McGrady back to the bench in favor of Stuckey

[Todd3]

From KL's Twitter: "Rodney Stuckey back in the lineup as the starting PG on Saturday vs. Philly. McGrady will be the backup PG, Kuester says."

This organization is turning into a laughing stock. The better you play, the better the chance some other guy playing awful is going to take your minutes. Great way to attract free agents. Nobody is ever going to want to play here again. Forget about attracting a big man, Ben Wallace is cemented in that starting lineup, and isnt moving anytime soon, and I'm sure agents and players see whats going on here with this favoritism BS, and nobody is going to want to come here. I hope Gores takes over soon and cleans house.

[Todd3]

The biggest joke of it all is that Dumars paraded around town proclaiming an "open competition" during training camp.

[princeofpalace]

You know what at this point McGrady should be starting at PG and Stuck should be starting at SG.

McGrady runs the offense better than Rodney but Stuck has shown that he deserves PT. Stuckey has easily outplayed both Rip and Gordon. So the real joke isn't that Stuck is starting, its that Rip & Gordon continue to get PT while they both suck but I guess thats what happens when you shell out 25 mil for two SGs.

Stuckey & Afflalo should have been the SG's on this team. I really hope Joe can fix this mess soon.

[Kyrama]

We should offer everything we have for a half-decent PG

[vege]

I agree that both TMac and Stuckey should be starting with Prince CV and Big Ben. That should be the starting 5.

And i think soon i will start one of my famous Stuckey stats thread because some people really love to ignore how good he have been and how much he have been improving every season.

[motorcity15]

I have 2 views about this

1. A guy should never lose his starting spot due to injury, it's unfair
2. McGrady has outplayed and run the offense better than Stuckey as of late, so he should start

I think it's pretty unfair to bench Stuckey just because of an illness, granted his play and role are in question, he still is a good player and has good D. So IMO i think he should start and try to run this team and redeem himself. The pressure is on since T Mac is playing well and i hope Stuckey responds with his play. BUT if he can't perform I'm all for starting T Mac

[The Webb]

Why haven't we tried Tmac at the point and Rodney at the 2? That sounds like it could work.

[Spider156]

If we're going with gameplay then both Tmac and Stuckey should start. Gordon and Rip suck and don't deserve to start. If I were to pick which one to start, it would be Stuckey because he would play next to Gordon and that's the idea before Rodney got injured. If by who runs the offense better, then Tmac. If Rip can only play better, Tmac and Rip should start with Stuckey and Gordon coming off the bench. That's what I would do as a coach but it says ALOT about the young ones and would destroy them.

[Spider156]

Why haven't we tried Tmac at the point and Rodney at the 2? That sounds like it could work.

We have. Stuckey plays better with Gordon, CV, Monroe, and Tmac running the point. He knows what to do by cutting in. I haven't seen anybody that cuts yet except for Rodney.

[MrBigShot]

Rip has had a few good games, but mainly has been a ballhog...

BG has stunk it up like no other after starting the season looking like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AQn4TlHEnw

If BG doesn't start playing better I think we should put Stuckey at the 2. T-Mac is our best PG...and best player overall, even without the athleticism that he use to have.

[triplet1984]

I think we should go sign another Shooting Guard to a 50 million dollar contract.

[Spider156]

T-Mac is our best PG...and best player overall, even without the athleticism that he use to have.

That's why you have Prince starting over him. No, Prince is better.

[the_l_train]

Why not just start T-Mac at SG if he is playing the best? Keep Stuckey at PG and let T-Mac run the offense. Gordon and Hamilton could just take turns being 6th and 7th man, depending on match-ups.

This squeezes out Bynum, which sucks because we just paid the man. A trade needs to happen.

[2tough]

Yeah, Stuckey has played awful in those 27 minutes over 2 games since returning, but truth be told, he shouldn't have been playing at all in those games, as it was clear he was still under the weather and recovering his strength. Stuckey has certainly played well enough to start over Gordon or Hamilton, and I'd dare anyone here to argue that. McGrady has also played well, and he definitely runs the offense the best of anyone on the team. They should BOTH start.

[qm22]

Stuckey should be starting without question. It should be a question of Stuckey and TMac and who else? TMac could start over Gordon and Tayshaun. But starting over Tay just won't happen.

This move might be the best considering our situation. Rip plays best with TMac and basically only with TMac does he not completely blow. TMac has no trouble coming off of the bench, at all. Think of the Toronto game before Stuckey's flu when TMac had 17/7/7.

Next... TMac does not really outplay Stuckey even in his good games. Let's be honest, his stats are worse than Stuckey when playing at his best in his recent games (Boston-LAL games). The major difference is we have better chemistry and in some games have been more competetive. It is unsure whether or not there is anything to that in this sample size. We beat Boston (but they had a lot of issues that game), got humiliated by Phoenix, a very crappy team who is dead last in defense and completely shut down the TMac led offense (not that I blame TMac). In the LA games it looked like the Pistons look all season. Competetive or winning first half followed by a 3rd quarter collapse, on queue.

You know what at this point McGrady should be starting at PG and Stuck should be starting at SG.

McGrady runs the offense better than Rodney but Stuck has shown that he deserves PT. Stuckey has easily outplayed both Rip and Gordon. So the real joke isn't that Stuck is starting, its that Rip & Gordon continue to get PT while they both suck but I guess thats what happens when you shell out 25 mil for two SGs.

Stuckey & Afflalo should have been the SG's on this team. I really hope Joe can fix this mess soon.

I agree that Stuckey and TMac earned time and that they should see time together. I hope they at least play together in 4th quarters. When we signed TMac I thought it was a great fit for Stuckey because of TMac's ball handling/point forward repetoire.

I disagree that we should assume Stuckey is a SG even though he has the combo guard stereotype.

[Spider156]

My solution to the starting lineup based on how well they've played is this...

Stuckey
Tmac
Prince
CV
Monroe

This will ONLY happen if Prince goes back to his old role of being a third or fourth option and lets Tmac, CV, and Stuckey shoot more. It goes Tmac, CV, Stuckey, Prince, and Monroe. This should work but only if Prince is his old self with Tmac running the offense. Over time, Tmac and Prince will be gone. So then Gordon, Stuckey, Monroe, New Big, and New Facilitator should make it work. It doesn't require a genius but Kuester is a dumbass.

[Todd3]

I agree Stuckey has played better than Gordon and Rip, but not sure how much that says about Stuckey considering how awful Rip and Gordon have been. Nevertheless, I would start Stuckey at SG and leave McGrady at PG. They need to get a better looks at Stuckey at SG anyways if they are considering re-signing him. Its already been proven over 3 years that he should not be re-signed as the starting PG, and there's still not enough evidence that he can be a great SG either. The smart thing would be to use the next month to evaluate him at SG and see what they got. Realistically though, thats not even nearly enough time to evaluate a player at a position for a new long term contract. IMO, they are already blew it by spending the last 3 years evaluating him at PG, when 1 of those years should've been used to see what he's got at SG. All that said, this franchise is never going to bring their 2 highest paid players in Rip and Gordon, both off the bench. Instead, they would rather suck and screw up the future even worse, than admit they were wrong about Gordon and Rip.

[He Filled it Up]

I'd be down with starting them both as well, but get past the whole naming thing. They're both combo guards (they've both proven it). Just have Stuckey check the more athletic guard. Though you would need CV out there for spacing, but I'm fine with that.

[colors]

What's going on with this idea of playing Stuckey at SG ? Or is it just a rhetorical question ? We already have TWO SG starters who already have to play much less minutes that they're used to (and that they should be playing, if we consider their salary). Does anyone seriously believe BOTH Gordon and Rip are gonna start on the bench ? I don't know what's the point in discussing it, it's just not going to happen, period.

As for Tmac being pushed back to the bench when Rodney comes back, it was quite evident it would happen, that's all. Tmac isn't an actual PG, Stuckey doesn't deserve to be benched, so no surprise there. The only way Tmac could start would be instead of Tay. Why not, altho personnally I don't really care since Tmac isn't any part of our future, and unless a major trade happens very soon this season is lost already.

[triplet1984]

Your guys' fantasy about Stuckey starting at SG will NEVER HAPPEN as long as Gordon and Rip are both still on this team.