The Pistons have created some kind of a dynasty on the East, without however having great results. The team reached last season the Conference final for the 6th season in a row, but they have just won the NBA title once and another final in that span. After the Game 6 against the Celtics last season, where they lost at home, team president Joe Dumars promised a revolution, which started with a coaching change. Flip Saunders got fired and Michael Curry became the head coach. Besides that, Dumars also wanted to change the roster and this is what he said a couple of months ago:

?Pistons president Joe Dumars is annoyed by all the talk that he isn?t doing anything to improve the Pistons. His problem is people are not privy to all the early-morning and late-night phone calls he has had with about a dozen NBA general managers.

?Here is what I can tell you,? Dumars said in a measured tone. ?I am continuing to do everything I can to improve this team.?

He believes there is a 50-50 chance something will happen before training camp. Dumars is not allowed to talk about players on other teams. But he reconfirmed that all players on his team are up for grabs, but he refuses to give them away in a fire sale.?

Even though all the trade talks, the Pistons didn?t change their roster at all, so the structure for this season will be basically the same from the previous seasons and so, the challenge of the team will be to regain the mentality which lead them to the NBA title and which has been missing on some key games in the previous seasons.

Michael Curry will make his debut as an head coach this season, but he isn?t new on the team organization. Curry spent a total of six seasons as a Pistons player and lately he was working as an assistant coach in Detroit and naturally he knows the mentality of the locker room had and will need to have once again, in order for this debut season for Curry to be successful.

So, the analysis of this team is the easiest to do of all teams, as the structure continues to be the same, not only from last season, but also from a couple of previous seasons. Sheed, Prince, Hamilton and Billups are surely the four players who have started more games together in the whole league on the last few seasons and this will continue this season. Last season, the Pistons used just 9 different starting lineups during the season, which shows how consistent these four players are.

I think we already know how good these players are, so there is no need for me to comment on what they will be capable to do this season. Just a quick note that Billups and Hamilton had injuries last season and for Billups, his injury was at a terrible time, as it was right on the Playoffs.

Rodney Stuckey showed that he was an excellent choice in the draft  last season, where he played in 57 games and had 7.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg and 2.8 apg. However, it was in the Playoffs that Stuckey showed how good he is, mainly due to Billups? injury, which gave him the chance to show that he can handle pressure very well. Billups and Hamilton will continue to be the two guards on the starting lineup and that won?t allow Stuckey to play a lot of minutes this season, but the Pistons have now with him a very decent backup and an unexpected offensive weapon.

The major changes on the Pistons this season have happened in the frontcourt. McDyess will start from the bench this season and Amir Johnson will have the great opportunity to be the starting PF of the team. Johnson has just played 73 games on the three seasons he has been with Detroit, but last season he had much more opportunities than on the previous two seasons combined. The main question for him will be how useful can he be on the starting lineup. Jason Maxiell will also have his minutes and with this being his last year on his rookie contract, we should expect him to make an extra effort this season, in order to get a nice contract on the next Summer. His numbers have been increasing season after season and very few people doubt that he is useful to the Pistons, due to his aggressiveness that he brings to the field.

For the center position, Dumars had a questionable decision in hiring Kwame Brown. He has been one of the biggest flops ever, as don?t forget we are talking about a former #1 draft pick. His career numbers are terrible (7.5 ppg and 5.7 rpg) and he is coming from half a season in Memphis, where he was even worse than his career average, with just 4.8 ppg on a lowly team! Can he turn around his career in Detroit? One thing looks to be certain: he is now playing on the team which has the most aggressive frontcourt on the league and he may learn a thing or two with Rasheed Wallace. I remember the Pistons were the best defensive team on the league last season with just 90.07 ppg allowed.

I don?t have any doubt that the Pistons will once again go deep on the Playoffs, because they continue with the same structure which made them be the most competitive team on the Eastern conference. Even though the Celtics have become a major force once again last season, the Pistons will continue to start every season with the goal of winning the title, which is a fair expectation in my opinion.

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