Former Detroit Pistons forward Antonio McDyess returned to Detroit tonight as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, where the Spurs won 112-92 to hand Detroit their 11th straight loss.  McDyess was with the Pistons for 5 years and he said the Pistons’ current situation “is sad.”  McDyess, along with most, blame it on the November 4, 2008 trade that sent Chauncey Billups to Denver for the past-his-prime, shoot-first Allen Iverson.  With Billups as their team leader the Pistons had great chemistry and won the 2004 NBA Championship.  They also made it six straight Eastern Conference Finals, winning it twice.  For some odd reason, Pistons’ team president Joe Dumars thought that the Pistons needed to rebuild, despite their success, and the Pistons have been going downhill ever since.  They lost all of their chemistry and their winning ways, with McDyess speculating that he and Rasheed Wallace would probably still be Pistons if Billups had never been traded.  Their current 11-game winning streak is the worst since the 1993-94 season.

The Pistons gave Charlie Villanueva a nice contract as a free agent over the summer but he has the look of a bust so far. He has played in 31 games (16 starts) for the Pistons this season and he is averaging 27.1 minutes, 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Despite being a big guy Villanueva is about as soft as a roll of charmin as he plays with little heart. This was a big mistake giving Villanueva a lot of money as GM Joe Dumars could have got a better player for that kind of cash.

The job of a point guard is to run a offense and make the other players on the team better. Rodney Stuckey is not a pure point guard with a pass first mentality but he needs to quit shooting so much when his shot is off like it is right now as he is only shooting 39% from the floor so far this season. Stuckey has played in 16 games (all starts) for the Pistons so far this season and he is averaging 37.7 minutes, 17.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Basically, the Pistons need Stuckey to pass the ball more instead of heaving up more than his fair share of bricks.

The Pistons finally gave the keys to 23-year old point guard Rodney Stuckey after the Chauncey Billups trade. Now he needs to step up his game. Stuckey played in 79 games for the Pistons last season and he averaged 31.9 minutes, 13.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. He’s a shoot first point guard and that has not been the Pistons style the last few years. He will need to start passing the ball a little bit more this year. He has a ton of potential down the road but the Pistons want to see him explode in the near future. 26-year old Will Bynum will backup Stuckey this season. He played in 57 games for the Pistons last year and he averaged 14.1 minutes, 7.2 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Bynum will likely do a solid job again for the Pistons this season.

PROJECTED POSITIONAL GRADE FOR THE 2009-2010 NBA SEASON: B-

The Kings outscored the Pistons 24-16 in the 4th quarter and they shot 50.7% from the floor to stun the Pistons at home last night. Chauncey Billups led the way for the Pistons last night with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals. Richard Hamilton also had a solid game with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Tayshaun Prince pitched in with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The Pistons fell to 29-11 on the season with this loss.

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