::: MOTOWN TALE: HUSTLE & HEART ::: 2013-14 Season Preview

C Greg Oden
PF Greg Monroe
SF Tayshaun Prince
SG Rip Hamilton
PG Chauncey Billups


2.40

3 7th seed

I love that Toroman and Rudy getting some love in these predictions.

C Greg Monroe
PF David West
SF Tayshaun Prince
SG Rudy Fernandez
PG Brandon Knight

38 wins

8th seed in a poor eastern conference, steal 1 game from Miami (or whoever has first seed) before exiting in the first round

C Greg Oden
PF Greg Monroe
SF Tayshaun Prince
SG Rudy Fernandez
PG Brandon Knight

30 wins
Sry, no Playoffs

The 2015 draft would be really nice

PG - Brandon Knight
SG - Rip Hamilton
SF - Tayshaun Prince
PF - David West
C - Greg Monroe

37 wins. Lottery pick.

Billups / Knight / Prince / West / Monroe
45-37, second round out.

NEW CHALLENGE

1. Guess the Starting Five for the opening game of the season for the Pistons from the following possible starters:

Knight/Fernandez/Prince/West/Monroe (I am assuming this is opening night, not first pre season game)

2. Guess how many wins the Pistons will have at the end of the season? 43

3. How far will the Pistons go in the playoffs (if they make it)? Second Round Out

Sorry for letting everyone down. Updates are not regular at all. I'm thinking of a way to keep this going because I really want to continue the story.

The only problem is that I am working 2 jobs at the moment as well as doing volunteer work. I have just been flat out with real life!

Updated: October 8, 2013
NBA 2013-14 Season Preview: Detroit Pistons
Woody Hannes provides in-depth previews for every team in the league in anticipation of this upcoming NBA season.
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The old group is back together! Too bad it ain’t the mid-2000s…

By Woody Hannes
ESPN.com Writer

The Detroit Pistons enter this upcoming season with seven new players. Four rookies and three free agents – a strong Summer haul but arguably not the best group of players they could have added.

General Manager Joe Dumars knew that this (just) past offseason was going to be important. Charlie Villanueva and Corey Maggette both came off contract and gave the Pistons a lot of cap space to work with. The Pistons had two lottery picks and later acquired a third. Considering all of the assets that they had – the Pistons didn’t make as big a splash as many thought they were capable of.

The beginning of the offseason saw the Pistons offer Greg Oden a generous new contract. Oden signed the deal but with the signing came a lot of criticism. Despite a solid season in 2012-13, no one could seriously support the Pistons investing so much money in an injury-prone big like Oden. Charlie Villanueva’s contract had just ended and this Oden deal shouted out to everyone to take note – could this be another bad Dumars decision?

Detroit traded away promising big man Andre Drummond to the Portland Trailblazers for the number three pick. They, like six other teams, passed up on unanimous number one talent JJ Theus in the Draft. A team insider spoke on the condition of anonymity and stated, “passing up on Theus may be a huge mistake.”

Instead, they drafted experimental (Putting it nicely) point guard Vince Bellamy. They then wasted (Yes!) their remaining lottery picks on Vladimir Toroman (Who’s he?) and Jay Connor (Overrated. Period.). Dion Webb was their second round pick and I must admit – it was a nice pick. He’s a big 7 footer who will be a strong prospect for the years to come.

But come on – Joe D traded Drummond for who?

We don’t even know what position Bellamy is going to play in the NBA. Is he going to be too slow at point guard in the league? He’s definitely not a talented enough scorer for shooting guard. And he’s going to get destroyed physically at small forward.

Toroman is going to be another Darko Milicic. Mark my words. And Connor? They only drafted him because he grew up there. It’s all for show!

I haven’t even started on the free agents. David West is quickly on the decline. He did have a decent season with the Pacers (13.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG) but those numbers are lower than his career averages. Expect him to continue to get worse. He’s old. But he is at least an above average signing for the mid-level exception.

What was a big outrage was that the Pistons passed up on Jeff Green for… Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton. The two of them now come back to form the Three Stooges with Tayshaun Prince.

Hey Joe Dumars – this ain’t 2004!

The lead players for the Pistons will be Greg Monroe, Brandon Knight and Greg Oden’s left knee. There’s no doubt about it that the Pistons do have 2.25 star-calibre players. However, we all know that the best teams in this league have at least one bona fide superstar. Monroe, Knight are good and Oden played a little more than half of last season. None of them are superstars.

I’m not saying that Jeff Green is a superstar but he sure would have helped more than Billups, Hamilton and West all together. Heck, they passed up on JR Smith then realised they did want him in the end. Then Smith was gone so they were stuck with West instead. I suppose you can’t blame Dumars too much for that because Richard Jefferson did pull a punk move to get paid on the last year of his ginormous contract.

Perhaps my column has been a little bit too harsh to the Pistons but my forecast for next season remains the same – it’s going to be another tough year in Motown.

My Prediction: Just miss the playoffs and finish 9th in the East

This article could have been written by C. Hova. Hannes definitely is right with what he is saying. Maybe he is a little bit too harsh on the Pistons rookies though. In the end, 9th seems realistic though, except Billups, Hamilton and Prince can turn back the hands of time.

You might squeeze into the Playoffs actually, as long as everyone's healthy.

Woody ftw! Adequately stated out how bad the Pistons are, too bad he's still stuck writing about them though

Joe Dumars been reading this story.

Joe Dumars been reading this story.

Your stories do had some other real life transactions.. I think Pau or Steve to the Lakers in one of your ALIB. I'm not sure though

Joe Dumars been reading this story.

Your stories do had some other real life transactions.. I think Pau or Steve to the Lakers in one of your ALIB. I'm not sure though

Bogut and David Lee playing together

Damn. I just finished reading this. And then I realised this hasn't been posted on in over a month

Thanks for the post Bella.

Sorry to everyone for not posting an official retirement in here. I barely had time to myself.

Thanks for voting this to 4th in the story comp.

I have the writing bug again...