Rip Hamilton: Pistons should have won '3 or 4' titles

[DirtyDez]

There is no excuse for them losing to the Cavs in 07'.

[tbennett5438]

Why could have if they drafted Melo.

I truly believe that nothing would've changed. The coach was still Larry Brown, and in my opinion, he ruined Darko.

[pacers33granger]

And the Pacers during that time should have won a title, and they should have earlier in the decade too. The Big 3 Celtics should have won at least one more. The Lakers should have won when they had 4 HOFers. The Spurs should have won numerous more years in Duncan's prime.

Every year there are at least one if not numerous teams that would have won a title if things bounced right. Those Pistons teams were great teams and had the potential to win a couple more. But that didn't happen. He should be happy he got one though since a lot of players and teams have gotten nothing.

[og15]

So what seed do you guys think prime Big Ben, Rasheed, Rip, Billups and Prince would be in the western conference right now? Mind you there's currently not a Center in the league who is as good as Ben Wallace was defensively.

Well in 03-04 and 04-05 they won 54 games and they were 17-11 and 19-11 vs the West, so about a 50 win pace against the WC, then they had 64 games in 05-06, 25-5 vs the West but people didn't feel the defense was the same with Flip. They were back down to 53 wins in 06-07 with the departure of Ben. So it depends on what season you're looking at. On a yearly basis they are probably a lower 50 win team and in the bottom half of the bracket, so that would make things a bit difficult. I don't believe they maximize regular season wins with Larry, so they aren't a top seed in the West and that's just a hard situation.

They were a very good team, but no matter how we slice it, life is easier when in 03-04 your first round opponent had 41 wins and your second round 47 wins. In 04-05 your first round opponent had 43 wins and second round 44 wins, in 05-06 it was a little harder, 40 and a 50 win team, but it was with Lebron. 06-07, 40 and 49 wins.

It's not because the Pistons can't beat a higher level team, but in the WC right now they will likely play two 55+ win teams in the first round and second round before they even get to the WCF. So it's just plain logic that the more teams your playing that are at your level or arguably better, the lower your chances of advancing are. Even if you are really good, it's no easy task to beat 3 55+ win teams just to get to the finals in he first place.

Lastly, while there are no big as dominant as Ben on defense right now, there are bigs who are very good defensively and much better on offense. Also we had KG and the Celtics defense and even they couldn't just march to the finals and to championships with ease. People tend to underestimate how difficult it really is to win it all or even get to the conference finals.

[gustofwind]

People are never going to respect those Pistons teams, fellow Pistons fans. They won without a superstar, and no one else does that.

As I posted on the Pistons board in another thread, Big Ben was the heart, Chauncey the leader, Sheed the energy, Tay the glue, and Rip the mouthy douchebag that I never liked (and yet was typically our leading scorer, as he could run forever and his mid-range game was top notch -- he just needed screens to get open because his handle sucked so bad).

Honestly, plenty of people have respect the Pistons and their great run. Don't be so pessimistic. They were a great team and the deserved their championship.

[engelbert321]

Again, they were lucky to win in 04.

This stupid/great dance:

How's that salt taste?

[LofJ]

...Like most of his former teammates, Hamilton thought that the Pistons left a couple of championships on the table, especially in 2005, against the San Antonio Spurs. Detroit made six straight Eastern Conference finals during Hamilton's stay.

"I think we should have won three or four,'' Hamilton said. "It just didn't happen. It was one of those things. To get one was great, but I thought we left a couple on the table."...

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/p ... /24122501/

i think he should be glad they had the one... getting to 6 conference finals is kind of irrelevant given how craptastic the east was. i mean pierce/antwan walker celtics made it one year, kids nets won 50 and 51 games the 2 years they made it. that isnt exactly some great feat.

They were fortunate to beat the lakers, they were a really good but not great team without a great player

Sorry, but this is complete bull. They are one of the greatest defensive teams of all time, yes they were a great team.

[Axel]

Maybe they could've won another one but i'd say they got lucky to win in 04 because:

a) kobe tried to become "the man", went full ballhog and ignored shaq way too much
b) malone got injured during that first game and played injured the rest of the way which was a huge loss

If those two things didn't happen the lakers would've won pretty easily imo.

A.) That's how Kobe plays, how can you ask him not to be himself? Shaq also had a monster series, I'm not sure what more you could have asked.
B.) Lakers weren't close enough at any point in the series for Malone to have made much of an impact.

[Blame Rasho]

Alot of other teams should/would/could of won...if we live in a what if world the Spurs would/should/could/ have won 10 championships... but you know what, it is silly to marginalize the other teams to prop up other teams. Other teams won because they were better that year.. it is that simple/

[Usual Suspects]

He's right. They should have had about 3, but they let the Spurs steal one, and they let Lebron "one man gang" them, two years later, so they didn't get it done. No sympathy here though. Nobody can "shoulda coulda woulda" like Dr J's 76ers 77-85.

uhmm... The Blazers of the same era. They IMO have the biggest "shoulda coulda woulda". If Walton doesn't get hurt, I don't see who stops them from 1977-1980 (there's no way Walton lets Magic dominate the 1980 Finals Gm6 without Kareem). They wouldn't be heavily challenged til 1981.

But Alas, "shoulda coulda woulda" is part of the game.

[Yoshun]

I think people are making way to big of a deal of this. I think when he says "should have won" he means they should have played better and that they blew several opportunities by not playing better. I'm sure most players have felt that way when they lost in the finals or championship games.

[SF_Warriors]

That pistons team that won the chip was a great, great team and a case study on how a team can actually win a title without an offensive superstar, giving hope to hawks fans around the country. Defensively, that front court of Wallace, sheed, and prince is pretty much unparalled. Perfect mix of athleticism, length, and physical/mental intimidation. They also get props for effectively ending the kobe shaq era in LA.

But what rip said is totally untrue.

That LA team was seriously lacking depth after Malone went down.
Lakers were starting devean George and slava freakin medvedenko in that finals series for petes sake.
Their bailout man, Robert Horry had already left for SA that preseason.

The next 3-4 nba champions were way better than that lakers team, especially without Malone.

The spurs had their big three, plus the aforementioned Horry. No way were they losing that year.
The heat team was pretty stacked stacked themselves. Electric backcourt in wade and jdubb. They had a 20 & 10 shaq. Their role players were Zo, GP, Toine, & james posey in his prime.
You got the spurs again, and then the ridiculously stacked boston Celtics.

No way that pistons team even in their prime were beating any of those guys.

[tyguy]

You guys talk trash now because most of you forget or weren't watching ball then. Won the championship, 2 straight final appearances, 6 straight ECF appearances. I even remember having 4 of them in the all star game at one time handling the western team. Man I guess we were just the luckiest team ever though.

East is always so weak. XXX Straight ECF or even Finals appearances from the East doesn't mean much after 2000. I hate it when people say Lebron has made it to the finals X out of X years. Yeah because if you're a talented team there is red carpet rolled for you to the NBA finals.

Even this year. Bulls and Bullets are fizzling out. Raps look like pretenders. All Cavs have to do is beat a worn out WCF contender who just went through a gauntlet.

Oh, is that all? You make it sound like cake. Let's already have something in place in case they win to diminish their accomplishments!

[WolvesGuy14]

Again, they were lucky to win in 04.

This stupid/great dance:

How's that salt taste?

Terrible. You'd be salty too if a stupid injury costed your team from their first championship.

[Rasheeed!!!]

If the Pistons were luck to beat LA in 04 then so were the Spurs to beat Heat last year.

Sent from my Agora Quad Core using RealGM Forums mobile app

[NashtyNas]

They would have 2 if they went with Melo > Darko.
Put Melo as the 6th man on those teams... that's unstoppable.
Still they had a bunch of misfits from other teams come together to accomplish what they did in Detroit, which was amazing.
Can't say they "should have" won "3 or 4" considering... they didn't even win 2.

[GYK]

no but they should be seen as one of teams of the 00's. Certainly a top five team. A rival for any era's elites.

[theFRANCHISE]

They should've never traded Billups for Iverson

[jackwindham]

No respect for the Pistons? That's false. I'm not a fan, but I have a whole lot of respect for that team. It was one of the most cohesive and balanced squads that I've ever seen. I also have friends who share those opinions. They're not Detroit fans, either.

[ChuckChilly]

I feel like they should have been able to repeat. They blew that.