The Eternally Half Full Glass

The Pistons are up to their old tricks. For the fifth consecutive season, the organization has proven to be masters of the positive spin. The Pistons won a championship in 2004. Ever since, regardless of the situation, the Pistons always make it seem like everything is going as planned and they are positioning themselves to win a championship. In each of the four previous seasons, their projections were overly optimistic. It is hard to imagine that this season will be any different – unless of course one consults one of the Pistons.

In 2005, the defending champion Pistons were not dominating the regular season like many had hoped. Not to worry; the Pistons had a plan. They simply had to wade through the regular season, ensure that key players were healthy and fresh for the playoffs, and win just enough games to earn a respectable seed for the playoffs. Then, come playoff time, they could cruise to a second consecutive championship. The plan backfired in the playoffs. The Pistons did not have home court advantage against Miami and survived a seven game series thanks in large part to an injury to Dwyane Wade. In the finals, the Pistons were not as fortunate and lost game seven in San Antonio. The lack of home court advantage hurt them in both series.

The next season, the Pistons allegedly had a solution. First, the overly controlling Larry Brown was out as coach. Flip Saunders stepped in and was prepared to loosen the reigns. The theory was that a veteran squad like the Pistons needed a few simple directives from a coach and could handle the rest on their own. The Pistons also believed that they were doomed by a lack of home court advantage the previous season. As a result, they were determined to do everything possible to achieve the league's best record. The Pistons accomplished that goal by winning a franchise record 64 games. Once again, the plan flopped. In order to post the league's best record, the Pistons wore out their main players. The five starters and Antonio McDyess combined to play over 80 percent of available minutes – an insanely high total for just six players. As a result, during the playoffs, the Pistons starters appeared run down while the Pistons' bench was not prepared to contribute. The Pistons flamed out against Miami that season.

The Pistons claimed to have a solution for 2007. They would scale back the intensity during the regular season in order to preserve themselves for the playoffs. Also they would develop young reserves Jason Maxiell and Carlos Delfino to inject youth into the lineup while strengthening the bench. The plan seemed to work, until Flip Saunders abandoned his bench during the playoffs. Maxiell and Delfino had combined to average more than 30 minutes per game during the regular season, but they saw a combined, cumulative total of just 23 minutes during the three losses in Cleveland. Cleveland upset Detroit and the Pistons were sent home early again.

Last season, Saunders assured fans that he had learned from his mistakes. Also, the team was finally starting McDyess meaning that, for the first time in ages, the Pistons had five starters who could play effectively on both ends of the court. However, once the playoffs began, Saunders reverted to a seven man rotation. During the Pistons’ 17-game playoff run, Theo Ratliff was eighth in total minutes with 131. Partially as a result of his continued inability to trust his bench, Saunders was fired after the Pistons fell victim to the Celtics.

In 2009, the spin-doctors are back to work. The Pistons have been a combination of inconsistent and mediocre since Iverson joined the team nearly three months ago. Every time they appear to turn a corner – whether with big wins against the Cavaliers and Lakers or with the seven-game winning streak that began in December – they play horribly during the subsequent games.

Nonetheless, yesterday’s Detroit News featured an article titled “Will Pistons' funk serve as blessing?” The argument is that the Pistons have not faced adversity in a long time. In the long run, they will be better off by learning from the current adversity, the theory goes. Maybe it is time the Pistons quit trying to look at the glass as half full and start trying to fill up the metaphorical glass with better basketball and more wins. After all, the articles about them playing great are much more fun to read than the ones about why it is great that they are not.