many scorers and no "playmakers" doesn't seem to be detrimental to our offense. So, if it aint broke why fix it? No team is perfect aesthetically. Be happy with a team who actually produces when their on the court. I agree we need more defenders, I just don't see anything fatally wrong with the offense.

i like have many scoring options... if everyone commits to ball movement we could be deadly. if not well u know... i think rip is a great passer imo yes hes shoot first but hes good.

Stuckey needs to focus more on getting assists even for his own game to be opened up, but he doesnt have to average 9 assists a game. Our offense will go as long as Bynum and Gordon are dropping dimes too when they are on the floor. At least coach Q knows we have three combo guards and is utilizing all their strengths by letting them all push the ball and make plays. Once we gel and clean up the turnovers we could be a hard team to defend and can wear on an older team like Boston. Especially having a 10-11 man rotation of 25 year olds playing tuff D.

OK, at least thats what I'm hoping will happen

we have to many streaky chuckers all trying to be the guy

what ****es me off is Stuckey knew he struggled at the point and instead of working on his iso. He should have spent the whole summer trying to
learn the position. He could've went to the vagas camp with Billups, Prince and Daye. or researched or study game film on Point guards (billups and how he fed Rip and Prince, He could of went to the coaching staff early and asked what they envision as their PG and worked on that.

Samething goes for Bynum. that 20 point in a qtr record went straight to his head and seems to be his main focus this season to be the best one on one player on this team.

stuckey is so selfish

More like way to many so-called scorers who don't consistently score on a regular basis.

We need Rip to be aggressive and assist like he did after AI shut it down last season. On 2/27 and 3/1 we were able to beat Orl and Bos with Rip leading the way by being aggressive in that he took at least 10 fta in both games and had at least 6 assts and 25 pts in both games. We beat Orl again on 3/9 and Rip had 14 assts, 11 fta, and 29 pts. We beat Tor on 3/13 and he had 16 assts, 7 fta, and 24 pts. To beat Orl twice and Bos once with Rip re-inventing himself should have been a wake-up call and a theme that was reinforced over the summer. It seems as if no one is discouraging Stuckey from attempting to lead the team in fga, so let's not discourage Rip from trying to lead the team in assts and get to the line much more if it helps us win.

Rip had 4 gms of 9 assts or better after AI went down 2/25. Stuckey, who's job it it to run the point, had 6 gms of 9 assts or better for the entire season. They both were btw 4-5 assts for the season. Clearly Rip is as least as capable at getting his teammates involved without it even being a focal point of his position.

If you go back and look at when we won it all vs LA Rip avg'd 4 fta/gm in the reg season, but in the finals he avg'd about 7 fta/gm. Conversely Kobe avg'd 8 fta/gm in the reg season but avg'd 5 fta/gm in the finals. Aggressiveness makes a difference.

quote:

Originally posted by trade101:
We need Rip to be aggressive and assist like he did after AI shut it down last season. On 2/27 and 3/1 we were able to beat Orl and Bos with Rip leading the way by being aggressive in that he took at least 10 fta in both games and had at least 6 assts and 25 pts in both games. We beat Orl again on 3/9 and Rip had 14 assts, 11 fta, and 29 pts. We beat Tor on 3/13 and he had 16 assts, 7 fta, and 24 pts. To beat Orl twice and Bos once with Rip re-inventing himself should have been a wake-up call and a theme that was reinforced over the summer. It seems as if no one is discouraging Stuckey from attempting to lead the team in fga, so let's not discourage Rip from trying to lead the team in assts and get to the line much more if it helps us win.

Rip had 4 gms of 9 assts or better after AI went down 2/25. Stuckey, who's job it it to run the point, had 6 gms of 9 assts or better for the entire season. They both were btw 4-5 assts for the season. Clearly Rip is as least as capable at getting his teammates involved without it even being a focal point of his position.

If you go back and look at when we won it all vs LA Rip avg'd 4 fta/gm in the reg season, but in the finals he avg'd about 7 fta/gm. Conversely Kobe avg'd 8 fta/gm in the reg season but avg'd 5 fta/gm in the finals. Aggressiveness makes a difference.

Good use of numbers to back up your point but those numbers are bit misleading. If you look at how the offense is run, the person with the ball in their hands the most has the best opportunity for assists. After Iverson shut it down, they went back to Rip being the #1 option on offense at all times when he's on the court, that enabled him to come off screens, get the ball, and then make decisions. At that point, stuckey's job was to be the bailout guy at the top of the key and bring the ball up court. Its the same as blaming Mo Williams for not having more assists than Lebron James. He's just not going to do that, because that's not how the offense is going to be run.

I'm fine with Rip being the focal point of the offense, as long as people EXECUTE. I watched a few preseason games, and did not see one solid Screen by our bigs. The Pistons need to rely on solid Rick Mahorn screens to allow Rip to do his thing, and Ben now too. Let's get back to executing and not going through the motions on offense and we'll be OK offensively again.

quote:

Originally posted by OrlandoPistonFan:
Good use of numbers to back up your point but those numbers are bit misleading. If you look at how the offense is run, the person with the ball in their hands the most has the best opportunity for assists. After Iverson shut it down, they went back to Rip being the #1 option on offense at all times when he's on the court, that enabled him to come off screens, get the ball, and then make decisions. At that point, stuckey's job was to be the bailout guy at the top of the key and bring the ball up court. Its the same as blaming Mo Williams for not having more assists than Lebron James. He's just not going to do that, because that's not how the offense is going to be run.

I'm fine with Rip being the focal point of the offense, as long as people EXECUTE. I watched a few preseason games, and did not see one solid Screen by our bigs. The Pistons need to rely on solid Rick Mahorn screens to allow Rip to do his thing, and Ben now too. Let's get back to executing and not going through the motions on offense and we'll be OK offensively again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Stuckey. Rip seemed to take on more of a leadership role and appeared to put the team on his back, rather that just being our scorer who came off screens. If Rip has some skills that aren't being utilized to the max then we're wasting talent.

Think of Steve Nash (I'm not saying that Rip is Steve or anyone else), he had played in the NBA for 8 seasons and he never shot over 50% from the field or avg'd 9 or more assts. At 30 yrs old he gets traded to Pho and has 5 consecutive yrs of shooting over 50% and 9+ assts and back to back mvp's. So, in my view Dal didn't use him to his full potential. Nash also shoots in the mid 40's from 3 but in big games he sometimes has a difficult time getting clean looks. Well, they've got a guy named Grant Hill who was very capable being a point forward for us. Not to use him to allow Nash (your best shooter) to spot up is ridiculous. I'm sure Hill didn't forget how to run an offense or to distribute the ball.

Know your players' full capabilities and use them to your benefit.

People frequently say that with AI other players can't get in the flow and their offense suffers. Well, the only premier scorer that I can recall him playing with was Melo and he shot better from the field and from 3 with AI than he did in any previous yr in his career. If you know how to use AI he can help your team. We didn't know how to use him. AI registered 26 pts and 7 assts and Melo avg'd 25 pts. Clearly Melo didn't suffer due to AI's presence. Note: AI has more 7+ asst seasons than Chauncey and a higher asst/gm avg for his career.

Also, I understand the Mo Williams situation, he doesn't need more assts for them to be successful. It works fine for them as is. It's like playing with Kobe who has more often than not led the Lakers in assts. No blame on D-Fish it's what works for LA (as it did for us with Hill).

We need a point somebody...