<span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%">The Pistons are better than the Bulls. This season is no different. </span> Written by SunnyD<u>Offense:</u>The Pistons offense is led by their backcourt of Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, the most compatible backcourt in the league. Chauncey Billups was in the running for MVP last year, with his silky smooth shot and his wise timely decisions with the rock. Richard Hamilton is the king of the midrange shot, and his speed wears out opponets quickly. Rip can hit the three, he led the league in three point percentage last year. After their guards, they have Tayshaun Prince, the only '05-'06 starter to not make the All-Star team last year and capable point guard, Rasheed Wallace, a big fella who is capable of draining every three he shoots and can drop 20 each night if he has to, and Nazr Mohammed, Ben's replacement who will score more and is a above-average offensive rebounder. This team will rely on the three pointer, as the four returning starters can shoot lightsout, but can drive when necessary. The bench is led by Antonio McDyess, and was revamped over the offseason, with Flip Murray and Ronald Dupree joining the mix. Antonio McDyess pounds the ball inside and gets the garbage points Detroit was known for when they won the title in 2004. Flip Murray brings heaps of energy when he plays and can score in bunches, and Ronald Murray is a great role player who can drain the midrange often. Lindsey Hunter is back, and can score the three constantly, and is an awesome floor general. Dale Davis is back as the backup center, and is a solid big man who can score some garbage baskets as well. Scoring is the strong point for Carlos Delfino and Amir Johnson, on the third line. Coach Flip Saunders is offensively minded, so the Pistons are set here.<u>Defense:</u>The Pistons are specifically known for their defense. Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter, and Tayshaun Prince are a few of the best defenders in the game. And although they lost Ben Wallace to the Bulls, they still have Nazr Mohammed, a solid replacement on the defensive side. Kobe Bryant and other league superstars say that Lindsey Hunter is the best man to man defender in the game. Flip Murray is a big improvement off the bench, and Richard Hamilton is very underrated defensively. The Pistons have a lot of big bodies on defense, which is crucial to win. Rasheed, Nazr, and McDyess are not really stellar defenders, but they use their body and are effective at stopping the other team. Rasheed, Tayshaun, and McDyess are especially good at getting blocks, which can change the momentum of the game, as Ben Wallace often did for Detroit.<u>Head to Head:</u>PG Matchup-Chauncey Billups & Lindsey Hunter vs. Kirk Hinrich & Chris DuhonPistons win. Billups is an MVP candidate, and Hunter, according to KB24, is the best man to man defender in the league. Hinrich is great and Duhon is one of the best second-unit point guards, but they don't beat the Pistons point guards.SG Matchup-Rip Hamilton & Flip Murray vs. Ben Gordon & Adrian GriffenPistons win. Ben Gordon is very overrated at times, and even though Adrian Griffen is a pretty good defender, the defense the Pistons two-guards bring is too dominant.SF Matchup-Tayshaun Prince & Ronald Dupree vs. Luol Deng & Andres NocioniBulls win. I'll give it to them, Tayshaun is a deservant All-Star and a dominant defender, but Noc averaged 20 and 10 in the playoffs, and Luol Deng is a excellent athlete.PF Matchup-Rasheed Wallace & Antonio McDyess vs. PJ Brown & Tyrus ThomasPistons win. Rasheed is a star, and McDyess is a 6th man of the year candidate. PJ Brown is still effective for his team, but Tyrus Thomas is young, and won't do anything big for Chicago this year. He'll have the same role as Gerald Green did for Boston, or Marvin Williams did for Atlanta, and they hardly played any valuable minutes.C Matchup-Nazr Mohammed & Dale Davs vs Ben Wallace & Micheal SweetneyBulls WinNazr Mohammed is pretty underrated, a solid contributor on both ends, but Ben's defense and rebounding makes him a top 5 center, and you cannot argue that.
<span style="font-family:Book Antiqua">I may be wrong, but I think you put this in the wrong board. Shouldn't this be in "Players/Team Comparisons"?</span>
Yeah, this should go into team comparisons.Anyway, this is tough as the Bulls did some major renovating this past season, while the Pistons didn't do much changing except at center position, where they lost their biggest spark plug and biggest defensive force. So NO ONE knows how each team will ultimately react to the additions/losses after 82 games + playoffs. I mean Miami didn't look good at all through the season and 1st round of playoffs, but they turned it up in semi's and never looked back. Major rennovations could make or break a team, and no one knows how a team will react to major change until the playoffs.But looking at the rosters, really thinking it through, it all comes down to 1 thing: Offensive firepower. Both are 2 of the best defensive teams in the league, but Chicago still doesn't have that #1 option. Ben Gordon hasn't really assumed that role, but now is the time to step up and take that role. Then ya look at the Pistons, they have Billups, Rip and Sheed....many options there.All of that, along with the fact that we have a much better idea of what the Pistons will do this year, is why I think Pistons will be the better team this year.
The Pistons will win tons of games this season like they always do. They still have 4 very good players. I think Nazr Mohammed will be a fine addition inside, he won't be asked to do much on offense and with Rasheed with him will gobble up tons of rebounds...and thats pretty much all Wallace did...I don't think Wallace's absense will be as big of an issue as people make it. I think the Bulls will be solid, they are a little young in the tooth but with their passion for defense not much will stop them. They really need Thabo Sefolosha or Tyrus Thomas to make a big impact, I'm not as impressed with their bench as most people are. We will just have to wait and see what happens, it will be an interesting season with these two teams.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Oct 15 2006, 08:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Pistons will win tons of games this season like they always do. They still have 4 very good players. I think Nazr Mohammed will be a fine addition inside, he won't be asked to do much on offense and with Rasheed with him will gobble up tons of rebounds...and thats pretty much all Wallace did...I don't think Wallace's absense will be as big of an issue as people make it.</div>While Wallace leaving might not be a big impact offensively, it will be a huge impact for this entire team on defense. While I still see the Pistons being better during the regular season and winning the division, I think by next playoffs if the Pistons see the Bulls or Cavaliers it is going to be bad news for the Pistons.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Illosophee @ Oct 15 2006, 06:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-family:Book Antiqua">I may be wrong, but I think you put this in the wrong board. Shouldn't this be in "Players/Team Comparisons"?</span></div>Eh, why not. It gets more attention here. I suppose it should be in the Player/Team Comparison. I'll move it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Oct 15 2006, 08:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think Nazr Mohammed will be a fine addition inside, he won't be asked to do much on offense and with Rasheed with him will gobble up tons of rebounds...and thats pretty much all Wallace did...I don't think Wallace's absense will be as big of an issue as people make it.</div>I definately disagree here. Wallace gave them arguably the best interior D in the league, gave them a ton of blocks and anywhere from 12-14RPG. Without him they wouldn't have beaten the Lakers in 2004 as they wouldn't have been able to play Shaq straight up and not get totally killed. Wallace gave them that kind of defensive presence, very versatile and just an overall great defender/rebounder.He was also the team's sparkplug, he was their X-Factor and a great teammate and could charge his team up with his defense and intensity. That will be sorely missed, and while Nazr/role players will do a good job filling his place, taking that big of a loss on the defensive end and losing that kind of player who could turn a whole game around without filling up the stat sheet is gonna really hurt them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Oct 15 2006, 07:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, this should go into team comparisons.Anyway, this is tough as the Bulls did some major renovating this past season, while the Pistons didn't do much changing except at center position, where they lost their biggest spark plug and biggest defensive force. So NO ONE knows how each team will ultimately react to the additions/losses after 82 games + playoffs. I mean Miami didn't look good at all through the season and 1st round of playoffs, but they turned it up in semi's and never looked back. Major rennovations could make or break a team, and no one knows how a team will react to major change until the playoffs.But looking at the rosters, really thinking it through, it all comes down to 1 thing: Offensive firepower. Both are 2 of the best defensive teams in the league, but Chicago still doesn't have that #1 option. Ben Gordon hasn't really assumed that role, but now is the time to step up and take that role. Then ya look at the Pistons, they have Billups, Rip and Sheed....many options there.All of that, along with the fact that we have a much better idea of what the Pistons will do this year, is why I think Pistons will be the better team this year.</div>We also added Flip Murray and Ronald Dupree, a scorer and a hustle player. Maxiell is also growing.The Pistons will have a better record then the Bulls this year. Like what has been said previously, the Bulls don't have a proven scorer that they can rely on down the stretch or every game. Ben Gordon is flashy, but inconsistancy won't cut it if the Bulls want to contend this year.The Bulls are a great defensive team, but all great defensive teams that win have a consistant scorer or two, and until the Bulls get one, the Pistons are the better team.
You highlighted that part where Nitro said "while the pistons didn't do much changing except at the center position," but what you didn't pay attention to was the part where he said the biggets spark and best defensive presence. If you are looking at things like "we only lost Ben Wallace," that's just not the way you should be looking at things.Your guys defense is going to take a major blow with the loss of Ben Wallace, and the Chicago Bulls defense is going to get a nice addition with Ben Wallace. It seems like you neither you, nore anyone else besides Nitro fully understand's the impact that a dominant shot blocker has on an entire defense. A dominant shot blocker like Ben Wallace makes it hard for the other teams perimeter players to drive to the rim effectively. It makes some people shy away from driving to the rim, and settle for more outside jumpers, like it did Lebron James last year in the playoffs at times. If the man on the wing does go into the paint, even if that shot blocker doesn't block the shot, his hand in the wingmans face is going to alter his shot. It's going to make him have to shoot at a different angle, and different way than what he would usually. As Nitro said, Ben Wallace allowed the team to play the other teams bigs straight up without hardly ever double teaming because of Ben Wallace also. Ben Wallace was a huge reason why teams played so poorly offensivley, shot at such bad percentages, and generally didn't score in the paint as much against the Pistons as they did against other teams.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Oct 17 2006, 09:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>You highlighted that part where Nitro said "while the pistons didn't do much changing except at the center position," but what you didn't pay attention to was the part where he said the biggets spark and best defensive presence. If you are looking at things like "we only lost Ben Wallace," that's just not the way you should be looking at things.Your guys defense is going to take a major blow with the loss of Ben Wallace, and the Chicago Bulls defense is going to get a nice addition with Ben Wallace. It seems like you neither you, nore anyone else besides Nitro fully understand's the impact that a dominant shot blocker has on an entire defense. A dominant shot blocker like Ben Wallace makes it hard for the other teams perimeter players to drive to the rim effectively. It makes some people shy away from driving to the rim, and settle for more outside jumpers, like it did Lebron James last year in the playoffs at times. If the man on the wing does go into the paint, even if that shot blocker doesn't block the shot, his hand in the wingmans face is going to alter his shot. It's going to make him have to shoot at a different angle, and different way than what he would usually. As Nitro said, Ben Wallace allowed the team to play the other teams bigs straight up without hardly ever double teaming because of Ben Wallace also. Ben Wallace was a huge reason why teams played so poorly offensivley, shot at such bad percentages, and generally didn't score in the paint as much against the Pistons as they did against other teams.</div>I am not looking at things like "we only lost Ben Wallace" I am looking at things like, we didn't only get Nazr Mohammed. We got two other quality players and I thought that was worth mentioning. Everyone knows that Ben Wallace is a pretty big loss, he was talking about what we got, so I talked about what we got too.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SunnyD @ Oct 15 2006, 05:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%">The Pistons are better than the Bulls. This season is no different. </span> Written by SunnyDSF Matchup-Tayshaun Prince & Ronald Dupree vs. Luol Deng & Andres NocioniBulls win. I'll give it to them, Tayshaun is a deservant All-Star and a dominant defender, but Noc averaged 20 and 10 in the playoffs, and Luol Deng is a excellent athlete.PF Matchup-</div> I think it that should be Prince & Delfino not Dupree but I do agree Bulls still win that.
