Pistons now have ‘The Answer’

After the Boston Celtics took the Detroit Pistons out of the playoffs earlier this year, team president Joe

(Kirthomon F. Dozier/Detroit Free Press/MCT) Detroit Pistons Chauncey Billups passes against the Atlanta Hawks during second period action on Oct. 23, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Dumars said changes were coming. The team, in Dumars words, had become “too content” and Dumars was adamant about being willing to move anyone.

“There are no sacred cows,” Dumars said.

He started off by firing head coach Flip Saunders, who had lost touch with his players and lost the confidence of the front office. He brought in Michael Curry, who has zero head coaching experience but does know a lot of the talent in Detroit from his time as a player.

After making the change as head coach, many of the fans, analysts and bloggers expected pieces to start falling into place for the Pistons to make a blockbuster deal. There was flirtation with Denver about Carmelo Anthony, but the Nuggets probably would have wanted Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell just to sit down at the table with Detroit. Those three represent the youth in the Pistons’ current success as well as the foundation for future success.

So everyone waited. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and soon enough, training camp was upon the team. Their big offseason moves included drafting a player who played only 12 games for his college last year and signing Kwame Brown, who must have a bet with Michael Olowokandi to see who could be a bigger first pick bust. Not the big offseason move the fans were hoping for.

Then Monday happened. Two games into the season, Dumars pulled the trigger. Detroit sent Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb to the Denver Nuggets for former NBA MVP Allen Iverson.
This is the biggest and riskiest trade Dumars has made during his tenure as Pistons’ president. It’s easy to see why it is the biggest. It is the riskiest because he is breaking up a group that has had consistent success and whose sum of parts is greater than the individuals.

Every other trade Detroit has made was to get to the top of the Eastern Conference, such as getting Ben Wallace when Grant Hill was headed for a big free agent contract or acquiring Rasheed Wallace for the unexpected run to the Finals in 2004.

This trade comes as Detroit still maintains one of the top spots in the East, even if it is disappointing to get to the Eastern Conference Finals every year, only to lose.

The window is closing on the current starters. Dumars knows this.

Chauncey Billups is still one of the better point guards in the league, but his best days are behind him. With Stuckey pushing him hard for playing time, Detroit needs to look to the future while staying competitive now.

With McDyess now gone, the front-court situation clears up a little. Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell get more playing time, but now must prove they are worth the hype they have gotten throughout their young careers.
Rasheed Wallace is a free agent after this year, and there is no point to bring him back if the season ends again in the conference finals or sooner.

Iverson won’t be back after this season, either. This experiment is a one-year deal. Either “The Answer” will become the catalyst for a team that has been embarrassed in the last three Eastern Conference Finals, or the team will struggle to jell and limp into the playoffs as the underdog.

Either way, it needed to be done. Critics will say that the deal got done because Dumars grew impatient, but in all reality, he had achieved all he could with the team he had, and there needed to be an infusion of new blood.

In addition to that, the Eastern Conference has gotten much better over the last two years. The Boston Celtics are the team to beat and LeBron James is the single greatest force in the league. Beyond those two teams, Toronto, Philadelphia and Orlando have gotten better as well.

Iverson gives the Pistons a legit go-to scorer down the stretch. Billups may have been Mr. Big Shot, but Iverson can put his team on his back when they need a basket. Plus, Iverson gets put on a team that has a shot at winning a title, which should get him to play to his full potential.

Maybe it’s a desperate move, but with their grip on the East slipping, it was the move the Pistons had to make.

Zachary Reichard, the Western Herald managing editor, is a senior majoring in journalism and comparative religion, and can be reached via e-mail at herald-managing@wmich.edu.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=1857

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 4 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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