One Step Back

The Pistons lost, which you probably guessed by now. That’s how important Stuckey has become, especially with the roster still semi-gutted by injury. Still no Ben Gordon, still no Tayshaun Prince, still no Will Bynum. If Stuckey doesn’t play … well, play like the guy who averaged 27 points in a 3-0 work week, wins are hard to come by.

The good news is Rip Hamilton is back in more than just the flesh – though now his right hamstring, which he felt grab early in the second half, threatens to throw him off again. The Pistons ran plays on two of their first three possessions in the 107-96 loss to Houston to free him for those gorgeous baseline jumpers he’s made a few thousand times this decade and he knocked them down. He made 7 of his first 8 shots and finished with 21 points in 30 minutes.

Hamilton came out of the game for less than a minute, ripping his mask off angrily and talking for a few seconds with John Kuester, who patted him on the back and sent him right back to the scorer’s table. Did Kuester see enough of Hamilton to think he was all the way back?

“Hopefully,” he said after a pregnant pause, conditioned now to fear the worst on the injury front. “We need his energy. There’s no question about that.”

“I felt pretty good early,” Hamilton said, the right ankle that cost him 21 games thrust in an ice bucket and a heavy bag of ice strapped around his right thigh. “But then I hurt my hamstring and that kind of slowed me up some. It was bothering me. That’s why I was hobbling around. I know every time I sat down, it would lock up on me even more.”

The Pistons fell behind by 19 midway through the second quarter, unable to keep up with Houston’s torrid scoring largely because their defense – both transition and half-court – was lacking, but also because Stuckey just couldn’t get anything to drop on a night their defense sprung some leaks. He made one of his first 10 and half of his misses were the same shots that elevated his Player of the Week candidacy.

“I missed a lot of shots,” he grimaced. “That happens. I missed a couple of easy layups. Tonight was just one of those nights. You just move on. We’ve got a game tomorrow. That’s what’s good about the league. We’ve got 82 games. It was one of those nights where I missed a lot of easy shots and there were some times I should’ve got some fouls called, but that happens.”

The Pistons tried taking advantage of the lopsided size mismatch Stuckey had over Houston’s Aaron Brooks – a wisp who might be 5-foot-10 – and Stuckey got to the spots he wanted. He just couldn’t finish. One of those nights.

“He was trying to stay aggressive and things didn’t work out in certain situations the way he has had this past week,” Kuester said after the game. “But we had 26 assists and nine turnovers. Normally, in that type of situation where we’re sharing the ball that way, we’re in pretty good shape. But we didn’t defend the way we’re capable of tonight.”

When they made their only real assertive move of the night, whittling that 19-point deficit to nine by halftime, it was Stuckey who kick-started it by overpowering Kyle Lowry for a basket in the paint, drawing a foul, and then converting a steal into two points with a pretty lefty layup in traffic.

He hit tough jumpers on three straight possessions early in the third quarter as the Pistons managed to tread water, but they never got it below eight and Stuckey never could sustain the brilliance he put on display at The Palace last week.

Kuester’s go-to phrase whenever asked to assess almost any aspect of the Pistons is that it’s a work in progress. But progress gets impeded, beaten back, wrestled to the ground and stomped on every now. It’s not always a 90 degree arrow heading up.

So getting all their players back healthy whenever it happens, though a highly welcomed development, won’t be the end of their journey. It will require more tinkering and experimentation and another period of acclimation.

Kuester tailors the offense to suit the talents of his players, so much so that among his thick catalog of plays designed to create a scoring chance for his shooting guard, there are files within that catalog devoted to each of Hamilton, Gordon and Stuckey.

With Hamilton, it might be a series or screens set by the center, power forward and small forward staggered along either side of the lane that allows him to dart into an opening at any point along the obstacle course for his patented mid-range jump shot.

For Gordon, it might be a play that gets him the ball early in the offense and coming around a screen set a little farther out on the wing so that Gordon can either extend the opening into a 3-point shot or catch the ball on the move and make a play off the dribble.

For Stuckey, it might be a play designed to get him the ball in the mid-post, where he can turn and force a defender which weapon to take away: his strength, or his quickness

“You want to make certain you have things that are in place to enable them to play to their strengths,” Kuester said before the game. “There’s no question we do that (also) when Rodney’s at the one or whoever’s at the two and the three.”

Kuester has been a Stuckey fan since day one. Really, from before he got the job. Cleveland’s staff coached the East All-Stars last winter and Kuester coached the Sophomores in the Rookie-Sophomore game whose roster included Stuckey.

“He’s got a huge upside,” Kuester said again on Tuesday. Along the way, Kuester has praised Stuckey’s defense (“he can be the best defensive guard I’ve ever coached”), his offensive versatility (“there aren’t many players who go from the point guard to the two guard, the two guard to the point guard and don’t miss a beat, and he’s one of those few guys”) and his leadership.

“I see growth in his maturity as a person to lead this team, and that’s equally important,” Kuester said. “It’s one thing to have an ability in this league; it’s having the maturity to handle these types of situations in the first and second quarters and then you go into the heat of a game in the third and fourth. How is that person going to handle it? And Rodney is making great strides in that area.”

Kuester deflects all suggestions that he’s played a role in the individual development of players or in the collective success the Pistons have realized in the face of what should have been a calamitous run of injuries.

But know this: Stuckey’s success has been greatly nurtured by Kuester’s even-handedness.

“Q is putting a lot of confidence in me,” Stuckey said. “He’s a positive person and he’s just been helping me out. When things go wrong, he’s always still being positive and that’s really one of the most important things. He’s a guy who’s always sticking on you, but the majority of the words that are coming out of his mouth are positive. He just has a lot of faith in me and I’m just trying to get better each and every day.”

Some days more than others. As Kuester says, it’s a work in progress.