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Langlois: You’re right – they were winnable. They were the games a team that knows itself a little better than this team currently does would have won, too. The hope is that as this season progresses, the Pistons will figure out how to sustain success when things are going well and be better able to extricate themselves from trouble when they aren’t going so well. Injuries are a fact of life in the NBA, but the timing of Hamilton’s injury was a punch in the gut, coming as it did in a game that was well in hand when he and the offense built with him and Ben Gordon in mind had gotten off to such a promising start. If he can get back, and back at 100 percent, within a week or so, the hope is they can pick up where they left off in Memphis.
Langlois: Herrmann’s playing in Spain, Mahorn is still doing radio commentary for home broadcasts.
Langlois: Easy: A great jump shot. ESPN.com’s John Hollinger had some stats recently that showed Nelson was easily the NBA’s most accurate shooter on deep 2-point shots last season and also was a remarkable 3-point shooter. That’s why Nelson’s play was elevated so dramatically last season. Can he duplicate that type of shooting? Probably not. Can Stuckey become a better perimeter shooter? He most likely will. Bynum is already a clearly better jump shooter than he was last year – not really a 3-point shooter yet, but he’s added range and looks to be a more confident shooter.
Langlois: George had Michigan State football obligations Saturday. It doesn’t cause him to miss many Pistons games, but every once in a while there’s a conflict. Mark Champion isn’t exactly a new guy. He does radio when George is doing TV.
Langlois: When I saw the knot on his ankle Thursday afternoon, when he had it plunged in an ice bucket with the tape still on his ankle from Wednesday night’s game, I thought immediately that this was looking like a 10-day thing, Christian. There’s just no way to know with ankles. If you can’t walk on it without pain, you’re several days from being able to run and jump and cut. We’ll see later today at practice what his status is, but I’m guessing we won’t see Rip until the end of the week at the earliest.
Langlois: C’mon, Jason. It was one game. And he did have 21 points, getting to the line 13 times. It wasn’t a great game for him, granted, but if that counts as his clunker, I think the Pistons can survive. The whole “Stuckey isn’t a point guard” argument is getting a little tired. Look around the league. There are about five guys that the Stuckey critics would readily agree are point guards. He’s 23 and he didn’t play in a very competitive conference in college, where he was so far and away the best player on his own team that he was expected to create points for himself more than others. There will be a learning curve. He’s never going to look like Steve Nash or Jason Kidd, but Chauncey Billups doesn’t, either, and he was good enough to help the Pistons to an NBA title.
Langlois: Billups had good size and strength and was extremely crafty. Stuckey’s even bigger and probably will become even stronger. You see it almost every game – a smaller point guard tries to get up into Stuckey as he crosses mid-court, they make contact and the opponent bounces back off of him. The other thing Stuckey has over Billups is an edge in athleticism. Whether he’ll ever have the feel – knowing how to use leverage once he gets that opponent on his hip, for instance – remains to be seen, but I don’t think Billups was known for his post-up game at 23.
Langlois: There were times in the preseason when Maxiell appeared as if he was losing ground in the battle to lock down a spot in the rotation. You’re right, Rob, he got off to an encouraging start in the opener. If Maxiell can hold his own on the defensive boards, you know he’ll make some plays with offensive rebounds and hustle plays. I think he won himself some points with the coaching staff and his teammates by hitting the ground for a loose ball, badly outhustling a Memphis player, with the game well in hand. That’s the type of spark they need from Max.
Langlois: That was a really small sample size, Joe. They won by 22 that night. Point differential is a much more meaningful stat than points per game. And the two losses since the opener are tough to assess because of Rip Hamilton’s absence. The Pistons had two pretty good first halves and two pretty bad second halves in those other two games. It’s going to be a while before we get a real handle on the Pistons from all aspects.
Langlois: Gordon and Villanueva give them two good shooters to go with Hamilton. Prince has been a reliable perimeter shooter. Austin Daye, at some point, will make an impact. The biggest thing, though, is creating open jump shots. Give any NBA team open 18-footers or corner triples and they’re going to do some damage. The problem the Pistons have had in recent seasons is a lack of high-percentage jumpers. The ability of Stuckey, Bynum and Gordon to penetrate should go a long way toward solving that.
Langlois: An oldie but a goodie. Won’t go into the same detail I’ve given on this in the past, but suffice it to say Utah seems happy with Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles and would be committing to taking on three extra years of a hefty contract for a team already facing huge luxury-tax implications in a small market, and the Pistons would run the strong risk of losing Boozer after the season, when he can become a free agent. To your point about “if Detroit could sign Boozer to a long-term deal” – there’s the rub. They can’t negotiate with him until he’s their property, and at that point he’d have the leverage with free agency pending. Unlikely deal from both sides.
Langlois: I saw a replay of Rip’s incident twice and it didn’t strike me that Mayo was intending to hurt him. I assume one of the two other incidents to which you refer is Ben Gordon’s four-point play in the first half. Again, I didn’t see that as Mayo trying to inflict injury. I didn’t hear anyone on the Pistons mention it, either, and it’s worth noting that the NBA, at least to the public’s knowledge, took no action. So … no one’s said anything, I assume, because no one interpreted his actions the way you did. Doesn’t mean you’re wrong, but I’ve not known Mayo to have that reputation, though he’s only beginning his second season.
Langlois: As the home team, Memphis chose to wear its alternate uniforms, an iridescent blue. That meant their home whites on the road for the Pistons.
Langlois: None of the above. He’s been inactive simply because the Pistons need a No. 3 small forward – which he currently is, behind Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye, with Rip Hamilton (when healthy) and Rodney Stuckey truly first in line for minutes behind Prince when the Pistons go to their three-guard lineup – less than they need an extra big man, like Jonas Jerebko. That doesn’t speak at all to the Pistons regard for Summers. While he needs work on his perimeter defense, because for the most part at Georgetown he was a power forward, Summers has a chance to make an impact someday because he has a pretty rare combination of athleticism and shooting stroke. If he can master the nuances of the game, the sky’s the limit.
Langlois: The next two scheduled appearances, both at Meijer stores, are Rodney Stuckey on Nov. 12 at the Canton store on Ford Road and Ben Gordon on Dec. 5 at the Ann Arbor store on Saline Road. Check with Pistons.com for games that will feature pregame autograph sessions.
Langlois: I think it’s a real stretch to think he can be the guy he was in 2004 and 2005 or even 2006, when he played well enough to entice the Bulls to pony up $60 million for four years, Alex. At 35, he’s not going to play as consistently well as he did when he was 30 or 31. But if he can approach that level some nights and give them stout defense even on the nights when he’s not running up big rebound numbers or getting his hands on as many loose balls, his acquisition would still register as one of the great under-the-radar signings of the summer. Remember, a big reason Wallace was brought back was for his everyday professionalism – showing the fleet of young players the Pistons added how to prepare on game days and days off and practice days and how to work in the weight room and how to approach rehab and everything else the job of being an NBA player entails.
Langlois: In John Kuester’s offense, assists are going to be distributed more evenly than they were in, say, Flip Saunders’ offense, where the point guard dominates the ball. I really don’t get people suggesting Gordon should be a point guard. While he can make plays off the dribble, you really want to get Gordon the ball when he’s on the move, coming off a screen or a cut, so he can catch and shoot or penetrate while the defense is shifting. Stuckey can do that, too, of course, but he’s not the shooter Gordon is. Many NBA teams are taking a similar approach these days unless they have somebody like Jason Kidd or Steve Nash or Deron Williams or Chris Paul. Kuester is very high on Stuckey’s point guard skills.
Langlois: He’s said he’ll monitor it and he’s said resting him on the second night of certain back-to-back situations is a strong consideration. If he starts dragging, he’ll cut back his minutes. But you might as well use him when he’s performing well and helping the team, as he clearly is, more than other big men consistently.
Langlois: NBA.com offers League Pass via the Internet. You should be able to view that anywhere an Internet connection is available to you.
