Detroit is still the best team in the East

When the Detroit Pistons resigned Chauncey Billups this off-season, they instantly became the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. With Chicago’s young promising talent and the singing in Boston of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen teamed with Paul Pierce, most people would argue the Pistons Dominance in the East would come to an end. As you have seen in my previous blog I strongly feel the Bulls are overrated especially without having a true leader. However, Boston is an intriguing because of their big three. I don’t believe the Celtic’s are deep enough to out dual the pistons in a series. The Pistons is a team who doesn’t score a lot of points but they have a strong commitment to defense. Even without Ben Wallace the Piston’s have shown they are still one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. Detroit is eager to bounce back from a poor showing in last year’s Conference Final’s were Lebron James dominated the Piston’s. Furthermore, I don’t expect a battled tested team to struggle offensively like they did against Cleveland.

Chauncey Billups is the key to the Pistons success. Billups is a true leader who seems to have a claming influence on the game. In many ways Billups is similar to Tim Duncan where they don’t need to have a big game offensively to have a major impact on the game. If Flip Saunders doesn’t manage to get the Piston’s to the NBA Finals this may be his last season in Detroit. Nevertheless, with a solid starting line-up and a deeper team than last year Detroit will be a tough handle for anyone. Detroit may still resign Chris Weber sometime this season; with the emergence of Jason Maxiell as their young enforcer down low don’t be surprised if the Piston’s is their year’s Eastern Conference Champs.