Championship Caliber Teams

That is what I call both the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons.

You might be thinking....Wow... that's a big boast. The answer is simple. Let's look at the wings first. Over the past ten or so years if you were to ask a casual fan which is the best team in the NHL your answer was probably the Red Wings and you wouldn't be wrong. These guys have been good for so long that they are now expected to win every time they step on the ice. The Wings are once again on top of the NHL. They have reformed themselves from the New York Yankees of the NHL to a young, energetic and explosive team to watch. So who are these guys? They have two excellent goalies in Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek. On the blue line they still have the reigning Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, and newcomer Brian Rafalski. Up front they have a great mixture of youth and experience. They have arguably the most valuable line in hockey where center Pavel Datsyuk is flanked by Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom. Check the statistics… Zetterberg has been the best two way player for over a year and Holmstrom is the best at what he does and that is owning the area just in front of the goalie.

Meanwhile just north of the Motor City resides the Palace of Auburn Hills where the Pistons call their home court. Since the 2002 season, the Pistons have been the best team in the Eastern Conference over that stretch of time. They have assembled the best starting five players and the bench is much improved. They seem to be bored at times, but never count these guys out. Ask the Boston Celtics who has the best team in the East.

The metamorphous took place the year Grant Hill wanted to leave the Pistons in favor of a warmer climate and better team. As a Piston fan, I was disappointed with his decision to leave as I thought it was going to be the end of the Pistons. I was rudely awaken at just how shrewd Joe Dumars was when he acquired some little known short pivot man named Ben Wallace and some throw in Chucky Atkins to make the trade possible. Both eventually started for the Pistons while Hill played only half of the games due to another injury. Dumars is just as quick at change the coaching staff for the team. George Irvine was replaced with Rick Carlisle who brought credibility back to the team.

Carlisle had very little talent on the team but the team played hard nosed defense and made the playoffs and quickly lost. The following year Joe Dumars knew that he had to upgrade the talent on the team. He acquired Chauncey Billups via free agency and Richard “Rip” Hamilton in a trade for Jerry Stackhouse. They also drafted Tayshun Prince that year. The next year they traded for Rasheed Wallace and won the NBA championship.

So what makes these guys what they are? It’s got to be the General Managers. Ken Holland of the Red Wings and Joe Dumars of the Pistons have brought their teams to greatness is completely different manners. Ken Holland has transformed the Red Wings from a powerful star studded team to a salary cap savvy team. He and longtime front office guru Jim Nill along with their scouting staff has come up with tremendous late round draft picks and every once in a while bring in a veteran that to improve their team. Joe Dumars has done a completely different way. His drafts have not been anywhere near as profitable as Holland’s but he is an excellent evaluator of talent as it becomes a part of the Pistons. He has shipped guys out of here and still gotten valuable assets in return. Since the NBA has a soft cap, Joe Dumars has the advantage to improve the Pistons via trades for expensive players or jumping into the free agency market. This is what makes Joe great. He doesn’t waste time pulling the trigger on a trade.

So we are living a dream in Detroit where we have tremendous teams helmed by great leaders… oh wait… there is that one team that shall be nameless.