Detroit Pistons By Rob Peterson, NBA.com HEAD COACH Rick Carlisle, (Second year) 2001-02 RESULTS 50-32 (Second in East) SEASON OUTLOOK: As a player, Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars was a suffocating defender, sweet shooter and consummate floor leader, earning MVP honors in the 1989 NBA Finals. Moreover, he rarely made a mistake, physical or mental. Dumars has made shrewd moves to strengthen the Pistons' core by obtaining Ben Wallace, Clifford Robinson, Corliss Williamson and Jon Barry, a solid, and sometimes spectacular, bunch that helped Detroit win the Central Division title last year. So, why have some lately painted a picture of Dumars cigar clenched between his teeth, wearing a leather Gaucho and a bolo tie wheeling and dealing from a riverboat on Lake Ontario? Maybe because he traded away, Jerry Stackhouse, two-time All-Star and the Pistons' leading scorer to the Wizards for Richard Hamilton, who had his best season last year, but is far from proven. Dumars thinks the trade wasn't much of a risk. "I see us having tremendous depth on our team. You can stand pat and say, well, we had success last year and it'll automatically carry over into next year. That's just not the case," Dumars told the Detroit Free Press. "Unless you're the Lakers and you're world champions, you're probably not looking to add a whole lot, and they still made trades and drafts and added people." Dumars did hedge his bet by signing free agent point guard Chauncey Billups, who will compete for time with Chucky Atkins. For one, Billups believes the Pistons' have an ace up their collective warm-up jersey sleeves: chemistry. "It's incredible that he has been able to find a mix of guys that are good people and very unselfish people," Billups said in Detroit Free Press. "When you have guys willing to work with each other and play unselfishly on the court and be friends off the court. . . . You don't find that much in this league." What the Pistons will need to find is more offense and a full season from Hamilton as Stackhouse's career average is 5.6 points better than Hamilton's. And Stackhouse had been durable over the past three seasons, missing only eight games. Hamilton missed 19 games last season and has never started more than 57 . Still, the Pistons promise that they will be a team that won't rest on its laurels. "As great as that was, it's over now," coach Rick Carlisle said in the Detroit Free Press. "The dream is to win a championship. We feel we've added a lot of high-character guys, but kept our core group intact." VIDEO FLASHBACK: GREAT CALL OF 2001-02 Ben Wallace swat: "Now THAT was a spectacular block by Ben Wallace!" 737k avi | QuickTime WHO'S IN: Guard Hubert Davis and Bobby Simmons arrived with Hamilton from Washington. The Pistons tabbed lanky rookie Tayshaun Prince with the No. 23 pick in the draft. WHO'S OUT: Along with Stackhouse, the Pistons sent Brian Cardinal and Ratko Varda to the Wizards. BENCH: One of the best in the East. Williamson won the Sixth Man Award last season and Barry provides more spark than a warehouse full of firecrackers. Davis is scary good from three-point range. Zeljko Rebraca, though only in his second year in the NBA, has many years of European experience and can shore up the post well. THE PISTONS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS IF ... : Hamilton can produce enough offense and Billups plays as well as he did last season. THE PISTONS MISS THE PLAYOFFS IF ... : Hamilton withers under the pressure or one of the starters misses a significant amount of time to a major injury.		Forward Ben Wallace, last season's Defensive Player of the Year, was a force on the boards, leading the league in rebounding at 13.0 per game. Ron Turenne/NBAE/Getty Images P R O J E C T E D   S T A R T E R S POS PLAYER SCHOOL YRS PG Chauncey Billups Colorado 5 SG Richard Hamilton Connecticut 3 SF Michael Curry Ga. Southern 8 PF Ben Wallace Va. Union 6 C Cliff Robinson Connecticut 13 S C O U T ' S   T A K E “Getting Rip Hamilton, does it make them better? ... It does give them more of a team dimension. With Stackhouse, he demanded the ball. He had a knack of getting the ball to the basket. He lived at the foul line. Without him, they have one less weapon and it could hurt them on offense. ... It looks like they're going to try to win with defense and more a of grind it out game in the 80-85 point range. ... They hope to get better team chemistry, and even though they don't have a prolific scorer on the court, who can give you 20 or 30 when you need it, the Pistons should be very serious about defending, and they'll be a force to be reckoned with. ... Ben Wallace is going to be solid on defense, will grab a lot of rebounds and block shots, but you don't count on him to be a scorer. ... Corliss Williamson brings a lot of intangibles off the bench and gave them an infusion of offense.” -- Eastern Conference assistant coach 2 0 0 1 - 0 2   L E A D E R S PPG Jerry Stackhouse 21.4 RPG Ben Wallace 13.0 APG Jerry Stackhouse 5.3 SPG Ben Wallace 1.73 BPG Ben Wallace 3.48 G A M E S   T O   W A T C H 11/7 at Denver 10 ET, TNT 12/12 at Chicago 7:30 ET, TNT 12/25 at Orlando 2 ET, ESPN 2/13 Orlando 7:30 ET, TNT 2/21 Minnesota 8 ET, ESPN F A N T A S Y   S L E E P E R Richard Hamilton - Guard He'll be option No. 1 on the offensive end for the Pistons. Last season, he averaged 20 points per game. It could increase, especially if he keeps getting to the line. He was 19th in the league in free throws attempted. T H E   S T A T 96.7 Percentage of votes (116 of 120) Wallace received last season for Defensive Player of the Year, the highest ever.
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