Pistons Lurking In Shadows, Which Suits Them

Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Celtics? Fine! Send Kobe Bryant to the Chicago Bulls, too, while you're at it. Anoint LeBron James the King. Oh yeah -- that's been done already. Prop Gilbert Arenas and his Wizards teammates up. Let the Miami Heat be lauded as a possible bounce-back team.

Most of this has happened, or has been rumored to happen. And the more of it that goes on, I say, the better it is for the Detroit Pistons.

The curtain goes up tonight on another NBA season in Detroit -- the 51st since the team moved from Fort Wayne. Commemorative patches acknowledging this being the 50th anniversary of the first NBA game played in the Motor City will be worn by the players on their game tank tops.

Yet few times, if ever, have the Pistons been simultaneously a contender and a pretender in so many "experts"'s eyes. Usually you're either in or you're out as a serious player -- not both. But to hear many say it, the Pistons are either, a) too old and their time has passed, or b) still a very dangerous team, lurking in the shadows of trendy, sexy picks like the new-look Celtics or defending conference champ Cleveland, or still up-and-coming Chicago (with or without Bryant).

Just my opinion, but I go with choice b) in the above paragraph.

The Pistons have injected, appropriately so, some youth and energy onto the roster. They've promoted Antonio McDyess to an already formidable starting five. They now have a legitimate backup point guard in rookie Rodney Stuckey, as soon as he recovers from his broken hand. And they have some perimeter scoring off the bench in Jarvis Hayes, acquired from Washington.

All that, plus some stability in the coaching position. Flip Saunders is the first Pistons coach to start a third season since Doug Collins in 1997. And Collins was fired before that season was completed. In fact, the Pistons have only had three coaches, in their entire history, who've completed at least three full seasons: Ray Scott, Scotty Robertson, and Chuck Daly. Saunders, most likely, will be the fourth. That's not too many men in 51 seasons.

It may not be trendy to do so, but the more level-headed basketball pundits are sticking with the Pistons as conference front-runners, at the very least. They're not fooled by fancy, big-name acquisitions or a superstar-dominated ballclub. The best overall team will be in The Finals in June from the East, and that means balance, experience, and depth from one thru fifteen on the roster.

And going by those standards, the Pistons have the goods -- even if many people choose to ignore that fact. Frankly, it's best that they do. Shadow lurkers can be awfully scary, in the end.