Plaisted's 'live body' gives him an NBA future

Trent Plaisted already shoots free throws a little like Ben Wallace. Now the Pistons are hoping someday he evolves into a defensive force that could be mentioned in the same company with the four-time Defensive Player of the Year.

That might be an exaggerated projection, but then who could have foreseen such a resume 12 years ago for Wallace when he went undrafted out of Virginia Union and came to Summer League with the Boston Celtics, who tried to convert him into a small forward?

Plaisted has drawn consistently high praise from Pistons coach Michael Curry for his ability to cover ground and defend the pick and roll – an increasingly important component of a big man’s portfolio – during his time with them in the Las Vegas Summer League.

“He’s what we call a live body,” Curry said. “He does really well defending and going to the offensive and defensive boards, and already I think he’s a really good NBA pick-and-roll defender. Pick and roll is what our league has gone to now and your bigs have to be able to get out and move their feet because of not being able to be physical with the guards. He already can get out and defend pick and roll, which is the hardest thing for a big to do.”

Plaisted, who averaged 15.6 points and 7.7 rebounds a game while shooting .547 from the free-throw line as a Brigham Young junior before declaring for the draft, was the bonus the Pistons picked up for trading down three spots – from 29th, the bottom of the first round, to 32nd, the top of the second round – so Seattle could take D.J. White. The Pistons got the man they wanted anyway – Walter Sharpe – and took Plaisted with the 46th pick.

The Pistons have seen enough of Plaisted in Las Vegas to make them even more convinced than on draft night that the big man has an NBA future, though their intention to groom him in Europe for a year or two remains intact. And that’s OK with Plaisted.

“If that’s the way it’s going to go down, I’m completely content with that,” he said. “I’ll be over there for a while and get an opportunity to come back and hopefully be on the Pistons. The chance to develop and play basketball in Europe is a good opportunity.”

“Trent may wind up playing overseas, but I know Joe (Dumars) likes him and Mike likes him because he can move his feet,” newly hired Curry assistant Darrell Walker said. “He’s a physical player. He’s tough, and on a team like this, all you need to do is defend pick and roll, get loose balls and bang, and he’s not scared to do that. So that gives him a big plus right there.”

In his first four games in Las Vegas, playing behind Amir Johnson and Cheikh Samb up front, Plaisted has averaged 4.3 points 2.5 rebounds a game. But what caught Curry’s eye were the little things, especially on the defensive end, not reflected in the box score.

“Trent’s defense is definitely ahead of his offense,” he said. “I think that’s why we were able to get him in the second round. Sometimes they say he had 20 (in college) and one game you see him and he had six. Well, when you’re a role player, that can happen. That doesn’t mean he was inconsistent. I think he was consistently playing hard and rebounding every day. His offense depended on a lot of driving and dishes and offensive put-backs. We want to add a couple of things to him offensively. That way he can be a presence on the block and up to 10 to 12 feet. When he adds those things to his game, he’ll be a bona fide NBA player.”

Plaisted, a 6-foot-11, 245-pounder, took a redshirt season as a freshman, got married last summer and is scheduled to graduate in August with a degree in economics from BYU. He acknowledges that work needs to be done on the offensive end to ensure his NBA future.

“Right now I’m a guy that’s going to run the floor and play really hard defensively and do little things,” he said. “But as my career progresses, I’m going to need to advance my offensive game – my mid-range game.”

A native of San Antonio, Plaisted said good coaching in college helped make him NBA ready defensively.

“It’s something that comes naturally, but it’s also good coaching,” he said. “Coach Curry and his staff are doing a great job since I’ve been here and in college we did a lot of stuff like that, trapping ball screens, so I’ve been doing it a little while. It’s just that on the professional level, it’s a little bit different.”

But the differences haven’t come close to overwhelming him yet, and a winter or two spent honing his game in the increasingly competitive European pro leagues could deliver him to Detroit as a big man ready to make an impact in the NBA.

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