Fastbreak Buckets 12.13.08

-During an interview on “The Stoney and Wojo Show” Thursday, Michael Curry explained that RIP is struggling to adjust to fewer shot attempts. (Listen here). Curry has also said that RIP needs to adjust to fewer minutes. Curry’s theories are interesting; unfortunately they are contradicted by facts.

Hamilton is actually playing slightly more minutes per game this season compared to last. As far as field goal attempts are concerned, RIP is shooting 0.3 fewer field goals per game, but is more than compensating with an extra 1.5 free throw attempts per game. RIP is clearly adjusting to life without Billups, but there is no need for Curry to contrive additional transitions.

-Rodney Stuckey made an eye-opening four three pointers against Indiana. He is blossoming as a starter and has improved greatly in just the past few weeks. Early this year he struggled to determine when he should look to score and when he should pass. The results were a low field goal percentage and a high rate of both turnovers and offensive fouls. Part of his early struggles can be attributed to the dizzy spell he suffered against Boston and the hard foul he took from Shaquille O’Neil a week later.

However, Stuckey turned a corner against a few weeks ago and has not looked back. Since Thanksgiving, Stuckey is averaging 12.9 points, 7.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and just 2.1 turnovers, while playing 27.4 minutes per game. He has converted 52% of his field goals, including five for 11 from long range, during the eight-game stretch.

The two most encouraging aspects of Stuckey’s play have been his jump shot and his decision-making. Stuckey looks more confident and has been much more accurate on perimeter shots recently. The big question mark with Stuckey has always been his jumper. If he continues to knock down 18-footers along with the occasional three-ball, he can be a star. Stuckey also seems to be learning when to attack and when to set up his teammates.

-A longer post about small ball is on the way, but in the meantime, here are two small ball-related noted from the Pacer game:

1) Amir Johnson did not play against Indiana and Jason Maxiell was limited to 14 minutes. In those 14 minutes, Maxiell grabbed three offensive rebounds. The rest of the Pistons combined for two offensive rebounds the entire game. Johnson and Maxiell are fourth and sixth, respectively, among 318 qualified players in offensive rebound rate – the percentage of a team’s missed shots that a player rebounds while in the game.

2) I sent an E-Mail to Need4Sheed before yesterday’s game and made the following statement: “Here's hoping Curry is smart enough to abandon small ball before Granger lights up RIP.” Apparently the message was not relayed to Michael Curry, who elected to let RIP defend Granger most of the game. Granger responded with 42 points on just 21 shots.