What's Next for the Detroit Pistons?

For the past six years, the fans of the Detroit Pistons have been spoiled. 

The regular season had become meaningless, as had the first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs. We Pistons fans had a "wake me up when the conference finals start" attitude, and so did our team.

That attitude made this Piston's season even tougher to swallow. 

Losing in the first round? This isn't supposed to happen!

We all knew that the era of dominance would come to an end eventually, but one still is never really ready for it.

I compare this season to the movie Marley and Me. We all knew the dog was going to die at the end, but I still got choked up when it actually happened. Deep down, I was still hoping that poor Marley was going to pull through.

And deep down, I was still holding out hope that the Pistons would flip their perennial switch that they seemed to always have access to. 

Unfortunately, this season, there was a power outage.

I am slowly beginning to accept the fact that there will be no basketball in May or June. This leaves more time to ask the question, "what's next?"

I was discussing this with my buddy Mat earlier, and there are a few options that Joe Dumars has at his disposal.

The first and most obvious move to make is to let Allen Iverson skip out of town. Rasheed Wallace can follow closely behind.

The next logical move would be trading Tayshaun Prince and Jason Maxiell—and maybe the 15th pick—to the Raptors for Chris Bosh. I think that Toronto would pull the trigger on this deal.

The next move would be to acquire Marvin Williams via free agency. He is still very young and hasn't quite lived up to his potential, but the last time I checked, the Pistons have thrived with players who fit that mold.

Lastly, I think Dumars should do everything he can to talk Antonio McDyess into coming back for one or two more years. 

If these moves were to happen, the Pistons would have a starting lineup that looks something like this:

Rodney Stuckey

Rip Hamilton

Marvin Williams

Chris Bosh

Antonio McDyess

Bench: Will Bynum, Aaron Afflalo, Amir Johnson, Kwame Brown and another free agent sixth man.

With that lineup I think the Pistons are back into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.

I will always put my trust in Joe Dumars, and whether the offseason ends up like my blueprint or something completely different, I will continue to hold out hope for a quick return to glory.