Curry effect reflected in early stats

When those who know Michael Curry best talk about how they expect him to most affect the Pistons this season, it’s more attitudinal than strategic. They’re talking about the aura of toughness Curry projects being transferred to a team that didn’t grind through tough stretches in recent seasons with quite the cold-blooded efficiency they did in the past.

But, as it turns out, Curry’s effect might be seen equally dramatically in the style of the Pistons’ play as well as the substance.

Granted, four games is a puny sample size, but results so far jibe with Curry’s mission statement of being the aggressor, forcing turnovers and getting better ball movement offensively with more players getting their hands on the ball.

The Pistons are forcing 20.5 turnovers a game. They’re committing almost as many (19), but Curry expected an initial spike as his team adjusts to an offensive philosophy that spreads ballhandling and playmaking duties around instead of concentrating them in the hands of the point guard. There’s another adjustment they’re making, too – to learning how to transition to offense after forcing all those turnovers they’re instigating.

“We watch it,” he said after Monday’s practice following Sunday’s day off on the heels of a stretch where they played three games in four nights, winning all of them to go to 4-0 halfway through the preseason schedule. “We put a couple of drills in to make sure we take care of the basketball a little better. The other night our young guys really took care of the basketball and our veteran guys in the starting lineup had nine turnovers and all the younger guys off the bench only had eight. We’re getting there (in) taking care of the basketball.”

They also had 29 assists on 36 baskets against Milwaukee, meaning almost 81 percent of their baskets produced assists. That brought their four-game average to 69 percent, up 8 percentage points over last year’s regular-season total.

Whenever the Pistons were sluggish offensively last year, the culprit as Flip Saunders saw it was their inability to get defenses moving from side to side. Saunders always wanted the ball to move from the strong side to the weak side, creating passing lanes for cutters against a moving defense, post-up openings and opportunities for dribble penetration. In the playoffs, against stronger defensive teams with the advantage of zeroing in on the Pistons’ playbook for a week or more, the deficiency frequently became more pronounced.

That’s the motivation behind Curry’s philosophical shift. It became too easy for opponents to take the basketball out of Chauncey Billups’ hands in the postseason, leaving the Pistons sputtering offensively as players unaccustomed to initiating offense were suddenly faced with doing so. It’ll be interesting as the season unfolds to see how adaptable the Pistons can become offensively.

• The Pistons are probably going to get a 48-minute dose of someone other than Billups initiating the offense in their preseason game against San Antonio in Grand Rapids on Tuesday night. Billups suffered a minor right ankle sprain in the win at Milwaukee on Saturday night and worked with strength coach Arnie Kander during Monday’s practice.
  
  “I stepped on (Andrew) Bogut’s foot,” Billups said. “I’m good, though. I’ll be all right.”
  
  “I don’t think it’s bad,” Curry said, “but we’ll set him out for a few days.”
  
  That will mean more time for Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, with Alex Acker sliding over to be the No. 3 point guard. Stuckey already leads the Pistons in minutes played, averaging 27 a game.
  
  “I want to play Stuckey more minutes in the preseason,” Curry said. “He hasn’t played those minutes. You’ve got to train your body to play 25 minutes a night in the NBA. Until he plays consistently at that pace, he’s got to learn what he needs to do to make sure his body is ready night in and night out and that’s a good testing time for him right now.”

• Walter Herrmann remained out with sore ribs. Though Herrmann can take part in conditioning drills, the area of his injury is such that everyday occurrences like coughing or stretching aggravates it.

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