In Detroit, it's rare to get a good glimpse of the stars when they come out at night.
Blame it on the air pollution from the "Big Three" automakers. Blame it on the bright city lights.
Starless nights make the metropolis hell for romantics and astronomers. But for local NBA fanatics, the Motor City is heaven, even if fans in attendance at the Palace don't always have the opportunity to see the league's brightest stars.
Every team left in the 2005 NBA playoffs (aside from the severely overmatched Wizards) has at least one potential Hall-of-Famer on their roster. Miami has Shaquille O'Neal and Dwayne Wade. Indiana has Reggie Miller and Jermaine O'Neal. Phoenix has Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. San Antonio has Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Dallas has Dirk Nowitzki. Seattle has Ray Allen.
Ben Wallace is Detroit's most recognizable player. His towering afro and tenacious defense make him a real spectacle to behold. But his limitations on the offensive end keep him out of the yearly MVP vote and make him a real long shot for enshrinement. We're talking Giacomo odds.
Even though Detroit's lineup lacks Hall-of-Fame credentials, many argue the Pistons have the NBA's best starting five. Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Big Ben make up a unit that is not only devoid of superstars, but also stocked with more former castoff talent than "The Surreal Life."
The lineup that brought a World Championship to Motown in 2004 is the same lineup that nobody wanted five seasons ago. These guys are lucky the Pistons had plans for them. For a while, they were about as desirable to NBA GMs as Yugos were to drag racers.
Let's go back in time to the end of the 20th century: a bizarre place where Y2K was the nation's biggest problem and Grant Hill was still healthy. Be sure to buckle up before the DeLorean starts in motion.
The year is 1999. Billups is a mile-high disappointment in Denver. In only his third season in the league, he is averaging a mere nine points and three assists a night for his third different team.
Ben Wallace is having his best season yet, but his numbers are still quite civilian (five points and eight rebounds per game). On a "loaded" Orlando Magic squad, Wallace is sharing his minutes in the pivot with players like John Amechi and Michael Doleac.
In the nation's capital, Hamilton is just starting his career. As a rookie, he is having trouble cracking the starting lineup and is relegated to playing 20 minutes a night off the bench. Hamilton averages nine points per contest and begins to be typecast as shooter with a limited overall package.
Prince is a slender six-foot-nine, 215-pound sophomore at the University of Kentucky. His numbers are solid, but unspectacular. Although Prince doesn't have any tattoos, NBA scouts swear they can see "tweener" written all over him.
Rasheed Wallace is the only pre-Piston enjoying any real success. He is leading the Portland Trail Blazers with averages of 16 points and 7 rebounds per game. However, many NBA observers are becoming concerned that Wallace has more attitude than ability. It seems a player who gets as many technical fouls as 'Sheed does could never be the cornerstone of a team in serious contention for a ring.
Fast-forward to the present. How did these spare parts come together to comprise the well-oiled machine that drove the Pistons to a championship?
Enter master mechanics, Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle. Brown and Carlisle were able to use scraps from a beat-up Pinto to build a new hotrod.
Detroit's current coach led his team to a title by convincing five role players they could shine as bright as any superstar.
As the legendary Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian once said, "A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are."
After five campaigns under the tutelage of good coaches, Detroit's "fairish five" are showing fans what Brown and Carlisle saw in them years ago. Today, Billups is the reigning NBA Finals MVP. Ben Wallace is this season's NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Hamilton is now considered by many to be the second-coming of Reggie Miller. Prince's play this year is helping to quiet complaints from fans who were miffed at the team's decision to pass on Carmelo Anthony. And Rasheed Wallace is letting his actions on the court do the talking for the first time in his career.
This group has dispelled the widely-accepted notion that teams need stars to win championships.
Leave it to a pair of skilled technicians to throw a wrench in the machine.
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