PISTONS: On Point

Lindsey Hunter and Chauncey Billups lead up a well-stocked group of point guards.

D. Lippitt/Einstein (NBAE/Getty)

Keeping Billups, grabbing Stuckey solidifies QB position

On Point

by Keith Langlois

Editor’s note: Pistons.com starts a five-part positional analysis of the 2007-08 Pistons heading into training camp with today’s Part I: point guards.

When the Pistons’ season ended in the Eastern Conference finals last June, Joe Dumars understood there was a possibility – slim, perhaps, but present – that the point guard position could become a glaring Pistons weakness within a month.

Chauncey Billups was poised for free agency, after all, and there was no one on the roster equipped to handle starter’s minutes at the most important position in basketball.

By the time the middle of July had rolled around, Dumars had reason to believe no team in the NBA was better stocked at the position. By then, not only had Dumars locked up the point guard he first pulled off the free-agent pile five summers earlier to a new contract that should allow Billups to retire a Piston, he’d also had his most optimistic projections for rookie Rodney Stuckey’s impact affirmed by his head-turning stint in the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League.

Here’s a look at the Pistons point guard heading into October’s training camp:

Chauncey Billups – There’s a basketball axiom that contends point guards start going downhill once they hit 30. Billups turns 31 the week before training camp opens. Should the Pistons be worried that they overpaid when Billups signed a five-year extension with roughly $50 million in guaranteed money?

Not really. Those looking for signs that Billups is sliding will point to his sluggish conference finals performance and his slightly declined production throughout the regular season.

But the Cleveland series featured across-the-board nightmarish offensive numbers. It would be a stretch to contend that Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton and Billups all got old all of a sudden, wouldn’t it? Cleveland’s a good defensive team that executed a really good game plan to perfection and rode a coming-of-age night from LeBron James to steal Game 5 and win the series. If LeBron’s 48 in Game 5 doesn’t happen, are we having this discussion?

Billups suffered a calf injury that cost him 10 games and went through a prolonged shooting slump thereafter that lasted the better part of two months, which helps to explain his dip to a .345 3-point shooting percentage after two years of 40-plus percent.

That his assists were down (8.6-7.1) is largely attributable to the January acquisition of Chris Webber, through whom the Pistons ran their offense much of the time for a prolonged period. In the 28 games Billups played before Webber’s arrival, he had double-digit assists 10 times; in the 42 games after Webber, Billups had double-digit assists seven times.

Billups’ assets – shooting range, ballhandling, strength and court awareness – are not ones that age should significantly diminish, as opposed quickness, the bellwether attribute of many points. Since coming to the Pistons as an unrefined point guard, Billups has matured to become one of the very best at sensing when to alter tempo to play to his team’s strengths in any particular game.

That’s why Dumars made re-signing Billups his No. 1 off-season priority. He likened it to an NFL team that had one of the game’s top five quarterbacks – you don’t let players of that stature get away.

Rodney Stuckey – If they threw everybody back in the pool and redid the draft today, there’s no way Stuckey would be around at No. 15.

Stuckey created a stir at the Las Vegas Summer League and again last month at Tim Grgurich’s camp, also in Las Vegas. If he weren’t playing behind two All-Stars in Billups and Rip Hamilton, Stuckey would be a Rookie of the Year contender despite the overwhelming hype surrounding 1-2 picks Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.

The Pistons drafted Stuckey on the expectation that he could ably fill either backcourt position. In fact, they saw him more as a point guard than a shooting guard, though predraft evaluations almost unanimously doubted Stuckey’s ability to run the point.

Rookie point guards face a challenging transition and Summer League history is filled with stars who flamed out against the NBA backdrop, but Stuckey left veteran NBA observers in Las Vegas convinced he’ll provide an immediate backcourt upgrade for the Pistons, who often sputtered offensively last season when Billups left the court.

Stuckey showed in Vegas that he was especially gifted at getting inside the lane, absorbing contact and finishing, often drawing fouls. He shoots free throws extremely well and took over games in the fourth quarter. Even if it was only Summer League, that’s an encouraging sign.

Stuckey could very well emerge as a utility third guard equally capable of backing up Rip Hamilton at shooting guard. If that’s the case, he could gobble up every available backcourt reserve minute – as Vinnie Johnson did when playing behind Dumars and Isiah Thomas – and play as much as 25 a game.

Flip Murray – When the summer began and especially after the Pistons picked up Stuckey and Arron Afflalo in the draft, the thinking was that the Pistons would look to move Murray in the trade market.

But with Lindsey Hunter set to finish his career in more of a coaching-mentoring role, the Pistons seem more inclined to view Murray as valuable backcourt insurance.

Though he played his way out of the rotation by January, Murray responded well when called on later as Hunter sat out his 10-game suspension for taking a diet pill that he didn’t know contained a banned substance. It’s a contract year for Murray, as well, so he’ll be motivated to do well.

Lindsey Hunter – Entering his 15th and likely his last year, Hunter is preparing for his future role on Dumars’ front-office staff by serving as a quasi-coach this season, helping mentor rookies Stuckey, Afflalo and Sammy Mejia. If injuries hit, he’s still capable of playing a limited role and remains a valuable possibility as an on-the-ball defensive pest.