Once again, Michigan skated to a pretty comfortable win vs. another competent (but struggling) Big Ten opponent. Jordan Morgan rolled an ankle 2 minutes into the game, but the bench filled in nicely & Michigan SHOULD take the #1 spot (there is an argument for Kansas I guess) when the polls come out. As sort of an aside, Michigan as a team remind me a lot of the Heat. They have active hands on defense, leading to fast break points, they finish well, and they have excellent ball movement from more than the point guard position. Speaking of the Heat...
They ROLLED the Pistons Friday in Miami. After the 1st quarter it wasn't much of a contest. Monroe was outstanding (31pts, 12rebs), Drummond was ok, and Knight & Bynum weren't terrible... Everyone else should stick their heads in the sand. But it's the Heat, right?
Anyway, Stuckey was inactivated for the Magic game due to... who knows? Not an injury, apparently. The Pistons went on to win in dramatic fashion, with the best lineup being Knight (31 points) at the SG position and Bynum (12 assists) at the point.
Stuckey's been pretty cold recently (.349 FG% last 7 games) and has somewhat of a history of being a malcontent (but who didn't clash with Kuester?), but popular opinion is that the Pistons are looking to trade him, possibly to Boston.
Rondo's ACL tear puts him out for the season and the Celtics look like they've got a giant fork sticking out of their collective back, despite Sunday's win vs. Miami. Boston is already old, with Rondo out they're are REALLY old. Garnett is 36, Pierce & Terry are 35... This situation is so bad, Keyon Dooling offered to come out of retirement (his actual quote was "I’m not in shape, but I would [consider it]"... sounds great), but Dooling's career averages of 7.0 ppg and 2.2 apg would hardly replace Rondo. In the Miami game Boston's starting back court totaled 2 assists and shot 4-15 with Pierce operating at point forward (10 assists, 6 turnovers).
It's clear that Rondo's production can't begin to be replaced by anyone on Boston's roster, and the window is practically much closed for Pierce and Garnett. They needed changes before Rondo went down if they wanted to pretend they had a title shot. Now... bringing in Stuckey isn't exactly going to change their fortunes. He's having a down year (FG% below 39%, 3P% below 30%) and isn't exactly a point guard. He'd be better than what Boston has, but who would they trade for him?
Boston doesn't really have much to offer, other than Rondo (who they've shopped before). A straight up Rondo-for-Stuckey trade doesn't make much sense... What about this:
Stuckey & Pierce take turns distributing, Daye gives them range off the bench (and $3M expiring) and we exchange Maxiell's expiring contract for 4 years of Courtney Lee (AMNESTY!). Stuckey's PER is way down from the last 2 years, I'd expect it to go back up in a better situation in Boston. Anyway, this mitigates the loss of Rondo while freeing up some cash for the off-season.
Who knows how good Rondo will be after this injury, but I actually like this trade for both sides. ESPN's Tom Haberstroh posed 6 additional options (insider only, sorry) for Boston, none of which seemed likely (Really? A Lakers-Celtics trade?). The Toronto trade mortgages Bostons future with Sullinger & takes on Lowry, who wouldn't be a fit after Rondo's return. The Memphis trade suggestion mean cutting ties with Pierce and replacing him with Rudy Gay, which means getting younger but less efficient and worse defensively. Plus, Wroten doesn't exactly fix the PG problem. I couldn't see Utah doing this deal, or Minnesota doing this one. The only trade proposed that seemed remotely likely to me was the Atlanta one, although the likelihood of Garnett accepting a trade to Atlanta is slim.
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