Detroit Basketball

With the playoffs approaching this weekend, everybody is already shoeing in Dallas as the lock-in NBA champions, with some justification. They did reach the Finals last year and proved themselves to be hungry for success this year by ending the season with the best record. But I am not quite so quick to give them a free pass, mainly because their situation mirrors Detroit’s position at the end of last season. Detroit was beaten in the Finals the previous season to San Antonio and they were hungry for some payback. Detroit then finished with a franchise-best season and the best record in the NBA. Then they promptly fell apart. Five of the last six teams to end the season with the best record have been eliminated from the postseason in an “upset”. This stat really isn’t that surprising to me. With 82 games in a season, going all-out every night would leave any team not led by Michael Jordan drained come the post season. Add a couple of game 6 and 7s along the way and you’re done. That’s why I think that Detroit has the best chance for the Championship this year and I’ll give you my 5 reasons.

5.) The Bench: For the last two seasons the Pistons bench has been a non-factor. In 2004 when they won the Finals, they had such bench players as Mehmet Okur, Mike James, Corliss Williamson, and a younger Lindsey Hunter to name a few. In 2005 and 2006 the bench was, well Antonio McDyess, and, um, Antonio McDyess. This year players like Carlos Delfino and Jason Maxiell are providing a spark off the bench. Carlos Delfino is being exceptionally productive. Antonio McDyess has been producing double digits in scoring since the All-Star break and is still a defensive presence. Lindsey Hunter is still a premier one-on-one defender against guards and occasionally forwards. Flip Murray has been coming into his own after a mostly disappointing season. Hell, maybe even Nazr Mohammed will prove valuable; he was, after all, the starting center for the 2005 San Antonio Spurs champs that ousted the Pistons.

4.) Loaded Western Conference: Most sports casters on ESPN and other networks have been spouting this ridiculous notion that an Eastern Conference team cannot compete with all of the top three teams in the West. Having four of the top five teams in the Western Conference helps rather than hurts any of the Eastern contenders. For instance, Dallas will have to go through Golden State, then Houston or Utah, and then San Antonio or Phoenix just to reach the Finals. Coming out of the West in itself will be a feat. Which brings me to:

3.) Weak Eastern Conference: Detroit will have much less opposition in winning the East. A first round match-up with Orlando followed by a series with Cleveland or a battered Miami and then an Eastern conference show-down with Chicago or Toronto seems much less intimidating. By the time the Finals roll around, they should just be getting warmed-up.

2.) Chris Webber: I know that Webber has been the guy people loved to hate for the last, say, pretty much since his high school days at DCD. Webber is perceived as being a talented yet lazy, destructive, disinterested, gutless, and, I you’re from the Ann Arbor region, completely boneheaded player. Rasheed Wallace has had a similar rep throughout his time in the NBA but found a home in Detroit. It seems that Webber has done the same. I found it amusing that Philadelphia has been upset with Webber’s recent desire to play team basketball for Detroit after being nothing but a lump of over-priced coal in Philly. People who say that Chris Webber cannot replace Ben Wallace are morons. Ben Wallace was already gone. Chris Webber came to replace Nazr Mohammed and you can’t argue that a change wasn’t needed there.

1.) Flip Saunders: I wholeheartedly believe that the reason for the collapse of the Pistons in last years Conference Finals rests on Ben Wallace’s shoulders. He fought with Flip Saunders every step of the way. He complained about their defense, practicing, money, and my favorite, a complete lack of an offensive role. This year it will be Flip’s show without a major dissenter to his method in the locker room. Ben Wallace was a relic to the Larry Brown era (ok, relic is a bit harsh, it wasn’t that long ago), not to mention that age is catching up to him. If LB was still head coach and didn’t go all diva on Detroit’s ass Ben would still be the face of the franchise but LB did, and now Ben isn’t. Flip now has an offensive minded center in Chris Webber and four other guys whose only agenda is to win another championship.