Detroit Pistons Prepare for Seventh Eastern Finals, Second Title in Six Years

"Detroit’s window has closed. Detroit’s too old. Detroit’s not hungry enough. Detroit’s too predictable."

I have been hearing these arguments for three years now, and I still fail to understand how people across the league consistently count the Detroit Pistons out of the championship talk, year after year, despite overwhelming success and an incredibly well-constructed team. This is my first article, and I hope it is strong enough to help answer some questions people may be having about the ’09 NBA Championship.

I hear these arguments every year and hold the people who make them in the highest respect, as everybody is entitled to their opinion and the reasons for the development of said opinion, especially seeing how the Pistons did eventually falter in the end.

However, this is one year where I cannot even begin to agree with any negative talk about how far this Pistons team will go in 2009. This team has the potential to be an even greater team than 2004, and the last few teams they have had did possess the capability of bringing home the trophy.

This year, like ’04, belongs to Detroit.

Sure, there are plenty of other contenders out there, but how many with the defensive capabilities, coupled with the offensive arsenal, of the Detroit Pistons. This year, it is not going to come down to individual accomplishment. It will come down to the compilation of straight skills and oddities that are quite difficult to predict or prepare for.

Take the main unit of the four consistent starters, along with the flavor of the week at power forward or center. Tayshaun Prince is the most underrated small forward in the game, with his ridiculously long wingspan and recently developed ability to cut to the basket.

Currently boasting a breakout year, Prince has been put in charge of running the offense many times, and is expected to hold a large role as point forward, which is dangerous for other teams due to his odd array of abilities and great basketball intelligence.

A team with this type of offense is more difficult to defend, because defenses are built to stop a traditional point guard, a position which can be quite predictable at times, even for the great point guards of the league like Chris Paul.

Allen Iverson has a game unseen in the league before him, with a nearly unstoppable crossover and ability to draw defenders in groups, leaving open other good shooters. It is true that he is more of a shoot-first, pass-later type of point guard, but with Prince’s ability to run an offense from the 3 position, this will not be much of an issue in time.

His backcourt mate, Richard Hamilton, is still the best in the league at moving without the basketball, and even though his timing is off so far this year, when his game is on, Rip is quite dangerous.

Few teams in the league have a player with his ability to catch and shoot almost simultaneously, which decreases the effectiveness of the shot clock on your team’s offense.

Rasheed Wallace, when his game is on, is arguably the best player in the league. He can shoot from downtown with great success, but his true magic comes from when he is actually motivated enough to play down in the post.

His passing abilities, as well as his on-court awareness, add more of a threat for any defender to worry about, but when he posts up with the ball in his hands, nobody (including Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett) has the ability to stop him, at which point you may just want to count the bucket before he even shoots.

The final position on the starting unit has been between two players this year, 21-year-old Amir Johnson and former first-overall pick Kwame Brown, who has made a career out of being a complete bust for his former teams.

Many will argue that Amir’s game is not tuned enough to truly be a contributor, and the Kwame’s ball-handling abilities are too much of a liability. However, Amir has proven to be a quick learner, and his skill is ever-increasing, something that former coach Flip Saunders failed to take into account when he reduced him to a human victory cigar.

Kwame has shown to be an avid defender, and his on-court awareness has been ever increasing, leading to several conversions under the basket when left open by unsuspecting defenders.

His ability to defend Andrew Bynum and Shaquille O’Neal one-on-one in recent games created many new questions for fans who previously questioned him, because this ability takes away advantages teams have when their post players have to be double-teamed, something that is frequently needed against those players.

The Pistons greatest asset, however, is their depth, giving them a bunch of nothing less than extremely hard-working players. Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo have been phenomenal in their transition to being major contributors.

Stuckey has shown he can defend, take the ball to the basket, and has been developing his outside and midrange shot, while Afflalo has been a great scoring asset when he is needed most, surprising many because his defensive presence is what drove Joe Dumars to draft him.

At the forward positions, Walter Hermann and Jason Maxiell bring great energy and two developing offensive games. Hermann is an excellent defender who will stop at nothing to get the ball back into Pistons hands, and his offensive game is very strange, making it difficult to defend against.

His large hands allow for greater ball control, his outside shooting ability can stretch a defense, and his ability to take the ball to the basket will make him a very dangerous scorer, as he begins to convert more of his drives.

Despite being only 6’8", Maxiell is a very strong power forward with great jumping ability, shot blocking skills, and a dunk so powerful, a defender’s only way to stop him comes with a foul attached to it. Making him even more dangerous, however, is the jumper that he has been working on—with limited success.

Perhaps the most surprising story this year, however, is the emergence of Will Bynum, Detroit’s third point guard and basically 12th man. Previously undrafted, Will has played in the D-League and overseas, honing his game. Now, when called upon, he seems to be able to score in bunches and help in changing the entire tone of a game.

One question that still must be answered is the ability of rookie coach Michael Curry. Many people wonder if he has the skills and basketball knowledge to take this team to the Finals, a feat that would require both the respect of the team and full control over Rasheed Wallace.

In order to answer this question, one must look at the games played so far. Curry has an advantage over many other coaches and it will essentially help him to develop this team and make them champions again.

He believes in his team and analyzes matches to determine what may work best. Most teams have a consistent rotation, but Curry’s rotation (including his starting unit) is changed each game to match up with the team being played.

When you have total trust in your entire team, it deepens the rotation and makes a team unpredictable. When you believe that hard work should be rewarded, and do not put the game in the hands of somebody who is not motivated, the only players who are on the floor at that point will be players who are trying their absolute best.

Right now, there are many people pondering the return of power forward Antonio McDyess.

I believe that this team is a force to be reckoned with as currently constructed, but if McDyess does return to the team that traded him with Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson, I do not see the possibility of another team stopping the charge to the championship.

Should we have the fortune of getting him back, as seems to be the plan right now for both he and the team, I will address that at the time.

In the end, there will always be arguments over which team will make it, and why certain teams did not. However, I do not see how the Pistons could not come out of the East and win the championship.

Their arsenal of players with odd skills makes it difficult for other teams to be prepared on the defensive end, their depth, and their overall work ethic and motivation make for a team that is not only unpredictable, but flat-out dangerous.

Right now, Detroit is looked at as the underdog once again, and that is perhaps the biggest mistake any opponent can make.