The NBA has been described as a "superstar's league" forever, even moreso today with so many teams filled with mediocre talent. The only championship team I can remember off the top of my head which didn't feature a bonafide "superstar" who was a force on both ends of the court was Rick Barry's 1975 Warriors. So the question is: do the Pistons really have a "superstar"? Will they be the first in a quarter-century to defy NBA championship common knowledge? I mean, sure, Rip, Chauncy, Ben, and Rasheed are all damn fine players, but do you look at any of them at the beginning of a season and say "we don't need a McGrady, a Bryant, a Duncan, a Garnett, or a Shaq to push us over the edge; we're set with this guy at the helm"? Personally, I couldn't say that. Which is why I can't help but cheer them on.
no i dont think they do. take a look at the 4 people you have listed there, you can pick any given person to be the finals mvp at random. then say to yourself will this person be in the hall of fame? the answer is no. i think the closest thing they may have to a superstar is ben wallace but he is too one dimensional to be a superstar. even a younger dennis rodman who rebounded better than wallace does had a decent offense game. but look at the past few finals mvp of the last couple the only one that may not make the hall of fame, is oddly enough a piston, joe dumars tim duncanx2, shaqx3, mjx6, hakeemx2, isiah, dumars its a whole team concept its pretty fun to watch because you'll have the whole starting 5 get like 15 pts each while having 1-2 bench guys get like 10 or so. not knowing who to triple team (ala kobe) is dangerous too as each player (cept good ol' ben) can light the lakers up for 20 pts or so
This pistons team reminds me of that talented portland team that rasheed used to be a part of. They had high caliber players at all positions and no real superstars and 2 big guys in sabonis and wallace in the middle with a lanky SF and a herky jerky PG and a smooth shooting SG. Sabonis, wallace, pippen, steve smith, and stoudamire. That team used to give Lakers fits as well.
The Pistons have no "superstars" in the likes of TD, KG, Shaq, etc....That's true. Sheed is the only one that comes close to that. But the funny thing, is that, Billups has the Laker's number! He's a "superstar" in my eyes vs the Lakers. Not necessarily against other teams. But in this series he is. So far against the Lakers, Billups is averaging 22.7ppg, shooting nearly .480%FG, 5.3apg, with only 2.33 TO per game. Wait! There's more. He's shooting .545% from 3pt line. And an incredible .960% (24-25) from the FT line! Damn! No doubt about it that this is a TEAM effort. But at least for this serise, Billups has shown that he's slightly better than other have given him credit for. He's no scorer like Kobe or McGrady. But he just plays the game, over-all, pretty damn good!
I always hold Billups in high regard because i know that no matter what Rasheed or Rip or Prince does, it's up to Billups to keep the proverbial ship afloat. He runs that team pretty well...not great..but well enough that they get good % shots. And I always liked him since NBA Live 2003...don't believe me just play that game with the pistons and use billups...you can rain 3s all day long with him
It's kind of refreshing in a way to know that this kind of team concept can work, that it doesn't just have to be one guy who has cameras in his face taking 25 shots per game all the time in order to win it. I thought for awhile that this style could work, but the Blazers and Kings fell just short in the last few years. Now everyone nationally is seeing the beauty of it: the defense can't just concentrate on one guy. The other team can't say "let's shut down player X, and surely that will be enough for a win." You got Billups tearing up Payton for this whole series, you got Rip becoming Detoit's whole offense at times during the Indiana series, you got Prince making heroic plays on both ends with that 7'2 wingspan, you got Rasheed making all the big shots tonight, you got Ben Wallace leading the charge in a combined blocked shots record in the Indiana series, to go with his constantly eye-opening rebounding. And as if that wasn't enough, you got a seemingly endless bench, with guys like Campbell, Okur, Williamson, and Hunter all contributing big time. It will be interesting in years to come to see if it becomes a trend at all to try to build teams in this fashion, rather than paying big for one or two guys and surrounding them with scrubs and teenagers. Of course I doubt it... but I also doubted that Detroit would be up 3-1 against the mighty Lakers.
I think the amount of Disrespect for Rip Hamilton is stifling the man is good I told my friends. . he is the BIG FUNDAMENTALS version of Kobe He does everything Kobe does. . . but not in a FLASHY way HE hits the shots he plays the D but because of his personality .. . like Duncan he is seen as boring etc. So doesn't get his JUST 'props' Rocket River but the lastest Propaganda is TEAM TEAM TEAM So of course he won't get his props
I think, if the Pistons do win and continue to contend in future seasons, the perception of the superstardom on that team will change. People will say we didn't know Rip was a star at the time, but we know now. I remember the when the Sonics beat us in '93 with a young Kemp and Payton duo, the announcers would say the Sonics didn't have a real go-to star, just 2 good young up-and-comers. Soon after, Kemp and Payton were considered stars. (Then Kemp fell off.) Maybe Rocket River is already providing evidence of this trend I'm predicting. Obviously, these players had been underestimated before. I expect they'll be overestimated in due time. If Detroit were to blow up their roster, would you want to pick up Rip or any of their other players and build your own team around that guy? No. But, I'm betting people will advocate just that in a couple of seasons.
LA has TWO superstars. No way Detroit can beat that... Defense is overrated if you can't score... Am I missing any?
Yep. This is great, blowing away the theory you have to have one of the elite players, or even the best player, to win an NBA title. A team with 2 elite players is getting beat by a team with ZERO. No one is disrespecting Rip. But it is arguable whether him or Ben or Billips is even the MOST critical member of that team. They all are top 25 players in the league, but certainly none are top 5 and probably not top 10. I seriously love Billips game. He is like a less talented version of Steve but one who is much more tenacious and understands the whole team game on both ends. He is always there defensively, sets his teammates up first offensively, but also becomes aggressive offensively just at the right time when his team needs a spark. Watching him makes you realize what a force Steve could be if he were mentally tougher. Steve should be sent to the Chauncey school's on getting the most out of your considerable talent to help your teammates win basketball games formt he point guard position.
This is the way I felt about the Pistons of the late 80s and early 90s as well. They won a title without one player averaging over 20ppg. Not one. Isaiah averaged over 19ppg, but just under 20. That was it. They got incredible team defense...and incredible contributions off the bench. The style, though with different players, is remarkably similar to the team that's wearing Pistons jerseys today in these NBA Finals. I don't think that having a superstar on your team means you can't have a team concept to your game. The Rockets did. The Bulls did. The Lakers of the Showtime era definitely did, as did the same-era Celts. But this just shows that trotting out a couple of superstars isn't enough. It seemed for many years that it was. But it's not. Team sports require real teams playing together...making each other better. It's extremely encouraging to me that this style is winning right now. I've been a huge NBA fan and sports fan in general for as long as I can remember...but my interest in the NBA has waned big time since 97 or so. This Pistons team has me watching...not because of the spectacular play...but because of the incredible ability to get more out of their team than you thought they might given the names of the players on paper.
Let's name all the NBA "SUPERSTARS": Shaq Kobe KG TD Close: Kidd JO'Neal TMac AI Dirk VC Did I miss any?
I would reorganize: *The MVP caliber players: Shaq TD KG *other elite superstars but major gap from the top 3 T-Mac Kobe (he belongs here with Tmac--certainly not as dominant as the top 3 in all phases, but along with Tmac probably a notch above the next group. *superstars but not the elite players Kidd Pierce AI Dirk *next tier stars/borderline superstars J Oneal (could make a case for moving him up 1 slot, maybe next year) Carter Peja Marbury Yao? (Honestly his all around impact on the floor should get him mention here) Ben Wallace (probably not really here because his FT/offen game is so weak, but he does have a profound defensive impact so "maybe")
That's what makes this Finals so cool. Everything that fandom has accepted as the underlying principles of winning in the NBA is being turned on its head. It had been that superstars win championships. If the Pistons hold on, people won't be able to say that anymore. League execs will have to re-evaluate how they build teams. Great stuff. Of course, if LA comes back to become the first team to win a Finals series with 3 straight elimination-threat victories, it will provide even more evidence to the fact that superstars do win championships. When all the chips are down, if Shaq (or Kobe) puts the team on his back, does all the work, and snatches victory from the jaws of defeat Olajuwon-style, then I don't know if anybody can still defend the team-oriented approach that doesn't have a crunch-time go-to player. Plenty of teams that had LA in a corner have somehow crumbled at the moment of victory. It may happen to Detroit. Here's hoping it doesn't.
Drexlerfan, I totally agree with you. This team, if win, debunk the conventional wisdom that you have to have a superstar (top 5, or even top 10) player to win it all. Even the former Bad Boys had Isiah Thomas, who though didn't score superstar numbers, was clearly a top 10 (maybe top 5) player. None of the players on this team is anywhere close to that level in terms of star power. JV has a good point that if this team continue to contend in the next few years, people may see one or two of them as superstars. However, that will be true only if one or two emerge as the clear best players of the team. Right now, none of them can be considered the indisputable best on the team. It is conceivable that none of them will ever emerge as one while they remain a title contender.
Isiah was a superstar. Period. He could have dropped 25 and 12 a night if he wanted and did early in his career. He sacrificed numbers for titles. This Detroit team has no one on that level, but they have 4-5 all-star/potential all-star level players. If you shut one thing down, they go to another.
