Is this team better than last year's?

Answer: More wins

Reasoning:
more athletic; younger, better coaching, a much hungrier team, (almost every player has something to prove) and far less drama,

Also, a more interesting team to watch and a better product on the floor.

was the 03 team better the the 02 team? go back to the summer before the 03 season and ask yourself that question....

signed a young unimpressive PG, traded our best player for a SG that Jordon couldn't ship out of town fast enough.... drafted a skinny kid to play SF.

Lee could be right.... or like that summer Dumars has traded for players ready to come into there own and drafted players that can help long term and short term if given the chance. Ask this question in Jan and we'll all have a clue, right now folks that are saying they know are trying to fool themselves as much as there trying to fool everybody else.

And what an x factor he was. He put his imprint on the team immediately. It was like there were 5 Michael Currys on the court at all times.

I don't see how anyone can doubt that Dumards will do whatever it takes to give this team what it needs to compete. There is no lack of hunger upstairs.

Obviously you are being facetious here, but in all honesty, and I mean this, how can anyone NOT believe it?

I'm being serious. I've figured it out thanks to everyone here.

Joe won the title in 2004.
The players lost it in '05.
Joe got them to the ECF 6 years in a row.
The players lost in the ECF 4 out of 6 years.

Posters act like you are crazy if you suggest that the Pistons should have rolled with the same "core" again while ignoring that this was Dumards exact strategy he since Dyess.

That's not what I was saying, and I am pretty sure you know that.

You were implying that he was NOT doing everything in his power to ATTEMPT to improve the team. I believe that he IS trying his best. I think overall he is doing a very good job and has us pointed in the right direction.
Has he made some bad mistakes? Yes. So what? Are we the Clippers? The Lions?

Honestly, I think people are spoiled and have very unrealistic expectations.

I agree.

Slow Ernie,

Oh, now I get it. His plan was to build a team good enough to get to the ECF for 6 years, but screw with the coaching and a player here and there so they they would then lose!

If that was the case he did a magnificent job. He's a fricking genius!

But why would he do it? (forget that totally non-sensical part)

Joe won the title in 2004 as part of the teams winning the title, they all won it together. The premise you present separating Joe from the players says it's always been about Joe first. Would seem to indicate Joe wants the accolades for the title and the run but not the blame or responsibility for the failures.

You're certainly entitled to that view and it may well be shared by others but I've read nothing or heard anything where he's separated himself from them in such a manner. Even if he has the right to via the separate nature of his job description.

I think his role is to put the best team on the floor (Players & Coaches) possible in any given year and hope that what he's put there can win it all. To give them the chance to play for a title. To do so within the constraints of the rules and to do so profitably.

Since about 70% is fixed (systems in place) and 30% is fluid (players available, cap space, injuries, etc) in any given year he's limited to what degree he can really change things in a clearly forward momentum moving way, (meaning fans and critics can see it and get it).

Especially since there's 29 other guys doing the same thing. So the whole micro dynamic (what joe does) in view of the greater macro dynamic (what all the others are doing) makes almost any move outside of signing a "superstar" a bit of the "roll of the dice".

In other words he's allways going to be open to a massive amount of criticism by armchair quarterbacks who say they knew better all along (save signing that superstar). They had the vision he lacks. They understand the game he doesn't.

Does that make them right? Does that make him wrong?

Again, I would argue his proven track record lends greater credibility to the likelihood that what he's doing may have a good measure of potential success attached to it. While armchair quarterbacks are still just armchair quarterbacks..generally using hindsight and subjective reasoning to bolster their talking points.

That being said, using hindsight to bolster talking points is a two way street.

It's the nature of the beast, or all the beasts....

Still JD tried his better in some cases it worked and sometimes not. This "hindsight perspective" is a crap.


I remember on interview from several ago when Ken Holland was in front of cameras ( it was from 2000s, happened after reg season game)and journalist asked his big question: "what is the secret of successful GMing?"

"You have to pray that you have made the right choice"

Slightly dissapointed journalist reacts "that is it?"

"Yeah. Nothing is guaranteed."

On paper, last year's team looks better than this year's one, but for the first time since we signed Webber I'm excited to see this team play.

I'm very interested in seeing how Q will coach this team.

I'm excited to see such a clutch player like Gordon and his beautiful 3 point shot.

I'm excited to see CV in a Pistons uniform, a player that seems very happy to be here and also looks like is on the verge of taking his game at the next level.

I'm curios to see how Wilcox will play in the best environment he's ever been.

I'm hyped to see Big Ben's first block,point and rebound and also hearing Mason announce him one more time.

I'm interested in seeing if our draft picks confirm in the NBA.

And for the first time in while I'm heading into the season with low expectations, but there is the potential that I will not be disappointed at the end of it.

The only way to answer this question is to run the old NBA 2K10 simulation.

Well said ...

Yeah, still waiting for that draft to finish up. Who's on the clock right now?

Last year's team was horrible.

Last year's team comprised skilled but old players with young but unskilled players--a bad, bad combination. I began to see what that mix was producing after the few two months and called it out--slow old bigs and young bigs who couldn't shoot. I hated to call the team out but continuing with that group would have meant getting very bad, very soon.

Billips is still a good player but if we got Gordon, I can forget Billips. If all the summer did was bring in Gordon, it was worth it. He is for real. He is a legit top five pick. The Pistons would have had to go deep into the lottery to get a similar player. In two years, Billips will be borderline while Gordon will be in his prime.

This year's team should be able to compete at mid-level. It will take a Rip package trade for a big to get above that. But at least the deep lottery was avoided.

Obey is still up.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/predict...2-nba-redistribution-draft-55.html#post198198

I wouldn't mind finishing it tbh.