this article was very complimentary to Plaisted.


The first big man off the bench was Trent Plaisted, the Pistons middle pick(they had 3 second round picks) in the second round. Plaisted looks like an athletic big man with the ability to play in the NBA. When he was in the game he always hustled and was in position to grab rebounds and prevent the Lakers from driving to the basket. Plaisted was very impressive and even ran the fast break with Stuckey and was rewarded with a uncontested dunk. Plaisted finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes.

I'd love to see Plaisted, short arms and all, prove the doubters wrong. Including myself. Nice Game man.

Glad he played well and I hope he proves us all wrong.

Can't help myself though...now he starts getting into "position to grab rebounds and prevent the Lakers from driving to the basket."

I watched most of Trent's second game. The Pistons are turning Trent into an effective role player little by little.

He showed a good ability to trap on the pick and roll defensively and he did a lot of the dirty work.

But he still needs to develop a 15 foot jumper and some basic dribbling ability to take advantage of his athletism.

He is still tall and really fast for his size, but the times he was open the guards weren't looking for him.

Im a Pistons fan so Ive been following Trents play and also monitoring some of Detroits other young guys Cheick Samb, Amir Johnson and Walter Sharpe. Unfortunately its really tough to evaluate all those young guys since there is absolutely no ball movement from the guards and all the bigs are being neglected on the offensive end.

Now we all know that Trent has huge problems with consistency and is prone to dissapearing, he had a great game 1 with 10 and 5 (but Pistons PG Rodney Stuckey was playing and sharing the ball but hes now out with a toe injury and the offense is extremly stagnant). The last two games Trent has virtually no offensive production but he has rarely been given touches. Large part of the blame goes to the guards refusing to share the ball especially when Trent is wide open in the post but also Trent has to assert himself more offensively and try to create for himself. However, Plaisted has been very good defensively outshining other bigman- 6'11 Amir Johnson and 7'1'' Cheick Samb- he is great on his defensive rotations, stays with his man and seems to be a great pick and roll defender.

Pistons coach Micheal Curry has said some nice things about him in this article about Trent http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2008/07/plaisted_shows_skills_as_defen.html

Plaisted's stats after the first five summer league games. In a nut shell, not quite ready for prime time...

Code:

Field Goals Rebounds min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st to bs pts T.Plaisted 22:54 4-5 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 0 2 0 2 0 10 T.Plaisted 25:23 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 0 3 1 2 0 2 T.Plaisted 15:26 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 T.Plaisted 12:45 2-3 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 5 T.Plaisted 15:28 1-3 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 91:56 8-14 0-0 4-6 4 7 11 1 11 1 5 0 20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avg: 18:23 0.8 1.4 2.2 0.2 2.2 0.2 1 0 4.0

Somebody please explain to me again why he opted for the draft?

Conosticator wrote:

Plaisted's stats after the first five summer league games. In a nut shell, not quite ready for prime time...

Code:

Field Goals Rebounds min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st to bs pts T.Plaisted 22:54 4-5 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 0 2 0 2 0 10 T.Plaisted 25:23 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 0 3 1 2 0 2 T.Plaisted 15:26 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 T.Plaisted 12:45 2-3 0-0 1-1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 5 T.Plaisted 15:28 1-3 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 91:56 8-14 0-0 4-6 4 7 11 1 11 1 5 0 20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avg: 18:23 0.8 1.4 2.2 0.2 2.2 0.2 1 0 4.0

Somebody please explain to me again why he opted for the draft?

Classic. Everybody, including the coaches and the media, say positive things about him yet you try to prove otherwise with naked stats. Using those same stats, here's what I see: 92 minutes is equal to about 2.5 games if he were a starter. That's 8 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, and apparently pretty darn good defense (by all accounts). 57% from the floor, 66% from the free throw line. Those aren't superstar numbers, but that's certainly respectable for a role player. You start running more plays and giving guys time to practice, put him in offensive sets (which is what the NBA is all about), and those numbers go up. Quit hating, man. The guy isn't going to be the next NBA star, but he's looking good.