Wednesday, January 6th, 2010...3:46 pm
Brokedown Palace
Tonight the Spurs host the Pistons, who are 11-22 this season and have lost ten straight. The perennial contender and defensive powerhouse we once knew is no more, and as a not-so-closeted appreciator of Pistons ball, I wanted to reflect briefly on their demise.
When first assembled, few predicted the ’00s Pistons would bring a third NBA title to the Motor City. Chauncey Billups was a struggling journeyman who in his five seasons had already played for four teams. Tayshaun Prince was a lanky, offensively unsophisticated draft pick. And Rasheed Wallace was an ex-Jailblazer. ‘Nuff said.
Joe Dumars, able to see the forest for the trees, had an uncanny ability to sense that this collection of players would compliment one another well. But I’m not even sure Dumars imagined that this roster could take them to five straight Eastern Conference Finals and place another banner amidst the Palace rafters.
In the Pistons the Spurs found a worthy opponent. They were physical, sophisticated, and unyielding. And despite the public’s springtime tendency to fret over the possibility of a Spurs-Pistons rematch in the championship round of the playoffs, San Antonio and Detroit provided what some argue was the most exciting Finals of the last decade.
So when Dumars spent his hard earned cap space on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, you had to wonder whether, despite rampant skepticism, the bad boy had done it again. As best I can tell, the doubters have been vindicated. And personally, I’m a bit crestfallen because of it. It’s another sign that an underappreciated era in the NBA is coming to a close.
10 Comments
January 6th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
This game is in San Antonio, isn’t it?
January 6th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
yeah the game’s in SA, i’m going.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
You’re right, Tom. I don’t know why I thought that. I’ll make the appropriate edits.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Gotta point out how Ben Wallace went from a throw-in in the Grant Hill-to-Orlando trade, to one of the most feared defenders in the league with that squad. Even an All-Star. Oh what once was….
January 6th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
I thought Gordon was a good pick up for them, but not Villanueva. I would have kept Amir Johnson instead.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Shows the importance of draft, trades, injuries, and free agents.
The drafting of Darko Milicic over Wade or Anthony?, trading of Billups for Iverson?, signing Villanueva and Gordon and neither start?
Pistons downfall wasn’t inevitable.
January 7th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Sad to see this complete turnaround in the Pistons’ identity. As much as everyone hated the Spurs Pistons finals, I loved it so much. Two tough as nails teams that kept the game close every second. I loved the mental X’s and O’s jousting between Pop and Larry Brown. Give me a 7 game back and forth constantly close series rather than the blowouts and collapses we see
January 7th, 2010 at 7:17 am
I understand the Ben Gordon signing…He’s not a superstar but get into a playoff series and I swear he’s one of the few players in the league that can win a game or two by himself.
I’ll give Dumars the benefit of the doubt and see what he elects to do with Prince and Rip, but I’m not very enamored with Stuckey. Remember though, they have a lot of young guys.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Everyone is rushing to judgment on the Pistons’ rebuilding project way too early — it’s still a work in progress. If they clear Prince and/or Hamilton for an expiring contract, they’re right back in the FA hunt this summer. What if they can do that and land Amare or Boozer this summer with the cap space? Or, they use that space to acquire some other star big man via trade next year? They also have some room for internal growth from Stuckey and some of their decent forward prospects in Jerebko and Daye. The Pistons will be fine projecting forward a couple of years.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Ben Wallace was the reason the Pistons won a championship. Nothing else. Without him, they would have just been first round fodder.
Leave a Reply