I know we're only 10% of the way through the NBA regular season, but I don't think it's too early to pat myself on the back for what I wrote on October 26th, before the season started: the Detroit Pistons will be better this year than they were the last two years under Larry Brown. For the record, here's what I wrote:
The Pistons will be better this year without Larry Brown. I know, Brown is a legend. I know, he's the only coach ever to win both an NBA and NCAA championship. He's also entirely too rigid and doesn't adjust how he coaches to the players on the roster. We know the Pistons play great defense, and that will continue. But Brown held them back offensively and didn't get the maximum out of the offensive talent. Flip Saunders will run a much more up tempo offense, with a lot more screens to free up the big men. Same defense and improved offense means a better team.
This is also a much deeper team than it has been the last couple years. Antonio McDyess is a co-starter. Darko is showing signs of becoming a beast finally, playing very aggressively in the preseason now that he has a coach who will let him play, and let him play to his strengths. Carlos Delfino also looks great coming off knee surgery. Carlos Arroyo is a solid backup at the point and Maurice Evans will be instant offense off the bench. Their second team could go .500 in the Eastern conference. Mark it down, this team will be better.
So how's that working out so far? After 8 games, the Pistons are a perfect 8-0, not only the lone undefeated team in the NBA, the only team with less than 2 losses. And that includes a 3 game road trip out West against 3 pretty good teams. Their offense has improved enormously, as I predicted. They are averaging over 102 points, unheard of under Larry Brown. The entire starting lineup is averaging in double figures, with three of them over 17 points per game. Three of their starters are shooting over 50% from the field (absolutely unheard of in the NBA) and no one shoots below 43%. Three of their top 4 players off the bench are also shooting over 50%.
Meanwhile, their defense has remained as tough as it ever was. They're holding teams to less than 90 points per game, allowing their opponents to shoot less than 46%, and under 30% from 3 point range. They're 3rd in the league in scoring themselves and are 4th in the league in terms of their opponent's scoring. That's how you win a lot of basketball games. There's only one team within 5 points of them in terms of scoring differential. This team is for real, they're better than last year, and barring a rash of injuries, they'll be back in the NBA finals against San Antonio next June.
One other prediction I made was that the Miami Heat would be worse. Now, Shaq has been injured since midway through the first game, so it's hardly a fair comparison. But I also predicted that they would have a slow start and that Pat Riley would use that as an excuse to move back to the bench and take over coaching from Stan Van Gundy. Mark my words, this happens before the all-star break. And here's another prediction from someone else that I'll wholeheartedly endorse.
The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, has a great column up about the Larry Brown/Isaiah Thomas relationship in New York. It's dead on accurate. He writes:
In the history of sports, there may not have been a worse match than Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. It's going to end badly. Either Larry's quitting, or Isiah's getting fired, and it's going to happen sooner than you think. Even in these first two weeks, you can see Larry distancing himself from the guys on the floor, and as Peter Vescey pointed out in Sunday's New York Post, many of Brown's postgame quotes carry the same underlying theme:
"Hey, whaddya want from me? I didn't pick these guys."
Although the Knicks salvaged their road swing with ugly victories over Sacramento and Utah, this still seems like a match made in hell. On the one hand, you have Brown, a certain Hall of Famer, one of the most memorable basketball coaches ever. Whether it was in Carolina (1972-74), Denver (1975-79), New Jersey (1982-83), Kansas (1984-88), San Antonio (1989-92), Los Angeles (1992-93), Indiana (1994-97), Philadelphia (1998-2003) or Detroit (2003-05), in every case -- repeat: every case -- Brown's teams always improved dramatically, and he always departed just as dramatically for reasons far less justifiable than "I can't believe I'm working for Isiah Thomas." Will we ever see another basketball coach leave nine straight cities with winning records? Heck, will we ever see someone coach that many teams again? He's been like a cross between Norman Dale and Larry King.
And he's working for Isaiah Thomas, one of the greatest players in NBA history but an unmitigated disaster in any other basketball capacity. He failed miserably in Toronto, destroyed the CBA completely, coached a bunch of underachievers in Indiana who got better after he left, and in New York he's assembled a team of players who can't play together but whose outrageous contracts make them untradable. Dennis Kozinski didn't screw up this badly, and he's going to spend the next 20 years in prison. Simmons is right, this is going to come to a head between the two of them, and Larry is going to win that battle. And it'll happen before the regular season is over.
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I think you jinxed the Pistons, they got killed by the Mavs tonight. And as they say, 82 games is a long season, and it really only matters what you do after those 82 are already over. That team is far too cocky for me to have any real confidence in.
Matthew wrote:
I actually intended to write in my post that I thought their streak would end last night at Dallas. No team can win them all, and playing their 5th road game out of 9 against a very good Dallas team that matches up well with them was the likely time they would lose. I'm surprised to hear you call the Pistons cocky; I get the opposite impression. They're very workmanlike, not prima donnas. There isn't a single superstar in the bunch, just a bunch of very good players who work hard. I don't think any team that plays great defense can be accused of being cocky. Playing great defense is all about effort and desire, something cocky teams typically don't have. These guys know that they are where they are because they work hard, not because they're so much better than everyone else.