| | By Eric Karabell
ESPN.com
As the Detroit Pistons were on their way to being swept out of the playoffs by the Miami Heat last season, you could see it was the end of an era. With six free agents on the team, including one name that stands out a little more than all the others, you got the feeling the Pistons would look a whole lot different in 2000-01.
|  | | Lindsey Hunter is more two-guard than point guard, which the Pistons have figured out. |
And why shouldn't they? Grant Hill, the big free agent bound for Orlando, put up some serious numbers in his six years in Motown. But you know how many playoff series he won? His next one will be his first. We're not saying he isn't a winner, just that -- for whatever reason -- he hasn't won anything yet. There's a difference. So, Pistons fans, maybe it's not such a bad thing that Grant is gone. There's money to spend and new people to root for.
With that, here is our eighth offseason team spotlight, the Detroit Pistons. As always, we have our opinions, which are below, and we thank you for your comments as well. Click on the right of this page to read some of the better remarks on the Pistons.
Why the Pistons were 42-40: This was a dangerous team last season. As Hill emerged into not just a normal superstar, but one who could consistently score 30 points a night (his career high for scoring was 21.4 -- last year he averaged 25.7), the Pistons became capable of beating anyone. But two trouble spots for this team in the Hill years didn't solve themselves last year. With Bison Dele so excited for another year in Detroit that he retired to run a sewage plant in Israel (we didn't make that up) and Lindsey Hunter clearly not a great passer, the Pistons went another year with no legit big man and no legit point guard. And no legit chance to advancing in the postseason.
The Pistons still have the rights to Dele, who you may know better as Brian Williams, but all you hear about him is that he's trade bait to a team that wants to deal with his issues. Hunter is not a bad player, but when your point guard averages only four assists a game, it's not good enough. In fairness to Hunter, Hill and Jerry Stackhouse handled the ball almost all the time. But obviously it didn't work. Hunter's more a shooting guard.
When the Pistons acquired Stackhouse from Philadelphia in the Theo Ratliff deal, it made a lot of people wonder. Stack and Allen Iverson never shared real well, so how would Stack and Hill? Plus, isn't Ratliff exactly the type of guy Detroit needs? Stackhouse and Hill went on to be one of the top scoring duos in the league last year, and helped the Pistons score more points than every team other than Sacramento. But Hill and Stackhouse aren't inside players. The starting center and power forward on the Pistons most of the time, Terry Mills and Christian Laettner, aren't either. Jerome Williams was the only player on the team willing to rebound. He needs help.
Run-and-gun basketball is fun to watch, and it certainly doesn't hurt guys like Stackhouse. But it's tough to win that way.
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Current projected top 6
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PG
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Lindsey Hunter
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SG
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Jerry Stackhouse
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SF
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to be acquired
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PF
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Christian Laettner
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C
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Ben Wallace
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6th
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Jerome Williams
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Team MVP: Hill. Still one of the best all-around players in the game. It's a shame the lasting memories Pistons fans may have of Hill is him on the bench with foot problems in the playoffs. Team LVP: Loy Vaught. Some teams make bad decisions, but this one will haunt the Pistons for years. They gave a five-year, $22.8 million deal to a guy with back problems. After averaging 1.7 points in 43 games, he has three years to go on his contract, by the way. Even the Clips won't trade for this guy. Surprise! Williams has gotten better each year, but to see a 6-9, 200-pounder holding his own most nights with 7-footers was too much to ask. Williams did it, averaged 9.6 boards and was a contender for NBA sixth man honors. Up and comer: Mikki Moore, a spry 7-footer who played in 29 games last year, is a free agent who VP of Player Personnel Joe Dumars expects to keep. Moore may or may not be tough enough, but he's certainly no Eric Montross.
What they need: Stop us if you've heard this line before: The Pistons need size. Of course they do, since just about every other NBA team does as well. The Pistons have some money to spend and have attracted interest from some free agents. But they won't be getting anyone like Hill.
Orlando's Ben Wallace is no taller than Williams, but he's a legit bruiser and a shot blocker, and likely to start at center if he signs. Magic teammate Chucky Atkins also verbally committed to the Pistons, which means that top draft pick Mateen Cleaves can take his time and Hunter can become the third guard, a role he's better suited for. This is a good start.
But past that, the Pistons have other problems they can't get solve so easily. Vaught is like an anchor on the team's salary cap, and he's not even playable. Even Montross is playable. Laettner put up numbers when he was a Hawk, but since he tore his Achilles', the numbers stopped. Plus, while he brings attitude to the table, it's the wrong kind of attitude. A power forward who gets 12 points, 6 rebounds doesn't block a shot and shies away from contact doesn't cut it. And while we're at it, Stackhouse doesn't always think about defense either, though it's easy to forget when he's dropping 30 points on opponents.
We shouldn't forget about the other Pistons who contributed. Michael Curry, John Crotty and Jud Buechler all did what they were asked to do. Curry played every game and is a hounding defensive player. Curry and Buechler should be back.
George Irvine did a nice job as interim coach (after Alvin Gentry was used somewhat as a scapegoat). The team had lost 11 straight on the road when he took over, but finished the year 7-5 away from home. Since he guided the Pistons to the postseason the players asked management to bring him back. Now that he's here and Hill isn't, Irvine needs to ask management for different players to build around Stackhouse. Pistons fans had a hard time forgetting about Dumars, the consummate team player who hung up the high tops before last season. Now they have to forget about Hill and move on.
What the plan is: If the Pistons are going to make a dent in the Eastern Conference, it's going to be with a very different lineup. There's a huge void for a scorer at small forward, where Tim Thomas would have looked pretty good. That's not happening. Of last year's starting lineup, only Stackhouse really deserves to be in it again. Wallace and Atkins would be improvements at center and the point, but neither are likely to rank among the top players in the East at the position. Without knowing who the small forward will be, it's tough to break down the team's status.
What we do know is that Stackhouse, whose career-high scoring average in a short and checkered career used to be 20.7, is going to light it up as the lone option next season and might approach Hill's 25 a night. But Stackhouse doesn't bring everything that Hill did to the court in terms of all-around ability, and it showed when Hill was out of the lineup last season.
Direction heading: The Pistons should improve at center and point guard. They should rebound and pass better and play better defense. Irvine will get a full season as the head coach -- though he didn't want to return -- and Stackhouse will be an All-Star again. But that doesn't mean Detroit will win any more games than it did last season. Losing Hill is a big deal. For this year at least, the team is probably going backward.
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ALSO SEE
ESPN.com's Offseason Spotlight Index
Offseason spotlight: Pistons users comments
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