Can Tayshaun Prince Play Point Guard?
November 11, 2008 – Dr. J-Water
Well can he? Can 6′9″ Tayshaun Prince play point guard for the first time in his career? Well we are about to find out folks. They are calling it more of a ‘point forward’, but for all intents and purposes Prince will be the Detroit Pistons point man, initiating the offense and feeding Rip Hamilton and Allen Iverson the rock.
Without a true point guard since the departure of Chauncey Billups the Pistons have struggled a bit with offense. Pistons Coach Michael Curry is assuring everyone that it is just about making the necessary changes to help transition Allen Iverson into their offense. It’s true that Iverson is bigger volume scorer than Chauncey Billups, but they have very different styles. Whereas Chauncey would use lots of ball movement and people movement for setting of screens to initiate the offensive sequences, with Allen Iverson now in the mix he likes to break the defense down in more of a one on one sense with his speed and ball handling ability. In theory, with Rip Hamilton in the mix (a true catch and shoot guy, a-la Reggie Miller) the Pistons should have the best of both worlds with Iverson and Rip playing contrasting offensive styles. So it will all come down to who will step up and take on the responsibility for deciding when they need to get Iverson the ball, and when they need to use a set play to get Rip the ball coming off a curl. That is no easy task, and certainly a heavy responsibility to keep everyone happy.
Here is what Tayshaun had to say about the possibility of playing the point:
“Just having me with the opportunity to run the offense, I can see over top of the defense,” he said. “I can see what’s going on and read how they are playing Rip and AI. I would definitely like to have that opportunity.”
Personally I think Tayshaun will be successful in that role, as he is a very intelligent ball player. Probably more than most, he thinks the game and doesn’t just play the game. However with that being said, it’s still a big risk to take Prince away from his strengths which are taking advantage of his length on both offense and defense. He may become so preoccupied with looking for his teammates and setting up plays, it may affect his aggressiveness on offense and looking for his own shot. One of the last things the Pistons need, is Rasheed Wallace thinking he needs to make up for this gap by leaving the paint and shooting MORE three’s!
But IF Tayshaun can continue to look for his own shot on offense when its there and he has a smaller defender on him, as well as keep Iverson and Rip happy with their number of touches, this ‘Point Forward’ thing could really be a successful strategy for the Pistons.
We could find out as early as tonight against the Sacramento Kings. Seems like as good as an opponent as any to try out an experiment on, huh?
Hmmm… I’m in two minds on this.
Along with many other people I’m sure, I was hyping this as Tayshaun’s breakout season. I picked him up in as many fantasy leagues as I could! After the Olympics he had proven that he can nail the three and I expected to see that, along with a new aggressiveness to his O this season — especially as the Pistons’ other stars are aging.
Shifting him to the point gets him more touches, which obviously gets him more involved, but definitely may detriment his offensive output pointswise.
I’m also unsure how well he would handle pressure in the backcourt. It will be an interesting experiment.
he can’t play point effectively…especially not against someone who can pressure the ball
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Just get Iverson the rock and get out tha way. Any dummy can do it.!
Just get rebounds and play defense and iverson will take care of da rest
They brought in Iverson for a reason. Let them man play point. I don’t think he needs to spend too much time transitioning into an offense.
I love AI, but after watching nearly all of his games the last couple years as I live in Denver, this isn’t such a bad idea at all. Tayshaun is a very smart player and can handle the ball as Dr. J-Water said. Look at the Bulls during their championship years, they didn’t have a pure point guard. Pippen was a point forward there and it worked just fine. With Tayshaun I think they might be able to run some better offensive sets. AI’s great, but he’s just going to take the ball down and shoot a lot. When he’s making the shots, it works just fine. But in Denver he and Carmelo could not play together. Now on a team where’s he’s surrounded with a bunch of good players, you want to make sure he doesn’t come in and try to make it AI’s show. They’ve gotta get Rip, Sheed, Prince, and Maxiell involved just as much as before or this isn’t going to work.
Anyway, yeah, let Prince bring the ball up a lot and run some offensive sets with the ball in his hands.
yeah I agree with Sharapova’s Thigh (that sounded weird) haha..
basically I agree that Iverson needs to be surrounded by a good rebounding, strong defensive team with unselfish players. Basically that is Detroit in a nutshell so this experiment should work just fine.
Once the team gets used to AI’s style the Pistons will be a force in the East.
For Pistons fans I hope Tay-Tay steps up to the challenge…I am so tired of their losing….
[...] Now before anyone starts crying sacrelig I’m trying to compare Tayshaun Prince with Magic Johnson overall, just the fact that Tay is being asked to play point at 6′9″ immediately brings to mind Magic who also was 6′9″, which of course is tall for a primary ball handler. Tayshuan, like Magic, is extremely versatile in the fact that his skill set allows him to play beyond his build. “Just having me with the opportunity to run the offense, I can see over top of the defense,” he said. “I can see what’s going on and read how they are playing Rip and AI. I would definitely like to have that opportunity.” – Tayshaun [...]