Rodney Stuckey Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Cavs, Bucks, Stuckey

February 29th, 2012 at 9:53pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Bulls, with a five game lead over the Pacers, are the class of the Central Division, and tonight they're challenging their mettle against the red-hot Spurs. Here's a look at what's going on with some of the teams trying to chase down Chicago:

The contract of Cavs big man Samardo Samuels is not guaranteed past this season, and coach Byron Scott says he'll have to step up his effort and energy to remain with the team, tweet Tom Reed and Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Samuels, who played 11 minutes last night against Boston but has otherwise fallen out of the Cavs rotation, seems at a loss, telling the Plain Dealer, "It's hard to determine where I'm at and what I need to do to get on the court. I don't know what I did to get off (the court)."
Bucks swingman Stephen Jackson, a subject of trade rumors, has indicated before that he has a rocky relationship with coach Scott Skiles, but a frustrated Skiles is unwilling to go back and forth with him on the issue, tweets Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
Deveney says Australian Andrew Bogut may not be healthy in time for the Olympics, but Adam Zagoria of SNY writes that Kyrie Irving, who was born in Melbourne before moving to the U.S. at age 2, is considering suiting up for Australia instead.
Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld takes a look at Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey, whom he calls the team's best trade asset.

Assessing Stocks: Detroit Pistons

February 19th, 2012 at 8:46pm CST by Jesse Blanchard

Portfolio Review: The Detroit Pistons are a mess. While their trade assets aren't entirely worthless, many of them are circling the drain, leaving them in a precarious position. The Pistons have invested more time and energy into their roster than they would likely receive back in return. If all the individual pieces were worthless, it might be easier to cut their losses, discard everything, and start over.

Right now the Pistons need to diversify their portfolio. They have some rotation pieces in the backcourt in Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey, Will Bynum, and Ben Gordon. But all four are essentially slightly different variations of the same inefficient scoring combo guard. The key is to figure which one, if any, fits best with Knight and dump the rest for whatever they can get.

Prime Assets: Greg Monroe and Knight are too young and promising to determine their full trade value, so short of a one-sided offer, it makes little sense to deal them. On a good team with a reasonable contract, Ben Gordon was once worth at least one playoff victory by himself a series. On the Pistons, his contract is a liability and his presence in the lineup hinders the development of younger players.

The leaves Tayshaun Prince as their best asset, whether as a standalone or packaged with one of their backcourt pieces. Preferably for a rotation quality pure point guard like Ramon Sessions or legitimate shooting guard to begin the process of figuring out how to best use Knight.

Worthless Stock: Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva is a toxic asset whose lone redeeming value lies in the possibility that he might salvage his value to the team or be freed this offseason via amnesty.

The Rest: Combo guards and forwards are a dime a dozen in the NBA, and those on the Pistons have hardly shown anything separating themselves from the pack. Knight and Monroe are the set pieces, any redundant skill sets or players that might take up developmental resources to those two (minutes, usage, etc.) should be considered in a deal, even if it only returns addition by subtraction.

Pistons Notes: Knight, Stuckey

February 18th, 2012 at 5:35pm CST by Daniel Seco

The Pistons have won six of their last eight games after starting the season with a 4-20 record. They'll head back home on Sunday looking to make it three in a row against a Celtics squad that sits four games behind the 76ers in the Atlantic Division. Here's a look at some Pistons news before the first of two Saturday night games gets underway:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Brandon Knight became the first rookie to record a 20-point, 10-assist game without a turnover since Steve Francis pulled the feat in 1999 with the Rockets. Knight's effort came Friday evening in a Detroit victory over the Kings. The 20-year-old former Kentucky Wildcat is currently averaging 12.4 PPG and 3.6 APG in his inaugural campaign.
The Pistons hold big hopes for a brighter future thanks to strong guard play from Knight and Rodney Stuckey, writes beat writer David Mayo. While his PPG are down slightly (14.7 as compared to a career-high 16.6 PPG two seasons ago), Mayo suggests Stuckey is more comfortable in sharing the spotlight with Knight and may be beginning to enjoy himself in Detroit. Stuckey's future promise was a major reason why the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets prior to the start of the 2008/2009 season.