I started to read Keith Langlois’ newest True Blue blog post talking about what the Pistons lineup to finish games might look like and he talked about Rodney Stuckey being out there and sliding Tay over to the four. First thought, Tayshaun is not what I think about when I think of power forward. But, then Keith makes a some good points:

Look at some of the power forwards in the East. Is there any reason to fear the 6-foot-9 Prince being overwhelmed by the likes of Antawn Jamison, Rashard Lewis, Josh Smith, Yi Jianlian or Charlie Villanueva? Maybe you’d want to protect him from the likes of Elton Brand or Zach Randolph, but even terrific power forwards like Chris Bosh or Kevin Garnett don’t present physically dominant mismatches for the lanky Prince, at least not over short stretches – not when the corresponding matchup on the other end takes those players out of their comfort zones. Even if Garnett and Bosh have the foot speed to stay with Prince, pulling them away from the basket to do so is a victory for the offense.

This isn’t the NBA of yesteryear where you have a clearly defined perception of what position players look like and what kind of game they play.  There’s more tweener types like Tayshaun.   Like Keith is saying, he doesn’t have the body to bang with every four in the East, but he’s versatile enough to hold his own against most of them and even create match up problems for other clubs.

If we can be competitive with Rasheed playing the pivot I don’t see why we can’t close out games with Tay at PF.