2010 Pistons vs. 1995 Pistons

The first year I followed the Pistons was 1995. I watched the National Televised Pistons games in the late 80's and early 90's like any casual television basketball fan, but the first year I really followed the team was when I moved to Ypsilanti in 1995.

Their Championship years fading into the past, the 1995 Pistons were in full rebuild mode. They had a few promising young players: Lindsey Hunter, Grant Hill, Allan Houston, and Micheal Curry; a couple of rooks: Don Reid and Theo Ratliff; and Veteran Leadership: Joe Dumars, Otis Thorpe.

Coach: Don Reid.

How would you compare the talent of the 1995 Pistons to the 2010 Pistons? Position by position, include management if you have the time.

Funny, none of those players lead to our glory years. Hill, Houston and Hunter were supposed to be the 3 young players that lead us back to the top of the NBA, Lindsey didn't turn out so well, Allan left with nothing to show, Grant went to Orl and turned into the rock upon which we built our success. The talent on that 1995 team was far greater than this one, Grant Hill and Allan Houston were true to life bonafied all-stars, I can't say the same for Austin Daye and Rodney Stuckey. This team is deep, but it's deep with 2nd and 3rd tier players, we need a STUD!

Interesting comparison. The 95-96 team won 46 games and got swept in the first round. But they had only won 28 games the year before, they had Hill, Houston and Hunter and really looked like they were on their way.

I think if Houston hadn't betrayed us this team might have really been solid.

I think we may have stumbled upon something. If Dumards hands are really tied by Mrs. [STRIKE]$$$[/STRIKE] D and he can't make trades or fire Kuester then he should make them wear the teal uniforms as a punishment. Shoot, they should make Joe wear his old one while he tweets and stuffs popcorn in his face during the games.

Houston could really light it up, but he wasn't much of a defender. I'm not sure that 1995 Allan Houston would be a big improvement over Ben Gordon. He walked the next season, and the Pistons brought in Aaron McKie and Rick Mahorn. Rick Mahorn. With Mahorn and Dumars on the team, the Pistons had two fossils from the Championship era. An old defensive specialist and a past-his-prime former allstar guard. Dumars was in his 11th year and averaged just under 15 points and 4 assists for the season. These numbers aren't too far from Rip Hamilton's numbers this season. Mahron was past his prime, just like Ben Wallace.

Without Houston, the Pistons won 54 games. Things quickly fell apart after that.

As of today, this this team has a way to go before they can aspire to the Teal.

I always liked Doug Collins as a coach. I think he could have motivated our current team better than coach Q.

Oh, but you do remember the weeping and gnashing of teeth when Collins was coach here don't you? [SARCASM]Oh...he was waaaaay to tough on our young players' fragile mentality and was such a "basket case." There's no way we could survive having Collins as a coach.[/SARCASM]

Well you know what Flip Saunders said...you never really appreciate a guy until he's gone. And Collins had an unfair advantage in "coach-on-the-court" Curry.

I like Doug Collins.
He cares.

I liked Collins, too. Probably too much of a micro-manager and could become grating on players over time. Perhaps these issues wouldn't be a problem if he came back today.

Here are the rosters. Who wants to do a player-by-player comparison?

2010 vs 1995 Starters:
PG – Stuckey vs. Joe Dumars
SG – Hamilton vs. Allan Houston
SF – Prince vs. Grant Hill
PF – Maxiel vs. Terry Mills
C – Wallace vs. Mark West

2010 vs 1995 Bench:
6. Gordon vs. Lindsey Hunter
7. Daye vs. Rafael Addison
8. Villenueva vs. Oliver Miller
9. McGrady vs. Johnny Dawkins
10. Monroe vs. Eric Leckner
11. Bynum vs. Mark Macon
12. Jerebko vs. Bill Curley
13. Summers vs. Negele Knight
14. White vs. Walter Bond
15. Wilcox vs. Mike Peplowski

The thread was 1995, not 1996. Now, you're changing the year.....

Looks like that team probably had a lot of size issues, which is similar to now, and they also started that season with a losing streak and after their 12th game they were 5-7 which is one off of our 4-8.

1995-96 Detroit Pistons Schedule and Results | Basketball-Reference.com

One similarity is that they both suck, which to the greater degree is the debate.

Terry Mills was the SH#&!!!