Pistons Report: Notes, Quotes
--The newest member of coach John Kuester's doghouse is Tracy McGrady. After earning the starting point guard job in January, McGrady has not played the last three games. He was one of the seven players who didn't show up for the shoot-around in Philadelphia Friday and was benched. He was not at the arena for Saturday's home game at Utah because of illness, then dressed but did not play against Milwaukee Tuesday.
It's part of Kuester's latest approach to use the players who show the most energy in practices and shoot rounds.
"We've got a group that has been working real hard," Kuester said. "We're staying with that group right now."
--The Pistons, who have a 22-40 record, are one loss away from ensuring their third consecutive non-winning season. They were 39-43 two seasons ago and 27-55 last year. The last time they had three straight losing seasons was in the mid-1990s. They were 40-42 in 1992-93, 20-62 in '93-'94 and 28-54 in '94-'95.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"That's about the weakest group of players I've seen in the NBA, people that would do that. (Assistant coach) Patrick Ewing and I were talking about it and we were saying if any of those guys become free agents, why in God's name would you want any of them on your basketball team?" -- Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy, in a radio interview on the Pistons' turmoil. Van Gundy was asked about seven Pistons players missing the shoot-around in Philadelphia Friday, which was regarded as a protest against head coach John Kuester.
Copyright (C) 2011 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.
