The 2008-2009 Detroit Pistons: Same 'Sheed, Different Day

Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce you to your 2008-2009 Detroit Pistons.

Wait, I'm sorry. That's the 2007-2008 Detroit Pistons. Or is it 2006-2007?

Who can tell anymore? Looks a whole lot like the same guys that maintain that they are the class of the East (which is a lot like being the manliest figure skater) until game six of the Eastern Conference Finals like it's a team tradition.

Most people, whether they make millions as an NBA GM or make nothing as GM in NBA 2K9, understand that when you consistently fall short of your goal, you need to adjust. Perhaps the core group of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and a player to be named later isn't working anymore.

The Pistons' woes start in the frontcourt.

Wallace is comfortable in Detroit, and that's a problem. To this day, he has consistent All-Star skill, but is one of the most notoriously unmotivated players in basketball. He only plays hard when somebody makes him angry (and even then he usually gets a technical); otherwise, he plays out-of-position and lazy on both sides of the court. If he spent 80 percent of his time in the post playing to his full potential, he would score 25 points a game and be an All-Star starter.

Prince is still a great player, but fans and coaches have been expecting breakout performances from him for a few seasons now, and his production remains pedestrian. He seems uncomfortable in the spotlight, which makes him both unselfish—a good thing, and ineffective as a go-to guy—a bad thing.

Then there's that other guy. That center/power forward type in there with Wallace. What was his name...Kwamir McMohammann?

Seriously, is it too much to ask for a "powerhouse" NBA team to field a true NBA center? Maybe part of Wallace's limited production is the fact that he hates playing center, and since the departure of that other Wallace, he has shared his frontcourt with a series of players who may as well be black silhouettes with a question mark on their faces.

Antonio McDyess is good, but is a power forward, and is more comfortable coming off the bench.

Nazr Mohammed fit with the Pistons like Richard Simmons at an NRA convention.

Amir Johnson is promising, but unproven.

Jason Maxiell plays like a power forward/center, but he's 6'7".

I barely even know who Walter Hermann is.

Kwame Brown is a punchline.

I understand Dumars' ideas for the season, that new head coach Michael Curry will drive the players to compete hard every game, which has been lacking since the Larry Brown era. That the team is good enough as it is to win a championship if they would just sustain the intensity that they had in their 2004 title run and 2005 near-repeat.

I would be on board with that, but I just watched a Pistons team with an opportunity to make a statement against a "new-look" Indiana Pacers team. For those who don't know, "new-look" is code in the NBA for "rebuilding, and currently full of complimentary players."

And there they were. The 2006/2007/2008/2009 Detroit Pistons, outplaying their opponents with solid offense and consistent defense, only to take a nap and ask the Pacers to wake them up when it was a two possession game again. Way to keep them playing, Coach Curry.

Don't get me wrong, the group is (mostly) solid. The Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats and about 20 other teams wish they were the Pistons. Consistently being one of the last teams to get eliminated from the playoffs is nothing to be ashamed of.

Unless you're the Detroit Pistons, who fancy themselves one of the most prominent teams in the NBA in the past decade. Lasting recognition is not built by being a rite of passage for Eastern Conference teams on the way to the Finals. It is built through winning, not almost winning it every year.

Check that, I'm wrong. Everybody remembers the 1990-1993 Buffalo Bills, right?