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Transition game makes Richard Hamilton and Rodney Stuckey more valuable to the Detroit Pistons
What a time for a two-day break.

After snapping a 13-game losing streak with a 99-90 win over Washington last night, the Pistons can extend their newfound good feelings without the risk of a loss.

And selfishly, I’m swamped at work, so posting will be light the next couple days. But I want to share a quick thought from watching last night’s game.

The Pistons really do need to run more
I’d love to see the Pistons’ offensive rating on possessions when Richard Hamilton or Rodney Stuckey has the ball inside 15 feet with at least 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is probably the only person who knows, but I’d bet it’s sky high. When those two guards get near the basket that quickly, they’re excellent at creating – for themselves and teammates.

And the best way for them to get in that position: running the ball. Hamilton can’t penetrate well against a set defense. Stuckey can, but he doesn’t distribute well against a set defense. Both can get obviously make the short jumper in this situation, especially Hamilton. Hamilton also has underrated on-guard skills, which he learned under Larry Brown.

When Hamilton or Stuckey hold the ball five feet behind the 3-point arc, the Pistons are easy to defend. So why not try to run to get easier looks? If it doesn’t work, Stuckey or Hamilton can just kick the ball out to the other and run the usual offense.

Pistons ended their losing streak last night with a 99-90 win over the Wizards. Check out Keith Langlois' recap and... http://bit.ly/7Ut4Wd

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@atjm15 funniest guy on the team is kwame Brown by fare

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Yo tweet fam say a lil prayer for my boy @blakegriffin that he gets healthy and had a good surgery

My all-star "ballot" - The Reserves
Now that the Pistons have won a game, I'm in the mood to talk about basketball again. Below are my "ideal world" choices for the all-star reserves. Introductory language, apologies to Kevin Love. All that noise. Why are you still reading this introduction?

Eastern Conference Reserves
F – Josh Smith
F – Kevin Garnett
C – Brook Lopez
G – Joe Johnson
G – Danny Granger
F – Paul Pierce
C – David Lee

Western Conference
F – Pau Gasol
F – Kevin Durant
C – Carl Landry
G- Steve Nash
G – Chauncey Billups
G – Brandon Roy
F – Zach Randolph

Lamont in Detroit.:
As far as the Pistons, I'm looking at all these trade rumors going around and they are not involved in any. Bosh,Jefferson, Bynum.........I mean what gives. We need a true point and a few tru bigs. What do you guys think?

Thomas Beer:
You got to have something of value in order to trade for a stud big man such as the three you mentioned. Rip Hamiltion is not going to get it done. You are talking about elite players. Is Detroit was willing to part with Stuckey/Prince/picks – plus…? That is where the conversation starts.

shawn in toronto:
Calderon and filler for rip hamilton? What do you think?

Thomas Beer:
If I am the Raps - I don't give up on Calderon yet. Yes, I know he has struggled badly and is not living up to that contract. And he plays no D... But, pure pass-first PG's are rare...

Pistons' rare win coincides with Charlie Villanueva's hot stroke
The Pistons suffered many problems during the 13-game losing streak that ended Tuesday night at Washington. One of the main issues was offensive balance. So, of course, when power forward Charlie Villanueva had his most impactful game in some time, it led to team success.

Villanueva amassed 23 points and nine rebounds on 9-for-13 shooting, including 5-for-6 on three-pointers. It was his first 20-plus-point game since Dec. 12 -- which just happened to be the Pistons' last victory before Tuesday night."When he has a flow to the game, it makes it so much better," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "He's putting the ball in the hole, and he competed on defense. Give him the credit."

Teams have to defend the pick-and-roll differently when Villanueva is cooking. Defenders must play him tightly, opening up driving lanes for guard Rodney Stuckey and jumpers for the shooters. Villanueva is showing signs he's awaking from a five-game stretch in late December during which he averaged 3.6 points per game. He is averaging 15.4 over the last five, even with a four-point performance. "My teammates just found me, and I made open shots," Villanueva said. "Shooters are going to keep shooting."

NOTEBOOK: There was no word on the status of small forward Tayshaun Prince (left knee bruise) or shooting guard Ben Gordon (right groin strain) for Friday's game against the Hornets. Guard Will Bynum (sore ankles) is doubtful.

NBA Players Association executive director William Hunter dropped by the Pistons' locker room after the Wizards game.

Mother of NBA legend Thomas dies at 86
The mother of Hall of Fame basketball star and Florida International coach Isiah Thomas has died.Mary Thomas, 86, died Wednesday morning at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital in suburban Chicago, hospital spokeswoman Lisa Parro said. Mary Thomas had battled heart problems for years and underwent open-heart surgery in November, the same day her son made his coaching debut for FIU.

Isiah Thomas has left his team and rejoined family in Chicago. While tending to his mother's arrangements, he is expected to miss at least two FIU games, including Thursday at Middle Tennessee State and Saturday at Western Kentucky, team spokesman Paul Dodson said. "We are truly saddened by the passing of Mary Thomas," FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said. "The Thomas family is in our thoughts and prayers during this time of mourning. I know how much she meant to Isiah and the entire Thomas family. Our hearts go out to Coach Thomas and his family."

Isiah Thomas said last month that his mother had been doing well in her recovery from surgery. "She's a strong woman," Thomas said. Mary Thomas' struggle to raise and protect her children from gang violence and drugs on Chicago's West Side was turned into a television movie, "A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story." As a player, Thomas won an NCAA championship at Indiana and two NBA titles with the Detroit Pistons. He later coached the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks before ending up at FIU.

Blazers' Roy (hamstring) questionable for Friday night
Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy has a strained right hamstring and is questionable for Friday night's game against the Orlando Magic.

Roy injured his hamstring during the third quarter of the Blazers' 120-108 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. He had an MRI Thursday morning which confirmed the strain.

The two-time All-Star leads the Blazers with an average of 23.4 points and 5.1 assists per game.

Charlie V Loving the D
Charlie Villanueva explains why he loves being a Piston, and how easy it was to mesh with his new teammates and coaches.

Mother of ex-Pistons guard Isiah Thomas dies at 86
The mother of Hall of Fame basketball star Isiah Thomas has died.

Lisa Parro of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital in suburban Chicago says 86-year-old Mary Thomas died Wednesday morning. She did not provide any details. In November, Mary Thomas was admitted to the hospital. On the same day her son made his debut as coach of Florida International, she underwent surgery.

Mary Thomas' struggle to raise and protect her children from gang violence and drugs on Chicago's West Side was turned into a television movie "A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story." Thomas went on to star at Indiana University and then with the Detroit Pistons.

Is Joe Dumars' past impacting the Detroit Pistons' present?
With the likelihood that the Pistons will make the playoffs shrinking each day, comparisons to a bygone era when the geniuses in the Pistons' marketing department thought teal jerseys and flaming horses were a good idea and losing seasons were not out of the ordinary are going to keep cropping up.

Sparty and Friends recently talked about the nature of the breakup of the Bad Boys-era Pistons: The Pistons had traded away the very popular but serious head case Dennis Rodman for Sean Elliot, someone who never wanted to be in Auburn Hills from the first day. Terry Mills and Olden Polynice rounded out the front-court…not exactly Laimbeer and Mahorn. And no one can forget Greg “Cadillac” Anderson. This was a team that was slapped together because the Pistons waited too long to move pieces that were maximized to win the title and got old in a hurry.

Seemingly overnight, the players Detroit fans had watched grow and become champions together were gone, except for one man, that is: Joe Dumars. Did that experience cause Dumars to try and move quickly (some would say hastily) to replace aging veterans on this version of the Pistons, hoping they'd avoid the same fate of bottoming out? When Dumars signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, part of the motivation, we were told, was not only their youth, but the fact that both were established NBA players who could help the team stay remotely competitive while more pieces were found. With the current team standing as one of the worst in the league, it's hard to call any offseason move a success, other than getting Ben Wallace on the cheap. The moves have been dissected quite a bit in the comments around here, but the motivation behind them hasn't. Did Dumars bring them in because he wanted to keep this team from the fate of 1993-94, or did he know that this season was likely to bring struggles, but just wanted to hide that belief from the media?

That 1993-1994 Pistons team sounds eerily familiar
I've linked to Wages of Wins before, with, um ... mixed results. Seems fans of advanced statistical analysis are few and far between out there.

But while we're on the subject of the 93-94 Pistons, WoW's Dave Berri takes an in-depth look at that season. The stats that the site is know for are all there, but what I found most interesting were the descriptions of that team: Before the 1992-93 campaign began the Pistons sent John Salley to the Miami Heat for a first round pick in the 1993 NBA draft. The Heat only won 36 games in 1992-93, hence the Pistons ended up with the 10th and 11th picks. With these choices, the Pistons selected Lindsey Hunter and Allan Houston. I can still remember Dick Vitale insisting that Houston was going to be a star (as we will see, in his first year Houston was not). And Lindsey Hunter – from Jackson State – once scored 48 points in a game against Kansas. So fans of the Pistons fully expected Hunter to eventually take over for Isiah Thomas and Houston to be an outstanding player (after all, Dickie V said so!!). Eventually, though, is the key word. For the 1993-94 season the Pistons still had both Isiah and Joe Dumars. Both guards had played in the 1993 All-Star game and both would eventually be voted into the Hall-of-Fame. So with two All-Stars and two lottery picks, Detroit’s backcourt was expected to be very good.

Hmm ... sounds a bit familiar, eh? Heading into this season, with dynamic young players in Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, veteran holdover Rip Hamilton and high-scoring Ben Gordon coming on as a free agent, we almost considered it a given that the team's strength would be the backcourt. And sadly, it might be. But at the same time, the guard play hasn't materialized the way most thought it would. Injuries have been the big reason, but even when everyone's healthy, they all seem to get in each others' way, with the strengths of one usually weakening the strengths of another. The piece also talks about the high hopes for Sean Elliot after acquiring him for Dennis Rodman from the San Antonio Spurs -- Elliot was a scorer coming off an All-Star season, giving the Pistons a third All-Star in their starting five. Perhaps similar to a potentially high-scoring forward who was brought in this year as a free agent.That season was a failure for a variety of reasons, as Berri points out in-depth in his post, but the emotions he talks about -- thinking this team full of fresh faces was going to be really exciting and good -- is very similar to the excitement around this year's Pistons, when perhaps a more analytical look would've pointed out some deficiencies.