Detroit Pistons Tickets

Detroit Pistons 2008/2009 Season Preview The Detroit Pistons have been the class of the Eastern Conference for the last several years, but things may be finally changing after the 2007-2008 season.

There was a changing of the guard in the East, as the Boston Celtics made two huge offseason trades to go from missing the playoffs to NBA champions.

The Pistons still made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but proved to be little match for the Celtics once they got there. An easy explanation could be the injury to point guard Chauncey Billups, and there is probably some validity to that. However, there is also something else happening too.

Detroit has long been criticized for taking its opponents too lightly and not finishing teams off, believing they can pretty much beat anyone whenever they want. That cockiness is part of the problem, as is the fact the team is becoming stale. It's been the same core group of players playing together for several years now and playing the same grind-it-out style. The players are getting older and losing some of their skills, and the back-to-back extended seasons because of a deep run in the playoffs is wearing them out.

It seems general manager Joe Dumars understands this, as he has talked about making major changes and trying to inject some new blood into the team.

One major change was made this offseason when Dumars fired head coach Flip Saunders. Dumars hired Michael Curry as his replacement. Saunders was successful during the regular season and playoffs, but he could not bring an NBA title to Detroit.

The team has also looked into trading away Billups as well as forward Rasheed Wallace, but they haven't found a trade they like yet. I would expect them to continue to explore possible trades, but they might be locked into their current starting lineup for another year.

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, as this roster has plenty of talented players with loads of playoff experience.

One of the bright spots last year was Rodney Stuckey, who played very well in his rookie season and even saw time as the starting point guard in the playoffs with Billups out. The Pistons need a couple more Stuckey's to inject some youth and energy into the current roster.

The Pistons will remain one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and maybe last season's failure to reach the NBA Finals will serve as motivation. Still, changes need to be made to this aging squad in the next year to keep them among the conference's elite teams.