<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS -- What's the saying, you can never have too much of a good thing? The Pistons are starting to find that out in regard to frontcourt players. When they signed Chris Webber on Jan. 16, the thought was that one of their big men would have to be moved out. Certainly it would be too unwieldy to have six competent big men. There's no way you can play them all and somebody is going to be unhappy, perhaps to the point of becoming a distraction. Wrong. Pistons coach Flip Saunders has found a way to turn the potential problem into a unique asset. Webber, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess continue to log the bulk of the frontcourt minutes. But instead of tabbing one player to be the fourth big man, Saunders effectively has rotated three players in that role -- Jason Maxiell, Nazr Mohammed and Dale Davis. "We definitely have a luxury of bigs, and we hope it's going to bode well for us down the stretch," Pistons president Joe Dumars said. "Each of our bigs brings something different and we think that is a plus." On Sunday against the scrappy, energetic Bulls, Saunders called on Maxiell. In his 13 minutes, he produced four points, seven rebounds, three blocks, three hard fouls and took two charges. The Pistons outscored the Bulls by 16 when Maxiell was on the court. "I thought Maxiell changed the game for them from an energy standpoint," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "We didn't have anyone to match up with him." In the two previous games against a bigger, stronger Orlando frontcourt, anchored by All-Star Dwight Howard, Saunders used Davis as the fourth big man. His physical presence helped neutralize Howard and change the tenor of both of those games. In last Monday's victory at Milwaukee, Saunders went to Mohammed. The Bucks are a longer, quicker, less bulky team and Mohammed provided an energizing five-minute stint that helped the Pistons establish a 13-point lead. "It's just up to Flip and what the game calls for," Maxiell said. "If we need energy, put me in. If we need strength, put Dale in. If we need finesse, put Nazr in. That's what it's all about. We all just have to play our role." There might not be another contending team in the league that has the kind of frontcourt flexibility and depth the Pistons have. When Chicago had to take either Ben Wallace or P.J. Brown out of the game, it had to use rookie Tyrus Thomas or go with a small lineup. Miami is using Alonzo Mourning, Antoine Walker and Michael Doleac off its bench. Cleveland's reserve frontcourt players are Donyell Marshall and Anderson Varejao. In the West, Phoenix plays small ball most of the time, but has Kurt Thomas and Pat Burke on its bench. Dallas' frontcourt reserves are DeSagana Diop and Austin Croshere. San Antonio uses Fabricio Oberto and Robert Horry. Would you trade the Pistons' four bench forwards for any of those? "The thing about all those guys is, they are all pros," Chauncey Billups said. "Maybe they don't get all the minutes they might want, but they keep working, they stay ready and whenever their number has been called, they've produced."</div> Source
