Earlier today, Rodney Stuckey and the Detroit Pistons agreed to a 3 year, 25 million dollar deal to bring the 4 year guard back to Detroit. The roster is now coming back together, and showing some semblance of a legitimate NBA roster (by legitimate I mean that all of the positions and appropriate depth are starting to fill out).
Kris Humphries (PF-UFA), most recently of the New Jersey Nets, should be a guy that Joe Dumars pursues next to fill out the front court. Humphries, 26, is a guy who, aside from his television exploits with former wife Kim Kardashian, personifies the “Going to work” mentality that a lot fans of love about the Pistons.
In 74 games last year with the Nets (44 as a starter), Humphries shot 53% from the field, and averaged 10.4 rebounds and 10 points per night. If you’re going to push to play Greg Monroe at the 5, even though he’s not a true center, you could do a lot worse than Kris Humphries alongside him as the starting power forward. Humphries is not great on the block as a defender, but he is an excellent defensive and offensive rebounder and knows how to put the ball in the basket on putbacks.
There hasn’t been a lot of talk about Humphries, outside of his failed marriage that I mentioned earlier. It is likely that he’ll find a new team, as the New Jersey Nets look to continue to clear cap space for a run at Dwight Howard next offseason. I think it’s reasonable to expect a guy like Humphries will take the full mid-level exception, and he’s a guy that it would be worth signing to that kind of a deal. Somewhere in the 4 year, 22 million dollar range will lock him up through the early portion of his prime, and will allow him to hit the market again ready to sign for a much larger deal in the middle of his prime.
Obviously, this is a bit of forward thinking but look at how the roster shakes out with a potential Humphries signing:
PG: Knight/Stuckey/Bynum
SG: Stuckey/Gordon/Knight
SF: Prince/Daye/Jerebko/Wilkins
PF: Humphries/Villanueva/Jerebko
C: Monroe/Humphries/Maxiell/Wallace
Don’t kill me for slotting Jerebko so far out in the rotation, this rotation should show who I would have as the “odd man out” with the team still having their amnesty clause to use until the start of the next NBA season (Villanueva). I think Jerebko is kind of limited due to his slight frame against PF, and his foot speed to guard SF. I think his hustle and work ethic will push Villanueva out, but I don’t think he’s deserving of a starting spot in the league until he fills out and becomes a true PF.
I think what you see with that starting lineup is a team that could push for a playoff spot, solely based on its depth. That lineup makes the Pistons one of the deeper teams in the lower seeded playoff teams, and it’s a lineup that could make some noise as Brandon Knight improves and Rodney Stuckey evolves into his more natural shooting guard slot. This also is a roster that doesn’t have too many bad contracts for the talent, aside from Tayshaun and depending on how Stuckey plays with his new deal.
What do you guys think? It’s pretty obvious that the Pistons need 1 more big man. Maxiell is a little played out, and it’s hard to count on Ben Wallace for anything more than being a mentor to Greg Monroe at this point in his career. Am I way off base?
No Danny, you are right on it and you know basketball, I forgot about Humphries, I was looking at the list of FA’s and I missed him. I was looking at Murphy but LA picked him up. But I like the Humphries move. I saw alot of him last year and he put it on alot of teams. Good Call.
Humphries is cool, but I wouldnt like having to use a full MLE on him.
Boney your wrong as always!! Naw just messin with ya, i agree with you. I never rewlly liked kris but thats cuase he always hurt us so bad with his hustle and determination. If he was on our team i think it would be a diff story, i think id like him alot.
i like the idea too.. hes got that hustle like that jerkoff varejao has.. im not a fan of humphries, but i would like him on my team just like varejao… im gonna throw up from giving that curly haired loser praise, but whatever… get him
Couldn’t have put it better myself. I agree and feel the same way!
Ditto…think he’s a Tool since the whole Kardashian thing, but I would gladly have him on the team.
omg i used that exact word to describe him too. lool tool
anythiing is an upgrade from charlie V but we shouldn’t give him a long term contract
Agreed.
I’ve always thought that Humphries was a great player. He can give the pistons some much needed toughness and rebounding.
I would wait and see if you can shake out a trade to bring in another big rather than go for Humphries at this stage.
I think we already have what he brings with Jonas Jerebko. Jonas is actually taller and has filled out from all reports so I would give him a chance to win back the starting 4 spot for us before rushing out to sign a FA.
No need so early on in the season to throw all your eggs in one basket.
There is still a whole lot of movement that is to come this season and the deadline is always a prime opportunity to pick up a bargain so to speak.
Even with Kris we wouldn’t be pushing much more than a low end playoff spot so I am not seeing the reasoning for the move.
Wait it out for a couple months and see who shakes loose from their team.
Patience ppl.
I had no idea Humphries has been in the league for seven years. I’d only really heard of him two years ago. And I only knew him as a Net. I knew he was on the Mavericks because I’ve watched a Stuckey dunk on Youtube over him. But, seven years? Damn.
I think this idea is one of the better and only moves left for us in free agency. If we could get a true center in a trade that would be better. But there really is not a true center available that we can get. So Kris Humpfres is a good move, he proved that he can rebound and put it back in the hole. I was wondering when someone was going to mention this 🙂
I don’t like it how Jason Maxiell is not even mentioned in most lineup talks. If he gets consistent minutes he can provide. And don’t forget he has been here the longest after Tayshaun. He needs more respect than he gets now. He is the hard worker that puts it all in the game.
I think Maxi should come off the bench behind Jonas at the PF not 3rd string center.
* and Ben has been there longer excepting those 3 years
maxiell isn’t mentioned simply because there’s a reason he keeps falling out of the rotation with different coaches. He is a ball stopper on offense, he can’t really do much other than tip back dunks on offense, and he’s not a great defensive rebounder
I was just thinking about this earlier today. I know Maxiell can be exciting with his big dunks. But the dude used to be able to set a decent pick and somehow he completely lost his ability to do that. He’s so limited to start with, it’s a shame he’s gone backwards, but pretty much anything is an upgrade at this point.
no need for hump we got jonas. at this point they are the same player but in time jonas will be way better than humphries. you dont want to sign someone that will jam jonas spot and hinder his development.
Even with Humphries in at the mid-level exception, and the first big off the bench (assuming Jerebko starts over him), it can’t hurt to have legitimate depth.
CV is clearly not the answer at the 4. Like I said, you could do a lot worse than signing Kris Humphries (like signing Villanueva to a 7 million per year deal)
…Or Gordon at 11 mil.
“PG: Knight/Stuckey/Bynum
SG: Stuckey/Gordon/Knight
SF: Prince/Daye/Jerebko/Wilkins
PF: Humphries/Villanueva/Jerebko
C: Monroe/Humphries/Maxiell/Wallace”
Not bad, however, JJ should be the first player off the bench at the PF/SF slot.
Austin Daye is a pile of garbage and Charlie V is a bum. We need to deal both of them for a sack of potatoes. Neither of them should get off of the bench, EVER.
You lack basketball I.Q.
Haha. Okay. Who are you, Joe D’s right hand man? You clearly have fantastic talent evaluation abilities if you think Charlie V is a winner. There is a reason the Raptors and Bucks let him walk. Clearly I don’t want a part of your “basketball I.Q.”.
This was exactly one of my mailbox questions to Keith Langlois. I’ve been wanting them to pursue Kris knowing that if we locked up Stuckey, he would be the perfect fit here in Detroit, and for a reasonable price too. He’s got great size, a great motor, and his overall game is complimentary of a poor man’s Tyson Chandler. We need to make the move, we don’t have many better options
Boney, you’re way on base! Smart idea!
MAKE IT HAPPEN! LOVE THE MOVE, but when does Dumars make good free agency moves?
humphries sucks, so does stuckey.. I think stuckey is a good player but he does not want to be a leader or a Piston thats why he didnt sign with us right away, to test the waters. But the waters were pretty shallow for guy who barely showed up fo a piston game last two years, Trade stuckey ..
Go Pistons
I’m pretty sure a guy who averages 10 points and 10 rebounds sucks
Charlie V can not play with his back to the basket. So we can slot him as a power forward, but he’s really what Joe D calls a stretch 4, he’ll be out on the 3 point line on offense, facing the basket, and then to score, he will drive to the basket. I like him coming off the bench for instant offense. Jerebko is not a natural 3 or 4 for reasons you describe but he can play with his back to the basket, will play the inside outside game and pairs much better with greg monroe than charlie v.
We have a collection of players that are not true 5’s 4’s 3’s 2’s or 1’s. Ok, Prince is a true small forward, Ben Gordon is a true shooting guard, but that aside from that Greg Monroe is not a true Center, or Power Forward, Stuckey is not a true point guard, or shooting guard, and Knight because he is new to the league has not yet become a point guard (though I bet he will in this year).
I say go ahead play jerebko at power forward, prince at the small forward, monroe at center, stuckey at the 2 and knight at the 1.
It’s true with this lineup we have no answer for true centers and PF’s like Howard and Gasol but then again, I can’t think of any mid level exception that will allow us to defend those guys. We just have to suck it up and take our medicine. We can still beat those teams, but our defense will have to have better rotations and help.
I was never a big fan of Samuel Dalembert, but he is a Center and available. The price he may want might not be worth it. I do agree that Kris Humphries is not a bad fit for the Pistons. What do you think about Dalenbert as a Piston? holla.
I start looking for a new squad to support. Joe’s COMBO players experiment has killed this team. Its getting worse & worse. We keep drafting F’s & G’s. Not PF, SF, C, SG or PG’s but Combo guards, combo forwards or F/C. We need players who have more defined roles & positions. In MIA, James is a SF, Bosh a PF & Wade a SG. They are plugging in the PG & C holes. The lakers have a PG, a KOBE SG, a couple of SF’s, a PF in Pau & a true Center in Bynum. The Mavs last year, had Kidd at PG (not combo) Stevens at SG, Matrix at SF, big Dirk at PF & then Chandler at the C position with Haywood off the bench. The last 3 years we’ve been trying hard to play our guys all out of position. Daye between SG & PF, forcing Stuck to play PG, rip was sliding between SG & SF, Prince slid between SF & PF. You cant win that way. Players need their roles more defined. Now we have Knight a great young guard, but is he a natural PG? No! BG is a combo guard,CV, Daye, JJ, Prince & Max are all combo F’s, then we have Big Ben, a small Center that should have retired 2 years ago & a great young PF in Monroe forced to play Center next to a handful of under sized combo F’s. Now everyone is clamoring for a combo F/C in Kris? No no no! This should NOT happen. We will stink for another 3 years if Joe does this. I cant take it anymore!!!
I can’t disagree with the idea behind your post. But, I don’t think it’s quite as bad as you make it out to be:
Ben Gordon – his style of play works very well in a 6th man role.
Jerebko – as he gets older and bulks up a little more, I think he’ll be fine as a starting PF. I’d like to see him weigh in at around 240-245 lbs.
Monroe – listed at 6’11” and 250 lbs, he is similar in size to Nene and a lot of other successful centers in the league. IMO he is a center, not a PF.
Daye – he may be tall, but he’s a pure SF, not a combo player.
Stuckey – definitely a combo guard, but he hasn’t had a chance yet to start at SG. I think it will work. He’s a poor man’s Dwayne Wade.
Charlie V and Jason Maxiell are not doing anything to help this team… they need to be moved.
And it’s hard to criticize the Knight pick, he was the best PG available.
NO i cannot stand kris humphries i really dont think he has much going for him