Piston Preview:Can The Stones Keep Up With The East Beasts?
With the NBA draft done and free agency in the rearview mirror, now is as good a time as any for an early look at the upcoming season for the Detroit Pistons. On the surface, not many changes were made, but sometimes no change is best.
Let's start with the guard situation. The Pistons have Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Terrico White, and presumably Will Bynum on the roster. Five shooting guards (six if you count Austin Daye, who may have issues scoring time at small forward), and no point guards. While Bynum and Stuckey masquerade as points, the Pistons have no true point guards on the roster. In addition, Rip and Ben Gordon do not play together. Overall, guard is the most well stocked position on the team, but the talent does not mesh well and a move must be made to alleviate the logjam at the two guard position.
At forward the Piston have Tayshaun Prince, the other Tayshaun Prince... I kid, Austin Daye and Prince are not quite body doubles, but they could almost pass for brothers. They also have Jonas Jerebko, Greg Monroe, Dajuan Summers, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell, and Chris Wilcox. Dajuan Summers and Chris Wilcox are both space warmers, basically just holding down the fort until someone better comes along.
Wilcox shows flashes of promise but has never delivered in a career that has included stops in Detroit, Seattle, and Clipperland among others... Dajuan Summers is a summer league story that ends before the real games begin, while Maxiell is an undersized and underachieving center in a small forward's body. Charlie V has talent, but appears to want to become the 7th shooting guard on the roster instead of a starting power forward. In short, Other than Tayshaun and Jerebko (both small forwards) the forward position is a mess.
The only true center under contract for the Pistons is Ben Wallace. While Ben is long in the tooth, he is still a fierce rebounder and defender, giving the Pistons the only real inside muscle they have. Unfortunately, Ben should be playing about 20-25 minutes a night as a super sub and defensive specialist, not holding down the fort for a playoff team.
Many educated and patient followers of the Pistons will note that they lost over 100 man games to injury last year, and point out that better health will improve their record. While in most cases this is true, the Pistons actually played better with Richard Hamilton in street clothes last season. More wins may result from better health, but the mix on this team is off. More healthy players tend to result in a lack of playing time and disjointed, often confused play.
The Pistons do have talent on the roster, but it is concentrated too heavily in the guard positions. The best hope for this season is Joe flipping Rip Hamilton into a starting caliber center and Greg Monroe developing quickly into a consistent contributor. It's pretty much a lock that Miami, Boston, Orlando, and Chicago have the top four spots come May. The rest of the East is mediocre however. If Joe makes the right moves, the Pistons could climb as high as 5th in a weak Eastern Conference. Unfortuantely, with the roster as it stands now, I'm afraid it will be another long year in Auburn Hills.
Prediction:33-49 10th in Eastern Conference
