Chauncey Billups was in his second NBA season and on his third NBA team when he was 22. When the man who would become inextricably linked in Pistons history with him was 22, Rip Hamilton was a part-time starter in his second season fighting for minutes behind Mitch Richmond in Washington.
No one could have foreseen that they would come together, three years into Hamilton’s career and five years into Billups’, to soon form the backcourt recognized as the NBA’s best and spearhead the second championship era of Pistons basketball. That’s a long way of saying Billups and Hamilton would caution against rushing to judgment on the 22-year-olds who populate today’s Pistons backcourt, Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, or dismissing the possibility of them becoming eminently worthy successors to the Thomas-Dumars, Billups-Hamilton lineage of Detroit guard combos.
“They’re young. They play totally different – which is a great thing,” Hamilton said. “I think they’re willing to be great together. That’s a big thing. Both kids don’t have egos. When I came here with Chauncey, both of us had no ego. We understood we could only do it together. They’ve got high upside.”
“It all starts with the backcourt and they have a bright, young backcourt with Cade and Jaden,” Billups said. “They’re going to be here for a long, long time and doing some special things.”
When Ben Wallace was Jalen Duren’s age, 20, he was in his junior season at Virginia Union and would go undrafted after his senior year. When he came to the Pistons as part of the return for Grant Hill in a sign-and-trade deal in July 2000 – the first piece of the team assembled by Joe Dumars to claim the third NBA title in franchise history – Wallace was 26 and in his fourth NBA season and on his third franchise.
When Tayshaun Prince was 21, as Ausar Thompson is today, he was wrapping up his senior season at Kentucky before playing infrequently as a 22-year-old rookie for Rick Carlisle in the 2002-03 season. When Rasheed Wallace was 22, as Isaiah Stewart is, he was a second-year player for the Portland Trail Blazers team that became infamously known as the “Jail Blazers” for the many off-court transgressions registered.
There are instances of seamless transitions to NBA glory, but they’re dwarfed by the number of stories like central characters of the Goin’ to Work Pistons authored. The NBA is home to the 500 best basketball players in the world and it’s the exceptionally rare gifted among them who doesn’t have to battle quicksand while taking the first steps on their journey. Adversity lurks around every corner and what made the 2004 Pistons so unique is the way they persevered individually to put themselves in position to celebrate collective success. So if they were to offer advice to today’s Pistons, that’s what they would say – stick with it, don’t let self-doubt undermine your dreams, stay focused on what matters.
“You talk about our team and what we all had to go through to get to this point, that’s what made winning so sweet,” said Billups, who left his Portland team in Chicago on a day off to join the celebration. “The journey and what we went through to get to this point, that’s where Detroit is right now. They’re on that early journey. I know that because I’m in it, too, in Portland. It’s those years and it’s those times that you build that grit and you build that character. Once you start getting better and you start to elevate, you never forget that. That’s what keeps you on that path. It’s all worth it. It’s all teachable moments.They’re going to be fine. They’ve got some great, young talent on that team and they’ve got a great coach. It just takes time.”
Hamilton wonders how it might have been different for him and his teammates if they’d had to endure their early-career travails amid an environment where social media was omnipresent.
“Before, you could say, ‘You know, I’m not going to read the paper’ and that was kind of easy to do. Now, every kid wants to be on social media. Everybody’s worrying about their brand, everybody’s worrying about clickbait. So it’s very different than what it was in the past.”
But like his old backcourt buddy, Hamilton sees the ingredients in place for these Pistons to eventually write their own success story.
“Stay patient, more than anything else,” he said. “When you’re a young kid coming to the league, there’s two ways it’s going to happen for you. You’re either going to be thrown into the first or you’re going to play behind someone like I did in Washington and have to learn by watching. But if you ask young guys, you want to be thrown into the fire. That’s what they are. So you’ve just got to understand to be patient. You’re going to take your bumps, you’re going to take your bruises. But just be persistent, block out the outside noise more than anything else, understand what you’ve got and try to build off of that.”
A few hours later, the Pistons would lose in gut-wrenching fashion. Within seconds of having the ball for a last-shot win, they saw Bam Adebayo – who’d made three 3-point shots all season – throw in a deep triple at the buzzer to avert a Pistons comeback from 17 points down. As the Goin’ to Work Pistons watched that all unfold from the suite they occupied at Little Caesars Arena, they probably saw that as just more fuel to feed the coming fire of their successors.
PISTONS TRIVIA
On March 18, 1983 the Pistons retired their first number in franchise history for Dave Bing, No. 21. But Bing was not the last Pistons player to wear that number. Who was?
A: Phil Hubbard
B: Earl Evans
C: Roy Hamilton
D: Greg Kelser
PRAISE FOR MONTY
Evan Fournier knows Pistons fans don’t know him well yet, so he wanted to make clear that he’s not known for couching his thoughts in hollow bromides or empty cliches. But after Sunday’s heart-wrenching loss to Miami on a Bam Adebayo triple at the buzzer, Fournier – who’s played 12 seasons for five franchises – offered unsolicited praise for Monty Williams. “You guys don’t know me well, but when I say something, I mean it,” he said when asked how hard it is for young players and young teams to establish a consistency of effort and outcomes. “I don’t bull----. Monty is a great teacher, probably one of the best teachers I’ve seen since I became a pro. He reminds me a lot of guys in Europe teaching the game. Usually in the NBA, you put plays in and players just kind of play. But he’s really detailed, especially defensively. He’s obviously a great offensive mind, so I think the young guys have got to really get a feel for the league, what works and what doesn’t. This group is so young. They have so many guys extremely young and they have no experience at that level. I’ve never played college, but different rules, different shot clock, different pace, different guys. When you get to the paint, you don’t see guys who are 7 feet and can block shots and move. Stuff that worked for you is not working here. You have to learn that and you can only learn that with experience. But then it’s on you to make sure you learn.”
THIS WEEK IN PISTONS HISTORY
On March 17, 2022 Saddiq Bey scored 51 points in a Pistons win at Orlando, the eighth time in franchise history for an individual 50-point outing. No one has gotten there since. In a 134-120 win, Bey scored 30 of his 51 points from the 3-point arc, hitting 10 of 14 triples. He added seven 2-point buckets on 13 attempts and knocked down 7 of 10 free throws. Bey hit a 3-point basket with 1:08 to play to get to 49 points, had an 18-foot jump shot blocked by Franz Wagner with 24 seconds to play but got another chance to reach 50 when Cole Anthony took a quick triple with 16 seconds to play. With eight seconds remaining, R.J. Hampton fouled Bey to put him at the foul line. Bey made both shots to finish with 51 points. That put Bey in a three-way tie with George Yardley (1958) and Rip Hamilton (2008) for the fifth-highest total in franchise history. Jerry Stackhouse (57, 2001), Kelly Tripucka (56, 1983), Dave Bing (54, 1971) and Yardley (52, 1958) occupy the top four spots. Blake Griffin (50, 2018) had been the most recent Pistons 50-point scorer before Bey joined the club. Marvin Bagley III (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Isaiah Stewart (16 points, 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles to help Bey carry the Pistons to the win.
THE WEEK AHEAD
- MONDAY – The Pistons start a busy week with a daunting back-to-back against the runaway leaders in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics. After Sunday’s win at Washington, the Celtics have risen to 39 games over .500 at 53-14 and have a commanding lead in the chase for the overall No. 1 seed. Boston is 10 games up in the loss column over Milwaukee in the East and six games up on the top seed in the West, Oklahoma City. This will be only the second meeting of the season between the Pistons and Celtics, who won in overtime on their home floor in late December.
7:30 p.m. on BALLY SPORTS DETROIT and 97.1 THE TICKET FM
- WEDNESDAY – The Pistons host the Indiana Pacers and will look to avoid being swept in the season series. Indiana has won the first three games against the Pistons, averaging 132 points in those games. The Pacers start the week with a 38-30 record good for the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race but with Philadelphia and Miami hot on their heels. Pascal Siakam has averaged 20.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists over 27 games since arriving via trade from Toronto. Tyrese Haliburton continues to lead the NBA in assists at 11.2 a game.
7 p.m. on BALLY SPORTS DETROIT and 97.1 THE TICKET FM
- FRIDAY – Boston visits Detroit for the first and only time this season to complete the season series with the Pistons. The Celtics have played without Kristaps Porzingis for the past five games as he rehabilitates from a hamstring injury. Jayson Tatum (27.1) and Jaylen Brown (23.0) combine to hang 50 points a game on the scoreboard and the Celtics pose problems by fielding lineups that almost always feature five 3-point shooting threats. The Celtics lead the league with 42.4 3-point attempts per game and is second in accuracy at .389. Boston ranks No. 1 in offense and No. 2 in defense in the NBA.
7 p.m. on BALLY SPORTS DETROIT and 97.1 THE TICKET FM
- SUNDAY – The Pistons rap up a stretch that sees them play nine home games over a 10-game segment of the schedule by hosting New Orleans. They’ll then play nine of 11 on the road to finish the season. New Orleans starts the week in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference with a 41-26 record. Sunday’s game will mark the end of a four-game road trip for New Orleans with stops in Brooklyn, Orlando and Miami before arriving in Detroit. Zion Williamson (22.6), Brandon Ingram (21.2) and C.J. McCollum (18.4) give the Pelicans plenty of scoring punch.
3 p.m. on BALLY SPORTS DETROIT and 97.1 THE TICKET FM
TRIVIA ANSWER
Earl Evans wore No. 21 for the Pistons in his one and only season in the NBA, 1979-80, when the Pistons went 16-66, which stands as the worst season in franchise history. Dick Vitale, in his second season, lasted 12 games before being replaced by assistant coach Richie Adubato. Evans was a fifth-round pick in 1978 out of UNLV, averaging 17.9 points as a senior and 15.8 as a junior after spending his first two seasons at Southern Cal. Evans played in 36 games and averaged 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds. Other players to wear No. 21 for the Pistons were Gene Shue (1958-62), Kevin Loughery (1963-64), Joe Caldwell (1965-66) and John Barnhill (1966).
(Eddie Rivero, Pistons basketball information specialist, contributed to this report.)