Amigos' NBA Previews: Detroit Pistons

Recent Past They beat the hall of famey Lakers and won their title, and they were really good for a while, and then some stuff happened and they weren't as good anymore. Got slaughtered by Cleveland in the playoffs. There you go.

Offseason They grabbed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, leaving some...well, most...to question if the Billups-AI deal was really worth shit. They also added Chris Wilcox, and drafted a couple...dudes. Oh, and Ben Wallace came back, which is kind of neat. Amir Johnson, Arron Afflalo, Rasheed Wallace, Walter Herrmann and Antonio McDyess all left.

Probable lineup Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Charlie Villanueva, and...Kwame Brown. Will Bynum, Ben Gordon, Chris Wilcox, Jason Maxiell, Ben Wallace, and probably someone they drafted as key subs. So, yea.

General overview Look. This is a pretty decent team. That lineup...it's not bad. It's nice. There, is that enough moderate adjectives to convince you that this is a fucking run of the mill team? Good.

They should do the whole "lower-rung" playoff thing pretty well, and maybe they can even sneak as high as four or five in the East if shit really goes right. But then again, it wouldn't be shocking to see them really have to eek out a playoff spot, and considering their recent history, and the way this mini-rebuild was presented...that's not good enough.

I like Stuckey and Bynum, but they both seem to really just be really good backup point guards for a true contender. Gordon and Rip are both starting 2s for most teams, and I have no idea how that's going to work out without at least one of them getting pissed. Tayshaun is a nice player, seen as the glue guy by most, he was very useful when they were an elite team. But he's not going to be a star. Charlie Villanueva...again, another pretty nice player, he'll do well, but not great or anything. Nobody on this team is even meant to be a real star, and they aren't really vaguely reminiscent of that '04 team that was presented as the ultimate "team". So, basically? What the fuck?

Oh, Kwame. They have Kwame.

If they were a hip hop act The Pharcyde. Except when they started breaking up, and it just got to be sort of sad that they were still calling themselves The Pharcyde. The title=Bizarre Ride. The post-title goodness=Labcabincalifornia. And last year/this=...everything else. So there you go.

Guessing how they'll do Like I said, they're alright, but just so decidedly not that great. They'll be a nice playoff team, and that's about it. I'd be pretty surprised if they advance in the playoffs, but then again, who knows.