For the majority of the year, I’m willfully ignorant of college basketball. I usually participate in a tournament pool with some friends, but even then my entire bracket is based on how teams are seeded. So with that in mind, I’m usually a step behind many of you when it comes to evaluating potential draft picks and what they’d bring to the table to Detroit’s roster.
I know there are a handful of prospects who the Pistons can’t afford to pass up regardless of position should they fall to No. 15, but assuming there aren’t any huge bargains, I’m assuming the Pistons will go for a point guard. Ideally, that guy will be a backup his first few years, but in the (unlikely?) scenario that Chauncey Billups doesn’t return, I’d like the team nab someone who could potentially start from Day 1. It’d be nice if this guy could play both spots in the backcourt, and I’d place a premium on getting to the hoop over long-distance range. Does this player exist? I have no idea.
One name I’m hearing more and more frequently (although it could just be due to the echo chamber effect of reporters repeating each other) is Rodney Stuckey. Some people say Stuckey has been telling people the Pistons have promised to draft him if he’s available at No. 15, but his agent refutes the claim. From DraftExpress:
Stuckey’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, told us in response that “This rumor was started and perpetuated by other agents, and all will see that Stuckey will continue to workout and definitely for teams with picks before the 15th. I’ve heard it from teams also, and I have told them this also. “
A. Sherrod Blakely also isn’t sure about the rumor:
For one thing, the Pistons haven’t worked out any players yet because of a new league rule which wouldn’t allow teams to start working out players individually until June 5. It makes no sense to guarantee a player, when you haven’t really had a chance to see, on an individual, one-on-one basis, your other options.
And while I think Stuckey is a decent player, I just don’t see him being THAT kind of a talent to where you would be pressed to guarantee him a first-round spot.
Then again, this whole draft process will be different than previous ones for Detroit. Because of the new rule for working out players, the Pistons - like a lot of playoff teams - are a lot farther behind than they would like. Usually Detroit has had at least a dozen players in by now for workouts. In the past, they brought them in during the home playoff games.
The reason they didn’t plan any workouts for this week was because they expected to be in the NBA Finals which, at this point, would have probably meant they were on the road for Games 1 and 2. Because of that, they didn’t anticipate bringing guys in until sometime early week.
By the time their season ended, Detroit was left scrambling to try and arrange workouts, while most of the players they’re interested in already had stuff lined up.
For what it’s worth, Blakely thinks Stuckey could go to the Pistons if he has a good workout but otherwise expects him to go later in the first round. So what kind of player is Stuckey? He’s a 6-5 “combo” guard, which is usually a nice way of saying he’s primarly a two-guard but knows how to pass. He averaged a bit more than 24 points a game in two years with Eastern Washington. Never heard of Eastern Washington? According to a scout who spoke with Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, that shouldn’t be held against him:
Said one Eastern Conference scout: “If this kid was playing at Washington, instead of Eastern Washington, people (would be) talking about him as a top 10, maybe top seven or eight player, in this draft.”
Stuckey is a fearless, tough guard with a great shooting touch. Out of high school, he would’ve gone to the Pac -10, but he didn’t have the grades to become eligible as a freshman.
“And even with that, I love the fact that he became an academic all-conference student,” the scout said. “That tells you something about his determination.”
Okay, he has my attention. Other prospects I’ve been keeping an eye on include Mike Conley (not because I think he’ll be available but just in case the Pistons trade up), Acie Law (whose been Ian’s personal favorite for a while) and Javaris Critteron … but like I said, all I know about them are the profiles I’ve read online. Can anyone fill me in? Are there any die-hard college basketball fans out there who have watched enough games to create their own opinion about what point guard the Pistons should target?
Taurean Green. The kid knows how to win — two years as a starter, two national championships. He outdueled Farmar last year and Conley twice this year. His scoring numbers aren’t high because he didn’t have to do everything, but look at his numbers in big games and he always shows up and hits big shots…like someone else we know. He can pass and run a team efficiently. Great free throw shooter. Although a little undersized, he can finish in traffic. He has NBA pedigree (his dad is Sidney Green). In my opinion, a bit of a stretch at 15 but a bargain at 27.
I know…mock drafts have him as a second rounder…I think they are wrong. Just my own opinion. Here’s an article…
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/070607green.php
Rodney Stuckey Review By Lance Walton
05.11.2007 - Updated on 05.11.2007
Rodney Stuckey is 6’4, 205 pounds and has the ability to play both guard positions. He can flat out score points, and with a good ball handler with nice passing skills.
He is good at driving to the basket, has good body strength, and can create shots for himself while breaking down defenders. He has a nice pull up shot off the dribble, along with a decent mid-range game. He is also a solid three point and free throw shooter. Rodney is a good defensive player, is good at getting steals, and is an ok rebounder. A knock on him is he doesn’t always put full effort on the defensive end, he plays well against weaker competition, so it’s hard to say if he is capable of playing against the best.
Rodney doesn’t really get teammates involved much, he likes playing one on one ball. Some observers say he’ll struggle to get his shot off in the NBA because he’s small and doesn’t have a lot of athleticism, but I think it depends on the defense, he has a scorers mentality and knows how to get shots off one way or another, he does what it takes. His first two college seasons he was very consistent on the stat sheet playing 33 minutes, getting 24 points and 4 rebounds, along with 4-5 assist and 2 steals a game.
Overall I see Rodney Stuckey playing like a Dajuan Wagner or a Randy Foye. He is probably better off playing shooting guard, but like I mentioned before he lacks size and athleticism which may or may not hinder his game in the NBA. I’m more interested to see if he is able to play against NBA competition and still be able to play the same way, but it will probably take him awhile to adapt to playing his game at that level.
Rodney could go anywhere from a mid first round pick to an early second round pick, they’ll look more into his workouts than what he did in college.
Anyone looking at college numbers should account for the assists and turnovers and decrease their effectiveness on the pro level.
Rodney put up 4.1 APG to 3.6 TOPG in 05-06, and in 06-07, Rodney increased those numbers to 5.5 APG and 3.4 TOPG . . . that A/T ratio isn’t that great if you put him in a half-court game.
It’s the turnovers that I wonder about with the kid . . . were they a result of his teammates being idiots, was Stuckey trying a bit too hard with flashy passes, was he bouncing the ball off his feet after a drive off an isolation play . . . what are the breakdowns of this kid’s TOs?
he was leading scorer for his team by 10pts at 24 the guy at second with 14 was the only other guy with double digits.
ill give him the benefit of the doubt for now and assume he just tries to do to much and thats where the TOs come from.
second taurean green at 27. he’s at least as good as chucky atkins, who has been in the league forever.
I don’t know if there will be any good bigs at 15…I just hope they don’t take mcroberts. he’s gonna suck.
don’t know if he’s quite starter material, and probably not a good choice with the number 15 pick, but jared jordan has made a few waves as a 2nd rounder
Acie Law is the next Chauncey Billups. That’s the best way to sum up his game, and the player he is most compared to. He’s a big physical point guard who makes good decisions, gets teammates involved, but isn’t afraid to find his own offense. The Billups comparisons started when he became known for taking and making big shots, like the three he made at the end of regulation and overtimes to puts the Texas-Texas A&M game to 3OTs, before A&M had too many players foul out.
Personally, I like Crittenton, who has a much higher upside. He is also big, 6′5″, and for a freshman playing with a young Ga Tech team, he made pretty good decisions. Not as good of a shooter as Law, but getting better, and he is much better at attacking the basket than Law is (and could be better than Chauncey). He is compared to Starbury, but that centers around his game, not his attitude. He’s described as a hard worker who has much more humbleness than Stephon.
I think drafting Rodney Stuckey is a mistake, anywhere in the first round. He’ll be behind Rip and Delfino, and will be too small to play at the 3. The 15th pick should be used on Crittenton or Law, although both might be gone, especially with the Bulls now looking at their other big problem: lack of size in the backcourt. The 27th pick should be used on a bigger wing who can backup Tayshaun. Much better idea: Trade Rasheed and the 27th pick to get up into the lottery (Philly maybe?) and take Thaddeus Young. Billups, Rip, Tay, Maxiell, and Nazr start, McDyess, Delfino, Crittenton, Johnson, and Young off the bench. Two question marks in the top 8 players (Nazr as a starter and how quickly Crittenton will adjust), better than most teams will say, and tons of options to create match-up problems against any team with size and length at every position.
i read that stuckey had some nice workout numbers in terms of speed, etc. and he was in the top 10 in “class rank” for various measurables according to draft express:
http://www.draftexpress.com/measurements.php?year=2007&sort2=&draft=&sort=1
it’s easy to get caught up in that stuff though. like i’m suddenly in love with the idea of drafting the 6′3″ pg from virginia tech, zabian dowdell with his SIX FOOT TEN INCH reach.
mcroberts is total gunk. you don’t want duke players. duke players don’t win s— at the pro level. (you heard me, luol deng.)
if they really want taureen green, they should trade down because it’s a little early for him at 27. unfortunately that rarely happens because teams don’t have 6th round picks to throw away
if the bulls draft spencer hawes, i’m going to laugh and laugh and laugh. or probably more fittingly, haw and haw and haw.
come on, people, i need some more draft chat to keep distracting me from these horrible, horrible finals!
I’m open to almost all scenarios honestly. Well, except for Josh McRoberts. I do not want him, not at all. Al Thorton looks good but I don’t want another PF that is in the “smallish” mold. We already got Maxiell there. The way I see it, we have 3 needs.
- Another big man
- A PG that can put the ball on the floor
- A bigger wing
Not sure if there are any big wing players out there that project as “Stoppers”. We have to bring more guys in to stop Lebron.
Tiago Splitter doesnt look to bad. You can check him out on youtube. Supposedly pretty quick and a good defender at about 7′. He also plays significant minutes on one of the teams that played in the euroleague final four and plays on the brazil national team.
one thing we for sure dont want is a stiff or a softie big man. heres looking at you mcroberts and aaron gray.
i’ve been hearing about that splitter kid for the past 2 or 3 drafts. he seems pretty coordinated for his size and has a good frame to pack on some meat. BUT he looks a lot like another blond haired foreign prospect we all know too well. i don’t know how joe tries to pull that off a second time.
but we do need to add a big and a solid pg prospect. those are the top 2 needs.
If acie Law falls to us, I dont think Joe will turn him down. The probably is the clippers are right before us and I think they need Law more than we do. And I highly doubt Crittenton will fall to the 27 pick, so I’m betting that Law or Crittenton will be picked with the 15th pick. Then with the 27 it’ll probably be Stuckey if he drops, Ante Tomic or Gasol or Visser.
*problem not probably.
But of course Joe could think Blalock can be our backup pg for next season. We havent heard much about his development.
man, i liked what little i saw of blalock. insane handle on the ball. great passer. just a size issue, if joe feels like we can’t go forward with a small pg. especially a small pg without a consistent outside shot. but i think that if there’s anything a guy can add at the nba level, it’s range.
Good call JD. A PG who call dribble penetrate is still a threat offensively. Tony Parker didn’t develop an outside shot until 2 years ago. He wasn’t a particularly good passer or free throw shooter either.
I would like to see the Pistons get Corey Brewer at the their first pick in round 1. But the way he played in the Final Four, He is might not come out of the top 10. But if they go point guard (which I hope they do), Acie Law is the way to go. I believe he led the Big 12 in game winning shots this year. When his Texas A&M team played Durant and Texas, he refused to back down. As a matter of fact, he hit the winning three pointer. Here is the link on Youtube to check him out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3hyz-G9ZSwY
Amen Fel. I have been at Pitt for the past 4 going on 5 years and been at 75% of Gray’s home games. He is a good college player but he will get destroyed in the NBA. Any athletic player will dunk with ease on him. Can’t block worth anything since he doesn’t have ANY lift. He never jumps for rebounds. Just lets them sail by or they just bounce to him. He can be a rotation player just because he is so big and good on the low block. But not a high 1st to me.
Marc Gasol would be a good pick I think, he stepped up big for the Spanish national team when his brother went down, and we could either bring him over right away or leave him in Europe depending on how he does in the summer league. I would also support Tiago Splitter. And for the second round, how about Glen Davis? He and Maxiell would be a ridiculously round frontcourt combo, if he falls that far.
I’ve also been hearing a lot about Jared Dudley and the PG from Marist (Jordan?). Anyone know anything about them?
Dudley would be a good guy to come off the bench. He has a high IQ and but not a ton of athletic ability. Does all the little things. He’d be the wing backup we need.
As for Big Baby… him and Maxiell wouldn’t be that good of an idea. A 6′7″ PF and a 6′8″-6′9″ C? Especially when Davis isn’t that athletic [like say, Ben Wallace]. Like I said before, I’d like a big guy but not if he is undersized in anyway. We need a 6′11″ or 7′0″ guy.
dudley is goooooood, he would be a steal at 27–I read somewhere that he lost weight and looked quicker at one of the workout camps.
Back to the root post here, it kinda peeves me that the Pistons make promises.
Who knows what will happen on draft day? This is almost Matt Millen-esque where there is a hard and fast plan that doesn’t allow for an adjustment if an opportunity becomes available (player slipping).
Well, we don’t know if there was actually a promise made. But yeah, I don’t like anything set in stone. But that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to him.
Gilbert Arenas said today that he plans to opt out early from his contract next summer. So he’s officially unhappy in Washington and I can’t see him playing through the season there.
I HATE the idea of trading Chauncey, but if we could do a sign and trade with an extension being added on to Arenas contract as a trade for Chauncey and maybe a pick, I think it’d be worth it.
Arenas says he isn’t unhappy in Washington, he’s just in the prime of his career and looking to make a financially sound decision that will wrap him up into his mid 30’s. That was the report on realgm.com anyways.
This is kind of a delayed posting given the timing, BUT…If the Pistons won game 5 against the Cavs, I don’t see how they would have lost the series. And they were dangerously close to winning game 5. Ben Wallace would not have allowed LeBron to get in there. He was the difference. DONGGGGGGGGG
Gilbert Arenas is about to do what Chauncey appears to be doing. Both think they can get more guaranteed money and years by opting out . . . and both are correct.
I doubt the Pistons made any promise. What workouts have they had?
I hate Gilbert Arenas. OK, so I don’t really know him, so I can’t say that I really hate him…but he is so self-centered. I would not want to see him on our team. Don’t think it will ever happen anyway.
Arenas averages 5.5 assists/PG for his career.
Chauncey averages 5.3 assists/PG for his.
I didn’t know Chauncey was so selfish too until you mentioned it Dave.
You can say it’s bad cause Zero takes more shots, but he shoots at the same percentage has Chauncey, and their three point stats from this past year were nearly identical
@Sauce
According to DraftExpress.com, the Pistons have only two players scheduled for workouts as of yet: Brent Petway (6/11) and Mohamed Abukar (6/14). Another site explained the lack of workouts stemming from the team’s plans to be in San Antonio this week. Obviously that didn’t work out, and now almost all prospects are scheduled with other teams for the next few days.
Thank you, Glenn, I understand that the Pistons were scheduling as if they were to be in the Finals.
It sounds like most of the other garbage being written about this team, which was my point. Promises to Stuckey sounds like something the Lions would do if they were an NBA club, not the Pistons.
As for Chauncey’s numbers, the same can be said about any player’s career averages. Billups has improved his game significantly since he joined Detroit, and the career averages reflect how ordinary Chauncey was with Denver and Boston.
Only Antonio Daniels had a higher assist/turnover ratio in 06-07’s regular season. Chauncey had only one horrible series in the playoffs this year (Cleveland). I’m not selling Chauncey down the river over one bad series out of three.
The current offer is rumored to be 4 years, 13 million per, and I’m guessing Detroit will go higher than that to keep him because that precious little sellout streak the Pistons have going will cease if Billups leaves. You can’t wait 5 years for any Stuckey-like players to morph into a Billups.
Anyone watching The Finals? It’s a massacre and I’m loving it!
Airballed free throw by LeBrick: We are all witnesses!
i’d rather talk about rodney stuckey’s 10 favorite episodes of the sopranos. hope the ratings keep tanking.
i don’t really understand the motivation of teams making promises to players unless the kid was on the fence about going pro. or unless you’re some bush league gm like danny ainge. but joe d ain’t bush-league and i don’t think stuckey’s in that position, so the report seems silly. or smoke by an agent to improve his client’s stock.
i wish there were some more rumors floating about re: the pistons’ plans with their picks/possible trades. june 28th is a long time away.
I hope Joe Dumars keeps his mouth shut and orders his front office to do so until mid-July after all of the ‘changes’ unfold.
Right now, the BS factor starting with the Cleveland series just tells me that it’s useless to do most of what’s been talked about . . .
Bring Shawn Marion to Detroit? Why? He’s a SF that’s been used too much at the PF spot. How does that help Prince? Marion leaves interior defense exposed to bigger players with a post game if he’s not patrolling a wing as part of a perimeter D. Marion can’t do much more than catch and shoot, either, and a half-court-dominant system like Detroit won’t make him better . . . it’ll make Marion much worse. On top of that, Sarver doesn’t want to pay a luxury tax. Rip, Rasheed, or anyone Detroit sends to Phoenix won’t help them avoid the tax.
For the Suns . . . choosing between Amare or Marion (Kerr would be a fool to part with Amare), taking the minimum amount of contracts in trade, all of them being 1-2 years left on those lesser deals, and then promptly dealing them off for role players with even lesser contract value or completely off the books for just draft picks . . . I mean, Sarver’s wish is even more severely limited than what Detroit faces.
I suspect that if a big name went to Detroit . . . a Kobe, Amare, or anyone, even a Zach Randolph . . . the amount of negative press would ratchet, especially after Detroit would slip in strength. Losing 2 or more of the 4 for one guy wouldn’t make this team stronger, no matter who that one guy was. Also, I think that if any big name went to Detroit, they’d stop being a big name much like Finley stopped being a big name the minute he was used for the amnesty provision and relocated to San Antonio.
There is something seriously wrong with the marketing strategy of the NBA.
Michael Finley was never a big name in the same vein as Kobe or Amare. Michael Finley stopped being a big name not when he went to San Antonio, but when he stopped producing at the level $15 million should get you.
Zach Randolph is not going to be less popular if he came to Detroit, unless he acts up like he’s done other places. If he comes and wins a title, he’ll be as big a star as he is now. A star, but not a superstar.
the shawn marion deal made no sense to me either, unless you force him into the 4 spot. just a lot of sports writing for the sake of saying something. just junk. and does anyone REALLY think the suns are going to give up amare? REALLY?
i do not want zach randolph. yes, we had a lot of success with one misunderstood power forward from portland, but sheed was never insane off the court like randolph. randolph is a drug-related weapons charge waiting to happen.
I like Randolph but I agree partly with JackDutch. If he acts this nuts up in Portland… imagine what will happen if he comes back to Michigan and is around even more of his boys. And Flip Saunders isn’t exactly a coach that will put fear into someone to scare them straight.
At least Joe admitted that he feels the need to get down there and be more visible and direct with these guys.
I wished he had screamed at them after Game 4 in the Cleveland series . . . just showed up in their locker and pulled out some Lombardi-esque speech. Then, maybe then, he’d know for sure right now where it all went wrong.
I hope he’s not as hip on Flip as it seems like today. Hey . . . anyone out there looking for a coach for their college program . . . keep calling Flip Saunders.
I think Blakely missed the boat on this one.