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Stuckey's changed attitude helping Pistons rebuild - USA TODAY

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Stuckey's changed attitude helping Pistons rebuild - USA TODAY
Mar 27th 2012, 21:54

Guard Rodney Stuckey reached the Eastern Conference finals with the Detroit Pistons in his rookie 2007-08 season, and the team made the playoffs again in 2008-09.

  • Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey hit the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left to beat the Washington Wizards on Monday.

    By Brad Mills, US Presswire

    Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey hit the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left to beat the Washington Wizards on Monday.

By Brad Mills, US Presswire

Detroit Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey hit the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left to beat the Washington Wizards on Monday.

But Stuckey learned quickly, with three coaches in three consecutive seasons, that the playoffs are not a given.

Three losing seasons in a row, including no postseason appearances the last two, has bothered him. He didn't handle losing well.

"It was frustrating for the past couple of years, just mentally not being where you want to be as a team. All that stuff took a toll," Stuckey said.

He clashed with former coach John Kuester, who was fired after last season and is now a Los Angeles Lakers assistant.

But Stuckey decided to make a change. He credits family and friends for his turnaround, and he also went to a psychologist, "Just to clear my mind," he said.

"I think it was good for me. It wasn't someone inside my inner circle, and they didn't care," Stuckey said of therapy. "I was going to get the feedback I needed to hear. That really helped out a lot. It was just positive energy. There was too much negative energy."

It has changed his outlook, even though the 17-32 Pistons are still in rebuilding mode and Stuckey is playing for his fourth coach in five seasons, Lawrence Frank.

Detroit, to start the season, just wasn't a good defensive team, allowing too many points, too high of a field goal percentage and too many uncontested three-pointers.

But Stuckey, who signed a three-year, $28 million deal just before the season, was maturing enough to deal with it.

"There's been times where I've been mad this year where I just calmed down and not let it get to me," said Stuckey, averaging 16.5 points, just a tenth off his career high, and shooting a career best 44.7%.

And the team noticed the difference.

Despite the record, Stuckey can focus on the potential in Detroit's future. Second-year forward Greg Monroe is an All-Star in the making, second-year forward Jonas Jerebko is developing into a solid player and rookie point guard Brandon Knight forms a solid backcourt with Stuckey.

The Pistons hope to get 2011 second-round draft pick Kyle Singler back from Spain for next season, and they are headed for another lottery pick in what is expected to be a deep 2012 draft.

Stuckey is more comfortable on and off the court, buying into Frank's defense-first mantra and accepting the rebuilding process as slow and painful.

Frank, 41, is the former whiz kid coach who led the New Jersey Nets to four consecutive playoff appearances from 2004-2007. He lost his job in 2009 when the Nets started 0-16, and he joined Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers' staff last season.

"What you've seen is the process of a team slowly coming together," Frank said of the Pistons. "If you want to take the season in segments and you look at the first 24 games (with a 4-20 record), when times got tough and there was turbulence during the course of the game, we succumbed to the difficult stuff.

"We didn't fight through hard. We weren't able to get past it and we were losing by wide margins. We weren't competitive."

That has begun to change. The Pistons trailed 40-16 in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets on March 21 — and led 115-111 before losing 116-115. It was a game they should have won, but it was also a game they would never have rallied in earlier in the season.

Although scoring was high in that game, Detroit has reduced its points allowed, opponents' shooting percentage and three-pointers allowed. The Pistons are 13-12 since their dreadful start, with one four-game and two three-game winning streaks.

"We have started to fight through when times got tough," Frank said. " Even when we haven't won, with a couple of blips on the screen, we've been very competitive.

"We got it to what we call the moment of truth — the last six minutes, where it's anyone's ballgame. Now, it's the process of how to finish off games and close games out on the road."

Stuckey is an integral part of the present and future. He has averaged 19.2 points in the past two months and scored 20 or more points in 11 of his last 17 games, shooting 53.2% in them. He was getting to the free throw line more than any guard in the league (6.5 times per game) except the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (7.9) entering Tuesday.

Stuckey had 24 points in Detroit's 79-77 victory Monday at the Washington Wizards Monday, the Pistons' fifth road win. They trailed by 13 early in the third quarter but came back to win when Stuckey hit a jumper with 0.2 seconds left in the game.

"We're still far away from it," Frank said of finishing off games on a regular basis. "But we're making steps and inching closer to it every day."

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