Strangely, Erick Dampier Is the Key To Detroit Pistons' Credibility

Okay, before you roll your eyes and destroy me for making too much of Erick Dampier and his talent, hear me out.

First off, I have not just gone completely insane and pinned the Detroit Pistons' hopes and dreams on a journeyman center that has never been anything but a disappointment on every team he has played on.

Dampier is not good, and if Detroit signs him, they will not necessarily be a better team.

But Detroit has to sign Dampier.

Confused?

The reason that Detroit has to sign the newly waived Dampier has less to do with Dampier and more to do with the bizarre moves that have been made, or in this case nearly made, by team president Joe Dumars.

I have already talked about the strange past two years of moves by Dumars ad nauseum so I will stick with this summer as my baseline. But anyone that has followed this team will tell you that that is probably being generous.

When Dumars signed Tracy McGrady, I admittedly read him the riot act. And I am not going to get into all of the reasons that I hate this move. Instead, I will focus on one of the arguments that got somewhat lost in the shuffle.

I hated (and still hate by the way) the T-Mac signing because it signified something that Detroit hasn't done for a while and with good reason. It was a public relations move meant to spur ticket sales. Plain and simple. And that isn't something that Detroit has been about in the Joe Dumars era.

Sure, you could argue that the Joe Smith signing a decade ago was somewhat a PR move, but Smith still had a bit of talent and Dumars was trying to shake up his team. Smith was a big name at the time, and he brought a little bit of excitement to a comatose fanbase.

I remember watching the game the day before he was signed. Dumars and Smith both were in the building and the two Joe's made their way down the stairs towards the court, and the crowd let out a roar. The next day it was announced that Smith would be signing for the remainder of the year.

Of course, the Smith signing ended up being much ado about nothing as Smith averaged a pedestrian 12 points per game (strangely the last time he reached that figure in a very disappointing career), and the Pistons had a terrible year.

Since then, there have been no real public relations moves by Dumars. The Chris Webber deal was a feel good story, but he also helped add depth to the front court. Same with Derrick Coleman. These were players that were past their prime that were brought in to add more depth to the front line and at worst supply six fouls in a playoff game. The Bad Boys Pistons did the same thing with Darryl Dawkins and Chuck Nevitt as well.

There has been an unwritten contract between the Pistons organization and the fans of Detroit. Basically, it states that the Pistons brass will treat the fans as though they are intelligent. Management will not pander, and will treat the basketball fans with respect.

This works out well for Detroit. Pistons fans are unlike any fans you will ever come in contact with. Obviously I am biased here, but trust me. I have lived in every region of this country and I study fans. This is not to say that the Pistons fans are better than other fans because we are not. We are guilty of some of the same types of things that drive people nuts about other contingents.

What really makes Pistons fans unique is how they view the game of basketball. We root for the team that nobody likes. While everybody else is clamoring for high scoring, we are excited about defense. Some of the worst t.v. rated playoff games of the past decade featured the Pistons.

Outside fans decry what they view as boring basketball, but Detroit fans love it. This is the reason that the Pistons sold out more games than anyone else in the past 10 years, and why the Palace had the highest attendance in seven different seasons of any team in the NBA.

We root for the players that people love to hate. Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn are still gods on Michigan. Isiah Thomas still is a hero despite having literally the opposite of the Midas touch in his post playing career. Ben Wallace became a cult hero despite having deer hooves for hands.

This is an anti-superstar region that shuns the big names. That's why the Pistons didn't start selling out games until they got rid of superstars like Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse, and why those two guys generate about as much excitement from Pistons fans as Chucky Atkins.

Pistons fans are unique and want to be treated as such. We will sell out the Palace every night. All we ask is for a group of hard nosed, tough players that will be competitive and play defense. No other fan base is that easy to please.

As a result, we require the respect of not being sold public relations signings. And that is exactly what the McGrady signing was.

So what does this have to do with Dampier?

Last week, a story leaked out that probably was missed by most people as it happened in the midst of the beginning of football season. Shaquille O'Neal was giving an interview, and he said that he signed with the Celtics despite being offered more money by the Atlanta Hawks and one other team.

Yes, you guessed it, the Detroit Pistons.

Apparently, Dumars offered the Big Shamrock $8 million per season to strap on the old red, white, and blue Pistons' uniform.

Let that sink in for a second. Shaq was almost a Piston. 

For argument sake, let's explore how O'Neal would fit in Detroit. Of course he is huge, and the Pistons have a natural need for a big man. That is the only way I can sell this to you with a straight face.

O'Neal is so past his prime that I am actually starting to like him. What I mean is that superstars like Shaq and Michael Jordan before him were so hated by Pistons fans, that when they became shells of their former selves we begin to root for them in a nonstalgic sort of way. Remembering how great they were reminds us of how great we were to beat them.

But make no mistake about it, Shaq is finished. He is capable of maybe 10 points and five rebounds per game. Maybe seven boards. But all he does now is clog up the lane and sweat like your uncle after Thanksgiving dinner.

For a title contender like Boston, he makes sense. He helps their front line and gives them six fouls at worst. Even Atlanta can sell O'Neal as a basketball move.

But for a team that will not be a title contender, pursuing Shaq is a marketing ploy to sell tickets.

However, I hope I am wrong. This is where Dampier comes in. Dampier, at this stage of his career, is just like O'Neal, except three years younger than the Diesel. Last year, he averaged six points and seven boards which compares well to O'Neal's 12 and six. Dampier even had a few more blocks than Shaq.

But make no mistake about it, Dampier is the key to the future of the relationship between the Pistons and their fans. If they fail to make a move for Dampier, they will be telling their fans that they were pursuing O'Neal solely for the purpose of selling tickets, an egregious violation of the unwritten contract.

In order for the Pistons front office to regain some of the credibility that they have lost in the past two years, they need to strongly pursue Dampier. If they do that, they can chalk the McGrady deal up to a buy-low situation and some people will still buy it.

Quite the surreal situation. Never before has a player that likely will not substantially alter the performance of a team been so paramount to its future.

Erick Dampier has never been so important to the future of an NBA franchise.