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After the first two games of the Pistons versus the New Jersey Nets series Piston fans thought it would be sweet sailing, with fans calling for a sweep of the Nets. The Pistons had dominated the New Jersey Nets the first two games of the series, while the Nets showed no sign of life. Then the next two games it was like the two teams had switched positions, and New Jersey had the upper hand. Going into game five at the Palace of Auburn Hills most Piston fans thought New Jersey’s fight would be over, and the Nets would lay down away from home. Rudy Tomjanovich said it best, “Never doubt the heart of a champion.” In a grueling triple overtime win the Nets showed they had the upper hand down the stretch. The Nets had been in close big time games before, and knew a few tricks the Pistons did not know it appeared. Game six and seven, the Pistons appeared they had learned a few tricks of their own from the Nets, who also swept them in last years Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons went on to win game six 81 to 75, but it was the dominating clutch performance of game seven that caught peoples eye across the NBA. After a slow start of the first quarter the Pistons gained a lead they would never relinquish. After Ben Wallace was criticized for shot selection within game six, he lead the Pistons through game seven shooting 8 for 10 from the floor, scoring 18 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, along with two block shots through the way of a dominating Pistons victory. The Pistons won game seven by an over decisive margin with an ending score of 90 to 69 in regulation. After the game Coach Brown stated, “When you realize what all (New Jersey Nets) have accomplished the last two years, this win was great for us.” Every team has to get over some kind of hump, and climb up some form of a mountain to reach the top. The Pistons biggest hump and mountain back in the late 80’s were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. There were several personnel moves taken place before the Pistons got to the top. During that era many fan favorite players were shipped out of Piston uniforms, and some took lesser roles on the team that later left it’s mark on the NBA as the Bad Boys. Fan favorite Greg Kelser, who had starred at Michigan State University with Magic Johnson, was traded for Vinnie Johnson, who became an intricate part of the original Bad Boys. Then after trading fan favorite Kelly Tripucka for Adrian Dantley, who quickly became a fan favorite, Dantley was later traded for Mark Aguirre. The communal grounds of these trades brought role players and pieces that fit an image and style to build the Bad Boys. It was trades that brought Johnson, Aguirre, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, and James Edwards, who were the main sources of the Bad Boys physical style of play. Although the two centerpieces of the Pistons were Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas, two players the Pistons drafted and developed. During the off season Dumars, now the president of basketball operations said, “Now with free agency it doesn’t take as long to build a team.” Free agency within this era of basketball has played a similar role to trades in most cases bringing players whose former organizations did not have as high of regards to a new organization, with the exceptions of players as if Tracy McGrady and Shaquille O'Neal, who did not have high regards for there former organizations. Free agency and trades have brought Joe Dumars and the Pistons, their entire starting line up with the exception of Tayshaun Prince. All four of the other starting players came from organizations that had given up on them. When asked early on during the season of the Pistons chances of going to the NBA Finals this year Dumars replied, “If a couple chips fall in our direction, I am very confident we’ll be there.” Dumars has had success building a team to compete for an Eastern Conference Championship, and possibly play in the NBA Finals bringing in role players to fit a role. Dumars has modeled this team in a very similar way to his old Bad Boys team, but yet Dumars still lacks the Isiah Thomas or Joe Dumars go to guy down the stretch. After the ping pong balls in last years lottery draft fell the Pistons way Dumars said, “Every great team has to have some kind of luck along the way.“ Dumars and the Pistons are hoping Darko Milicic will be that lucky go to guy down the stretch of games eventually. The current team of Pistons are a great group of players placed together to play as a team and win big, but within the playoffs this team has also showed us when they don’t collectively play good, the team falls apart. Since Dumars has been named president of basketball operations, he has had 8 draft selections, while he has traded three of those players away, three of them currently are on the roster, and two will be on there way to play on the Pistons roster this summer. Joe Dumars has done a fine job of placing the role players on this team to carry them into the Eastern Conference Finals, and bringing in a coach to develop his draft selections, but the playoffs has proven if the Pistons want to contend with the Western Conference Final winners he better be making sure these draft picks are being developed. Will Robinson, the former special scout for the Pistons said “the only way they will learn is by playing.“ Joe Dumars also may want to make sure he
re-signs Mehmet Okur, a second year second round draft pick, who
has proved to be a steal in the 2001 draft. Okur, Prince, and Milicic could possibly become the best front court in the NBA of the future, while Carlos Delfino, the Pistons first round pick last year, is proven to be more athletic than Manu Ginobili in the Euroleagues. Unless Kobe Bryant is somehow unhappy with his situation in Los Angeles, or Tracy McGrady is not happy in Orlando, the Pistons hope stands in there draft selections. If Okur, Prince, Milicic, Delfino, or Andreas Glyniadakis are not developed the Pistons might just be right back where they started when Joe Dumars took over the organization, stuck at an underachieving level of the playoffs. Click
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