Game 3. (1-1) vs. Boston Celtics (0-2). 6PM ET.

[E-Z]

Career TO/game for current Pistons:

Billups: 2.1 (31.9 minutes) -- excellent, because that's Chauncey's style, in control
Bynum: 1.6 (18.6 minutes) -- a little below average for a guard, but not bad
Drummond: 1.0 (21.5 minutes) -- very good, and expected, as he's thus far just a finisher
Harrellson: 0.5 (13.3 minutes) -- excellent, as he's not a passer or ball-handler
Jennings: 2.4 (34.6 minutes) -- very good, but it's primarily because he shoots if he's in trouble
Jerebko: 1.0 (23.6 minutes) -- excellent, better than I expected, though still not a passer
Monroe: 2.1 (30.9 minutes) -- subpar for a big, but he is a passer, which is part of the reason
Singler: 1.2 (27.8 minutes) -- excellent, and he does pass some, so this is impressive
Smith: 2.5 (34.2 minutes) -- subpar for a wing; he's a creator, but not a careful one
Stuckey: 2.0 (29.5 minutes) -- very good; his problem is not ball control, but shot creation for others
Villanueva: 1.1 (23.6 minutes) -- excellent, but expected as a shooter

Outside of Smith and Monroe, both well above-average passers for their positions, this team really doesn't have a problem with turnovers. It's not an exact science, but add all that up and you have 17.5 turnovers and 289.5 minutes. Scale that down to a normal game (240 minutes) and you're at 14.5 turnovers. That seems reasonable, and a little worse than for the league (last year, average was around 14.0, and Detroit averaged 1.46). We'll exchange that extra half a turnover for excellent shot creation from our bigs.

Thru 3 games, we're averaging 19.3. That's going to come down a lot.

You're looking at just raw turnovers versus turnovers and ball usage. Monroe and Smith have the ball in their hands just as often as the back-court. That's unsettling in Smith's case so far.

[tmorgan]

Yes, those are just raw turnovers, but it's not "unsettling" at all. That's who Josh Smith is, a creator from the forward spot. This team needs that -- especially when Jennings was out.

With our regular lineup and regular bench (which currently is BJ, RS, JS, GM, AD, wb, cb, ks, jj), we need some players to create offense for others. Jennings obviously can do it, Billups can in short stretches, and Bynum can if he's playing correctly. Everyone else is pretty much just a shooter or finisher except Smith and Monroe, so they get a lot of touches before the shot is ultimately taken. So be it.

Smith needs to be more careful in his decision-making, but we don't want to completely reign him in. Monroe needs to make better decisions as well, but I feel his problem is more about his hands in the post.