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Stuckey promoted to starting lineup
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Rodney Stuckey
With The Pistons reeling since the Allen Iverson trade, first-year coach Michael Curry has been struggling to find an answer to turn things around. Enter Rodney Stuckey. Curry will hand over the reins of starting point guard to the second-year guard out of Eastern Washington.
Stuckey’s bump into the starting lineup will push Kwame Brown to the bench and give the Pistons a small lineup. Iverson and Richard Hamilton will move to the wings, where they both can concentrate on moving without the ball and scoring. Tayshaun Prince becomes the new starting power forward and Rasheed Wallace slides over to the center position.
The switch should enhance the Pistons offense as Iverson has struggled with point guard duties since coming to Motown to replace Chauncey Billups. The Answer has spent time at point guard before, but he has always been more comfortable playing a score-first role at shooting guard.
Many questioned Stuckey’s ability as a point guard entering last year’s draft after being more of a scoring guard in college, but he has squashed those worries with his recent play. In the past six games, Stuckey is averaging 12 points and 6.5 assists while seeing increased minutes with the Pistons big four.
The two major concerns that the move evokes are a weakening of the bench and Prince’s ability to guard bigger bodies at the four.
With Stuckey in the starting lineup, the Pistons will lose their top reserve off the bench. That burden will be shouldered by a group of players as Curry plans to increase the roles of Will Bynum, Aaron Afflalo and Walter Herrmann. Bynum will be relied upon the most as he will take over duties as the backup point guard. Here’s Bynum’s chance to prove his outstanding projected stats.
Prince will have no doubt have issues trying to match up against power forwards that outweigh him by 50 pounds or more, but he will also cause a mismatch on the offensive end with his speed, ball-handling and range. Plus, the return of Antonio McDyess will give the Pistons a capable reserve if opponents try to body up on Prince in the post.
If nothing else, the Curry’s latest roster juggle should be entertaining. The Pistons should become more explosive on the offensive end with Stuckey at the helm. Maybe it will even spark Iverson to start pouring in buckets like he did prior to relocating to Detroit.
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