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Pistons are super freaks ... emphasis on 'super'
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Sean Deveney /
Posted: 16 hours ago

Just after center Elden Campbell signed with the Pistons last summer, he made his way to suburban Detroit to work out with teammates. Facing center Ben Wallace in a one-on-one game, Campbell went through his series of pet moves before putting up his first shot -- a little jumper. Blocked. He tried again. Blocked. And again. Blocked. This, he thought, was a little ridiculous.



"He blocked my first four shots," Campbell says. "I am not talking layups here. I am talking about jumpers, everything. I am like, 'How did he get that?' This dude is incredible, man. He's a freak."


Wallace is the lead freak on a team populated by freaks. Just look at the map of Wallace's career travels: high school in Alabama, junior college in Cleveland, college in Virginia, waived by Boston, a weeklong stint with an Italian team, traded by Washington, traded by Orlando. And, now, stardom in Detroit, with averages of 13.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks over the past four years.


Apparently the Pistons knew what they were doing sticking with Tayshaun Prince instead of Carmelo Anthony.
Paul Sancya/Associated Press


A freak? Sure, but he fits right in with the Pistons, the team of dented cans that managed to grind its way into The Finals, then opened the series by surprising the Lakers, the NBA's royal family. How's this for freakish? The Pistons left Wallace -- at 6-9, 240 pounds -- in mostly single coverage against Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-1, 350-pound big fella who usually attracts a crowd of defenders whenever he touches the ball. The Pistons bucked that convention, though, and treated O'Neal like any other player. They thrived -- turns out staying focused on rebounding and cutting off O'Neal's passing lanes is more effective than hurling bodies at him, as opponents have done for years.


And get this: The Pistons did not freak out over Lakers star shooting guard Kobe Bryant, either. They left second-year forward Tayshaun Prince on the perimeter against Bryant and dared him to shoot over Prince's long arms. In the third quarter of Game 3, the Pistons even threw 6-2 guard Lindsey Hunter at the 6-6 Bryant. Having scored just one point in the first half, when Bryant saw Hunter, he surely thought, "Lindsey Hunter!" But Hunter tagged along with Bryant like an eager younger brother, and the Pistons cut off the passing lanes to Bryant. The Lakers couldn't get him the ball, leaving him punching the air in frustration. L.A. lost by 20.


Thus, the underdog Pistons took control of the series, and the players who were making it happen stood in stark contrast to their opponents. The star-studded Lakers feature four potential Hall of Fame players and have 40 All-Star appearances among them. The players on the Pistons' roster have been in four All-Star games. Pistons players have, on average, played for 3.4 NBA teams. The average Laker has played for 1.5 teams.


"Over there, (the Lakers) got the glory side. This is the other side of life," says Campbell, a former Laker who was run out of L.A. to a chorus of boos in 1999. "People don't realize some of the things a guy like Ben has had to do just to keep his job -- adjustments he had to make to get where he is."


Nearly every Pistons player has had to make adjustments to get the team to where it is now -- they're a band of Davids attempting to knock off the NBA's Goliath. In the process, the team has changed chiseled-in-stone assumptions that have dominated the league in recent years and is changing the league for the better. Coach Larry Brown has the Pistons focused on his mantra -- "Play the right way" -- and as they follow that directive, they've found even the mighty Lakers can be handled. Their underdog struggle has boosted the popularity of The Finals, which has played to its highest television ratings in years. The Pistons even have provided a solution for one of the league's persistent problems -- how to make the Eastern Conference relevant again.


Moreover, team president Joe Dumars has shown that a team does not need to get lucky and land high-priced stars to win. Be smart, put talented, hungry guys on the floor, and you have a chance. "It's not rocket science," Dumars says. Indeed, the Pistons' success against the Lakers must open the eyes of NBA fans everywhere -- maybe it's not rocket science. Maybe NBA teams don't need to land star players. Maybe any team has a legitimate chance.


"You have a big group of guys that just gets along," Wallace says. "No one has a hidden agenda. Everybody knows what it takes to win. Most of the guys on this team have been in a losing situation, and it's no fun, losing. So you come here, and everyone just jells together and gets along. It's a great job by management. We have a group of guys who worked hard to get minutes with other teams, and I think Joe saw that and recognized that hunger and that drive."


No matter the results, the effect of these Finals will be felt for a long time. Dumars plucked his players from teams that did not want them, and now this bunch of misfits just might be saving the very league that nearly tossed them aside.




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The Lakers managed to get Bryant in 1996 because Bryant's agent refused to allow him to play for anyone else, forcing the Hornets to trade him. They got O'Neal because they opened salary cap space and knew he could be lured by the bright lights of Hollywood. The team slapped role players around the two, hired Phil Jackson as coach and cashed in with three championships. The Spurs won two championships, and they did it by getting lucky in the draft lottery and landing Tim Duncan. Before that, the Bulls had Michael Jordan, who went to Chicago thanks to Sam Bowie and a lot of luck. Indeed, since the 1978-79 Sonics, every team that has played for a championship has had at least one certain Hall of Fame player on board. NBA personnel seemed to have looked at this chain and made an assumption -- only teams that get lucky and land big-time stars can win championships.


This Detroit team is exploding that myth. Teams don't need gobs of good fortune and superstars to put together a contender, and this Finals performance validates the Pistons' approach. "I knew we were not going to have a Shaq or a Kobe," Dumars says. "But I did not think that meant we could not win a championship here."


The players Dumars chose have much in common -- they're smart, tough and give full effort. The result is a group with multiple scoring options and one that plays defense as if by instinct. When Brown took over this season, he recognized that Detroit had willing defenders, so he instituted a simple defensive scheme and has allowed his players to operate it on their own. The Pistons finished the regular season tied with the Spurs for allowing the league's fewest points, and they don't even work on defense much. Most of the Pistons' practice time is spent on fine-tuning the offense, becoming better team players and sharing the ball.


"No matter who you are guarding, you are getting help from your teammates," says Prince. "That's the thing about this team. If I am on (Bryant), I know I can trust my teammates behind me, around me, to help. That means I can be a lot more aggressive."


That's why Hunter can be left on Bryant and not be overwhelmed. It's why the Pistons have been able to play a clean, straight-up game against O'Neal, a far cry from the triple-team flopfests the Timberwolves and Spurs threw at him earlier in the postseason. It's why the Pistons beat the Lakers in all the little things early in the series -- offensive rebounding, getting to the foul line, steals, blocks. Meanwhile, the Pistons turned the Lakers into a frustrated group and took the shine off their stars. Karl Malone, struggling after spraining his already injured knee, was largely ineffective. Gary Payton saw his playing time cut as Billups abused him on pick-and-rolls -- Payton got little help from teammates, sulked on the bench and skipped two media commitments. The contribution from Lakers role players, who were unable to spot up for open shots, was minimal.


"They shot almost two-to-one on free throws, and that a lot of times is a sign of the aggressor," said Jackson after Game 3. "They're the team that is the most aggressive with the basketball, and we're the reactors. I think that's what we're upset about as a basketball team. We're not reacting well."


Little wonder the Lakers had trouble reacting -- the Pistons were taking a novel approach. "I think they get frustrated because we're not doing the things they are used to," Hunter says. "We're going out and playing our game, and most teams, they try to change the way they play because it's the Lakers, and they're intimidated. We're not intimidated."


They're also not buying the notion that the team has no stars. After all, Billups has become a reliable scorer, Hamilton is one of the breakout players of this postseason and Wallace is a two-time defensive player of the year. Still, these aren't household names. "We've got stars. We've got guys averaging 20 points. We've got a guy leading the league almost every year in rebounding and blocked shots, so we feel we have superstars," Campbell says, before wavering. "Maybe not super-superstars. Maybe not marketing-wise." Exactly.


The challenge to the NBA's star system, and the possibility that other teams can build championship contenders the same way, is not the only contribution these Pistons are making to the health of the league. This series was expected to be an easy win for the Lakers, and given recent history, those expectations were justified. The West has dominated the East in the past five Finals by winning 20 of 26 games, and interest in The Finals has waned. Who wants to watch a slaughter? But the Pistons entered the series as the ideal underdogs, and the fact that they brought such a difficult challenge to the Lakers has boosted interest in these Finals -- the first three games doubled last year's ratings and were the most-watched programs on television each night.


The Pistons are relatively young and, along with the Pacers, should provide tough matches for the West's elite in the future -- even if they don't have elite individual players. "We have a lot of guys who are very hungry and know what it is to fight and scrap just to stay in this league," says forward Corliss Williamson. "That has built our character. We have the willingness to sacrifice personal glory for your team. We don't have one or two guys who want to go out and do it on their own. This team can't win like that."


Williamson -- another of those typical Pistons freaks, now with his third team and having success as the sixth man -- says he is not surprised to see his team in this position. When Williamson arrived in Detroit by trade, Dumars told him about his five-year plan. He told Williamson what kind of players he hoped to acquire and said if he could do it, the Pistons would get to The Finals.


They're ahead of schedule -- that five-year plan was laid out four years ago. Now that the plan has been successful, Williamson expects it to be duplicated elsewhere.


"Teams might try to steal Joe's blueprint," Williamson says. "I hope they don't, but we're here, so I think they have to. If you can't get the big, big star players, you have to get a team like ours."


Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.

Raven,

How can you say defense is a mindset and then post this article?

The pistons built a team that is athletic and great defensively. Clearly sheed, ben, and prince are great defenders but even the role players Mike James and Lindsey Hunter get after people.

Knicks need to get players like this. What about KT and Frank Williams for the 3rd pick and a bad contract such as Antonio Davis. Select Iguodola. I think he will be the best player out of this draft. He is a defensive monster and has great passing skills that would complement Marbury so nicely in the backcourt. This also allows sweetney to start. He could be a great defender as well if he gains more muscle and explosion. I don't think there is much risk in Iguodola at all. He is so similiar to Richard Jefferson.

I'd use the MLE on a big man. If we offer Memphis a future first rounder would they not match Stro Swift? What about Dampier and Blount for short term fixes.

If we can't buy out Shandon, just cut him. He is a waste of a roster spot and I would rather not have him on the team.

We also have the expiring contracts to deal before the deadline. We can get another star if need be, a center, or a future draft pick.

Marbury, Moochie
Houston, Iguodola
Tim Thomas, Penny, Dermarr Johnson
Sweetney, Antonio Davis, Othella
Dampier, Nazr

Deke, Cerezy, and our second round pick will be on the injured list until we deal the expiring contracts.

I say it one more time: No starphucking. Defined as "not picking players to fill seats and fueling cablevisions ratings."

But even NY fans love the marquee names. Do we still crave CWeb? Often injured and no aura of winning? Many around here thought Melo was better for Detroit, but melo does not defend, grab offensive rebounds, or kill himself to make the little plays at big times (yet?).

IM not saying Marbury cannot fit in with a role minded team. If Isiah can bring one thing, thats the winning mindset. That was often the flaw of the 1990s teams, we did not cultivate the players for ewing, we traded pick after pick to speed up the process. not that Derek Harper or Doc Rivers were not nice players, but we were never young enough.

All past well documented history. Some of us wanted to blow the team up and rebuild by growing our own stars. The Pistons are not star studded because they are winners, not because they are reconizbable marquee stars.


Remember: the path to greatness is one less traveled.

Good for Joe Dumars for constructing the team as very few have in recent times. And having an owner whom understands the quality not reputation ultimatly conquers a collection of big names.