Fantasy Basketball Team Preview: Detroit Pistons (9/5/10)
Sep 5, 2010 Blog
The Detroit Pistons are a team stuck in a never ending cycle of mediocrity, with no major youthful talent to step up and change the franchise. Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince are solid, but way past their prime. Tracy McGrady is a shell of his former self, Ben Wallace is a one trick pony and Ben Gordon may never mature enough to realize his potential. The old adage that even poor teams can provide fantasy value just doesn’t hold in Detroit, as there just isn’t much to get excited about here. Post your comments over on the Fantasy Basketball Daily Facebook Page (@FantasyNBADaily).
Projected Depth Chart
PG – Rodney Stuckey, Will Bynum, Terico White
SG – Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon
SF – Tayshaun Prince, Tracy McGrady, Austin Daye, DeJuan Summers
PF – Jonas Jerebko, Charlie Villanueva, Greg Monroe
C – Ben Wallace, Jason Maxiell
Coach – John Kuester
Fantasy owners will encounter some problems with Detroit players, beginning with PG where Rodney Stuckey is the projected starter. Will Bynum is a better facilitator for the offense and Stuckey is better suited for a SG role, however Richard Hamilton is blocking a move of Stuckey to SG and blocking the development of Ben Gordon at SG. I could see Bynum stealing a good bit of minutes from Stuckey, which just kills Stuckey’s already questionable fantasy value. Ben Gordon remains undraftable with Hamilton around. At SF, there will be a platoon battle between Tayshaun Prince and Tracy McGrady and I’m sure McGrady will whine enough to get minutes and kill what little value Prince has left at this point in his career. There is also a platoon battle brewing at PF between Jonas Jerebko and Charlie Villanueve, neither of which is really fantasy worthy. Ben Wallace will probably go undrafted, unless you want a non-scoring rebounder, or you just like Ben’s afro. The entire roster is just a cluster of fantasy headaches.
2009 Team Stats
Pace: #29, 88.5 (avg. 92.7)
Offensive Rating: #21, 105.6 (avg. 107.6)
Defensive Rating: #26, 111.4 (avg. 107.6)
Team eFG%: #29, 47.4% (avg. 50.1)
Offensive Rebounding: #2, 30.3 (avg. 26.3)
Defensive Rebounding: #19, 73.4 (avg. 73.7)
Opposition eFG%: #29, 52.6% (avg. 50.1)
Points Per Game: #29, 94.0 (avg. 100.4)
The biggest fantasy drawback in these stats is the extremely slow pace of 88.5 which ranked the Pistons at #29 in the league. Fantasy players just don’t get enough opportunity to pick up stats running at this slow of a pace. Keep this in mind when your fantasy stars are facing the Pistons this season. Detroit plays very low scroring games, as evidenced by their 94.0 points per game, which is good for 29th in the league.
Playing Time and Usage Rates
Usage rate illustrates each players involvement in the team’s offense.
Player (2009 Minutes) Usage (2009/Career)
Bynum (26.5) 20.1/22.5
Stuckey (34.2) 26.4/24.4
Hamilton (33.7) 27.9/26.9
Gordon (27.9) 24.5/26.9
Prince (34.0) 18.9/18.7
McGrady (22.4) 20.6/30.3
Villanueva (23.7) 23.9/24.3
Jerebko (27.9) 15.7/15.7
Wallace (28.6) 10.0/11.2
The first thing to notice is the extremely high usage rates for such inefficient offensive players. On any other team, Stuckey, Hamilton, Villanueva and Gordon should be somewhere around a 20.0 usage rate. Prince and Wallace are the only two who likely have correct usage rates for their talents. Relying so heavily on such inefficient offensive players is a good reason that the offense is ranked #21. Unfortunately for the Pistons, it will probably be more of the same in 2010-2011. There is no clear cut primary option on the Pistons’ offense and it’s really hard to determine who will be asked to lead the attack on any given night. I play a lot of daily fantasy cash games and this makes it nearly impossible to use Piston players in those games.
Shooting Ability and Shot Location
Player Career eFG% 3PT Shooting Jumper/Inside
Bynum 45.5 .1/.6 (20.5%) 64/36
Stuckey 42.6 .2/.8 (25.4%) 64/36
Hamilton 47.0 .6/1.6 (34.3%) 90/10
Gordon 49.8 1.8/4.5 (40.0%) 83/17
Prince 46.3 .7/1.9 (37.0%) 67/33
McGrady 47.0 1.3/3.8 (33.7%) 75/25
Villanueva 49.1 1.0/2.9 (33.4%) 68/32
Jerebko 51.1 .5/1.4 (31.3%) 39/61
Wallace 47.6 0/0 15/85
Rodney Stuckey is the weak spot in the above rankings with a career 42.6 eFG%, but he isn’t the sole cause of Detroit’s #29 league rankings in eFG%. Bynum and Stuckey are both well below average from the PG spot. Hamilton is a weak shooter, while Gordon is a little better from the SG spot. Prince and McGrady are fairly equal at the SF spot. Jerebko has the better percentage from the PF spot, but most of his shots are from close range.
The only real three point threat is Ben Gordon with 4.5 attempts per game, hitting 40.0%. McGrady is the next most frequent three point shooter with 3.8 attempts per game, but he only hits at a 33.7% rate.
At PG, Bynum and Stuckey both have Jumper/Inside splits of 64/36 and both can take it to the basket when they get the chance. At shooting guard, Hamilton (90/10) and Gordon (83/17) are limited to being perimeter oriented jumpshooters. At PF, Villanueva is a better jumpshooting option, while Jerebko does most of his scoring on the inside. Ben Wallace is limited mostly to tip-ins and layups/dunks.
Rebounding Rates
Player Off/Def/Total
Bynum 2.0/8.8/5.2
Stuckey 3.2/10.5/6.7
Hamilton 3.3/8.3/5.8
Gordon 2.0/8.6/5.3
Prince 4.8/12.1/8.4
McGrady 4.9/14.8/9.8
Villanueva 5.2/19.6/13.8
Jerebko 9.9/16.5/13.0
Wallace 12.4/25.8/19.1
I’m not sure where the Pistons would be without Ben Wallace. He’s still a great rebounder, although he offers nothing in the scoring category. If you like to stash a good rebounder on your bench, Wallace is a good pick that you can get in the later rounds. Villanueva and Jerebko have similar overall rebounding rates. Jerebko is the better offensive rebounder, while Villanueva is a more productive on the defensive boards.
Defense:
The Pistons were simply horrible on defense in 2009. They ended the season ranked #26 in defensive rating and #29 in opponents eFG% allowed.
PG – Will Bynum is a below average defensive player and he just gets killed on screens. His defensive deficiencies are somewhat hidden since he comes off the bench, usually getting to cover the opposing team’s backups. Stuckey has improved his defense a great deal and he’s probably getting to the point where he’s average.
SG – Hamilton isn’t the defender he used to be, but he’s still capable of providing average defense. Gordon’s defense is not as good as Hamilton’s.
PF – Jonas Jerebko is a tough defender who doesn’t mind putting forth the effort to guard his man. Charlie Villanueva’s defense is below average and it’s a big reason Jerebko got more minutes per game than Charlie last season.
C – Ben Wallace is well above average with his defense, but he’s getting older and those knees are starting to limit him.