Via Freep’s 15th pick analysis:

One of the more interesting points from Joe Dumars’ season-ending news conference was the evaluation that Rodney Stuckey is not a true point guard.  

“Playing the point can take your aggression away because you’re worried about the other four guys,” the Pistons president of basketball operations said. “What this year confirmed is he’s a combo guard. We have to play him on the ball and off the ball.”

How Rodney Stuckey will impact the 2009 NBA Draft.

“Start your discussion!”

Got a question for Pistonscast.com? Send it to John W. Davis. And for Pistonscast news and updates follow John on Twitter.

Episode 110: The Combo Guard Episode!

VIA Pistons.com Text Message:

The Pistons have announced due to problems with Iverson’s return from injury, he will miss the rest of the season.

———————————–

What’s Going On World?

See this is what I’m talking about. The truth shall set you free!  Allen Iverson will miss the last two weeks the rest of the season INCLUDING PLAYOFFS!

Hopefully, Joe D can work some magic on AI’s head (and back.)

I just talked to Deven and he brought up a good point.  Joe D is showing future superstar players that he can handle difficult situations gracefully.  This is important if you want Chris Bosh, Amare or any other superstar in the near future.

Joe D… you are always two steps ahead!

*Pistonsnationblog.com checks in with their take…

*Check out Need4Sheed.com take…

*Detroitbadboys.com take…

*PistonsPowered.com opinion piece…

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

by Prof. David Berri

· 46 Comments

On Sunday, while most basketball fans were tuned to CBS to watch the NCAA Tournament, ESPN telecast a game between the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons.  As a fan of Detroit, I decided to look away from the tournament and look in on the Pistons basketball.  The picture was almost good.  Specifically the Pistons — without the services of Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and Richard Hamilton - managed to lead most of the way before faltering at the end.

Although the game was entertaining, the comments of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy were more interesting.  At different points in the broadcast the conversation turned to why the Pistons have faltered.  And once again the viewers were able to see “expert” broadcasters try and reconcile these three “facts.”

• Allen Iverson is one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
• Chauncey Billups is a very good player, but not one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
• The Pistons with Allen Iverson are clearly worse than the Pistons with Billups.

The simplest way to reconcile these three statements is to acknowledge that the first is not true.  At least, if we focus on productivity, Iverson is not one of the most productive NBA players in history.

But if you can’t make that leap, then you have to resort to words like “team chemistry”.  Unfortunately, since “team chemistry” can’t be quantified (unlike player productivity) we can never properly evaluate the merits of the “chemistry” argument.

As I have noted throughout the season - most recently last month - one does not need “chemistry” to explain the Pistons demise.  No, much of the decline (although not all) is tied to the fact that Iverson is not as productive as Billups.

Another Reason Why Trading Billups was a Good Idea

Again, I have said this before.  What I wished to add to the subject is something I observed in looking at the numbers Billups is posting in Denver this season.

Table One: The Denver Nuggets after 70 games in 2008-09

As Table One notes, Billups has produced more wins than any other player on Denver’s roster this season.  But if we compare his production to what he did last year in Detroit, he clearly has declined.  Last year he posted a 0.304 WP48. This year in Denver his mark is only 0.188.  Yes, he is still above average (average is 0.100). But he clearly is offering less.

When we look at the individual numbers - posted in Table Two - we can see where he has declined.  This season Billups has seen declines with respect to both his shooting efficiency and assists.

Table Two: Evaluating Chauncey Billups

The next question we should ask is why Billups is doing less.  And one issue I would emphasize is his age.  Billups is 32 and will turn 33 in September.   This means he is rapidly approaching the age where playing basketball in the NBA is not possible.  To illustrate, across the past 30 years, 95% of player seasons were played by players who were younger than 35 years of age.   In sum, the clock is approaching midnight for Mr. Big Shot and when it hits 12, he won’t be of much use to an NBA team.

All of this suggests that the Iverson-Billups trade was a good move by Joe Dumars (Detroit’s GM). Yes, fans of Detroit are suffering this year.  But as noted previously, Iverson’s contract expires and this gives Detroit hope for next year.  Plus, Dumars got rid of a player that will be approaching 35 years of age in 2010-11 while collecting $13 million.

In sum, it looks like Dumars has done the same thing to Billups he did to Ben Wallace.  He let a player depart whose production was destined to slip.  And this is something every prudent general manager should be doing.  As the late Cotton Fitzsimmons once said (and I can’t find the quote but I think he said something like this): “Please don’t let my great players retire on me.”

-Prof. David Berri

The Wages of Wins Journal

What’s Going on Pistonscast Posse?

Pistonscast is back in full effect. We are going to have some great things for you for the rest of February 2009 so please get those ears ready for a whole lot of episodes!

First of, a special Palace Edition where John W. Davis and “The Message Board Messiah”, break down the Pistons. We both attended the game and we both have a lot to say!

***One of us even took this picture of Joe D!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

Rasheed you are NOT the weakest LINK! You can stay. For now...

What’s Going on World?

John W. Davis here. Joe Dumars is back in the news. This time he is defend the lack of offseason moves that we all thought were a fore gone conclusion. There was just one catch and Joe D told us this in June, I’m not going to make a move just to make a move.

Joe D in the Det News:

Dumars defends lack of Pistons’ roster moves

“I said we would look to make changes but we wouldn’t do a bad deal,” he said. “The deals that were presented were not good deals for us. You don’t make deals so you can walk in here on a day like today and say, ‘Hey, we made a deal.’ You want to resist that, and I did and I make no qualms about it.”

Nor did he worry much about salving any bruised egos of his veteran players who were put on the chopping block.

“There’s nothing to patch up,” Dumars said. “I’m the one who was upset, so who do I need to patch things up with? It’s been good. Guys understand that six straight years of making the conference finals and going to the NBA Finals only twice isn’t enough and I am not going to rest on that. What you do is keep pushing, keep moving forward.”

Stuckey and Afflalo

With the same players coming back, how does this team take a step forward?

The answer: It starts with a new coach (Michael Curry), a rejuvenated attitude and a new commitment, and some significant growth from within — specifically, larger roles for second-year guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo, the two featured players on the bus tour.

“I am ready for any challenge that comes in,” said Stuckey, whose minutes are expected to increase significantly. “I am always ready. I told you guys, I am never scared. They are going to be expecting more out of me and I love that challenge.”

Both Stuckey and Afflalo raved about how different the atmosphere is around the practice facility.

“Our head coach believes in us 110 percent and he’s going to give us the opportunity to showcase our talent,” Stuckey said. “Things are different around the practice facility, a lot more upbeat. With Michael around, there’s just a whole different vibe. It’s a lot of fun and we can’t wait to get started.”

Afflalo put it this way: “It’s just about consistent behavior and having consistent habits all year long. If you build inconsistent habits in your intensity and the way you play the game and rely on your talent level to bail you out — it can hurt you at the end. I know Coach Curry focuses on playing the game hard every day and when you do that you have no excuses at playoff time.”

Curry has called Stuckey his “sixth starter,” and there is a chance Afflalo’s minutes could double this season. Dumars was asked if he worried about putting too much pressure too soon on these young players.

“No,” he said, speaking mostly about Stuckey. “If you threw him out there last year as a rookie and tried to put it all on him, that would be too much. If we threw him out there this year and said he had to be a starter — that would be too much. We are still talking about a guy who is coming off the bench. It’s not like we’re throwing him to the wolves.”

Maxiell on the Free Agent Clock

By the end of training camp (Oct. 31), Jason Maxiell will have to decide either to take a contract extension offer from the Pistons or refuse it and become a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Dumars said Wednesday that informal negotiations were ongoing with Maxiell’s Cincinnati-based agent Richard Katz .

“There’s nothing unusual going on and nothing new to report,” Katz said in a brief telephone interview. “Nothing is imminent.”

The Pistons have offered Maxiell a three-year extension worth approximately $15 million. Should he leave that contract on the table, he would play out the final year of his contract this season (earning $1.87 million) and become a restricted free agent — which means the Pistons could match any contract offer to Maxiell.

It’s a win-win situation for the Pistons. Either they lock up a key reserve player through 2012, or they have a hungry player fighting for a contract this season with the power to match any other team’s offer the following summer.

Cowens on Amir

Pistons assistant coach Dave Cowens had the quote of the day. Talking to a group of sponsors at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, he described Amir Johnson this way: “Amir does a lot of things you can’t coach and he can’t do a lot of things you can coach.”

Good news for Maxiell but something is going to have to give. We cant have four 25-30 minute players for the next 3 years. Either Rasheed or McDyess is going to have to retire soon or Maxiell will have to leave. My boy Amir needs his tick!

Peace,

John W. Davis

www.pistonscast.com

I think Joe D is trying to stock pile as many good contracts as possible, so he can go for THE trade. I also think that after the Sheed trade, no one wants to trade. Just like no one will trade with the Lakers now, after they got a steal and made it to the Finals because of it.

Ok, after trading Sheed to us and us getting to the Finals in ’04, do you really think they would perform a sign-and-trade with us for Josh Smith? I highly doubt it. (Can you imagine Sheed and Smith side by side in Atlanta now? If things went different…

I do think Joe D shot himself in the foot when he announced the fire sale. I think all the teams came to him and wanted a steal, but Joe is not going to allow that. That is the #1 reason why he is waiting for THE trade.

Bill

John W. Davis here. I think Bill made some great points. What do you think? Email us at hosts@pistonscast.com.

Peace,

John

What’s going on World?

I want the other Walter. Big Walt Sharpe. Not just because we recently interview him on Episode 60, but because we need to develop youth. Herrmann is 29. He is too old to qualify as a Bench Baby. The backup will only get 12-15 mins I think we can manage that without Mr. Herrmann. He is definitely trade bait with Kwame Brown because of their expiring contracts along another big name, high salary Piston. I see Herrmann, Brown and one of the Big 4 turning into a big name player around the trade deadline come February 2009.

Joe D is plotting…

Peace,

John W. Davis