Pistons eager to put Sharpe to the test

A 6-foot-9 small forward who handles the ball unusually well for his size, a nice shooting touch and a terrific sense of how basketball should be played.

We could just as easily be describing Tayshaun Prince instead of the newest Piston, Walter Sharpe, right? But let’s not carry the analogy too far. Sharpe’s college career consisted of 18 games, or roughly half of one of the four seasons Prince put in at Kentucky while playing in 135 games over his college career.

Yet if all goes well this summer, the Pistons could enter August with Sharpe entrenched as the backup to Prince at small forward if Joe Dumars’ intended roster makeover spares his incumbent small forward.

“I think we’re going to find out,” personnel director George David said Friday morning after the Pistons traded out of the No. 29 pick in Thursday’s draft, picking up second-rounders at 32 and 46 overall from Seattle, using the first to draft Sharpe. “I think we have a guy that we’re really looking forward to seeing how the whole thing plays out. He’s a guy that we’re high on as a team and maybe a little higher on him than other people are.”

Sharpe is high on the Pistons, too. Just as Rodney Stuckey hoped he’d wind up with the Pistons a year ago, Sharpe had his fingers crossed that he’d be the pick at 29 after spending Tuesday and Wednesday of this week working out for the Pistons. That, in itself, is unusual. But after Sharpe impressed the Pistons on Tuesday, Dumars asked if he’d stick around another day so they could get a better feel for him.

“When I saw the 29th pick (when the Pistons selected Indiana’s D.J. White), I thought maybe they weren’t interested,” Sharpe said. “Then I saw the trade. It was an up-and-down thing. I was up for the pick and then when they picked D.J. White, it was like, man. I was just hoping I would get drafted and then when they came back with the trade, it was mixed emotions in there."

Sharpe said he worked out for eight teams, including twice with Washington, but “I never really connected with anybody as well as the Pistons. (Washington) was telling me if I was around for the 27th pick, they would pick me up, but I was hoping for the Pistons all the time and they let me know they were interested in me, too.”

Sharpe spoke freely during a Friday conference call about his narcolepsy, a condition only recently discovered by a sleep study that he underwent at the urging of Alabama-Birmingham coach Mike Davis. And he stopped short of blaming the condition – which hampers his ability to get restful sleep and leads to memory lapses and lack of focus – for all of the blemishes on his college record, which include academic ineligibility, team suspensions for missing meetings and a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a nightclub incident in which he says charges have been dropped.

“I can’t completely blame it on narcolepsy, but it very well could have been,” he said. “I would just say there were some things I could have done better.”

The Pistons talked to several people at length about Sharpe’s past and their recommendations, coupled with the vibe they picked up from Sharpe over his two days in Auburn Hills, eased any concerns they harbored.

“We talked to some people who knew him, Mike (Davis) being one,” said Scott Perry, Pistons vice president. “No one said the guy was a bad kid. He made mistakes here and there, sure. I don’t think Walter would run from that. But we have seen a lot of kids who made mistakes at 18, 90, 20 years old. After spending a couple of days with Walter, you say, hey, this kid, let’s get him in the right structure, in our environment, and he can be fine.”

Sharpe, a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school, appears to have the physical skills to crack an NBA rotation despite his spotty college resume. Whether that could possibly happen as soon as next season or not is something the Pistons will begin to learn in a few weeks when their Las Vegas Summer League team assembles.

“You’ve got to watch him through the summer to see how quickly he picks up on things,” Perry said. “Does he have NBA talent? Sure. Yes, he does. It’s how quick he learns to adjust to the speed of the game, how quickly he improves defensively, all those kinds of things will determine that. Let’s see what he looks like in the summer, just like last summer we got a chance to watch Rodney (Stuckey) and Arron (Afflalo) and gauge where they were at.”

• As I posted earlier today, the Summer League roster will also include former Illinois All-American Dee Brown and Pistons 2005 draft choice Alex Acker, who has spent the past two seasons in Europe.
  

• Trent Plaisted, the player the Pistons picked at 46, had some of his best games against BYU’s best opponents last season. He had 24 points and 17 rebounds against North Carolina, 21 points and 12 rebounds against Louisville. He wasn’t consistently that good, of course, or he would have been a lottery pick, but the Pistons like Plaisted because he is comfortable playing with his back to the basket yet has surprising mobility and athleticism.
  

• Deron Washington, the pick at 59, was one of the best athletes in college basketball last season. As with Afflalo last year, the Pistons think Washington can guard multiple positions. He’s unrefined offensively, but has shown some signs that he can squeeze enough offense out of his skill set to crack a roster someday. Both Washington and Plaisted are more than likely headed for Europe, though they’ll both have the chance to change minds in Las Vegas.
  

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