this post is for all of the participants on the mlive.com forums for the Pistons....as the senior writers on that board seem to me were right, and it is time to trade Tay and potentially even Rip, as other players step-in, and Stuckey becomes the bona-fide leader that we all hoped for some three years ago with the #15 pick in the draft....Tayshaun would be well-served in a new system that needs a role player to come off the bench and produce solid minutes, but in no way is he producing right now for the Pistons, injury or not: Austin Daye appears to be good enough to take the mantle of swing player with range and skills to get to the hoop, and Jerebko is playing solid minutes in Tay's absence, so there you have it, two rookies have made Prince expendable, something that could not have been guaranteed at the beginning of the season....
the tougher call is on Rip, as i see him doing a lot of spazzing out there a la A.I., with too many dribbles and too many missed jumpers to allow the offense to get in any sort of rhythm with him on the court, he is not valuable enough to keep Gordon on the bench for extended periods of time, and when Bynum comes back that is the natural first guard off the bench, not having Ben G. on the court means having to force him in to a expedited form of offensive execution, that he does not deserve, so i think it will be tough, but i finally agree with all the negative attitudes on the pistons board, and say it is time to trade the two left-over pieces from 7 years of winning, and purge Tay and Rip while they still have some trade value, if there is any team out there willing to do business with Joe, as he fleeces everyone he does deals with....
Stuckey is so good its almost becoming ridiculous, sure he will have off nights, like when he was hurt two games ago, but is there anyone other than LBJ who gets to the hoop and finishes without calls like Stuck, my favorite player in the league (Arenas) is gone on weapons charges, and that is fine, because i would prefer my favorite player to be a piston, and that is Stuckey, he gets assists and scores and defends as well as any PG in the league, and sure the argument on the board is that he is more naturally suited to come off screens as an off-guard, but like Joe D. said, he is a combo guard that can do anything you need him to do in the course of a game....i would say that Stuckey is well beyond the rest of his draft class in terms of leading a team, and sure the Pistons are losing a lot lately, but its not due to his ineffectiveness, teams are scheming to prevent him from getting to the hoop, and he is still pulling it off, its a dagger when he penetrates, i love stuck....
CV31 is solid, he likes his role as 6th man, and should earn a starting position next year with the way he scores and rebounds, he just needs to get better on defensive scheming, and then he will be acclimated with the Pistons program enough to warrant more touches, and more plays called for him, i mean he had 23/9 last nite, so you cant say the guy is a bust, he just needs time and the right players around him, like Ben Gordon at the 2 guard and Stuck on the floor with him to get him good looks....i like him, he wants to win, and he plays to win, and even though the Pistons are near the bottom of the league record-wise, they are building on something that other teams dont have, which is young depth, and CV31 is the leader of this charge, he will play out his contract here, he is not going anywhere....
i give Joe credit for the Billups trade that freed up Stuck, and he needs to do the same thing to free up CV31 and BG by trading Tay and Rip and let the era of the 2004 Championship end, and begin anew, I can take B. Wallace for another year so at least we will have one vet. on that team next year, and depending on what you can get in return for two starters, perhaps the Pistons will get better in the second-half of the season....but they are still fun to watch, which is something that could not be said at the end of last year, so joe keeps his job as president of the Pistons, and Coach Q should keep his job, as he has done well in the face of adversity and not blamed anyone in particular....
but if you want to know the state of the pistons, its that they need a trade for Tay, for something of equal value, and then the real decision of what to do with Rip becomes the top topic of discussion, and i agree with the punters on the board, it is probably time to move Rip as well....good memories from both of them, but for the sake of jerebko, daye, gordon, and cv31, and the ongoing development of the Pistons, it is time to build around youth and Stuckey, its just time to move on....
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