rip Rip

Alrighty....my thoughts on Mr. Hamilton are well-known to those of you who listen to me run my suck about the NBA. Consistently throughout his 5 years with the Pistons, he has given them a consistent midrange jumper to go with the 3-point shooting abilities of Rasheed and Chauncey. There were many nights during the LB years that they relied on him repeatedly to get their offense going. He plays hard every night and with a mask concealing a near-career ending facial injury.

HOWEVER....last night's Bulls game, in my mind, pointed out why the Pistons have likely reached their ceiling with this current crew. Rip put together a 6-17 shooting effort, including at least 3 heavily contested jump shots following offensive rebounds, rather than trying to get to the rim or cycling the ball around. He also picked up a key technical foul in the fourth quarter.

Without Ben to constantly provide a defensive presence to make up for Rip's consistently poor defensive effort, he gets exposed on that end of the floor. I realize no one is ever confusing Rip for Artest on defense, but the Pistons have to specifically target certain players for him to guard...and Rip should constantly be sending Tey-Tey thank you cards for the matchups that Teyshaun has to deal with on the defensive end of the floor so Rip doesn't have to guard certain players. Let's not forget that Tey-Tey's coming out party was in 2003 largely because the Pistons simply couldn't defend Iverson with Hamilton or Michael Curry.

Hamilton is in his 8th season and is part of one of the most well-put together starting lineups in the NBA. His skill set meshes with the other starters. And TRUST ME when I say I certainly enjoy watching Rip move to get open on offense, rather than the Stackhouse offensive sets of throwing it in to him and having everyone stand and stare. But even Blaha, during tonight's Pistons-Clips game, has talked about how Tey needs to open it up offensively more like he did in their first 2 games when Rip was away. And during tonight's first quarter, the FG chart looks much more balanced (McDyess 6, Sheed 4, Rip/Chauncey/Tey 3) to get everyone into the offensive flow earlier in the game.

Here's hoping Stuckey comes back quickly and teams with Hayes to give the Pistons more backcourt options on the nights that Rip can't get it done defensively.