Pistons farewell series: Beno Udrih’s one-year stint in Detroit
By Andrew Hejka
As the 2017-18 NBA season is quickly approaching, the Detroit Pistons have moved on from Beno Udrih after he spent one year in Detroit.
Beno Udrih, the third-string point guard from last year’s Detroit Pistons, remains a free agent. At 35 years old and coming off a minor knee injury, his chances of making an NBA roster are becoming bleak. Detroit’s signing of Langston Galloway confirmed that Udrih will not be a Piston this year.
Udrih played a key role in the first 21 games for the Pistons while Reggie Jackson was injured. In this stretch, he averaged a respectable 7 points and 3.4 assists per game on nearly 46% shooting. Furthermore, his veteran presence came in handy after neither Lorenzo Brown nor Ray McCallum could take the reigns of the third point guard job in the preseason. This helped the Pistons get off to an 11-10 start.
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Once Jackson returned, Udrih was used sparingly, most notably when games were out of reach. His minutes increased in the last few games of the season, when a postseason berth was out of the picture. In the third-to-last game of the season, Udrih hurt his knee and was inactive the rest of the year.
Overall, because of injuries, Udrih received more minutes than anyone expected him to when he signed his one-year contract before the season. He performed like a veteran guard is expected to perform for the most part, facilitating the second unit on the offensive end while keeping his turnovers at a minimum. It will be interesting to see if he latches onto a contending team as a veteran presence and emergency point guard option.
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As a journeyman who has played for eight franchises, he clearly has respect around the league. Hopefully, he can parlay that into a deal with a contender to try and earn his third championship ring.