What If: Detroit Pistons Edition

Why?

By Stanley

In this second segment of "What If", Mel Kiper's Hair breaks down the Detroit Pistons, a franchise that has had great success over the past few years but also great failure down the stretch.  We start out in the immediate future, and then jump back to 2003, working our way back to the present.  

Very early in the 2008-2009 NBA Season, the Detroit Pistons decided to trade point guard Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets to acquire Allen Iverson. The Pistons reasoned that the star power in Iverson would give them a chance to compete with teams like the Celtics and Cavaliers. Well, that worked out well.

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.

Detroit struggled through the season as a mediocre team without the offensive leadership or the defensive presence of Billups. Iverson did not fit into a team role as expected, and brought the Pistons down to mediocrity. Out in the Rockies, Denver vaulted to the second best team in the Western Conference. Chauncey Billups established himself as one of the league's premier point guards, and combined nicely with Carmelo Anthony to make the Nuggets an elite team.

So what would have happened had the Pistons decided not to pull the trigger on the Iverson-Billups deal? Call me crazy, but Detroit would be playing in the conference finals right now against Cleveland.

The idea first came up last night while watching the Magic and the Celtics play crappy basketball in a Game 7. My uncle threw the idea around, and at first I said no way. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that a Chauncey Billups-led Detroit would be in the conference finals right now.

Think about it: The Pistons probably would have gotten the 3 seed in the East. They would have won the first round, and then played the Celtics or the Magic. Well, the KG-less Celtics are terrible. The Pistons could have handled them. The Magic are solid, but Detroit seems to dominate them for some reason, even with Allen Iverson. So no problem there.

I know all you Pistons-haters will gripe about this one, but had Joe Dumars kept together this team, they would be in the conference finals. At which point they probably would have been dominated by the Cavs.

What would have happened to Denver? They probably would have been a very low seed in the West playoffs, if they would have made it at all. Iverson and Melo do not make a good combination at all. Iverson does not make a good combination with anybody, actually.

So this trade puts Denver in the conference finals, and Detroit as a low seed. Basically, both teams swapped roles. The only way Detroit can validate their trade is if they sign an elite player like Chris Bosh or (somehow) LeBron.  LeBron is completely unrealistic, so lets stick to Bosh.  

But none of this had to happen in the first place.  What if the Pistons had just drafted Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko Milicic in 2003 with the 2nd overall pick?  Remember, the Pistons were coming off a run to the conference finals that year.  They received such a high pick because they owned the selection of the Memphis Grizzlies, who seem to eternally pick in the top five.   

Darko was called at the time the "next Dirk Nowitzki."  Let's put it this way: Darko is terrible.  Just awful.  Sure, the Pistons went on to win the championship in the 2003-2004 season through a trade for Rasheed Wallace.  But think about this: what if they had drafted Bosh instead of Darko? (although 'Melo was the better prospect, we will draft Bosh for the Pistons, as he plays the same position as Milicic).  

In such a scenario, Detroit would not have traded for 'Sheed under any circumstances.  The Pistons would have made a run into the playoffs, but would have most likely lost in the second round to the New Jersey Nets.  The Indiana Pacers would have advanced to the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference Champions, and would have lost to the Los Angeles Lakers (who at this point still have Kobe and Shaq).  

Here's where it gets interesting.  In reality, Detroit defeated Los Angeles for the title in 2004, causing the Lakers to dismantle and Shaq to head to Miami.  Would this still have happened?  I say yes.  Shaq and Kobe were still in an argument over who was the leader of the Lakers.  

So for the 2004-2005 season, Shaq goes to the Heat.  The Pistons are very good this year, with an improved Chris Bosh.  They make a run to the conference finals, and defeat the Miami Heat, just as it happened in reality.  The Pistons go on to lose to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.  

In 2005-2006, Detroit once again is ready to make a run to the Eastern Finals, and they do.  They play the Miami Heat again, and this time, the Pistons prevail.  Although Dwyane Wade is hot, the combination of Chris Bosh, Rip Hamilton, and Chauncey Billups is simply too much for the Heat role players.  The Pistons go onto the NBA Finals to defeat the Dallas Mavericks. In the offseason, they let go of center Ben Wallace, who must be resigned for big money (just as in reality).  

The 2006-2007 Pistons enter the season as the favorites to repeat for the title, and they don't disappoint.  They get the number one seed and take off in the playoffs, once again making an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Against LeBron and the Cavaliers, the Pistons prevail, once again setting the stage for a battle with the San Antonio Spurs.  This time Detroit is able to repeat as champions, beating the Spurs in an epic series.  

Not much else changes within the NBA for 2007-2008.  The Celtics still make the decision to acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, putting them is a co-favorite to win the title.  Both the Celtics and Pistons have unbelievable seasons, capped by a 7 game battle in the Eastern Conference Finals between the two teams.  With the Celtics as the home team in Game 7, Detroit falls to Boston.  Boston goes on to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, just as it happened in reality.  

For this year, Detroit does not trade Chauncey Billups.  They hold on to their team that has been to several straight Eastern Conference Finals and has won two championships.  The Pistons once again make a run deep into the postseason, but they lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East Finals.  The Cavs go on to win the NBA championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers.  

In the future, Detroit remains a strong contender without having to make any radical moves.  Bosh provides them with a strong, stable player in the post that can score, rebound, and take over a game.  Meanwhile, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince continue to make more than solid contributions offensively and defensively.  So while the immediate gains would not have been as great for Detroit without trading for Rasheed Wallace, they would have won more championships and would still be an elite team in 2009.  

While Joe Dumars is often credited with putting together the very good Pistons teams of the past few years, he also was responsible for several dumb moves, like trading for Allen Iverson and drafting Darko Milicic.  These two moves in particular held down the Pistons' status as a very good team, rather than an elite team and possible dynasty.  

The most important role that Darko played on the 2004 Pistons championship team: Clown for halftime entertainment