Pistons cut Deron Washington, keep Chucky Atkins

by Matt W on Oct 26, 2009 9:47 PM CDT Comment 19 comments

The Pistons officially waived Deron Washington today, opting to keep Chucky Atkins as the 14th man. From the team's official release:

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has requested waivers on guard/forward Deron Washington. He averaged 3.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 6.4 minutes in seven preseason games.

Washington was drafted by Detroit with the 59th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. He played on the Pistons’ summer league teams each of the last two years and averaged 14.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in 27 games for Hapoel Holon of the Greek League in 2008-09.

Hapoel Holon is an Israeli team, not Greek, but whatever. I'm a little bummed about the move -- I'm not sure what Washington's ceiling is, but it's certainly higher than that of Atkins, a 35-year-old journeyman who's played on six teams in six years since being included in the Rasheed Wallace trade in 2004.

That said, Washington wouldn't have played even if he made the team, and considering the Pistons already have three rookies on the roster, I'm not terribly torn up about the move. I don't expect Atkins to dress on most nights, but if the Pistons are intent on rolling with a three-guard lineup as frequently as they did in the exhibition season, I suppose it does make some sense to keep a guard as insurance.

From Dave Pemberton, Kuester's comments on the move:

"You couldn’t see all the things he did from a positive standpoint," Kuester said, referring to Atkins' role in practice. "He has been a great role model for our young point guards. He’s really done an outstanding job of running the team in practice. I think that’s one of the reasons it came down to us keeping him because he’s challenged both of those players everyday in practice. I’m very impressed with not only what he did on the court, but off the court as well."

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STUPID F’n MOVE. HOW DO YOU CUT WASHINGTON WHO FROM WHAT I"VE SEEN HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL AND TALENT FOR AN OLD PAST HIS PRIME CHUCKY ATKINS. COME ON NOW JOE D….

by KG on Oct 26, 2009 10:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Makes the Spellcheck trade even dumber..

by Cody on Oct 26, 2009 10:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Not liking the move.

So does this mean we have cut off all ties with him? Or do we still have the rights for him if he goes back overseas?

by Diablo on Oct 26, 2009 10:27 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Umm… seriously? This makes no sense.

by Thom on Oct 26, 2009 10:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Seriously? This makes absolutely no sense.

by Thom on Oct 26, 2009 10:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Curse you firefox! You make me look bad when I double(/now triple) post!

by Thom on Oct 26, 2009 10:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow. Chalk up another to WTF.

by TDP on Oct 26, 2009 11:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

All I hopes is a trade winds a-brewin’s…

by TDP on Oct 26, 2009 11:23 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess I’m not going to get too upset about this. It’s probably wise to have a third point guard, just in case. I’m hoping Atkins can mentor Stuckey a bit. A contribution like that is likely more important than anything Chucky or Washington would offer on the court. Besides, don’t the Pistons have enough small forwards as it is?

by Birdman on Oct 27, 2009 3:45 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Meh, I feel no particular emotion for the 4th SF on the team (even worse if you count the fact Stuckey and Rip have been playing SF) and the 3th SG on the team where, if injury occurs, we would probably see Stuckey get more minutes at SG than him.

by Kriz on Oct 27, 2009 8:16 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

This is JD admitting that he does not have an actual point gaurd on the team, so thats why he keeps chucky, Chucky is the only actual pt.gaurd, even if he doesnt play. Dont see the problem if everyone is in agreement the neither wss gonna see much playing time, then its pretty much a wash, so you all have to chill. Besides you need SOME veterans on this team, it gets to a a point where a team is TOO young and dont have much to look up too, BenW. is there for the bigs, and Rip and Chucky are there for the 1 and 2gaurds. And by the way, you should have seen this comming when you kept hearing how much “raw talent” Washington had, that basically meant that he wasnt gonna last. This isn’t a big deal and wont make or break this less than great roster. Remember the all the hype with the last guy on this team that had “raw talent that you couldnt teach”? Ill give you 3 guesses and the 1st 2 dont count.

by MNM on Oct 27, 2009 9:41 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I don’t really get the move. But, I could see Q being more comfortable putting Daye at the 2 then Deron if there was an injury to Rip or BG.

I’m not crazy about Chuckles Atkins. When he was with the Lakers he said he was rooting for them to win in 2004 because Detroit traded him. Mike James > Chuckles Atkins.

by Quick Darshan on Oct 27, 2009 11:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Similar take here, although i really don’t see the need to over analyze it. We sat AI last season at more per game then washington was going to earn this entire season.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/2009/10/purpose-of-waiving-deron-washington.jsp

by Craig on Oct 27, 2009 3:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Makes the Spellcheck trade even dumber..

Yessir.

Unless, there’s a trade in the works that requires that extra roster spot…

by brgulker on Oct 27, 2009 4:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

@Birdman:

I’m hoping Atkins can mentor Stuckey a bit.

I have a feeling that’s why the kept him over Washington. He had Billups and Hunter previously to bring him along. They probably just want to ensure that there is a veteran (PG) voice around.

by Sean W. on Oct 27, 2009 4:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Craig:

Wow. That article really breaks down the incredible dumbness of this move in even more detail than I thought possible.

Basically, unless a trade happens in the next couple days, we cut Deron for absolutely no reason. We saved exactly zero dollars, and if or some reason we needed his roster spot, we could have cut him any time between now and January without owing him any additional money from what he was already guaranteed.

WTF? JDIAFI?

by Gabe on Oct 27, 2009 4:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs