Lawrence Frank, Detroit Pistons and the next NBA season - Part 5
Balance Rodney Stuckey and Brandon Knight
This is going to be key for the Detroit Pistons, especially in the long run. Along with Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey and Brandon Knight are going to be the future of Detroit’s backcourt. I have already discussed in detail what needs
to be done with regards to Gordon, so let’s talk about the other two.
Game time for these young guys is already going to be limited with Richard Hamilton and Tracy McGrady still around. It’s going to be even lesser if they are both used in the same position. So Lawrence should not do that.
Rodney Stuckey is not a point guard. I do not know how much more proof do the Pistons management and coaches need about that. Stuckey is a very good player, but successive Detroit coaches have played him as a point guard when he
is much more suited to playing shooting guard. Maybe that’s to do with the veterans the team already has in that position, but you have to stop when it’s clear that the move has a detrimental effect.
Rodney has good qualities. Quick and able to score by himself, he is certainly an asset. You add the defensive prospects that come along with his athleticism and you have quite a player at your hands. So what’s wrong with him?
He is not a point guard.
Stuckey doesn’t have much of an outside shot. That means he keeps doing what the shooting guard is supposed to do. He slashes and tries to drive to the rim too often. The player is also not a natural playmaker. So when you put
someone like that on the point and expect him to run an already dysfunctional team, there’s only one thing that’s going to happen.
The remedy for Detroit’s predicament is exactly what they got on Draft night. Taking Brandon Knight, who the Pistons would have been surprised lasted that long on the board, was a very good move. The NBA teams seemed to fancy them
some foreign big guys early in the draft this year and that left Knight there for the taking.
And the Pistons took a very decent player. Knight comes to the NBA after running a very successful college team. He is a point guard in the true sense of the word - a leader, splendid at distributing the ball, running the offense
and with a good outside shot. Theoretically, he is just what the doctor ordered for the Pistons.
With him at the point, Detroit can actually once again play as a team. His shooting will help in spreading the floor and create the room that the plethora of slashers in the team require to operate. Knight will take time to mature,
sure, but he is worth the wait. In any case he isn’t going to be a liability on the court. He has shown enough at the college level, and spent enough time there, to suggest that he would be able to handle the NBA and settle in sooner rather than later.
In time, Brandon Knight has the ability to become the next Chauncey Billups for the Pistons. Need I remind anyone, Billups won the Finals MVP in 2004, when Detroit last won the NBA World Championship?
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