My 2009 Pistons Play In The Whatifsports World

I am bored.

I want to know what our Pistons team might look like, so I went to one of the few places I can to put the team together; WhatIfSports.com (WIS).

Real quick: It takes like 20 minutes to set up something like what you will read in this article from signing up to creating the team to simulating games...if you are interested.

For the most part, I used the player stats from last year except for the following roster members:

Chris Wilcox is using his 2007-2008 numbers because last year seems a little fluky.

Deron Washington is represented by 2007-08 Rodney Carney

DaJuan Summers is represented by 2005-06 Brian Cook

and Austin Daye is represented by 2008-09 Tim Thomas.

The science behind the rookie representation is based off of whom the athletes were compared to coming into the draft. The stats may be a little optimistic, but so am I.

Jonas Jerebko is not on the roster because only 12 players can be on a WIS dream team.

To try and gauge the team, I simulated match-ups first against teams that were middle of the playoff pack; 2008's Chicago and Miami.

Good news! Detroit won both match-ups.

Next was last year's cream of the crop: Lakers and Cavs.

Detroit lost both simulations, but was not blown out.

For the last match-up and tie breaker, my attempt of the 2009-10 Pistons take on the 2008-09 Detroit Pistons.

Great news! The WIS computers believe that the new team is better than last year's team.

Here are a few points I gathered from the box scores:

Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva are real hit-or-miss shooters. This isn't really anything that goes against their work in the real world. Villanueva needs to stop flinging up so many three pointers.

Jason Maxiell becomes even more of a beast. According to the simulator he's scoring double digits and getting tons of blocks and rebounds without fouling.

Actually...

nobody is fouliing or turning over the ball too much. None of the players foul out of a game and they averaged about 14 turnovers a game.

We are scoring points, like 105-115 a game, but our opponents are doing the same.

I know that WhatIfSports.com's simulator is not an accurate barometer. I think no one and nothing can decently predict what this season holds for us. I just hope the team is not as moody as last year.