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Where do Pistons go now? No easy answers
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By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
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One NBA title. A Game 7 in the Finals. 64 wins this season. Four players in the 2006 All-Star Game.
The Detroit Pistons' run the last three seasons has been amazing.
Unfortunately, Pistons fans, it's over.
The Pistons had their backs against the wall again on Friday night and they did what they don't usually do -- they came up short. The team couldn't make a shot and couldn't stop Miami.
Have we witnessed the end of an era? Is this the '04 Lakers all over again?
Pistons president Joe Dumars doesn't have long to figure out what changes, if any, need to be made to his team.
For starters, Ben Wallace hits free agency July 1.
Then Chauncey Billups wants a big contract extension this fall.
So what's the blueprint for the future?
The Pistons were the best basketball team in the NBA in the regular season. So Dumars could look at this year's 64 wins and say, "There's no reason to panic." Under this premise, they could play the starters a little less next year, get more comfortable with head coach Flip Saunders and be just fine.
Or, Dumars could make a few minor tweaks to the team to address the glaring weaknesses. Adding a quick guard to break down defenses and get to the basket would open up the offense. Finding a little low-post scoring would lessen Detroit's dependence on the jump shot.
Or, Dumars could blow up the Pistons and start from scratch. He could scrap the coach, sell off the players to the highest builder and rebuild the Pistons.
No matter what plan he chooses, he faces serious roadblocks. The team is capped out, limiting what it can do in free agency. Also, the Pistons don't have a first-round draft pick this season. And a number of young Eastern Conference teams, such as the Cavs, who almost knocked out the Pistons this year, appear to be on the rise.
Here are the three biggest issues Dumars will have to sort out this summer:
Issue 1: What to do about Ben Wallace
Wallace is an unrestricted free agent. For months it's seemed to be a given that Big Ben would re-up with the Pistons and finish his career in Detroit.
Wallace is the heart and soul of the Pistons. He's the guy who started the team's turnaround. He's been underpaid for most of the run. Dumars is a loyal guy. It's not clear that the Pistons' Bad Boy mojo even exists without Big Ben in the middle. So Wallace has to come back, right?
A number of factors have muddied the waters in the past few months.
First, after deciding to go without an agent, which seemed to be a signal he would re-sign with Detroit, Wallace did an about-face a month ago and hired superagent Arn Tellem to negotiate his deal.
The conventional wisdom this whole season was the Dumars would negotiate a reasonable contract with Wallace that rewarded him for his past performance but didn't break the Pistons back financially. Now, no one's sure.
With teams like the Bulls, Raptors and Hawks needing centers and having max cap room to play with this summer, Wallace may garner an offer well above what the Pistons want to pay.
Second, it's pretty clear that Wallace isn't a huge fan of Saunders.
Wallace is a defensive stopper and Saunders is an offensive coach. Wallace felt loved when defense-first coaches Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle ran the show. Now? He's been openly critical about Saunders' approach. Is their relationship strained enough that he'll look elsewhere?
Three, Wallace's game seems to be slipping. He's not the dominant rebounder and shot-blocker he once was.
Yes, he won the Defensive Player of the Year award this season. But Wallace doesn't seem quite as explosive as he was at his peak. Any slippage will only increase with age, and Wallace turns 32 in September. A big-money, five-year deal might mean that Wallace would be grossly overpaid at the end of the contract as he approached age 37.
The Pistons would probably like to offer Wallace about three years, $24-30 million. But it's quite possible another suitor will offer something like five years, $60-70 million.
All of those factors seem to argue against re-signing Wallace. But what's the backup plan if Dumars lets him go? The team's front line is thin. Wallace's understudy, Darko Milicic, was traded in February. Their options to replace Big Ben are slim to none. And while a sign-and-trade is possible in theory, several teams with cap room could sign Wallace without agreeing to give up any assets in trade.
Issue 2: Whether to keep coach Flip Saunders
He seemed like a brilliant choice when the Pistons hired him. Saunders is the anti-Larry Brown. He's personable, a player's coach and the guy who was supposed to jump start the team's offense.
For most of the regular season, Saunders lived up to advance billing, and then some. The team performed at a very high level, making a run at 70 wins and showing more freedom and confidence than ever, and Saunders finished a strong third in the Coach of the Year voting.
However, he made some critical mistakes that might have cost the Pistons the title.
First, he refused to develop his bench. Not only did he ride his top six -- Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Antonio McDyess -- into the ground, but he never developed the depth necessary to provide them relief.
Talented players like Milicic, Carlos Arroyo and Carlos Delfino sat around doing little or nothing. Eventually Arroyo and Milicic were shipped out, with the rationale being that the Pistons might as well get rid of them if the coach wasn't going to play them. Delfino will ask for a trade when the season ends.
In the short term, the approach of riding the starters and the sixth man so hard brought success. The Pistons got what they wanted -- the best record in the NBA and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Now, Saunders' approach looks disastrous. The only logical replacement for Big Ben is playing in Orlando. The other young reserves have gotten no real experience.
This was supposed to be part of the reason Larry Brown got the ax -- he didn't develop the young guys. Saunders didn't either.
Also, Saunders was exposed in the playoffs a bit. He has shown that he's a talented coach, but the Pistons' players saw first-hand that he's no Larry Brown.
Now, the players can't throw all the blame Saunders' way. He can't make jump shots for them. But he seemed unable to motivate his team or make the right adjustments in the playoffs.
Coaches have been the Achilles' heel for Dumars. He's always had a deft touch with the players, but he's never been able to get coaches to buy into his larger vision.
Carlisle refused to play Tayshaun Prince and Mehmet Okur in their rookie seasons. Brown was exceedingly stubborn about Okur, Milicic and Delfino. Saunders promised to get with the program, but balked when the Pistons got off to a great start.
Meanwhile, Dumars has been reluctant to interfere and insist that the coach do what's best for the long-term health of the franchise.
The result? The Pistons have developed just one good young player in the past three years, leaving the bench bare and putting their future in serious doubt.
Dumars' ability to evaluate talent isn't the problem -- look at how well Okur, Arroyo and Milicic have played since leaving Detroit. Rather, Dumars' problem is his inability to get his coach to develop that young talent.
All of that argues for Dumars to fire Saunders and put in someone who would work with him, not against him. Someone like Pistons VP John Hammond, currently Dumars' right-hand man, might be a great choice.
The problem for Dumars is that he can't keep firing coaches. He's had three great ones in the past four seasons. At some point, firing them isn't the answer.
But if Saunders stays, Dumars is going to have to address some serious chemistry issues that arose in the locker room and insist that Saunders begins developing the young players.
Issue 3: How to create a deeper roster
If the Pistons are going to return with their top six players, Dumars has to find a way to add some depth to address the team's weaknesses.
Job 1 is finding an athletic guard in the backcourt who can put the ball on the floor, create his own shot and get to the basket. The Pistons were exposed as a jump-shooting team in the playoffs. If the shots weren't falling, they had no one who could get them an easy basket.
Someone like the Hornets' Speedy Claxton would be a good choice. But given how weak the free agent market is, Claxton might have better options, either because he can demand a higher price than the Pistons can pay or because he knows he can play more with another team.
Second, the Pistons have to find a way to get some low-post scoring.
Rookies Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson could be answers down the road, but they're not ready. might may have to rely on international scout Tony Ronzone to find him an international veteran like Maccabi's Maceo Baston or Nikola Vujcic to fill the void for the next few years.
The long-term answer might arrive next summer when the Pistons cash in a first-round pick from Orlando. Given the way the Magic played toward the end of the season, it's no longer a given that it will be a lottery pick. However, next year's draft looks to be one of the strongest in many years, so the Pistons should be able to score an excellent player there. Dumars and company will need to turn the pick into gold to justify giving up on Milicic this winter.
This is a dangerous time for the Pistons, with a potentially overwhelming set of issues. It's not a spot to be envied.
If they were to re-sign Wallace and Billups, they would be practically locked into this roster for the next three or four years. Would they be able to compete against the younger, more athletic teams that are thriving under the new rule changes? Would they continue to slip a little each year, eventually becoming an old, overpaid lottery team?
If they were to let Wallace go, how would they replace him? Would Dumars then decide to move Hamilton or Rasheed Wallace, who is 31, to reshuffle the deck and get younger? Hamilton would have trade value, but he wouldn't likely bring back a star in trade. Likewise, 'Sheed's big contract and volatile personality make it unlikely the Pistons would be able to move him for serious cap space or a top young prospect.
And other avenues to rebuilding won't be easy to navigate, given the Pistons' current salary cap status. Not impossible, but not easy either.
The good news is that Dumars is at the helm. I've written for the last three years that he's the best executive in the league. The speed and skill with which he built the Pistons' championship team were remarkable.
Now Dumars faces his next big challenge -- how to get the Pistons back on track.
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願意接手的人請推文 這篇真的滿重要的
我覺得對活塞現在的處境描述的很清楚
希望翻譯的人能好好排版並且上色
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