Lovable Losers: Least favorite Pistons point guards
Welcome to the Lovable Losers series.
This isn’t a place where we confess our hope and expectations for the Pistons’ future. It’s not a place where we speculate what’s next for a franchise that has strung together seven losing seasons in a row. It’s a series where he look back on all that misery.
Over the next five days, we’ll look back on our favorite players and coaches from one of the sorriest eras in Pistons history. We’ll alternate between favorite coaches point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards and centers… and our least favorite from 2008-2015.
Join the discussion in the comments — we’re in this together.
Dan Feldman: Allen Iverson
He played more shooting guard, but he played enough point guard to qualify here. His Pistons tenure was the worst-case scenario with a petulant Iverson feuding with everyone as his physical skills rapidly declined. The Pistons gave him the Rajon Rondo treatment — sending home with an “injury” — before the Mavericks doled it out this year.
Patrick Hayes: Rodney Stuckey
I actually thought about whether I could list Stuckey at three positions for this series, since he technically played shooting guard and even occasional minutes at small forward in small lineups once or twice. The unexplainable enchantment he had over Joe Dumars single-handedly ruined the franchise. Or at least that’s how I remember it.
Brady Fredericksen: Allen Iverson
Hated him before he was in Detroit, definitely hated him after he was in Detroit.
Tim Thielke: Peyton Siva
Peyton Siva couldn’t play NBA ball at all. That’s fine. He was a late second rounder, those guys aren’t expected to amount to much. But his apologists were just so annoying that all my residual feelings for Siva are negative.
Graham Simmington: Allen Iverson
What a disaster this turned out to be. While Iverson had the misfortune of being traded for one of the most beloved Pistons of this century, his tenure in Detroit wasn’t necessarily doomed from the start (though switching from wearing number No. 3 his entire career to the number 1 worn by Billups certainly didn’t help matters). What did Iverson in, and soured what supporters he still had, was his complete inability to accept the fact that he was no longer in his prime. Even after he left the team, he continued to blame anyone but himself for his failures. What could have been a fruitful finish to a Hall of Fame career instead ended in extreme disappointment for all involved.
Braden Shackelford: Allen Iverson
I love Iverson, but I love Chauncey Billups more. The trade for A.I. which resulted in the departure of such an iconic player like Billups never set well with me.