Detroit Pistons Are Not Giving Up On Rodney Stuckey Yet

It seems a lot of people have given up on Rodney Stuckey as a point guard. I still think this is premature. 

There are several things that happened this season that might lead fans to believe that Stuckey should be moved to the two guard.

A lot of people believe that Stuckey can't run the point in the NBA. There have been questions about his passing skills, some say his decision making is not on par, and others call his instincts more in line with a shooting guard's instincts than a ball distributor's.

And with the emergence of Will Bynum late in the season expectations seemed to have dramatically risen for Stuckey. Joe Dumars said in an interview at the end of the season that he thinks that, "Stuckey should spend some time playing off the ball alongside of Bynum". 

All these reasons to a fan seem to scream that Stuckey is a two. But here's why he is still our point. 

Last year Stuckey played 19 minutes per game. He also averaged 2.8 assists per game. This year he played 32 MPG while averaging 4.9 APG. That comes out to one assist every 6.78 minutes the first year and one assist every 6.53 minutes the second year. 

Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics played 23 MPG his first year (he also had the benefit of playing a full rookie season). He averaged 3.8 APG. That equals one assist to every 6.05 minutes. His second season he averaged 5.1 APG in 29 minutes. This comes to 5.69 minutes per assist. 

Stuckey improved his minutes per assists by about .25 while Rondo improved his by .36, these are very similar improvements and Rondo's second season was the Celtics championship season. 

Rondo and Stuckey also had comparable turnovers per game their second years at 1.9 and 2.1 respectively. 

Just for good measure I'll throw in Devin Harris' stats as well. He averaged 2.2 assists in fifteen minutes his first season. In twenty three minutes his second season, he averaged 3.2 assists. He was actually less efficient his second season by about .37 minutes per assist. 

By the way Harris' current stats are 21 PPG, 6.9 APG, 44% FG, and 3.1 TO. Not to shabby.

Moving on to the claim about Stuckey having a shoot first instinct, some people point to his forty and thirty eight point games and say he managed those numbers by being selfish. 

I disagree wholeheartedly. Not only did he shoot over 50% in the feild in each of those games, but in his thirty eight point game he dished out seven assists.

On top of that when Stuckey was going through his rough patch in February Curry and Dumars said that he was deferring too much and not being aggressive enough. 

Stuckey had a really tough balancing act to handle this season. On one hand he was being pushed to look for his shot but on the other hand he had to make sure that this team loaded with veteran scorers (Hamilton, Iverson, Wallace, Mcdyess, and Prince) each of whom got their touches.

If that wasn't enough egos became a huge problem this season, which I'm sure put added pressure on Rodney not to step on any toes. 

Due to this balancing act, in some games he looked like he was afraid to shoot, often passing the ball shortly after crossing mid court. In others when he was aggressive and getting in the paint he seemed like a completely different player. 

Once the line-up started to stabilize at the end of the season he began to show more consistency. He scored in double digits in his last nine games, while having five or more assists per game in all but one of those games. 

Also, at the end of the season Bynum started to catch fire. Let me say first I really enjoy watching Will play. He is quick, has a nice shot and good defense. However, he is not going to be as good as Stuckey. 

Bynum is far more experienced than Stuckey, having played in Israel for a couple years and also a stint with Golden State. So Bynum was not really a true rookie coming into this year. 

This means that Bynum's abilities are probably much closer to his ceiling than Stuckey's. It's also why he seems more comfortable running a team heavy with veterans.

Bynum's emergence also caused Dumars to take notice. At his season ending interview he stated that Stuckey will be playing off the ball alongside Bynum for spurts next year. 

This does not mean he is going to be a shooting guard. What Joe D. seems to be thinking is that having another player who can penetrate and breakdown defenses on the floor is going to make it hard for teams to keep them out of the paint. 

In fact, I fully expect them to pass point guard responsibilities back and forth while they are on the court together. 

So before everyone gives up on Stuckey being the point guard of the future, just remember that players need time to develop and Stuckey is definitely developing as a point guard.