The Detroit Pistons again proved last year that the “Team First” motto is something that exists in real life as opposed to Disney movies. Unfortunately real life does not end like Disney movies. The Pistons ran into a superior team who subscribes to the same philosophy in the San Antonio Spurs and lost the NBA Finals in a thrilling seven-game series.

ADDITIONS:	LOSSES:	PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP:
Jason Maxiell Amir Johnson Alex Acker Dale Davis Maurice Evans	No significant losses.	PG: Chauncey Billups SG: Richard Hamilton SF: Tayshaun Prince PF: Rasheed Wallace C: Ben Wallace

Key Bench Guys / Positional Battles:

Antonio McDyess is always someone in the back of our fantasy minds because of his scoring and rebounding abilities. More important, it will only take another McDyess knee injury to give Darko Milicic some minutes. While neither are very good options in any fantasy league format right now, their respective talents make them each worth monitoring.

Also keep in mind that Larry Brown never thought very highly of Darko, so his chance of some meaningful playing time – while still slim – increase with the hiring of Flip Saunders.

THE GUY ON THIS TEAM THAT WE LOVE:

Detroit's Ben Wallace Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

It’s hard not to love any of these guys because they all play such great basketball, but Rasheed Wallace is someone we think will improve from last season. Not exactly a sleeper by any means, but his 69.7 percent FT was the lowest it’s been in seven years. We don’t anticipate that happening again, but we do think the 8.2 rebounds a game (matching his career high) can be repeated, along with a slight bump in points to 16-17 per game.

THE GUYS ON THIS TEAM WE SUGGEST YOU AVOID:

We love him in real life, but Big Ben Wallace just isn’t worth the early round draft pick in rotisserie league formats (Points leaguers can ignore this paragraph). His rebounds and blocks can be enough to carry a team in either category, but when they come attached to his career 42 percent FT and overall lack of scoring, you’re looking at a second-to-last-place finish in one statistic right off the bat (just ahead of the guy that picks Shaq, of course).

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN 2005:

With head coach Larry Brown off to New York, it’s difficult to see this team repeating their success of the past couple of years. Flip Saunders is definitely not a bad basketball mind at all, but he’ll now be going to a team that's the polar opposite from Minnesota. The Timberwolves have long been carried by the immeasurable talents of Kevin Garnett, and were clearly built around him.

The Pistons roster has no such player, nor would they even invoke that kind of philosophy if they did. Our general thoughts are that the team will improve in offense but not be as strong defensively. Expect the starters to once again log heavy minutes and all five should be on fantasy rosters as good, solid players. None of them will win you the league out right, but all will help contribute.