Stuckey: No More Crawl-Ball

blockquoted paragraph "Because they’re going to have to start running with me. I’m going to start pushing the ball up the court and if they’re not going to be running with me, then, hey, we’re going to have to find something else

i think we will find out what the definition of “something else” is tomorrow night.

Didn’t we have a shoot first PG last year with the same mentaility, until his back went on him?

I am also troubled by the “I’m doing what I want, and if the other guys can’t keep up. . . .” attitude.

Beyond that, I’ve missed the last few games because I was out of town for work, but it seems to me that the problem continues to be defense. I saw that we only scored 10 points in the first quarter against Philly, but in the last, I dunno, large number of games, we’ve given up an obscenely high shooting percentage to our opponents.

Then stop allowing opposing teams to shoot over 50 percent on you.

Because what they are doing right now is not working. From the beginning of the year we kept hearing that they were going to play at a much faster pace because of their personnel being younger. That hasn’t happened, and I’m not sure if their struggles are due to that but at this point something needs to change. Stuckey has been playing his heart out and yes, sometimes he is selfish and goes for his. But when you have guys clanking it off the rim as often as RIP and BG have been doing it, you can’t blame him for doing what he can.

…..Stcikey is saying to the Old guys….hey you wana play run with me!!!….i love it…..Time for Rip and Tay to put up or shut up really.

So I was watching the MSU men this weekend, and I watched how hard everyone ran the floor and how quickly the PGs pushed the ball. My immediate thought was: why don’t teams other than Phoenix, New York, and Golden State do that in the pros?

If you pay attention to the shot clock and the way the Pistons play, you’ll notice that more times than not, we’re not even into our offensive set until about 16 seconds into the shot clock — 16 seconds isn’t a lot of time. 2-3 screens, 2-3 passes, and a bad shot — that’s what our offense has amounted to of late.

Speeding up the tempo is not a golden bullet. This team is bad, and we’re probably not going to make the playoffs regardless. But wasn’t the PR spin that we were fed all summer that this was going to be a versatile, up-tempo team? As much as that wording made me cringe this summer, it’s about the only thing we haven’t tried so far. Might as well.

But I also don’t think the players we have right now are capable of being great defenders. I mean, look no farther than Wilcox and Charlie — those guys just don’t cut it on interior defense, especially when playing together. Beyond Ben Wallace, who could we point to on the roster as significantly above average on defense?

From a GM standpoint: I agree with you 100%. We have to bring in players who are better defenders through the draft and trades over the next few seasons.

From a coaching standpoint: keep harping defense, but also encourage our guys to run the floor hard, even after giving up a bucket (because we’re inevitably going to give up buckets given our talent level).

“We’ve got to change the pace a little bit, so I’ve got to push the ball up the court and we’ve got to get out and run a little bit and get some easy baskets. We had a meeting (Saturday), so (coaches) know. That’s when I’m at my best, when I can get out on the court and create. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Is it just me, or is it that whenever Rodney is quoted in the press, it’s not about “us” or “we” or the “team,” but instead about “me” and “how I can be at my best”?

I don’t know if I love what could happen but I love that Stuckey is saying this publicly. He’s forcing the old guys hands with this one and telling the young guys how it’s gonna be.

How it will work out is another thing because Stuckey is out PG. For this to work out Stuckey needs to learn when to finish at the bucket and when to pass out to an open man. He’s good enough to draw multiple defenders but a circus shot is never the best shot. I like Stuckey as a player but for me to even have confidence in this he must show improved decision making skills with his drives to the hoop.

I think Tay is an above average defender — at the 3, but not at the 4. I think Rip is an above average defender — at the 2, but not at the 3. Which is reason #5,674 why I dislike smallball, although I understand why our unbalanced roster makes that tempting.

I also think that, especially with rule changes, defense can’t just be about being a lockdown defender 1-1. It’s about schemes, rotations, effort, and attitude.

Finally, much as I don’t miss some things about Rasheed, I think we need to understand that he was (at least most of the time) a very strong defensive presence, and we miss that.

I loved that we pressed Philly in the 2nd half.

I could see it being a regular feature of our defense, especially after we get Bynum back — that dude is solid on the ball. I always wished we played more of it when we had Amir, because the dude was so lanky and quick for a big man.

What did others think of it?

Havent seen any in a while.

New York, SA, and Philly all got lots of them in the past week!

:)

At least somebody is saying something besides “We played poor and have to do better”.

Comparing Stuckey to Iverson is very premature, Iverson had a unique mentality and has 13 years of experience as either thinking he is/or being the go-to guy. Stuck knows the time and knows what the expectations are.

If Rodney’s really the confused ballhog some of you are branding him as, it won’t work, we’ll keep up the freefall, and Joe can draft a PG.

so its not like this is him pulling a mutiny. If he goes out and just runs into the defense taking wild shots time and time again it won’t work, but if the team makes an effort of running and he looks for the open man, hey…

What’s the worst that can happen right now? They lose, yet again?

It came from above Kuester’s head…

IMO, Jod usually gives his coaches a ton of breathing room during the season, which is why he doesn’t have any qualms about firing them after, because their success or failure was completely their own doing.

But, it seems like Jod finally felt enough was enough. Jod put together a roster whose sole strength was obviously as a running, up-tempo team, and Kuester had us playing at a snail’s pace all year. It worked for a while mainly because Big Ben was playing out of his mind, anchoring the defense, and along with JJ gave us several huge rebounding performances. It was destined to fall apart though.

Even with all-out effort, this roster isn’t going to win many games. There’s a poor mix of high usage, inefficient scorers, and several players who only provide scoring.

Basically all our best players have severe flaws, and (unlike the old Pistons core) their strengths do not cover up each others flaws.

At this point, something has to change.

This isn’t the 05-06 Pistons. This roster could, and should, play more uptempo. Even when we got AI we still played like CB was still here.

Why not CV?

-Three Dog Night, 1970