Lost in the Shuffle on the Road to Mediocrity

Yeah its slow and I've been reading a lot about reaching .500 here and on the news sites and other venues. So I'd like to toss out my thoughts (so I can make room for other thoughts) on what hasn't been in the overall discussion about next season.

Rodney Stuckey: He hasn't been as lost in the shuffle as much as Maxiell has been but I believe he is THE factor to making .500 or not. He was written off last year as the same ol' tantalizing star who keeps plummeting back to earth. Watching last season, he had several injuries that affected his play. Did he super-collide too much? Certainly; and that's not a result of a groin pull either. But the whole reason I got into writing this section is to talk about Stuckey's stop and pop development. That is a bad-ass weapon. He has the quickness to get to the hoop, only anyone with even a casual interest in the NBA will figure out what he's going to do. Mix it up with a drive - pull up and its all kinds of goodness. He can pass like a point guard which is why Dumars mistook him for a real PG. This would assume a decent mid range game since bricking your pull up J puts us back in the plummet back to earth re-run. And it scambles defenses because WTF? Stuckey didn't go to the basket? Where the F* am I supposed to go now on defense? I'll just let Villanueva grab that rebound. wait did Chuck just grab a board? How did it hit the floor before he bothered to get it? What am I doing? Oh well, run it back.

Jason Maxiell: Ok maternity ward administrators, its ok to stop carding visitors at the door because Jason is on a diet. What we took for baby eating was merely the surprise in a king cake. Most of the attention has been on CV and Daye playing the stretch 4 (in Daye's case its a stretch that he can play the 4. ba-da-boom! I'm here all week outside the comedy club out back by the recycling bins folks) with an occasional article on Monroe sliding over to the 4 spot as well. Really clogging up the position is Maxiell. This guy is ineffective with less than 20+ minutes a game so he's not someone you can throw in there to eat an occasional baby. He has to play, get in a rhythm and then start hoovering up little children because he averages more highlights than rebounds. The problem with this is that we do not have a clear cut hierarchy and unless Daye is replaced by bizarro-Daye and that lack of consistency has hamstrung this team big time. Add to that Jerebko and its a massive clustercuss that needs to be sorted out. I think Maxiell's expiring is more valuable than Daye's rookie salary but who knows really.

Jonas J and the Enigmatic Maybes: The team is in an awkward position where Jonas (and arguably Daye and Singler) would be better off if Prince was traded but the team (arguably as well) would be worse off. My casual internet fan radar picks up Tay's defensive lapses, his ball stopping backdown into 3 defenders and a general lack of overall effectiveness. But I'm just a casual but obsessed fan with a proclivity to vomit walls of text. Still, Jerebko, Singler, Daye, Middleton and Maggette are all weeds growing in the cracks of Tayshaun's concrete jungle of veteran leadership. The point is, we've collected an overabundance of sub-reserve calibre talent and have become over-enamoured with them. Maybe its time for Gores to establish a catch and release program so Dumars can hook all the fringe talent he wants and has to let them go in some form or another - maybe for bragging rights or fan angst. Most teams have 7-8 guys and the rest. We have 4 guys and the rest. I like those guys at the end of the talent pool a lot but theres too much of it. I can't decide if I want Middleton to beat out Daye for 2 minutes of garbage time every 5 games or if I want to stick with my boy Daye who may or may not step out of bounds before launching an airball. Maybe I want to champion Maggette who has the skillset to do more than wear a suit. The travesty in all this is Ben Wallace is on the outs unless Dumars swings a trade. Maybe Joe can get 2 more 2nd rounders and draft another pair of small forwards.

Man its a long way to November.

I think everyone playing well is essential to how we do. Stuckey can be the difference between being .500 or 10 games under. We don't have a bonafide 2 on the roster after him.

I have a soft spot for Max. I don't know if he didn't get enough minutes, or he just never had any "Corliss" in him.

Stuckey is not that bad, mins were kind of down last season but overall he has established himself as a decent 15-18 PPG kind of guy. He will get a little better as his long range game improves. I think overall he is about as good as he is going to get though.

Are you saying Stuckey may have a good season but Knight will not and it will hurt him not having a point? If so then why do you have his PPG increasing? Unless I am not getting it - I do not know.

Stuckey will play a larger role without BG being spoon fed minutes.

Has the season started yet? Longest off-season ever!

Just over 1 month before the pre-season starts.