The Pistons are being downright dumb by bringing 27-year old shooting guard Ben Gordon off the bench. He’s a much better player than Tracy McGrady or Richard Hamilton, period. Gordon has played in 60 games (21 starts) for the Pistons this season and he is averaging 27.9 minutes, 12.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. In his first two years of a monster contract with the Pistons, Gordon has played in 122 games (38 starts) in which he is averaging 27.9 minutes, 13.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. In his five years in Chicago, before signing with the Pistons…..Gordon played in 398 games (204 starts) in which he averaged 31.4 minutes, 18.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. That is the player the Pistons paid for, so it’s time for the head coach to start playing his top five guys the most minutes and that includes Gordon.

26-year old forward Charlie Villanueva has been awful lately. In his last five games, Villanueva is averaging 16.2 minutes, 5.2 points, 1.6 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.0 steal per game on 31% shooting from the floor. He has now played in 48 games (10 starts) for the Pistons so far this year and he is averaging 24.5 minutes, 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Villanueva is the perfect example of why Pistons’ GM Joe Dumars should be fired. Everyone in the NBA new he stunk except Dumars who gave him a HUGE deal as a free agent.

The Pistons are starting to play second year forward Austin Daye more. In his last five games, Daye is averaging 27.8 minutes, 11.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game on 37% shooting from the floor. He has now played in 39 games (12 starts) for the Pistons so far this year and he is averaging 17.3 minutes, 6.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Daye is shooting 42.4% from three point range so far this year so at times he has been an asset. But, he needs to get tougher around the basket if he’s going to earn more P.T. from the Pistons.

32-year old shooting guard Richard Hamilton has been benched. While the Pistons do have a lot of guards in Rodney Stuckey, Tracy McGrady, Will Bynum and Ben Gordon it still doesn’t make much sense that Hamilton is getting treated the way he is. He has not played in the Pistons last nine games. Hamilton has only played in 4 games this month for the Pistons in which he is averaging 20.8 minutes, 9.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game. He is only shooting 34.3% from the floor this month. Overall this year, Hamilton has played in 34 games (24 starts) in which he is averaging 25.8 minutes, 13.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Hamilton is currently #9 in Pistons’ history in games played (610), #9 in three pointers made (1,122), #7 in assists (2,335) and #6 in points scored (11,254). It will be interesting to see if Hamilton gets dealt in the coming weeks.

27-year old power forward Jason Maxiell has been the forgotten man of the Pistons so far this January. Maxiell has played in 4 games so far this month and he is averaging 13.5 minutes, 1.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He is only 2 of 10 (20%) shooting from the floor this month. Maxiell has now played in 31 games (14 starts) for the Pistons so far this year and he is averaging 18.0 minutes, 4.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Maxiell has now played in 360 games (62 starts) in his first six years in the NBA and he is averaging 17.7 minutes, 5.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Maxiell doesn’t appear to be in the Coach’s Dog House but with Greg Monroe and Charlie Villanueva getting big minutes, Maxiell better start getting used to sitting on the bench.