Juan Dixon News

As reported on the Baltimore Sun's recruiting blog -- http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/recruiting/2008/02/honors_for_dixon_liles.html

Juan Dixon's little brother is having a big season for Tallahassee Community College, just named to the first team all conference Florida panhandle. He's headed to Pittsburgh, hmmm.

As for big brother Juan, I was initially upbeat about his trade from Toronto to Detroit last week, but in 2 games with the Pistons, he's played only a couple of minutes. Tough situation for the all-time leading scorer in Maryland basketball history. Last year, Dixon made a nice initial impact in Toronto after being traded from Portland, averaging 11 points in about 20 minutes of playing time over 26 games.

Then Raps coach Sam Mitchell thinned the bench for the playoffs, and Dixon fell out of the rotation. This season, the last in his current contract which pays about $2.7 million, he has barely seen the court. He was buried on the bench behind Jason Kapono. The indignity of it all.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/juan_dixon/career_stats.html

One thing Dixon has proven is that when he gets minutes, he puts up points. Right now in Detroit, however, the team is playing great, they are 42-15. Chauncy Billups and Rip Hamilton are the starters in the backcourt of course. But get a load of their back-ups: Arron Aflalo, the rook from UCLA gets about 12 mins/game; Jarvis Hayes, who stinks, gets 16 minutes a game; and Rodney Stuckey, another rookie, gets 16 minutes a game. I mean, I don't think Juan Dixon is an impact player in the NBA, I am not delusional, but he's gotta be better than those guys, right?

Here's an article from the Detroit News about how Dixon will have to earn his time. And why not, you know? They are 42 and freakin 15.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080223/SPORTS0102/802230337/1004

It'll be interesting to see where Juan winds up after this season. Be nice to see a team want him in their lineup for real minutes.