2009-10 NBA Preview: Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons

2008-09 Record:

Anticipated Starting Five

PG- Rodney Stuckey
SG- Rip Hamilton
SF- Tayshaun Prince
PF- Charlie Villanueva
C-  Kwame Brown

Key Reserves: Ben Gordon, Chris Wilcox, Jason Maxiell, Austin Daye, Will Bynum

Biggest Strength: Perimeter scoring

Rip, Prince, Stuckey, Gordon, Bynum will be taking the bulk of the shots and doing most of the scoring.  Even Villanueva is more of a perimeter oriented front court players.  I have no doubt these guys will put up points from outside.  But where they do need to find some balance offensively to really compete consistently when shots aren’t falling and good defensive teams look to force the ball inside and away from their strength.

Biggest Weakness: Front court offense

Where do the points in the paint come from?  None of the front court players for Detroit are known for the their post offense.  And aside from Stuckey not of the perimeter players are big time slashers and finishers at the rim.  To balance the strong perimeter offense Detroit has someone in their front court will need to provide some inside scoring.

Key Player: Charlie Villanueva

This is the question mark guy for me.  I have no idea what impact he is going to have on this team.  If he plays very well Detroit makes the playoffs.  If he is just average I don’t think they do.  I like Rip, Ben, Tay and the rookie Summers.  Stuckey is all hype.  Charlie is the guy that really needs to step and make an impact for this team sneak into the playoffs.

Biggest Question: How will this team mesh?

Out are Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess, in are Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Chris Wilcox and 2010 cap space. They tried to get Carlos Boozer, and might have to wait until next summer to get a bigger piece like Chris Bosh. However, they do still have to play this season, and with a lot of new pieces, it will be interesting to see how the identity of this team resembles that of the team we all know from the last 5-6 years. If Rodney Stuckey improves, they might be high scoring team with some inside toughness. Your guess is as good as mine, but with Ben Gordon, you know there will be some excitement.

Best Individual Season of All-Time: Grant Hill, 1996-97

21.4 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 7.3 apg, 1.8 spg, 49.6% FG%

For some reason, I had completely forgotten how good Grant Hill was and how big a deal it was when he left Detroit for the Magic. He didn’t score as much as LeBron, but he put up similar numbers in a whole lot of other categories.

Pete’s 2010 Outlook: 2nd place, Central division / 8th place, Eastern conference / 17th place, NBA

The Pistons sneak in as the last team in the playoffs for me for 2 reasons. The first is Ben Gordon, who can single-handedly win several games a year by going off in the 4th quarter. As he showed against the Celtics in the playoffs, he is as coldblooded as they come. The 2nd reason is their inside toughness and depth. They won’t get a lot of scoring out of these guys except Villaneuva, but in addition to names mentioned above, they also have Ben Wallace and rookies DaJuan Summers and Jonas Jerebko (who has already fought Jamaal Magloire in the pre-season) down low. Scoring from the guards and tough defense in the trenches just barely gets the Pistons in the playoffs.

Dannie’s 2010 Outlook: 3rd place, Central division /  10th place, Eastern conference /  place, NBA

While I see where Pete is going I don’t see it being enough.  I have Detroit out of the playoffs knowing very well they could make it.  I mean chances are the bottom 5 teams 6 through 10 will likely be fighting each other to the very end.

I look at this roster and I really only like 4 guys.  Rip, Ben, Prince and Summers.

I think Stuckey is highly overrated and am still a bit unsure why he is slotted in as the starter.  I mean they benched Rip and then AI just to keep this dude as a starter.  Now Gordon?  Why exactly?  His strongest attribute is probably foul drawing.  Anyway, then you are relying on Charlie Villanueva (never played 30 MPG in his career for an entire season) Kwame Brown, Ben Wallace, Chris Wilcox, Will Bynum, Jason Maxiell and Austin Daye.  I just don’t think it’s going to be enough.

Detroit will need outstanding coaching from a rookie head coach and career years from their three big-time players all while trying to mesh if they want to make the playoffs.

See all 2010 NBA team previews

October 18, 2009