Pistons Season Preview
The Detroit Pistons won the NBA Championship last year in stunning fashion over the LA Lakers. With the 04-05 season just a few weeks away the Pistons must now forget about last season and focus on defending their championship.
Over the offseason I think the Pistons improved their team even more. The Pistons signed Antonio McDyess to replace Okur, who signed with the Utah Jazz. McDyess has been in the NBA for a number of years. He had an allstar season a few years ago but has been hampered by injuries ever since. McDyess looks to be healthy going into this season. The Pistons also signed Carlos Delfino,their second pick in the 2003 draft. Delfino has been playing in Argentina his whole career. Coming to play in the NBA will be tough for this rookie guard.
The worst thing the Pistons did this offseason was trade away Corliss Williamson for Derrick Coleman. Coleman has better career numbers than Williamson but Coleman is older and his stats have been much lower in the past few seasons. Coleman has also been injured a lot in his career, something the Pistons probably don't want to deal with. The only good reason the Pistons made this trade was because it freed up some salary cap money for the future. Even if it did free up some money, I still didn't like this trade and I won't until Coleman proves to be a good replacement for Williamson.
The starting five for the Pistons this season should be the same as the last with Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, and Chauncey Billups anchoring the front line.
Ben Wallace, the NBA's best defensive player, had some surgury over the offseason that I couldn't find much information about. He might not be ready for the start of the season but he should play for most of the year.
Rasheed Wallace was the final piece to the Pistons' championship last year when the Pistons got him at the trade deadline. Detroit resigned him in the offseason to a long term deal. He now gets to play a full season for the Pistons. He should have a great season.
Tayshaun Prince continues to get better and better. He had a good playoffs for the Pistons on route to their title. He plays great defense and he can also provide a nice spark on the offensive end of the court.
Rip Hamilton had a great season and playoffs last year. He has the best mid-range jumper in the NBA. He is very quick player. He is also more durable then people might think. Rip should have another good season averaging around 20 points a game.
Chauncey Billups had his best year ever last season. He had a career high average in points and was the MVP of the Finals. He was really become the offensive leader of the Pistons.
The key bench players for the Pistons will be Antonio McDyess, Elden Campbell, Darvin Ham, and Lindsey Hunter. Those are the four main guys who the Pistons will be counting on to provide some spark off the bench.
A guy who I didn't put on that list of important bench players was Darko Milicic(click here for an article I wrote about him a while back). Darko was the Pistons' first pick in the 2003 draft(second overall). The Pistons could have selected Carmello Anothony but they passed him up. Darko rode the bench all last season. A few weeks ago Larry Brown announced that Darko wasn't ready yet to play a lot of minutes this season either. I trust Brown and if he thinks Darko isn't ready, then Darko isn't ready. Darko's time will hopefully come some day. It will be tough as a fan though to watch Darko ride the bench all season again.
Here are some other players I didn't talk about who are on or are trying to make the Pistons' roster:Nigel Dixon, Ronald Dupree, Horace Jenkins, Smush Parker, Rickey Paulding, and Terrence Shannon.
Here are my final thoughts for the Pistons going into the 04-05 season: The Pistons sorta snuck up on everyone last year and won the title. This season will be a lot different. Other teams will play them like they(Detroit) have a mark on their back. Everyone will be trying to beat the champs. I think the Pistons are still the best team in the league and I think they will repeat as champs just like from 90-91. It will be a lot harder but I think the Pistons will be up to the task. You have to at least expect the Pistons to finish second in their division and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third straight year. Anything less than that will be a huge letdown. Here's to another great season of Pistons Basketball that will hopefully end like this.
Over the offseason I think the Pistons improved their team even more. The Pistons signed Antonio McDyess to replace Okur, who signed with the Utah Jazz. McDyess has been in the NBA for a number of years. He had an allstar season a few years ago but has been hampered by injuries ever since. McDyess looks to be healthy going into this season. The Pistons also signed Carlos Delfino,their second pick in the 2003 draft. Delfino has been playing in Argentina his whole career. Coming to play in the NBA will be tough for this rookie guard.
The worst thing the Pistons did this offseason was trade away Corliss Williamson for Derrick Coleman. Coleman has better career numbers than Williamson but Coleman is older and his stats have been much lower in the past few seasons. Coleman has also been injured a lot in his career, something the Pistons probably don't want to deal with. The only good reason the Pistons made this trade was because it freed up some salary cap money for the future. Even if it did free up some money, I still didn't like this trade and I won't until Coleman proves to be a good replacement for Williamson.
The starting five for the Pistons this season should be the same as the last with Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, and Chauncey Billups anchoring the front line.
Ben Wallace, the NBA's best defensive player, had some surgury over the offseason that I couldn't find much information about. He might not be ready for the start of the season but he should play for most of the year.
Rasheed Wallace was the final piece to the Pistons' championship last year when the Pistons got him at the trade deadline. Detroit resigned him in the offseason to a long term deal. He now gets to play a full season for the Pistons. He should have a great season.
Tayshaun Prince continues to get better and better. He had a good playoffs for the Pistons on route to their title. He plays great defense and he can also provide a nice spark on the offensive end of the court.
Rip Hamilton had a great season and playoffs last year. He has the best mid-range jumper in the NBA. He is very quick player. He is also more durable then people might think. Rip should have another good season averaging around 20 points a game.
Chauncey Billups had his best year ever last season. He had a career high average in points and was the MVP of the Finals. He was really become the offensive leader of the Pistons.
The key bench players for the Pistons will be Antonio McDyess, Elden Campbell, Darvin Ham, and Lindsey Hunter. Those are the four main guys who the Pistons will be counting on to provide some spark off the bench.
A guy who I didn't put on that list of important bench players was Darko Milicic(click here for an article I wrote about him a while back). Darko was the Pistons' first pick in the 2003 draft(second overall). The Pistons could have selected Carmello Anothony but they passed him up. Darko rode the bench all last season. A few weeks ago Larry Brown announced that Darko wasn't ready yet to play a lot of minutes this season either. I trust Brown and if he thinks Darko isn't ready, then Darko isn't ready. Darko's time will hopefully come some day. It will be tough as a fan though to watch Darko ride the bench all season again.
Here are some other players I didn't talk about who are on or are trying to make the Pistons' roster:Nigel Dixon, Ronald Dupree, Horace Jenkins, Smush Parker, Rickey Paulding, and Terrence Shannon.
Here are my final thoughts for the Pistons going into the 04-05 season: The Pistons sorta snuck up on everyone last year and won the title. This season will be a lot different. Other teams will play them like they(Detroit) have a mark on their back. Everyone will be trying to beat the champs. I think the Pistons are still the best team in the league and I think they will repeat as champs just like from 90-91. It will be a lot harder but I think the Pistons will be up to the task. You have to at least expect the Pistons to finish second in their division and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third straight year. Anything less than that will be a huge letdown. Here's to another great season of Pistons Basketball that will hopefully end like this.
posted by Dan at
8:15 PM
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