SWEET, SWEET STUCKEYLOVIN'



Thursday, May 15, 2008

Travis (Chicago): McDyess is making a case for being the team’s MVP. Where would we be without his hustle and defensive intensity the past two games? Also, any concerns about Rodney Stuckey’s defense considering Jameer Nelson manipulated him by getting Stuckey in early foul trouble and driving the lane for easy baskets?

Langlois: In the Dumars era, there’s never been a clear consensus about who the Pistons’ MVP really was. And you can easily make the case for at least all four of the core holdover starters. Yet nobody was more critical to the Game 5 win than two other players, McDyess and Stuckey. It goes to what Joe Dumars has preached since he took the job – winning with quality depth. He reiterated that in the Q&A we did on Wednesday. As for Stuckey’s defense, I see it as an absolute strength. Nelson takes a lot of criticism, but he’s a pretty decent little player. You can take advantage of his defensively, but his strength and quickness allows him to get to the basket. But one of the two early fouls Stuckey picked up in Game 5 came in transition. And Nelson needed to shoot extremely well – 6 of 7 overall, 2 of 3 from the 3-point line, and I know at least one of those was when the Pistons got caught in rotation and Stuckey wasn’t even guarding him – to score 14 points. Flip Saunders has said all along that for as much as he thinks about Stuckey’s game offensively, his defense is ahead of his offense.


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Michael (Sydney, Australia): Great Q&A with Joe Dumars. I believe he and you were right about Stuckey all along and all those fans who were doubters should now be believers.

Langlois: It’s hard for me to believe that he lasted until 15th in last year’s draft, his small-school background at Eastern Washington aside. There’s nothing not to like about Stuckey. If he’d had character issues, you could understand it, but everyone spoke glowingly of him. Wait until he develops a more consistent 20-foot stroke – he will – gets a little more familiar with the league and soaks up the type of experience a point guard requires to grow into his job.


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Walt (Oak Park): I hope this doesn’t sound like a conspiracy theory, but now that the Pistons are going to the conference finals for the sixth straight year do you suppose the referees will call more fouls on Detroit and less on the opponent like they’ve done the past four years? The Pistons either get LeBron James (the poster boy of 2007 before losing in the Finals) or Boston’s big three (the poster boys of this year).

Langlois: LeBron has maybe replaced Shaq as the most difficult player in the league to officiate because of his strength and explosive driving ability. He creates contact and almost forces a call to be made on every play – and he’s going to win his share, at least, of the calls. But the Pistons can’t go in thinking that way. I think it played a role in the frustration they felt last year when things weren’t going their way in the Cleveland series and it eventually consumed them.


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Patti (Iowa): Sometimes our guys have a tendency not to play well with more than a few days of rest and it looks like they’ll have about a week off now. Is this something they have talked about and how might they correct it?

Langlois: I talked about that with Joe Dumars in the Q&A we did Wednesday and he said he’s not concerned – the opening-round loss to Philly in Game 2 got his team’s attention, he feels they’re locked in and mindful of last year’s experience, plus he feels the rest will do Chauncey Billups’ hamstring and Antonio McDyess’ slight ankle sprain good.


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Richard (Las Vegas): The Pistons just used 12 guys in a competitive second-round elimination game. How about those apples?

Langlois: You’re right, Richard – and they wound up using 14 players, all but Cheikh Samb, at some point in the Orlando series when a game was on the line. That was another thing Joe Dumars talked about in our Wednesday Q&A.


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Bob (Detroit): As I watched the third quarter of Game 5, Marv Albert made several negative comments about the crowd. I’ve noticed this lack of noise throughout the playoffs. How do you feel about the crowd noise at The Palace and how it compares to other NBA arenas.

Langlois: I thought it was Dick Stockton doing the game, but I might have been mistaken. At any rate, though I must confess that after being in so many arenas for so many games over the years and concentrating on getting my job done I often filter the crowd and background noise out almost completely, I thought the crowds have been pretty enthused this postseason. Sometimes the first few minutes of the third quarter are notably quieter because fans are filtering back to their seats from the concourses. But I distinctly remember The Palace being a pretty raucous place in Game 5’s fourth quarter, early when the Pistons came from behind to take the lead and later as the game tightened up.


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Sunday (Lagos, Nigeria): I love watching Pistons games but I often can’t because it’s on very late at night here, but I’m so happy you guys are winning.

Langlois: No real comment to that except … Lagos, Nigeria! Pistons Nation’s roots spread! Glad you’re a fan.


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Jason (Grand Rapids, Mich.): I’m torn on who I’d rather face in the conference finals. Boston’s road troubles make me confident we could steal home-court advantage in ine of the first two games, but I wouldn’t want the Celtics of the regular season to emerge. I don’t feel the Cavs are anywhere near the Pistons as a team, but that was true last year, too. Do you think the Pistons would rather get revenge on the Cavs and would that be a better matchup than the Celtics?

Langlois: If you put it to a private vote of the Pistons, I think the winner would be “I don’t care.” I’m serious. I think the overwhelming sentiment for the Pistons is just to win. Boston having home-court advantage might be the tiebreaker for them, but they’re not intimidated by any road setting. Would wanting to avenge last year’s loss to Cleveland drive them? Not as much as winning a title and they have to beat whoever finds themselves on the other side of the bracket to do so. As for matchups, flip a coin. Boston presents a number of problems, but whether they add up to the one huge problem Cleveland presents, I’m not sure.


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Chris (Nellis AFB, Nevada): Do you think there is any credibility to claims the NBA wants a Lakers-Celtics series? I just think it’s sad that outside the state of Michigan, the Pistons get no respect.

Langlois: I don’t think there’s any secret that ABC, which has the rights to the NBA Finals, would love a Lakers-Celtics Finals. Reports have quoted network executives anonymously as saying as much. And there’s no doubt that what’s good for the NBA’s broadcast partners is, in many ways but not necessarily all ways, good for the NBA. But I think it’s wrong to take that to its conclusion and say the NBA would ever attempt to influence the outcome of games. I just don’t believe that. David Stern has been vigilant about maintaining not only the integrity of the game, but the appearance of integrity. It’s just not worth it to the league to risk its future through the manipulation of the process. If that were the case, the small-market San Antonio Spurs, panned at least as much as the Pistons by the critics for being “boring,” would not have won four nine NBA titles in their current run.


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Alec (Ypsilanti, Mich.): With Mike D’Antoni going to New York and the Suns being eliminated early in the playoffs, could you see Shaq coming to Detroit in the off-season?

Langlois: Ummm, no. Shaq is still going to make $20 million next year. That means the Pistons would have to ship out at least $16 million in contracts to make the deal work. I’m not sure how you do that and come close to getting equal value back in return for a guy who’s very near the end of his career.


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David (Flint, Mich.): Could you tell me why we got rid of Mehmet Okur? Imagine what the Pistons could be accomplishing right now?

Langlois: They didn’t exactly get rid of him. They essentially lost him to a loophole that’s since been closed – the same way Golden State lost Gilbert Arenas. Second-round draft picks, as Okur and Arenas were, became unrestricted free agents after their two-year contracts were up, and because they were only with the team for two seasons, that meant the original team didn’t have Bird Rights – the ability to go over the salary cap to match any offer. So when Utah offered more than the mid-level exception, the Pistons’ hands were tied. If Okur wanted to take far less money, he could have stayed in Detroit. He wasn’t about to do that, of course, especially when the Pistons at the time had both Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace plus Darko Milicic about to head into his second season. The counter move that summer by Joe Dumars was to sign Antonio McDyess, which has worked out very well. But the Pistons weren’t happy to see a talented young 7-footer get away while they were powerless to do anything about it.


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Jarell (Detroit): Why does Rodney Stuckey get in so much foul trouble when he doesn’t play that many minutes?

Langlois: It’s not terribly unusual for young players to find themselves in foul trouble, Jarell. That said, Stuckey hasn’t been one to accumulate fouls in bunches on a consistent basis this season. He averaged one foul roughly every 9.5 minutes he was on the floor. When you’re playing about 20 minutes a game, that means you’re not going to be in foul trouble very often. Lindsey Hunter, for example, picked up one foul every 7.1 minutes this season. Players who come off the bench don’t have to be as careful about accumulating fouls. Stuckey will learn and adjust.


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Gil (Charlotte, N.C.): The whole situation with the clock mistake in Game 2 has really annoyed me. Every time something like this happens, talk about using instant replay comes up. Why are so few people willing to accept the game is played by humans, managed by humans and has rules enforced by humans. That incident will be the thing that is remembered from this series and not that Orlando’s game plan didn’t seem to involve Dwight Howard.

Langlois: What disappointed me about it was when the NBA released its statement the next day that Chauncey Billups’ 3-point basket would not have counted if the clock had functioned properly, it was reported everywhere that the NBA said the shot should not have counted. Those are two different things. No, the shot would not have counted had the clock functioned properly. But had the clock been working properly, Rodney Stuckey would not have passed the ball back to Billups. He did so because he saw four-point-something on the clock and passed to an open – and proficient – 3-point shooter. Still, I don’t think people are going to dwell on that into the future – not when the series ended in five games.


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Shaun (Lansing, Mich.): Not much of a question, but more like a thanks for all the great articles, recaps and Pistons information you provide. I don’t know what I’d do at work all day if I didn’t have your in-depth coverage to read every day.

Langlois: Get back to work, Shaun – Michigan’s economy can’t handle the down time. But thanks for the kind words.


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Del (Alto, Mich.): Sportswriters often emphasize the difference between regular-season and postseason basketball, going from a different opponent every night to a best-of-seven series. Why not seed teams in each conference and sometime around mid-season have a five-game series – not best of five. This would enliven the regular season and give teams a chance to work on playoff focus and adjustments.

Langlois: You might have the germ of an idea there, but there’d be lots of opposition. Teams like to have the opportunity to market games far in advance. I’m not sure if you’re suggesting playing crossover games – the No. 1 seed in the East plays the No. 1 seed in the West, and so on, but it seems to me that there would be a handful of pretty attractive matchups but a lot of them that would be very tough sells – the Minnesota Timberwolves playing five games against the Charlotte Bobcats or the Memphis Grizzlies playing five against the Milwaukee Bucks in February? Ugggh.


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Pat (Ocoee, Fla.): I don’t understand why the media keep saying the Celtics have the best defense when it’s the Pistons who gave up the least amount of points per game.

Langlois: For most of the regular season, Boston led the league in points allowed and percentage field-goal defense. The Pistons wound up allowing 90.1 points a game to finish first in that department to Boston’s 90.3; Boston led in percentage defense with Houston second and the Pistons third. Boston led in 3-point percentage defense with the Pistons second.


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Prasad (Los Angeles): Is Cheikh Samb’s brother Mamadou expected to be in the next NBA draft?

Langlois: He turns 19 this calendar year, which made him eligible to apply for the draft, but he did not. He apparently had a so-so year in Spain and hasn’t had the growth spurt many expected he’d have, still listed at 6-foot-10. Mamadou won’t become automatically eligible for the draft until 2011, so he has plenty of time to work on his game in Europe.