Pistons Reeling

As expected, the Pistons return from their west coast road trip losers of five straight. Aside from Saturday’s game in Utah, John Kuester’s team was soundly disposed of during the current streak of futility. Over the past five games, the team has been outscored a total of 112-56 in the third quarter. While I don’t think Kue’s available roster has been as strong as his recent opponents’, he has to take some of the blame for being dominated coming out of halftime. Other teams are adjusting, and so must the Pistons. Rookie mistake.

Of course, the team is still without starters Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Today we learned that both players are at least another week away. The Pistons start a three-game home stand tomorrow against the Cavaliers, followed by games against the Clippers and Hawks. At the earliest, the two veterans won’t return until December 2 in Chicago.

The Pistons currently stand at 5-9, the worst record in the Central division and only three teams have more losses. Six of their losses have come against Western Conference opponents.

I have been pleased to see all the recognition that Will Bynum is receiving of late. The most prominent, in my opinion, was ESPN.com’s John Hollinger naming him to “The All-Underrated Team.” This is what Hollinger had to say about Bynumite:

“Fans in Detroit already are wondering why Bynum isn’t starting, which is pretty amazing considering he began the season as the fourth guard in a three-guard rotation. Believe it or not, the 6-foot powder keg led the Pistons in PER last season, and early this season he’s shown that it was no fluke.

Bynum is averaging a point every two minutes and shooting 50 percent from the floor, and while his instincts are as a scorer, he’s found the open man enough to keep defenses honest. Another big surprise is all the time he’s spent at the free throw line this season, which is an added source of easy points that has helped raise his PER considerably.”

Cheers to that. Chris Douglas-Roberts, a Detroit native, also made the team. He’s starting for the hapless Nets and averaging 18.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. He’s scored at least 24 in each of his last three games.

Kuester gets to take on his most recent ex-employer tomorrow night. Expect Shaquille O’Neal to return in time for that matchup. He has missed five straight games with a sore shoulder, but probably wants to beat up Ben Wallace some more. The two were involved in a trade for each other this past summer. For his career, Shaq has averaged 25.4 points and 10.0 rebounds on 58.8 percent shooting during 22 regular season games. It should be noted that those averages are actually a compliment to Big Ben.

The good news for the Pistons is that the Cavaliers play slower than the average NBA pace. Opponents who insist on pushing the ball have crushed the Pistons this season, meaning that they could be pull off an upset on Wednesday. They’ll need to win the battle of the boards, get some hot shooting along the perimeter, and get a productive night from their bench on both ends of the floor in order to do so. Odds are against it. But at least they get the Clippers next.

Tags: Chris Douglas-Roberts, John Kuester, Pistons blog, Pistons losing streak, Pistons vs. Cavaliers, Richard Hamilton injury, Shaquille O'Neal injury, Tayshaun Prince injury, Underrated NBA player, Will Bynum