duncan228
07-19-2009, 12:07 AM
Plaisted trying not to get left behind (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Plaisted_trying_not_to_get_left_behind.html)
Jeff McDonald
LAS VEGAS — When Trent Plaisted left BYU after his junior season to enter the NBA draft, he did so with eyes wide open. He knew the path to the NBA would be a difficult one.
“I knew it wasn't going to be easy,” Plaisted said.
What he didn't expect, what he couldn't have expected, was to spend the first year of his professional basketball career living in a carpet-less Italian apartment, an ocean away from home, often in too much pain even to stand.
Plaisted, a 2004 graduate of Clark High School, was in Las Vegas last week, playing for Detroit's summer league team and hoping to convince the Pistons to keep him in their plans after a wasted and injury-plagued year.
Drafted 46th overall by Seattle in 2008, with his rights immediately dealt to Detroit, the 6-foot-11 center spent last season in Biella, Italy, playing for the same Italian League team as Spurs draft pick James Gist.
The word “playing” might be an overstatement.
Beset by crippling back pain, Plaisted appeared in just two games with Angelico Biella before a herniated disc brought a premature end to his season.
“It got to the point where I'd play and couldn't stand up the next day,” said Plaisted, 22. “That went on for about a month.”
In between bouts of blinding back pain, Plaisted struggled to adapt to the culture shock of playing overseas.
It was the little things about home he missed the most. Like carpet on the floor.
“My apartment was all tile,” Plaisted said.
Or screens on the windows.
“You'd open up the windows at night and wake up with mosquitoes on your face,” he said.
Between the back problems and the mosquito bites, it was not a fun season for Plaisted, a former first-team All-State selection at Clark and an All-Mountain West Conference pick as a junior at BYU.
By December, doctors had at least discovered the root of his debilitating back problems. He had a piece of bone resting on a nerve in his spine.
Plaisted returned to the United States to have surgery to shave down the rogue bone. It took him until April to get back on the practice court.
Instead of spending his first pro season expanding his offensive game, which is the reason the Pistons sent him overseas, Plaisted had to work just to stand upright again.
He is a year behind now, threatening to lose his place in the Pistons' plans.
In Las Vegas, Plaisted logged 11.3 minutes in five games, averaging three points and 2.3 rebounds. He gave up playing time to a trio of 2009 draft picks — Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko and DaJuan Summers — who appear to have moved ahead of him in the team pecking order.
Though Detroit owns Plaisted's rights, it is under no obligation to offer him a contract.
“Trent looks like he's in great shape; he's had a great week here,” said Pistons assistant Pat Sullivan, who coached the summer league squad. “Right now, he's caught in a numbers game we've got going on. I'm sure he wishes he would have played a little bit more, but sometimes it's tough in a summer league situation.”
Plaisted says the Pistons have given him no indication of what the road ahead might hold for him.
He could be headed back to Europe. He might wind up in the NBA Development League.
Asked to look into his basketball future, Plaisted remains philosophical.
“You start getting into trouble if you start looking too far down the road,” Plaisted said. “Right now, I'm keyed into the moment. Hopefully something good will happen, because it's been a pretty rough first year.”
This much seems certain: Plaisted's second year as a professional has to be better than his first.
At least now he can stand on his own two feet.
Jeff McDonald
LAS VEGAS — When Trent Plaisted left BYU after his junior season to enter the NBA draft, he did so with eyes wide open. He knew the path to the NBA would be a difficult one.
“I knew it wasn't going to be easy,” Plaisted said.
What he didn't expect, what he couldn't have expected, was to spend the first year of his professional basketball career living in a carpet-less Italian apartment, an ocean away from home, often in too much pain even to stand.
Plaisted, a 2004 graduate of Clark High School, was in Las Vegas last week, playing for Detroit's summer league team and hoping to convince the Pistons to keep him in their plans after a wasted and injury-plagued year.
Drafted 46th overall by Seattle in 2008, with his rights immediately dealt to Detroit, the 6-foot-11 center spent last season in Biella, Italy, playing for the same Italian League team as Spurs draft pick James Gist.
The word “playing” might be an overstatement.
Beset by crippling back pain, Plaisted appeared in just two games with Angelico Biella before a herniated disc brought a premature end to his season.
“It got to the point where I'd play and couldn't stand up the next day,” said Plaisted, 22. “That went on for about a month.”
In between bouts of blinding back pain, Plaisted struggled to adapt to the culture shock of playing overseas.
It was the little things about home he missed the most. Like carpet on the floor.
“My apartment was all tile,” Plaisted said.
Or screens on the windows.
“You'd open up the windows at night and wake up with mosquitoes on your face,” he said.
Between the back problems and the mosquito bites, it was not a fun season for Plaisted, a former first-team All-State selection at Clark and an All-Mountain West Conference pick as a junior at BYU.
By December, doctors had at least discovered the root of his debilitating back problems. He had a piece of bone resting on a nerve in his spine.
Plaisted returned to the United States to have surgery to shave down the rogue bone. It took him until April to get back on the practice court.
Instead of spending his first pro season expanding his offensive game, which is the reason the Pistons sent him overseas, Plaisted had to work just to stand upright again.
He is a year behind now, threatening to lose his place in the Pistons' plans.
In Las Vegas, Plaisted logged 11.3 minutes in five games, averaging three points and 2.3 rebounds. He gave up playing time to a trio of 2009 draft picks — Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko and DaJuan Summers — who appear to have moved ahead of him in the team pecking order.
Though Detroit owns Plaisted's rights, it is under no obligation to offer him a contract.
“Trent looks like he's in great shape; he's had a great week here,” said Pistons assistant Pat Sullivan, who coached the summer league squad. “Right now, he's caught in a numbers game we've got going on. I'm sure he wishes he would have played a little bit more, but sometimes it's tough in a summer league situation.”
Plaisted says the Pistons have given him no indication of what the road ahead might hold for him.
He could be headed back to Europe. He might wind up in the NBA Development League.
Asked to look into his basketball future, Plaisted remains philosophical.
“You start getting into trouble if you start looking too far down the road,” Plaisted said. “Right now, I'm keyed into the moment. Hopefully something good will happen, because it's been a pretty rough first year.”
This much seems certain: Plaisted's second year as a professional has to be better than his first.
At least now he can stand on his own two feet.