DaJuan Summers: Detroit Pistons Player Previews 2010-11
by Mike Payne on Sep 3, 2010 3:32 PM EDT
in Detroit Pistons Previews
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PrintOne down, 14 to go. With Terrico White behind us, we move one bench spot to his right to discuss the pivotal sophomore season of DaJuan Summers. Why is this season pivotal, you ask? If Summers can't improve his shooting efficiency and establish some consistency off the bench, this may well be his last season in a Pistons jersey.
After the fold, Packey, Kevin Sawyer and myself take a closer look at what fans can expect of DaJuan Summers in the 2010-11 NBA season.
Brian Packey: In 44 games last season DaJuan Summers shot worse from the field (35%) than he did from 3-point range (36%) in less than 10 minutes per game. DaJuan's opportunity to make good on his summer workouts in China (yes, he worked out briefly in China), and improve upon last year, will, unfortunately, be tough to do because of ... you guessed it ... the Tracy McGrady signing. He's not a PF, as much as we'd like him to be, and even if he was it's likely Jonas Jerebko will take any remaining PF minutes because of the crowded SF spot.
Last year, I liked what I saw of Summers from downtown, I liked his hustle and he's always been physically ready for the NBA. I'd like to say I'm pumped to see DaJuan step it up a notch and excel, but instead I only find myself feeling bad for him. I really do. Not only was he the guy the Pistons chose instead of, you know, that other guy, he also just happens to share the same name as that other, knee-ligamentless guy (spelled slightly different). Naturally, he was immediately coined Wrong DaJuan by the Pistons faithful and didn't stand a chance. A year later, that notion hasn't really changed.
Kevin Sawyer: Summers had a disappointing rookie season, having posted a PER of 7.5 and WP48 of .003 (meaning you would expect a team of Wrong DaJuans to go 1-81). It wasn't for lack of opportunity. He played 405 minutes in 44 games, which isn't bad for a second rounder.
Highly athletic, but not necessarily dextrous, Summer's offensive game is hampered by his inability to put the ball in the basket. He led the Summer League team in ppg, but did so with a paltry 41% from FG range (31% from distance). His free throw percentage does not suggest the possibility of a major turnaround.
His best opportunity probably lies at the 4, where he can blow buy slower defenders, but I don't think he has shown he can defend that position at this level. Without a reliable jumper his foot speed will infrequently translate to baskets and his lack of rebounding makes him a liability at the position.
Dumars prizes dribble penetration above all other attributes, so Summers will have the opportunity to improve. If nothing else, he'll provide fodder for YouTube mashups for at least a couple more seasons. Right now, however, he looks like a three trapped in a four's body. On this team, that makes him redundant at best.
Mike Payne: It's tough to put up consistent numbers without consistent minutes, and there weren't many of those for DaJuan Summers last year. However, he didn't appear to do himself many favors, as most of his on-court time saw missed shots, bad decisions and a net loss in production for his team. Across 44 games last season, he really only put up one solid performance across the board, where he shot well, scored and did the dirty work required of him at his position. Beyond that, this physically-gifted player just didn't look comfortable on an NBA court.
Fast forward to the Summer League in Las Vegas this year, young DaJuan at least looked improved if you ignore the stats. He was spending a lot of time in the interior, using his size and athleticism to play the way most of us had hoped he would have in NBA minutes last season. Compared to last summer, he drew more fouls and committed fewer, shot a lot fewer three pointers and converted on them a bit more efficiently. While trying to translate Summer League numbers to NBA production is a fools errand, this at least gives us a grainy picture of what Summers has been working on.
Even if he has developed, he's still 5th in the depth chart at small forward, sitting behind Tayshaun Prince, Jonas Jerebko, Tracy McGrady and Austin Daye. If he couldn't overcome Jerebko and Daye to earn meaningful minutes when Prince missed 33 games last year, he'll have an even more difficult time finding minutes in an even greater logjam this year. It'll take a trade and/or an injury to get him on the court for more than garbage time in 2010-11. If not, he may find himself in Pistons Purgatory playing pickup ball with Walter Sharpe. While he may have been The Wrong DeJuan, you'd like to think he deserves a lot better than that...
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Your turn, Bad Boys. What do you think we will see out of DaJuan Summers this season?
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A nice suit?
i don’t expect to see too much of DaJuan in a uni w/lazy eye on the roster. I’ve never been too excited for the wrong DeJuan in the first place, so my expectations remain low.
The problem with these predictions
Is that I still can’t bring myself to believe we’re going to play a significant chunk of the year with a roster featuring FIVE small forwards (DeJuan being one of three who could be forced to play out of position at the PF position). So I would hope to JOD that DaJuan will either be further up in the rotation because folks ahead of him would be traded (although even if Tay gets moved, that makes Summers the #4 SF), or that he would be a piece in a trade (don’t ask me to explain how exactly that would work, but it could, right?).
Let’s assume he stays and plays some. As the post says, he didn’t show much last year. Last year was kind of a disaster, though, because of all the injuries and weird lineups. In fact, if you played for Detroit and your name wasn’t “Ben Wallace” or “Jonas Jerebko,” you didn’t show much last year. I’m willing to see if he can do better, assuming we get a sane lineup and regular rotation this year, but obviously he’s going to have to shoot for a higher percentage.
Stuckey didn't show much last year?
By no means was he perfect, but I think he deserved to be named with Wallace and Jerebko for how hard he played.
Playing hard does not equal playing effectively in Stuckey’s case.
witty signature
by Mike Payne on Sep 3, 2010 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don't want to quibble about Stuckey
My point was that it was a hard year to look good playing for Detroit. Maybe if you were a total create-your-own-shot and score-without-much-help kind of guy, but none of Detroit’s players were. So — being hopeful — I’m not going to assume that DeJaun’s lack of great numbers last year means we should give up on him. Still, I was trying to think of reasons to be optimistic, and beyond “shows some promise as a 3-point shooter,” I couldn’t come up with much.
you and I were in pretty solid agreement about Stuckey last season
and how his passing numbers were diminished by the lack of frontcourt scoring options. Wallace and Jerebko (and Maxiell) made most of their baskets on cleanup, and Villanueva was so up-and-down he wasn’t a consistent receiver.
I think the addition of Monroe will help Stuckey a lot, in terms of having another frontcourt scorer to pass to and to take some of the ball control responsibilities out of his hands.
witty signature
Yes, and I hope so
But they still need more frontcourt help. But I ain’t tellin’ ya nothin’ ya don’t already know.
There is only one thing we should expect out of DaJuan this year
and thats immaculately groomed eyebrows.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
As luxurious as DaJuan’s eyebrows are, they shall never match those of Señor Arroyo.
by TDP on Sep 3, 2010 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Speaking of Jerebko, some acquaintances of ours just had a baby a few days ago and guess what they named him? JONAS. He’s a big basketball fan but not a Pistons fan, so it’s probably unrelated, but I’m really tempted to send him a photo of Jonas dunking and say congrats!
by garrettelliott on Sep 4, 2010 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions
Verily, he shall be a thunderously masculine child.
I don’t want add player does not have blue collar mentality,
even if he is great player. Piston should not quit your job. - OK from J
by Skylar on Sep 4, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
rec'd
"Don’t really know shit about White other than he is a colon of Stuckey" - das SmittyJ
And here I thought I knew White like the palm of my hand
by bearded thundar on Sep 4, 2010 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
Summers role might depend on Greg Monroe
It’s going to be fun to have Greg with us. He was my roommate at Georgetown for our road trips my last season in college, his freshman year.
The Pistons might keep summers on the active roster If Summers is actually a good influence on Greg Monroe. If Monroe decides to battle the porn star for twitter votes in order to defend the honor of his Hoya, I bet Summers is straight to Fort Wayne, cut at the end of the season.
Fort Wayne
That’s an interesting thought. I almost forgot we could assign D Leaguers since we pretty much HAD to use everyone last season. Maybe he just needs more real PT to improve that FG%.
Expectations for Summers this year:
Traded for a future second rounder, where he shows himself to be a more athletic Travis Outlaw.
I still like Summers, but not for this team.
Outlaw shot 50% his first real season in the pros.
Summers has done that never.
Um, no.
It was 49.8 percent. Mister Hyperbole.
by Shinons on Sep 3, 2010 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions 6 recs
Buh-bye
I’m not seeing much of a future for Summers in the NBA. He’ll be playing overseas soon. He’s practice fodder this year and I predict will get less time on the floor than Terrico White.
DaJuan's Likely 2010-2011
and beyond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFEY9RIRJA
at least he’ll find a mate.
Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.
Dejuan was timid last year
He always seemed to second guess himself instead of trusting his basketball instincts. If he learns to trust them more he will be a much more productive player.
Summers Prediction
I predict drawn fouls and increased summer league free throw percentages don’t hold up. I don’t think he’ll get the calls he got in summer league.
Outlaw shot 50% his first real season in the pros. Summers has done that never.
Outlaw also got more playing time in his first season and never had to sit out to a rook (Jerebko) that have less talent.
Summers can do only what he is allow to do and it don’t look like it going to be much with addition of T Mac. Next year he’ll be, Summers the inactive or Summers the Benchwarmer?
There's not a whole lot of 6'8, 240 pound super athletic SFs who can shoot
Someone will trade for him, and he’ll get a chance – just like Afflalo did.
And as to Outlaw shooting “50%” his first year, that’s clearly an outlier. He hasn’t come close to 50% since then, and last season was closer DaJuan’s percentage (39% to 35%). Outlaw has shown remarkably little improvement over the course of his career and with Summer’s tools I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all to figure he could reach Outlaw’s level.
The Reason Tay Is Still A Piston
He’s the only 3 who can play D. It’s that simple. I think JJ may evolve in that category, and I am curious to see how much he develops, I have a higher ceiling for him than others, but this is balanced by the fact he played a couple of years in Euroleague.
Not trying to be argumentative, brother MFV
but Tay’s defense hasn’t been all-NBA since 2004. Following our championship, he’s shown a pretty terrible decline on the defensive end, with the death knell being the loss of Big Ben to the Bulls. While Dratings only go so far to describe a player’s worth on the court, they don’t lie about good defenders like Ben, et. al. The man has always been great at defending finesse forwards, but those type of players have been a dying breed in the East for years now. With the new way the game works at that position, Tay is actually a poor defender at his position. And he has been for years.
witty signature
OK...Whose D Is Better?
Tay’s or JJ’s or DaJuan’s?
Your commentary makes sense, maybe I dwell too much in the past and note the jobs he did as a TMac stopper, a Kobe stopper, or a Reggie stopper…he’s definitely not the more muscular type like an Artest (who would make a great fit for our team) or of course an LBJ, but I’ll still take his skills and smarts and experience over JJ or DJS.
At 29, he should be at his peak as a player, and he has clearly not been at 100% physically the last two years. It’s been hard to judge him as a player, for many of the same reasons as it’s been hard to change Stuckey as a player (AI, MCIAFI, injuries, etc.) Unlike many of you, I rely more on my eyeballs than metrics; nothing wrong with metrics, but I know what I see, and remember what I see. But OTOH…if he really had worth, he’d been dealt by now, almost certainly.
by V. on Sep 4, 2010 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Last year I vote Jonas
He’s great, but Tay’s lateral quickness has been faltering as he’s aged. Hopefully he has a comeback year this season…and is subsequently dealt in Feburary…but regardless I think Daye is our future at SF.
Yeah last year Jonas sported a D-Rating just slightly better than Tay's
and I’d argue that Jonas actually has better lateral movement than what Tayshaun has shown in the past 3 years. Tay just has a better understanding of how to d up guys like Kobe, etc.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
Fixed that for ya
Hopefully hehashad a comeback yearthislast season…andiswas subsequently dealt in Feburary 2009…but regardless I think Daye is our future at SF.
by Big Z in Orlando on Sep 9, 2010 5:57 PM EDT up reply actions
a TMac stopper, a Kobe stopper, or a Reggie stopper
This is precisely his strength, and I don’t think he’s lost that at all. It’s just that in the Eastern Conference, that’s not the way the game is played— not since Lebron became a force, not since Paul Pierce had real teammates, and not since Danny Granger got real. Tay’s defense hasn’t gotten worse, but his teammates and his conference have changed to the point that his skill on D is a poor match in the East. For a few years now, I’ve felt that he was our weakest link, and he should have been traded years ago when he was still an 82-game-a-year lock and could have helped out a Western Conference team. Still to this day, he could be a solid defensive force if he’s playing on the other side of the country.
Unlike many of you, I rely more on my eyeballs than metrics; nothing wrong with metrics, but I know what I see, and remember what I see
I love to use objective means to analyze a player, but with Tay my knock on him has always been what I’ve seen with my own two eyes. In the last three season-ending playoff series, he’s been the weakest player on our team in all fifteen positions in terms of both defense and offense. When the Pistons were eliminated, Tay was our worst player year-in/year-out. Funny enough, it was like I said above— against a player that he’s not suited to defend, a player whose game was based on power, not finesse like Reggie, Kobe or TMac.
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also
I would still love to see Tayshaun traded to a real WC contender that can use his talent effectively, whereas the Pistons can’t give him what he needs. I’d love to see Tay as a Laker, a Maverick, a Nugget or a Spur. The man can still be deadly if matched with the right players, the right coach— and the right conference.
witty signature
Jesus
Denard Robinson looks pretty damn good.
Anyone going to the Notre Dame-Michigan game next week? I’m a long-time ND fan, and my wife’s now going to ND Law School which makes me a season ticket holder thanks to nice spousal perks.
Yeah I was pretty impressed by his arm
I mean everyone knew that he could run the ball, but he showed some good accuracy on his throws especially considering most of them were on the run or out of the pocket.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
Not much of an NCAA fan, but Robinson is the clear choice at QB for about 100 reasons.
Rodriguez better pray the kid nets him 8 wins or more.
I don’t want add player does not have blue collar mentality,
even if he is great player. Piston should not quit your job. - OK from J
Spousal perks for the win
My wife’s from Ohio and is an OSU fan. Naturally, I’m a Wolverine fan. So no perks for me.
When first drafted
I thought he was going to be better then the lanky Daye. I hope he gets time in the NBDL to prove himself again. too early to give upon him now.
DaJuan Summers
I expect him to not get much playing time this year, their’s just not enough minutes to go around. It will be interesting to see if he stays on the team because he has a lot of physical talent he just needs to put it together.
by Detroitsportsfan3 on Sep 10, 2010 11:06 AM EDT reply actions
Every time I hear his name
I hear Tim Brando from the Maryland-Michigan State game saying, “It’s Summers in the City.” Ugh.
"Call me Snake"
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