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 The Pistons are 28th in overall rebounding and 28th in rebounding percentage.
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“We have talked about it a lot as a staff,” John Kuester said after Monday’s practice with four games stretching out over the next seven days, including two against defending Eastern Conference champion Orlando, which visits The Palace on Tuesday. “Trying to make sure that we get them out in the right amount of time and make sure they’re comfortable getting a good warmup.”
The sample size is still too small to extrapolate meaningful conclusions, but it’s an obvious area of concern as the Pistons came out of the first week of the NBA season with a 1-2 record.
Maybe the most reliable statistical indicator so far for the Pistons is this one: record with Rip Hamilton in the lineup, 1-0; record with Rip Hamilton in street clothes, 0-2.
Hamilton, who came down on O.J. Mayo’s foot with five minutes left in the season opener at Memphis, when the Pistons won by 22 on a night Hamilton had 25 and Ben Gordon added 22, has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game and then … well, who knows? The Pistons say he’s day to day with a sprained right ankle. My guess is you won’t see him until Friday at the earliest, but you never know. Sprained ankles heal on their own terms.
A few other areas that bear watching:
Except if you expand defense to include the final element of defending – grabbing the ball off the defensive backboard to begin the transition to offense.
The Pistons are giving up 14 offensive rebounds a game, tied for 28th. (OK, they’re tied with the Los Angeles Lakers and the only team worse is San Antonio, and the recent history of those teams suggests they’ll muddle through just fine.) The Pistons are 28th in overall rebounding and 28th in rebounding percentage. They’ve been outrebounded by nearly seven per game, an alarming statistic if it persists.
The resident authority on rebounding says there’s a link to rebounding and the sputtering offense.
“Any time you get outrebounded, it’s something to worry about,” Ben Wallace said. “We’ve got to do a better job of hitting the boards. Got to get everybody rebounding. Once we get our offense straightened, it will allow us to get a little better on the defensive end and get a little better board coverage. Right now, we’re not as patient as we should be and it’s getting us out of place and we’re not able to get back on the defensive end and (in) box-out position.”
Charlie Villanueva hit consecutive triples in the fourth quarter at Milwaukee to briefly rally the Pistons within four, but he’s only 4 of 12 and has yet to settle in. Once that happens – and one of the statistical certainties of the season is that Charlie V’s numbers are going to jump from his current 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per – the Pistons will have taken a big step toward getting an offense averaging only 88 points per game straightened out.
Getting back Hamilton, a very good corner 3-point shooter whose opportunities to get them figure to increase with Gordon’s presence, should further help from the 3-point arc. And if Austin Daye begins earning some minutes, he’ll be a factor, too.
It’s not so much on them as the perimeter players to get them some touches.
“Rip’s one of those guys – I don’t think a lot of guys realize that he gets shots for everybody,” Wallace said. “He gets assists for everybody without making passes. He gets assists with his legs. He’s coming off of picks and running and moving and getting everybody on the floor (involved). With him out, it definitely changes the offense.”
“We have so many great scorers,” Brown said. “I think, at times, it’s sticking in their hands. We’ve just got to move the ball and score out of the offense. When you have that more scorers and continue to move the ball, they’ll find a way to score.”
“Don’t underestimate what Rip’s value is,” Kuester said. “His basketball intelligence, his understanding of getting other people besides himself the ball, he’s a valuable part. Getting the bigs involved, we have to have a number of other people step up and understand the same type of role that he does give to us.”
The Pistons are still better equipped than most to limit Howard’s damage – he’s averaging 21.7 points and 16 rebounds – with Brown and Ben Wallace likely to get the majority of the minutes against him. Maxiell also did a bang-up job on him in the 2008 playoffs and Wilcox has the size and athleticism to warrant a turn, as well.
“We’re going to need a little bit more help (than in the Rasheed Wallace-McDyess era) and we understand that,” Kuester said. “That’s why we’ll be playing him by committee and a number of guys will be on him.”
