'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 58

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Cyber Monday Ticket Sale
The Pistons are gearing up for a busy December and January on The Palace hardwood. Get a jumpstart on your shopping list with Pistons tickets for only $10. Three dollars of each ticket purchased will benefit St. Vincent de Paul.

[nasty daddy]

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Odeh (Dearborn Heights, Mich.): I believe the Atlanta game made a strong case for Stuckey being better suited as a shooting guard. I understand he is more of a combo guard, but his assists were up and he created more for others when he was second to touch the ball. Does this make Rip expendable for a point guard?

Langlois: If Joe Dumars entertained any thoughts about trading Rip Hamilton, my hunch is it would be for a big man – or, in a Billups-Iverson scenario, for an expiring contract that would enable him to target a big man in free agency. As for Stuckey, he’s a guard. I continue to maintain that teams that have elite playmakers – Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, et al – are best served by keeping the ball in the hands of one player to start every possession. That leaves a whole lot of other teams who spread that responsibility over several players and, for what they might give up in continuity, perhaps they gain back in versatility. Stuckey is going to play off the ball a good deal of the time, at least as long as Will Bynum is in the mix.

[nasty daddy]

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J.J. (Houston): How does Jonas Jerebko compare to a player like David Lee or Andris Biedrins? He appears more like a power forward/center than a small forward. Would you agree with that?

Langlois: Defensively, he’s shown he’s very capable of staying with even the prototypically athletic small forwards. We haven’t seen as much of him in the regular season defending power forwards, but you’d have to think he’s going to be even better at that. So defensively, I don’t think you can pigeon-hole him. He might be one of those rare guys who can do at least an adequate job defending all five positions. That will make him an invaluable pick-and-roll defender. Offensively, he’s probably a little better suited to power forward. We caught a glimpse in the Friday game with the Clippers, when he hit 4 of 4 from the 3-point line, of the greater offensive potential that lies within him. He’s also pretty good putting the ball on the floor and getting into the lane and he’s got a little running hook that has the potential to be a nice weapon for him.

[nasty daddy]

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Jim (Redford, Mich.): What’s going on with Chris Wilcox? He seems to have fallen to the bottom of the rotation. I don’t recall him playing too bad when he has gotten playing time. He wasn’t even given a chance to find his place with the team.

Langlois: He gets a chance in practice every day, Jim. There’s no question that he’s been the No. 5 big man in productivity when he has been given minutes. He had his best moments last weekend on the West Coast trip when Kuester gave him a shot and sat Kwame Brown in the last two games. Kuester keeps saying positive things about Wilcox – even after Sunday’s win over Atlanta, when Wilcox didn’t play – and, the way injuries have rippled through the roster this season, he’s always just one possession away from being thrust into a much greater role.

[nasty daddy]

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Jake (Bowling Green, Ohio): Rip, Ben Gordon, Tay, now Charlie. I love the effort, but there’s no way they can compete with their four best players out. I thought Rip just sprained his ankle and he’s missed a month. What gives?

Langlois: I’ll have some interesting things on the lineup that won Sunday’s game over Atlanta later today in my True Blue Pistons blog, Jake. As for Hamilton, keep reading.

[nasty daddy]

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Deborah (Eastpointe, Mich.): What’s going on with Rip Hamilton? It seems that it’s taking a long time for him to return from a sprained ankle.

Langlois: All sprained ankles are not created equal, Deborah. I played high school basketball and twisted my ankle a few times and limped around for a few days and was playing again a week later. I thought that was a sprained ankle. Then, a few years later, I really sprained it – my ankle hit the floor and I was on crutches for a week and it was a good long time before I felt comfortable playing again. When the ligaments get stretched out to that extent, it takes time before they regain their tautness and strength. I was told I would have recovered faster had I broken the ankle that time. When Rip told me the day after his injury that his ankle hit the floor, that’s the first thing I thought: that this wasn’t going to be your typical one- or two-week sprained ankle absence. He’s definitely getting better, but the Pistons aren’t even putting a timetable on his return until he can get back on the court and start doing some basketball-related activity.

[nasty daddy]

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Joel (Amherstburg, Ontario): This kind of team reminds me of the 2004 championship team with the scoring distribution. How many other teams have every player averaging under 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists?

Langlois: When you’re winning championships, that characteristic is seen as a strength. When you’re scuffling along with twice as many losses as wins – not to mention two 20-point scorers in street clothes on top of a perennial All-Defense member – it’s looked at quite differently. When the Pistons are back at full strength, I still think both Hamilton and Gordon are going to be right around 20 a game.

[nasty daddy]

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Jeremy (Kewadin, Mich.): Are the Pistons as bad as their record? Or are they still trying to adjust because of new players and injuries?

Langlois: There’s an old saying, Jeremy: You are what your record says you are. So the record is an accurate reflection of a Pistons team that’s missing its three highest-paid players and one that played nine of its first 14 games on the road and has played only six of its 17 games against teams with sub-.500 records. It is not an accurate reflection of a Pistons team that lines up with Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince in the starting lineup and brings Ben Gordon off the bench.

[nasty daddy]

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Sipu (Hamtramck, Mich.): The Pistons have Ben Wallace as a big man to do the dirty work, but all their other guys are either too small or, in the case of Kwame Brown, not good enough. So I’ve been wondering what big guy can the Pistons get this season, ASAP, to make their roster big and young.

Langlois: Despite tweaks to the rulebook and a focus on enforcement that favors offensive playmakers, which has undeniably increased the value of playmakers and perimeter shooters, talented young big men remain the most coveted commodity in basketball. So there isn’t one without serious warts – either a bad contract, character red flags or major holes in his game – that’s going to fall into the Pistons’ lap. Their best shot at addressing their frontcourt will come next summer, when a strong draft class will be followed by a strong free-agent class with the Pistons having the mid-level exception at their disposal. Any trade for a big man that offers anything more than limited help is a long shot.

[nasty daddy]

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Jeff (Cincinnati): With all the injuries, I think it’s time to play the people who give you the best chance of winning. Jason Maxiell plays his butt off for you and gets 16 minutes a game. Give him 30 a game and see what happens. I’ll take hard word over flash anytime.

Langlois: Three coaches have learned that Maxiell’s effectiveness almost always comes down to his energy level and activity. If Max gets in the game and doesn’t get his hands on loose balls for the first three or four trips, it’s more than likely one of those nights when he just doesn’t have much life in his body. Other nights, he can give you 20 or 25 really solid minutes and have an impact on games that goes beyond what his stats tell you.

[nasty daddy]

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Jeremy (Detroit): Why didn’t we use Summers to guard LeBron? You’ve mentioned that Summers looked really good defensively against LeBron.

Langlois: A little background. Jeremy is referring to a nugget of information Pistons personnel director George David passed on to me regarding Summers’ participation in the annual LeBron James Skills Camp that he attended as an instructor, along with a handful of other college players, in the summer of 2008. David remarked that in the pickup games the camp counselors played after hours, he was impressed with the way Summers responded to the physical challenge of guarding James. He didn’t mean it, and I didn’t report it, in a way to suggest that Summers would be a guy who could shut down LeBron, only that he didn’t look intimidated by the assignment and David took that as a sign that Summers had a competitive streak and a good measure of self-confidence. The real story from the Cavs game to me was how Jonas Jerebko acquitted himself while guarding LeBron.

[nasty daddy]

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Tiba (Detroit): With Prince, Hamilton and Gordon hurt, we can’t afford to run the three-guard rotation any more. It’s time to give the rookies the green light and see what they can do. I personally believe Daye or Summers can emerge as great players as soon as this year if they played at small forward.

Langlois: They’ll get all the minutes they can handle, Tiba, for however long the Pistons remain without all three of their established perimeter stars. Coming into the season, the Pistons could assemble a five-man rotation at the three perimeter spots – point guard, shooting guard, small forward – that didn’t include any of the three rookies. Now they’re down to Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum. The three rookies essentially have to fill the roles of Prince, Hamilton and Gordon now, with support from veteran Chucky Atkins. Nobody is expecting Daye or Summers to emerge as “great players” this season. If they can play error-free defense and contribute enough offensively – knock down open shots when the defense gangs up on Stuckey and Bynum and keep the ball moving without turning it over – to give the Pistons a chance to win games in which they’re not overmatched, that’s all anybody should expect right now.

[nasty daddy]

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Dave (Perth, Australia): Do you think the Billups trade hampered Stuckey’s development purely from the viewpoint that Stuckey no longer had a perfect tutor to teach him the intricacies of playing the point? I don’t know that there would be a better active point guard to learn from than Chauncey and I can’t even imagine where his game would be right now had that trade not taken place.

Langlois: I wouldn’t dismiss the notion that there is value in sitting behind an established star at your position and soaking up some knowledge, but ultimately the best teacher is experience. Stuckey had two full training camps and one whole regular season – well, minus the 27 games he missed with his broken hand – playing with and behind Billups and he acknowledges that it served him well. But I haven’t met a player yet who didn’t believe that experience best furthered his progress.

[nasty daddy]

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Elliott (Marietta, Ga.): What is it going to take for the team to understand that sharing the ball is going to be their only way to amass consistent wins? We have the scoring talent, even with the youth on the floor, to justify the sharing of the ball. But the guards tend to assume the burden of scoring without creating other threats. If we don’t average at least 20 assists a game, it’s going to be a long season.

Langlois: I don’t know that there’s anything magic about 20 assists, and I think too much hand-wringing has been done about assist totals in general, but I don’t disagree that the Pistons need to do a better job of moving the ball and dribbling a little less. But there is a fine line to walk because the foremost strength of both Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum is their penetration ability and, right now, they don’t have a lot of great options for dishing it off. It was only one game, granted, but nobody was complaining about the ball movement and shot selection when they won the opener at Memphis – the only game all season they played at full strength.

[nasty daddy]

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William (Livonia, Mich.): Do you think Joe Dumars would trade any two of his players to receive LeBron James from Cleveland?

Langlois: Any two? Umm, yeah. When Jack McCloskey was hired as GM of the Pistons, one of his first acts was calling the Lakers and offering his whole roster for Magic Johnson. The Lakers, of course, politely declined. That was before the salary cap was implemented, which would make such a trade impossible. But I don’t think there is a team in the league beyond the Lakers (Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol) and possibly Orlando (Dwight Howard and anybody) that wouldn’t trade any two players on the roster for LeBron James. (I can hear Miami fans screaming now, but seriously: You wouldn’t trade Dwyane Wade, 4 inches shorter and three years older, plus anyone else on Miami’s roster – Michael Beasley, most likely – for LeBron?)

[nasty daddy]

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Ryan (Grand Rapids, Mich.): Would Houston entertain a trade involving Hamilton, Prince and Maxiell for McGrady and Ariza? It would give the Pistons a small forward for the next four years and about $15 million to spend on a center (Stoudemire) in free agency. Plus, McGrady can give you minutes at the two or three once he is back.

Langlois: Tough to speculate how Houston might react to that deal, Ryan, but I suspect GM Darryl Morey is more inclined to let McGrady’s salary come off of his cap and use the money much as Joe Dumars used his last summer – to snap up a couple of really productive young players to add to his core for the next five years rather than acquire two players in Hamilton and Prince who will by that time both be 30-plus.

[nasty daddy]

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Villanueva questionable for Wednesday
Charlie Villanueva could return as soon as Wednesday from a broken nose after having his nasal fracture repaired on Monday. The Pistons released an official press release that read: Charlie Villanueva underwent a successful surgical procedure this afternoon to repair a nasal fracture. The procedure was performed by Dr. Gene Rontal at the DMC Berry Center in Farmington Hills. Villanueva is listed as questionable for Wednesday's game at Chicago.

Villanueva suffered the injury during Sunday's win over the Hawks when his head collided with Ben Wallace's hip as he feel to the ground after being fouled. Villanueva was able to knock down both of his free throws with a large piece of tissue stuck in his nose to stop the bleeding before exiting the game. "Just letting everyone know that, I had successful surgery today for my broken nose, thanks everyone for showing me love, I greatly appreciate it," Villanueva wrote on his twitter page.

The injury means the Pistons' could be without their four highest paid players against Chicago on Wednesday. Ben Gordon is questionable with an ankle sprain, while Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back) remain out.

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Update on Charlie Villanueva's Broken Nose & Ben Gordon's Ankle Injury
Charlie Villanueva in pre-op for his nasal surgery on Monday. (Via @CV31 on Twitter) Charlie Villanueva had successful nasal surgery and septum realignment today at the Detroit Medical Center. The good news is that it's not out of the question that he and Ben Gordon are available Wednesday night against the Bulls. Via True Blue Pistons: Good news, or something close enough for a team that’s experienced nothing but wrenching injury news since the opening night of the NBA season: Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva are both questionable for the Pistons’ next game, Wednesday at Chicago, and "questionable" is a big step up from "out.

CV is going to be fitted for a Rip Hamilton-esque mask and hopefully, will be allowed to play. You'd think that it'd be pretty clear whether or not he could play -- getting knocked in the nose again makes it worse until fully healed (can't play) or odds of re-injury are same as any basketball game with or without recent surgery (can play) -- but it appears there is a little more to it that I'm not aware of despite having the same surgery in college and being allowed to resume baseball (not basketball) activities the next day.

Gordon's ankle situation might be a little more delicate, as the Pistons will probably have to wait until tomorrow to see how it responds to shooting around on it today. Gordon says he hopes he can practice tomorrow and will then be ready for Wednesday. In other injury news, Prince is apparently improving as well. Prince shot around with no tentativeness today and appears to be ahead of Hamilton in returning to the lineup.

[nasty daddy]

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Injuries Show Struggles Yet Improvements For Detroit
When Pistons fans thought it couldn't get any worse for the season having Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince out with injuries, Ben Gordon has also been out with an ankle sprain for the past two games. That has led the Pistons to a 7 game skid and trying to find ways to put up big points without two of their biggest scoring threats. Kuester has tried a few different starting rolls involving Austin Daye, Jason Maxiell, Jonas Jerebko, and Chucky Atkins. The Pistons finally ended their 7 game skid beating the young and talented Atlanta Hawks Sunday 94-88. Kuester threw a complete random starting lineup involving Chucky Atkins, Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, Jonas Jerebko, and Ben Wallace. Bringing Will Bynum, Charlie Villanueva, and Austin Daye off the bench to provide some scoring threats. The Pistons dominated the boards grabbing 53 to the Hawks 27, and dominating the Hawks on the offensive boards grabbing 24 to their 6. Ben Wallace was the main factor of the game grabbing 18 Rebounds and scoring 10 points. Jonas Jerebko continued to show improvement scoring 10 points and 11 rebounds to have a double-double in the night.

Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum combined for 42 points and 12 assists which played big factors in the Pistons big win against Atlanta. So how does losing three starters and having a 7 game losing streak show improvement for the Pistons? A big thing is giving the bench players big minutes and making them into more legit players coming off the bench when Rip, Tay, and Ben Gordon come back. Austin Daye is getting a better feel of the game on both the offensive and defensive end. Jason Maxiell has been stepping up both on offense and especially defense showing how effective he is starting to become off the bench. Kwame Brown has also been putting up descent numbers and playing good defense down in the post showing he can continue the good defense that Ben Wallace provides while he's on the court. The biggest surprise for the Pistons is rookie sensation Jonas Jerebko. Filling in for Tayshaun Prince he has taken on some of the most difficult rolls you can think of. His biggest rolls were to take on Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, and Vince Carter on the Orlando Magic.

Jerebko had started off slow but has been showing improvement in each and every game. Sure he is only averaging 6.5 points per game. But he shows great hustle and defense on the court while he's in. Jerebko has been becoming a bigger scoring threat as the games go on, putting up 10 last night against the Hawks, and a career high 22 against the Clippers. With Jerebko continuing to show improvement in his game, it is a great sign seeing him come off the bench as an elite player when Prince comes back. So despite sitting on a 6-11 record thus far, the season is still young. Pistons are down 3 starters, and Charlie Villanueva may be questionable due to his injury against the Hawks in the 4th quarter. But once Rip, Tay, and Gordon come back and with how affective the bench players have filled in for starting rolls, it shows a bright future in the season for the Pistons.

[nasty daddy]

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The game I fell in love with the 2009-10 Detroit Pistons
Charlie Villanueva went up for a shot in the fourth quarter against the Hawks last night. Like the Pistons so many times this season, he got knocked down by his opponent and his own team compounded the problem. Zaza Pachulia scratched Villanueva’s nose, and the first-year Piston went crashing into Ben Wallace’s hip. With blood gushing from his nose, Villanueva sat on the sideline patiently waiting for it stop. When that didn’t work, he sat on the bench patiently waiting for the flow to end. Mike Abdenour, Arnie Kander, a towel, a timeout and some gauze stuffed up his nose finally stopped Villanueva’s bleeding. Then, the forward went to the free-throw line and finally stopped the Pistons’ bleeding. Sure, they snapped a snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 94-88 win over Atlanta. But more importantly, they became a team I – and I suspect many other Pistons fans – can be passionate about.

Before that moment, the Pistons had felt like strangers. Most of the team is new from last year – and even though Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins are in their second stints in Detroit, there was still a getting-to-know-you-again period. Sure, the newcomers seemed like good guys. And I still think they’ll a good team when healthy. But what had they done to endear themselves? There were signs: a victory over the Magic, a three-game winning streak against teams that appeared to be battling Detroit for playoff position and Wallace’s resurgence. But mostly, they showed slow play, a lack of interior scoring and poor development from key players. Injuries are certainly a fair excuse, but this deep into the season, there should have been more evidence the Pistons are on the right track. It’s not like they had to do much to surpass last year’s squad. And that makes it OK their breakthrough moment was sort of contrived. This wasn’t a cheap shot or a hard foul. But the Pistons needed something to rally around, and they did. Villanueva, who didn’t return to the game, doesn’t deserve all the credit. His free throws just put Detroit up six with 9:30 left. It was a full team effort down the stretch.

•Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum displayed a nice court sense, knowing when to shoot and when to pass.
•Jonas Jerebko played tremendous defense, especially when he stole the ball on a late two-on-one Atlanta fast break.
•Jason Maxiell confidently made a couple shots.
•Wallace grabbed rebound after rebound, especially offensively.
In itself, it was a nice win. The Hawks, who entered the game 12-3, are one of the East’s better teams.
But take a step back. When’s the last time the Pistons had such an inspiring effort? They were confident. They were aggressive. They were smart. They even bled. And that should make many fans want to bleed for them (figuratively – we’ll leave the literal version to the professionals).