Pistons Stats Pick’em UPDATE…
By toasterhands
There ended up being 16 participants in the Pick’em contest I posted prior to the season (probably posted too far in advance to the season, but oh well). Still have not decided on the prize but I ASSURE you it will be something decent, especially considering 16 of you took time to make selections, about a dozen more than I thought would.
Anyways,
Through 6 games here are how the numbers look so far…
1- Will Bynum’s min/gm 26.7 Ben Gordon’s ppg 24.2
When Rip comes back Bynum’s minutes will surely decrease, but probably not more than a few minutes per game. This race should be close all season.
2- Ben Wallace’s free throw% 50% (5-10) Chris Wilcox starts 0
More and more it looks like Ben could shoot 25% from the stripe and he’d still win this race. That would be bad news for the team. Wilcox can be a quality player, but he’s clearly not comfortable right now and Kuester isn’t ready to give him consistent minutes.
3- Kwame Brown double doubles 0 Ben Wallace starts 6
This race was predicated on the fact that I thought Ben was DONE- nothing but a good influence/leader to help the young guys. Well, Ben’s still got some fuel left in the tank. This race is already over.
4- DaJuan Summers min/gm 42 seconds(1 game) Tayshaun Prince’s ppg 12.3
Initially I thought Summers would get more minutes than Daye, but Summers is just not ready. Further proof summer league play isn’t all that important.
5- Rip’s min/gm 33:17 (1 game) Ben Gordon’s min/gm 38.42
Ben’s played over 40 minutes in each of the last three games. We’ll see how this race stacks up after Rip comes back and gets in a groove again.
6- Jonas Jerebko’s total minutes played 80 minutes Ben Gordon’s total 3’s made 9
This has turned out to be a total joke of a race. I definitely didn’t see Jonas being this ahead of the curve. Jonas has this locked up already.
7- Ben Wallace ppg 3.8 Charlie Villanueva’s assists/gm 0.2
Ben should win this race fairly easily, though as Charlie begins to play more minutes I expect his assists/gm to rise to around 2. With Ben having lively legs I see him at least getting his fair share of dunks and fortuitous put backs.
8- Jason Maxiell’s min/gm 16:11 Rip Hamilton ppg 25 (1 game played)
It’s safe to say that Rip will easily win this race. Maxiell’s been less than impressive.
9- Will Bynum total 3 pointers made 3 Chris Wilcox double doubles 0
Will had 3 treys all of last year, so it’s a good bet he might just get into double figures this season. Hopefully Wilcox will eventually get some good minutes to show what he can do.
10- Rodney Stuckey’s min/gm 36:53 Charlie Villanueva’s 3pt % 32.6
Should be a tight race. Would love to see Charlie’s % increase and Stuckey’s minutes decrease a little.
11- Ben Wallace total DNP’s 0 Austin Daye’s total games played 4
Prince’s injury has had an influence on Daye’s playing time, but unless Ben goes down with an injury Daye will run away with this race as he’s been ok in spurts and, well, Ben’s doing work out there right now.
12- Charlie Villanueva’s total blocks 4 Rodney Stuckey’s total steals 8
Would like to see Charlie win this race, but so far he’s been dogging it at times on D. The potential is there to swat shots, but his positioning is usually nothing to write home about.
13- Rip’s technicals 0 Deron Washington’s total games played 0
Deron didn’t make this team, so this race is sort of moot. However I will keep track of this because Deron might get a call up to another team later in the season, although it’s highly doubtful.
14- Different starting lineups 3 Road wins 1
Once guys start to get healthy again I see a regular starting 5 of Stuck, Rip, Prince, CV and Wallace (not rocket science, but I thought I’d clarify). Road wins, hopefully, will climb to around 18-20, but that might be stretching it a bit. By season’s end this race should be close.
15- Home wins 1 Team’s leading scorer Hamilton with 25 ppg (but only 1 game played so far)
Whoever ends up leading this team in scoring (BG or RH) will likely win this race by 3-5 points. I don’t see Detroit winning more than 20-22 home games right now, especially if injuries persist.