Surprising: Deron Washington Waived, Chucky Atkins Signed

Atkins nails down roster spot, completes reunion with Big Ben
Together Again
by Keith Langlois

Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins were born less than a month apart in neighboring states, came to the Pistons together nine summers ago and were reunited as Pistons teammates when Joe Dumars signed Atkins on the eve of training camp after reacquiring Wallace two months earlier.

It was expected to be a brief reunion. Atkins was brought in on a non-guaranteed contract as an extra body to get through the grind of camp without wearing out Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum. Smart money said he’d be waived before the regular season began.

But the reunion will have a little more permanence that anyone believed – anyone beyond Chucky Atkins, at least – as the Pistons chose the veteran leadership and experience of Atkins over the youthful athleticism and potential of Deron Washington.

It might have been different if the Pistons weren’t already carrying three rookies and 10 players in addition to Washington 27 or younger. Atkins played sparingly in the preseason – 23 minutes spread over three of the eight games – but showed John Kuester and Dumars enough in camp scrimmages to sell them that Atkins had more to offer than Washington given the roster’s makeup.

“(Fans) couldn’t see all the things he did from a positive standpoint,” Kuester said. “He has been a great role model for our young point guards. He’s really done an outstanding job of running the team in practice. He’s challenged both (Stuckey and Bynum) every day in practice and I’m very impressed with what he did on the court and off the court.

“It’s huge, for me being a first-year coach and having people I can trust in the locker room. That’s where Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince (are important) and I’ve talked about Ben being such a good influence on our bigs. Chucky has to fit into that category also. I’ve been very impressed with what he’s done so far.”

Atkins got the news after Sunday’s practice when Dumars told him, “that I worked hard and he was proud of me and that I deserved to be here,” said Atkins, 35, who missed substantial chunks of the past two seasons with a groin muscle tear that required surgery and knee surgery to clean up loose cartilage.

“Physically, I’m great,” he said. “When I played (in preseason), I played well, even though I didn’t play a lot. But I did what I had to do in practice and I’m happy with what’s going on.”

Though it’s likely Atkins will be one of the Pistons’ two inactive players most nights, if they need him he remains a fearless shooter who improves the Pistons from the 3-point line. Atkins, Ben Gordon, Austin Daye, Charlie Villanueva and DaJuan Summers all make the Pistons a more dangerous perimeter team than they were a year ago, when they ranked among the NBA’s least effective from distance.

Mostly, though, Atkins understands his role is to be a great practice player, stay ready, get in the ear of Stuckey and Bynum and show the roster of young players the way an NBA professional goes about his business.

“Right now, just leadership,” he said of his view of the role the Pistons have for him. “You make the team as a long shot, pretty much as a third point guard. The only thing I can add is my insight into the game with Rodney and Will and be a leader. I’m a guy who’s been around this league for a while. I know what it takes to win and we’ve got two young guys I can mentor.”

The Pistons were in serious rebuilding mode when Atkins arrived with Wallace – they were the package the Pistons acquired from Orlando in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Grant Hill to the Magic – and are again in a transition phase after years of stability. Atkins, sent away in 2004 when Dumars pulled off the three-team deal that netted Rasheed Wallace, sees some similarities but a more talented roster with this group.

“The difference was we had a lot of older guys when I got here the first time,” he said. “We had guys who had been around – Jud Buechler and those guys. We’ve got young guys who have been in wars – Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Chris Wilcox, Tayshaun is still young. We have more potential on this team than when I first got here.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons, a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. It’s just going to take us some time to gel. We have to give our coach some time to figure out guys’ minutes, but I think we can be as good as we want to be.”

Just as Atkins has landed a job most didn’t expect him to get, Wallace – now merely the second-oldest Piston, 27 days younger than Atkins – is in line to land a role bigger than most expected when Dumars signed him, ostensibly to be the No. 5 big man behind Villanueva, Wilcox, Jason Maxiell and Kwame Brown.

Kuester took that five-man group with him into his office after Monday’s practice to discuss roles and said that no decision has yet been made as to which two will start in Wednesday’s season opener at Memphis, but Wallace’s 33-minute stint at Milwaukee in the preseason finale – in which he had 14 rebounds and four steals to spark a defense that had lagged badly in its previous three games – surely encouraged Kuester to strongly consider him a starter.

But Kuester is also mindful of the energy Wallace expends when playing heavy minutes and said Monday it’s likely he’ll sit Wallace out occasionally during the season to prevent him from getting worn down. The second night of select back-to-backs would be a logical night off for Wallace – and the Pistons play 23 such games this season, more than a quarter of their schedule.

“It could very easily happen,” Kuester said of that option. “We haven’t mapped out exactly what’s going on because it’s sort of unpredictable. … (Time off) is one of the things we’re looking into. There will be times when Ben gives us a substantial amount of time and also times when he realizes that the energy level of some of these other young players might be even higher. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in what he’s able to contribute to this team. Those minutes will fluctuate, but what minutes I do give Ben, I know I’ll get the most out of him.”


•Kuester said the decision to cut ties to Washington, who had exhibited a much-improved jump shot over last summer and was 3 for 3 from the 3-point arc in the preseason, wasn’t reached easily.

“Personally, I would have loved to see us keep him,” he said. “He’s got a bright future in basketball. I saw him in the beginning of the summer continually improve with some of the hard work our assistant coaches did with him. You never want to see somebody go, but it’s part of our business.”

Mildly surprising: Deron Washington waived
By Patrick Hayes
October 26, 2009, 1:15PM

Deron Washington's potential has Pistons coaches impressed.

When previewing every player on the Pistons roster, I had high hopes for Deron Washington as a potential defensive stopper and crowd favorite at the end of the bench because of his freakish athleticism.

Unfortunately, he'll develop those things elsewhere because the Pistons waived him today.

ASB has a few details, but it's not really clear why the move was made. It was assumed the Pistons would only keep 13 or 14 players on the roster instead of the allowable 15 as a way to save money.

Three guys -- Washington, Chucky Atkins and Maceo Baston -- came into camp without guaranteed deals, and it was assumed Atkins and Baston would both be waived at some point. Baston was released last week.

No word on whether Atkins is officially going to make the team, but it seems like the Pistons will keep 14 players. If that's the case, and Atkins is staying, and there is not another non-guaranteed signing (perhaps a big?) in the works, I'm not sure I understand.

- Atkins is strictly a point guard. With his shooting touch and experience, Atkins can be a capable backup somewhere, but there's barely enough backcourt minutes for Will Bynum. What's the necessity of having a third point guard?

- Washington can play two positions (SG/SF). His weakness, shooting, was actual not bad in the preseason. There's not a ton of minutes to go around at the 2/3 spots either, but as a young player with potential, Washington would at least seemingly have some value as a spare part in a trade, if the Pistons make one, at some point this season. More value than Atkins would have, at least.

- The move is a little surprising, considering that coach John Kuester was praising Washington's improvement just last week, saying: "He has a ways to go, but it's been neat to watch how he's progressed," Kuester said. "That first week of practice, he was lost. Now, all of a sudden, he's starting to understand and figure out some things."

That's certainly not a glowing endorsement, but also doesn't sound like what a coach would say about a rookie on the verge of being cut.

Washington was never going to help the Pistons much this year, so it's not like this is a big travesty, but for a team that is allegedly in rebuilding mode, it makes little sense to keep a vet who's not going to play over a rookie who's shown a few flashes, unless the team was a bit overzealous in selling Washington's improvements to reporters.

Deron Washington waived, Atkins stays and Pistons' roster at 14 heading into opener
By A. Sherrod Blakely
October 26, 2009, 3:08PM

AUBURN HILLS -- Deron Washington, arguably the most athletic player on the Detroit Pistons' roster, has been waived.

The move is a bit surprising considering the biggest knock on Washington's game -- shooting the ball -- was not a major issue in the preseason.

In fact, he shot 64.3 percent from the field (9-for-14) and was a perfect 3-for-3 on 3-pointers.

Detroit could have kept Washington, but the Pistons prefer to go into the regular season with 14 players on its roster instead of the league-maximum of 15.

The 14th roster spot went to Chucky Atkins.

Atkins, now in his second stint with Detroit, has played sparingly during the preseason. But head coach John Kuester said the 10-year veteran has contributed in ways that may not necessarily show up in games.

"He has been a great role model for our young point guards," Kuester said. "He's really done an outstanding job of running the team in practice. I think that's one of the reasons it came down to us keeping him."