Retooling in the Motor City: Detroit Pistons' Second-Half Preview

In a season that has begun in an unusual way for the Detroit Pistons and their fans, one thing needs to be stressed to those approaching the ledge and contemplating jumping: The season is not over yet!

That's right, Pistons’ fans, we have only reached the midway point. In fact, the season will not be half way over until the end of Wednesday night's game against Toronto.

It is strange to think it is only half over since so much has happened this year. The Pistons finally broke up their starting lineup by shipping Chauncey Billups to Denver in a trade that brought one of this era's pre-eminent scorers to Motown...Allen Iverson.

There have been some ups and a lot of downs. The Pistons have shown glimpses of greatness by beating Cleveland and the Lakers, but have also faltered against weak teams such as Philadelphia and Oklahoma City.

Some players have risen to the occasion, such as the quicker-than-expected emergence of Rodney Stuckey. Others have struggled, such as the suddenly pouty Rip Hamilton.

Regardless, the fans have had a different team to behold, and they have voiced their frustrations. However, many have forgotten that Detroit does not always have a stellar record by midseason.

Since winning the NBA title in 2004, Detroit has had only one substantially high win total at the half way mark. Their record at the season’s midpoint over the past four seasons has been 23-18, 36-5, 24-17, and 29-12.

If Detroit wins their game with the Raptors on Wednesday, they will be 24-17, the same record they had two years ago when they reached the conference finals before losing to the Cleveland LeBrons. 

If they lose, their record will be the same as the year they came one quarter away from repeating as champs.

So you see, we as Pistons fans have been so used to success that we have easily forgotten that our record is not so out of whack with the status quo of this team.

That being said, there are many issues facing this team moving forward, and I have signaled out five that are of crucial importance.

1. The Rip/AI situation must be resolved.

The small-ball experiment is on borrowed time and is about to be 86ed. As you are reading this, the Pistons are getting ready to have a sit down with both Iverson and Hamilton to discuss the best way to move forward.

I have advocated bringing Iverson off the bench in a recent article, although in an online poll that I posted, only 21 percent of those polled agreed with me. 

Most people believe Hamilton should be the one coming off the bench. This is an argument that I have exhausted on this site, so I will abstain from beating it to death here. 

Regardless, one of these two shooting guards needs to come off the bench and lead a second unit that is woefully short on offense.

It will not be an easy sell, as both players are used to being starters. However, if Detroit is to advance in the playoffs, their hopes rest squarely on how the players handle this move.

The other option would be to ship one of these players out of town, but that is not likely to happen. Iverson has an expiring contract that was a big part of why Detroit was willing to part with Billups. Hamilton recently received a contract extension, making him a lot more difficult to move. 

Regardless, a trade would have to bring back a tough big man, and not a lot of them are on the market. Perhaps the Pistons could become a late addition to the Jermaine O'Neal sweepstakes or they may go after Marcus Camby or Carlos Boozer. 

However, those possibilities seem unlikely given the contracts that those players currently have. Detroit will likely not address their frontcourt until the offseason, when they will certainly become major players in free agency, with their estimated $25-$30 million in cap space.

2. The Second Unit Must Improve.

Regardless of which shooting guard moves to the bench, the rest of the second unit needs to step up on both sides of the court. 

On offense, Antonio McDyess needs to pair with the second unit shooting guard to develop a solid pick and roll rapport. The Pistons had originally hoped to use Stuckey with McDyess, but his rapid improvement and promotion to the starting lineup eliminated that pairing. 

If Hamilton moves to the bench, he has got to work with McDyess, Jason Maxiell, and Amir Johnson to get open on his curl routes. If Iverson is moved to the sixth-man position, he needs to continue to penetrate and open up easy buckets for the big men.

On defense, the second unit needs to put more pressure on the opposition. Detroit has a lot of young, quick guards that can put tremendous pressure on opposing point guards, and long, athletic big men capable of helping out on traps. 

Coach Michael Curry needs to pop in a tape of the Pistons from their title year and watch the final 20 games of the season and watch how Mike James and Lindsey Hunter made life impossible for the opposition. This leads me to the third point...

3. Coach Curry needs to learn quicker.

Some Pistons fans have been quick to judge Curry based on some mistakes he has made. Some have given him some latitude. But nearly everyone agrees that there have been substantial mistakes. 

Most importantly, he has been seemingly hands-off in his approach to the Iverson/Hamilton fiasco. Instead of moving one of them to the bench once Hamilton returned from injury, he thrust him back into a small lineup that had shown itself to be ineffective. 

The fact that the Pistons went on a tear without Hamilton said nothing about Rip, but spoke volumes about the effectiveness of a traditional lineup. Teams were unable to over-power Detroit, and were often times out-hustled by Johnson and Kwame Brown.

Additionally, the Pistons have played poorly late in the game, which typically points to coaching. When a team struggles to close out weak teams, it usually means that the coach is being out-coached. Curry needs to find a strong lineup to close out games.

Also, he needs to avoid a key mistake of former coach Flip Saunders and be consistent with his minutes for young players, and rewarding good play with additional minutes. 

Too often during Saunders' time with Detroit, he was too scared to put a vet on the bench in order to reward a young player that had earned playing time. I remember a game last year in Los Angeles against the Lakers in which Cheikh Samb and Amir Johnson played lights-out defense against Andrew Bynum and essentially willed Detroit to victory.

Their reward was a prolonged period in which neither player received any playing time for weeks to come.

These types of mistakes cannot be repeated. 

Additionally, Curry needs to make the right adjustments and not fear the wrath of his veteran players. Joe Dumars brought in Curry because he needed a coach that had the strength of character to stand up to a team of veterans that had become increasingly complacent.

Now is the time to show that he is up to this task.

4. Wallace needs help up front.

Rasheed Wallace has been in a very tough position over the past few weeks. Coach Curry's small ball experiment put way too much pressure on Wallace, forcing him to be the only big man on the court for long stretches of time, forcing him to be "the man" on defense. 

This is not Wallace's style. He is a soldier, but not a general. Wallace is without a doubt one of the most underrated defensive players of his time. However, his abilities do not often show up in the box score. He is a tremendous help-side defender and his length often changes shots.

But he works best if he is paired with someone that can watch his back as well.  Johnson works well with Wallace due to his athleticism. When paired together, Johnson does an excellent job of helping out the guards and defending the post from penetration.

His ability to get off the ground quick allows Wallace to focus on defensive rebounds. 

On offense, a big man like Brown or Johnson can set picks for the guards and crash the boards, leading to additional possessions and allowing Wallace to focus on scoring. 

Much like Bill Laimbeer before him, Wallace has never been much of an offensive rebounder. But in a traditional lineup, this weakness is not nearly as exposed.

5. Defense must make a comeback.

Recently, Iverson spoke about the fact that team chemistry has been an issue. There are many reasons for this, but namely it is due to the small-ball lineup. In long stretches of being over-matched physically, Detroit has been overpowered on defense. 

This has led to a collapse of defensive team chemistry. Tayshaun Prince has been overpowered, forcing Wallace to over-exert himself to help him, essentially making him guard two guys at once. 

Additionally, Iverson's penchant for gambling for steals has forced Wallace to contest more shots than usual. 

Don't get me wrong, Iverson is one of the best thieves in the game and he needs to continue to do this; his ability to get steals adds a fresh dimension to the team. But Curry needs to have a lineup in place to compensate for that. 

The team also needs to get tougher. Physically speaking, they cannot get pushed around. A lot of this will be cleared up with the new traditional lineup, but not all of it. There needs to be a re-dedication to team defense. I am not advocating zone defense; quite the opposite. 

The Pistons need to get back to taking pride in holding teams to low scores. If everyone commits to keeping their guy in front of them, there will be less resentment about having to help others with theirs. 

Defensive team chemistry is much harder to develop than offensive team chemistry, but it does in fact kill two birds with one stone. Excellent team defense leads to easy buckets on offense. Add to this Iverson's ability to pick pockets, and the Pistons should be able to win the points in transition battle.

So Pistons fans, there is reason to turn around and walk away from the ledge. Chicken Littles, have no fear, the sky is not falling. It will not be easy, but few things worth having are. 

I'm not saying Detroit is going to win it all this year. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome, and not a ton of time to overcome them. However, there are a lot of battle-tested players on this team, and a lot of talented youngsters looking for their chance at greatness. 

So you can bet against them if you want, but remember one thing...titles aren't won in January. Let's see where this ride takes us. Things could be worse...We could be Lions fans.

Oh wait. Nevermind.