(Update: It’s official, Pistons have re-signed Stuckey.)
Yahoo! Sports reports:
Rodney Stuckey has agreed to a 3 year, $25M deal to stay with Pistons, league source confirms to Y!Sat Dec 17 16:21:18 via UberSocial for BlackBerry
Adrian Wojnarowski
WojYahooNBA
It’s a... well, it’s a move for the Pistons. It’s a matter of two extremes. Let’s do “One Hand, Other Hand.”
On One Hand...
He’s a 25-year-old combo guard who had an 18 PER last season, a career year (total coincidence that it was a contract year!) and upped his assists to six per game. He’s reliable with good handle and a low turnover rate. He’s been with Detroit his entire career and the contract serves to reward a good player who has stuck with the team. He’s still got upside and has started to establish himself as more of a leader. He’s got the ability to defend two-guards and can operate as a combo guard next to Brandon Knight. Young player with above average PER for less than $10 million per year = good.
On The Other Hand...
He had his career year in the most disastrous season in recent memory for the Detroit Pistons. He was part of the veteran revolt in the locker room last season and despite my feeling that John Kuester had as much to do with that as the veterans, it’s not a good example to set. He can’t shoot, topping out at 44 percent last season with a 28 percent mark behind the arc and a .455 effective field goal percentage. He’s a point guard who doesn’t have the speed or vision of a point guard, a two-guard who doesn’t have the scoring ability of a shooting guard. He clogs up the rotation for Brandon Knight and Will Bynum and for that money, is clearly an established part of their future. The Pistons need to move forward, to move on from the mid-00’s run that netted them a championship and umpteen bajillion Eastern Conference Championship appearances in a row. This keeps them planted in that era, along with the 3-year deal for Tayshaun Prince.
Stuckey might continue to improve and this could look genius. Or he could serve to only hold back Knight and complicate the rebuilding process.
It’s a mixed move.
