One of the biggest blemishes this team had last season was the disappointing play from the backup PG position. Once the postseason rolled around, our starters were obviously tanked, especially Chauncey Billups. Chauncey averaged 36 mpg last season, and I think next season you're going to see that number somewhere in between 32-34 mpg. We brought Flip Murray in, but he is strictly a 2 guard. You're not going to see much play at small forward or point guard from him. What the Pistons are saying is, we're commited to bring Murray and Delfino off the bench at SG and SF respectively, and we need a guy to come in and give us 15 minutes a night at backup point.
As we watch FA fly by, we're watching the Pistons miss out on the top backup PGs available. We missed Bobby Jackson. We missed Speedy Claxton. David Wesley is about to go to Cleveland. The situation we're looking at now is one of a few things happening. We either hope Lindsey Hunter has enough left in the tank to give us 15 productive minutes a game for 82 plus playoffs. The chances of that are slim to none. Hunter was great as a situational player, but disappointing aside from that last season anyways. We can also hope that Will Blalock can blow some people away and make the Pistons rotation, let alone the team. The chances of that happening are none to none but it was worth mentioning. The probability is that we are going to bring Tony Delk back or maybe a Chucky Atkins and accept subpar backup PG play for 15 a game all season long. It's really disheartening to not see more effort in improving this issue after the disappointment last season.
What I am hoping for is that the Pistons will re-evaluate some of their prospects and maybe look for a trade that can bring us a helpful vet. Signing Murray pretty much killed Alex Acker's chances of having a role on this team. He's starting to look like Ricky Paulding part 2. Maybe it's time to start looking at his value on the market and seeing what you can get in return for him. Maybe we should also take a look at Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson, two guys with a little more value than Acker, and consider giving up some potential for a contributor.
By not seeing the Pistons make more of an effort to improve the backup PG position through FA, it leads me to believe they are looking to improve it in other ways, and I hope I'm right.
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