It's Lowdown in Motown

I'm a huge Pistons fan, and its the saddest thing to see a team that has succeeded for over 5 years suddenly diminish to this. First off I would like to rewind the season. After about 3 straight seasons of losing to star powered teams we decided to get a little star power of our own in Allen Iverson, so we trade Chauncey Billups and lose McDyess for a month and then fill the spot that was once dominated by Ben Wallace with Kwame Brown in a lackluster rotation which seems to play no defense. Dumars couldn't resist trading for the aging guard AI, it was the right move which provided cap relief and maybe a run at some of this seasons top free agents. As the Pistons signed McDyess and Curry decided to go with a 3 guard rotation, they just lost to the Wizards 94-107. Yes I said that correctly a Wizards team that is 4-15 and without Gilbert Arenas scored over 100 points on the Detroit Pistons. I agree with Dumars that we needed a change and the cap relief will suffice in the offseason, so I guess I can go through the rest of the year watching miserable Pistons basketball. We should also stop kidding ourselves that things are going to get better, because their not. Without an actual big man at center this Pistons defense has been horrible and AI can't cover guards for his life, not to mention AI has sucked all the remaining chemistry out of this team. So Pistons fans are faced with a bitter realization: forget about this season, focus on the off season and know that we can recover from this. We just have to hope Dumars makes the right moves in the off season, and this article is about what the Pistons should do. Let's take a look at some of the top free agents next summer: Lebron James- wouldn't ever come to Detroit after the rivalry he has been through, he definitely wants a more marketable town (unless Cleveland gets to the finals this season it seems that the Knicks have this one in the bag), and also Tayshaun Prince has been the silent star of this team ever since they drafted him. Amare Stoudemire- basically an AI type player (ball-hog, puts scoring in front of team) and is undersized for the center position which is what the Pistons really need right now. Jason Kidd- would be an interesting deal but Rodney Stuckey is a one in a hundred game changing guard who beats you with speed and constant energy, I could possibly argue he's a less developed version of Dwayne Wade because he has shown sprouts of that kind of play. Stephon Marbury- your joking right? Rasheed Wallace- DON'T RESIGN SHEED, I can honestly say that he has hurt this team more than he has helped them. This team has been dragged down by Rasheeds dislike for Flip, Sheed showed up late for a few playoff practices, didn't listen to him during timeouts, and was open about how upset he was with Flip. From a team that drives on chemistry, I can honestly say that this was the reason that we haven't won a championship since '04. Most of our elimination games always have lackluster performances from Rasheed, and although I thought he tried, there was still this underlying hate of Flip which ruined the best chemistry of the team. Think about it, the team was great with Larry Brown and Rasheed loved Brown, enters Flip, Pistons don't win another championship even though they have the talent to. So lets sign a better player who doesn't start up so much controversy. Which leads me to the last two players that would possibly be a good fit: either Chris Bosh or Shaq, I'll explain Shaq in a little bit. Bosh is currently scoring 25.7 points, rebounding at 10.1 RPG, and blocking a shot a game. He's 6'10 and 230 pounds, does that sound like a center to you? The Pistons are deep at the power forward position with Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, and Antonio McDyess combining as an amazing force at the 4 spot. They all provide something different, and none of them should be gotten rid of. The last thing the Pistons need right now is another power forward even if he's a player of Chris Bosh's talent. The Pistons need a force in the post. So I say sign Shaq. You might say, well he'll be 37 years old next year and he isn't even averaging a double-double anymore. At this point in Shaq's career he doesn't strive to be the star anymore, he's striving to win another championship. The last time the Pistons won a championship they had a force in the post, and although Shaq is only blocking 1.3 a game, he is still a force because people usually don't want to try to dunk on someone who is 330 pounds. Shaq is a game changer in that sense, and he would reinforce the once great Piston defense. Shaq still has hustle and is the kind of player Detroit needs right now. The reason they aren't the defensive team they once were is because they have no presence in the post, and that is why Shaq would benefit them more than anybody. Not to mention Shaq won't be asking for another $20,000,000 contract, he knows his skills are diminishing and with all this cap relief from letting go of 'Sheed and AI they could get another great bench player like Ben Gordon. Ben Gordon knows that he's better off the bench, and he would provide that final spark that would create an amazing team. The Pistons would have a deeper bench than anybody in the league. Whatever offensive firepower, and young talent that Shaq is lacking, Ben Gordon would make up for it. So I finally come to this: 1. Rodney Stuckey, 2. Rip Hamilton, 3. Tayshaun Prince, 4. Jason Maxiell, 5. Shaquille O'Neal, with solid minutes from Amir Johnson, Antonio McDyess, Aaron Afflalo, Will Bynum, and Ben Gordon off the bench. Also please God draft a center to split minutes: Andrew Oglivy? Cole Aldrich? Hell if we miss the playoffs which is the way it is looking right now, we could possibly get Hasheem Thabeet and really have a powerful post presence. Anything would be better than watching Kwame Brown commit 5 turnovers and playing some of the most atrocious post defense I've ever seen.