Piston Resolution: Turn Frustration to Determination

Channeling frustration into determination pivotal for Pistons
New Year's Resolution
by Keith Langlois

John Kuester slammed a clipboard to The Palace floor during a Tuesday timeout. Rodney Stuckey flung a cup of water in the same general vicinity when the loss to the Knicks was in the books. Charlie Villanueva, about as easygoing a personality as has ever pulled on a Pistons jersey, vented mildly about playing only 12 minutes in the postgame locker room.

If you sense frustration aboil out at 6 Championship Drive, congratulations. Your powers of observation remain keen.

And you know what? That’s a good thing. You’d have real reason for worry if a team on an eight-game losing streak, watching teams it regards as lessers passing them by in the playoff standings, wasn’t exhibiting palpable frustration.

Not that frustration can’t be a toxic force. The key is channeling it positively – turning frustration into determination and not letting it divide a team into factions or propel individual goals above those of team.

“You know what? They should be (frustrated),” John Kuester said after Wednesday’s practice. “Guys should be in a position where they’ve got to get hungry and take some of their frustration out on somebody else. Understanding how to channel that stuff is very important.”

“We’ve had a lot of different lineups and Coach is trying to see what works, what players with what players. This is the time we can’t get frustrated and some guys have gotten frustrated,” Tayshaun Prince said. “But people get frustrated when you’re trying to win a basketball game. We’ve got to try to stay positive about the situation.”

Prince pretty much echoed what Rip Hamilton said after Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks, and since they remain the two constants dating back to the Rick Carlisle era, theirs is an influence greater than most.

The sense I get from Prince and Hamilton is they were so happy to be rid of last season’s burdens, and so encouraged by the way training camp and the preseason went this year, that they’re determined not to let this season wear them down emotionally as last year did.

So the current frustrations pale when placed next to last season’s, which crushed their spirits. Their body language was plainly bad last season. That was a team accustomed to 50-plus-win seasons and long playoff runs dealing with the unforgiving reality that they just weren’t good enough to compete for championships any longer. When hungrier opponents jumped on them, it didn’t take much for the fight to go out of last year’s Pistons.

This year? Prince and Hamilton seemed rejuvenated in the early going by the enthusiasm of everyone around them. Players who joined the Pistons from other organizations – Charlie Villanueva from Milwaukee, Ben Gordon from Chicago, Chris Wilcox from the Thunder/Knicks, et al – were thrilled to be coming to a team with such a rich history of success.

That couldn’t help but give them a fresh perspective on their situations, too, and it’s why now they’re so determined to not let the current frustrations ruin the season for a team that really is just a few solid weeks away from thrusting itself right back into the playoff picture.

“I feel good about the situation,” Villanueva said upon emerging from a nearly half-hour private session with Kuester which they both termed productive. “We’re just going through some rough times right now. Eight in a row? It’s tough. Everybody wants to win. Nobody wants to feel like this. We’re going to get it right, though. We’re definitely going to get it right.”

“We have a large, large part of the season left, so we know that the basketball we’re playing now is not indicative of the type of team and players we have. It’s just a matter of us fine-tuning things and us getting a rhythm and getting used to playing with each other before things turn around. But in the midst of that, we just need to play hard.”

That’s their next hurdle. What appears to be lack of effort or energy often springs from a lack of confidence or certainty, and right now the Pistons aren’t certain of many things as roles and minutes get rebalanced.

A win over Chicago to close 2009 before a New Year’s eve matinee crowd that figures to arrive in a celebratory mood would certainly help. After a daunting Texas two-step to start 2010 – road games next week at Dallas and San Antonio – the schedule turns in their favor with eight of nine at home. If they can at least stop the bleeding before that stretch arrives, the Pistons will have a chance to make their move in January.

“We want to take advantage of these opportunities that come in front of us,” Kuester said. “That’s so important. You don’t want to waste those things. We’ve got to make sure we’re focused on the task at hand and how we can still accomplish things as we’re integrating other players.”

Channeling frustration into determination is the first step. Consider it the Pistons’ New Year’s resolution.