I was supposed to write a scathing critique of Joe Dumars tenure since he decided to “shake up the roster”, but found that it had already been done (excellently) by Detroit Bad Boys.
http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/2/22/1320329/joe-dumars-and-the-dark-side-of
It should’ve been painfully obvious to me that such a thing would’ve already been done, but these things happen. Instead, I’d like to take time out to dispel the widespread belief that the Pistons championship team from earlier in the decade was a team that “did it as a team” and “without a star”.
It’s just patently untrue.
The term “star” is very vague and is very much in the eye of the beholder. What is a star? Is it a guy who puts up a ton of points per game (even if he chucks up way too many shots to get that total)? Someone who garners All Star Game votes (even if they’re skating by on reputation)?
Stars, to me, are someone who is in the top 5-10 (closer to the 5, of course) in their position in the NBA. Under that criteria, the Pistons were flush with stars in the year they won the NBA Championship.
Win Shares is a stat that I think does an amazing job of succinctly showing what a player has done for a given season. It adds together a player’s defensive and offensive contributions to a team, and gives a nice and easy number. Through this measure, the Pistons had a roster that was almost top to bottom in the top 6 in the NBA in their respective roles.
Let’s get down to the numbers, shall we?
- Chauncey Billups: 11.3 WS – Chauncey is one of the most underrated players of the last decade (or longer, and I promise that is not hyperbole). His 11.3 WS ranked #2 in the NBA that season among PGs, behind only Sam Cassell (who was brilliant that season for the Timberwolves). He also ranked higher than this guy named Kobe Bryant. Would Kobe Bryant be considered a star? Exactly.
- Richard Hamilton: 8.1 WS - 6th Best SG in the NBA. Better than Michael Finley, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, and Steve Francis. Keep in mind this is almost a 7 years ago, when all of these guys were dominating. Star?
- Tayshaun Prince: 7.5 WS - 11th Best SF in 03/04. Sounds low, I know. Then you think about how loaded SF is in the NBA. You’ve got names like Peja Stojackovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Ron Artest, and Shawn Marion populating the upper part of the list. Even with that, Prince was still better than Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce, and Rashard Lewis. This is essentially the only spot in the entire starting five that you can legitimately argue is not a star with this criteria.
- Rasheed Wallace: .171 WS/48 – Rasheed might be the only guy on the team who had a previous reputation as a star. I’m using the minutes adjusted form of Win Shares for Wallace, since he only played around 22 games for the Pistons in that season and it wouldn’t be fair to compare him to guys who played a full season. He would rank 6th for PFs, and 3rd for a Center. I say this because there were plenty of instances where both Wallaces played together, and it’s pretty tough to say who’s the Center and who’s the Power Forward.
- Ben Wallace: 10.2 WS – 4th Best PF in the NBA, 2nd best Center (behind only Yao Ming). Even though Ben won plenty of Defensive Player of the Year awards, I don’t think people realize how dominant he really was defensively. He led the NBA for four straight seasons in defensive win shares (these awards were not by reputation, in case you were wondering), and in 03/04 he led the entire NBA in Defensive Win Shares by over one whole win (Kevin Garnett was second place, with 8.0). If defense truly wins championships, that’s a damn star.
That is just the starting five. Detroit’s bench was pretty stacked that season as well.
- Mehmet Okur often gets overshadowed and forgotten (most remember him playing for Utah), but he was an integral part of the team in 2003. He had 5.9 WS (and the second best WS/48 on the team behind Chauncey), and was the 2nd best bench player in the entire NBA (behind Brian Cardinal of all people).
- Corliss Williamson ranked 6th in the NBA with bench players less than 23 MPG (with 4.1 WS)
- Bob Sura, Mike James, and Elden Campbell rounded out the important part of the bench. Campbell wasn’t amazing, but produced something similar to what Austin Daye did last season. James and Sura played excellently off the bench in limited minutes, and were #3 and #2 respectively in the NBA among guards who played similar minutes per game.
All of those bench players were also well above average when using WS/48. When even your bench is above average, you’re doing something right.
What do we have when this is all added together? The #2 PG, #6 SG, #11 SF, #4 PF (#2 Center), and the #6 PF in the NBA (#3 Center). To me, that is AT LEAST 3 stars, and possibly 4. Going over the team like this, they honestly remind me more of the “Big Three” Celtics teams of recent years more than anyone else. How many stars did that team have?
Oh, and one more thing. Chauncey Billups really is insanely underrated (I really can’t say this enough), and was the reason I initally wanted to write about Joe Dumars in the first place.
Dumars wanted to sell high on Billups (I doubt he knew how high he was selling, and how little he actually got), and hitched his wagon to Rodney Stuckey and Richard Hamilton. If Joe D had the Win Shares statistic available to him at the time, he probably wouldn’t have pulled the trigger so quickly (or at all). In his tenure with the Pistons from 02/03 to 07/08 Chauncey was 2nd in the entire NBA for Win Shares among guards (5th, if you include centers and PFs). Who did he trail? A guy named Kobe Bryant, and only by less than two wins (over a 6 year period, my god).
Richard Hamilton’s total in that stretch was 46.3, which isn’t too shabby and was good for 12th among guards in the NBA.
Still, would you take a chance that Rodney Stuckey is the future and go with Hamilton? Or would you go with a PG who is simply one of the best in the entire NBA (he’s only 2 years older than Rip as well) and find a way to fill one of the most easily replaced spots in basketball.
Man, what a tough decision.
