The blueprint to make the Pistons a championship team
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:36 am
There are many different directions teams can take to build a championship contending team. And other than the rare occurrences of teams such as the 04 pistons, and the present day spurs, most of them involve superstar talent, and using that as a strength to build around.
For the pistons to be successful, the team has to be built around Drummond and Monroe as the strength of the team. Which is a strength good enough to carry a championship team. Once you can identify that, it is the roles that get filled around them that is the biggest key to the success the team can achieve. And is the main reason for some of the greatest players to play the game, not getting a ring, other than being caught behind that one player that was better than them. In my opinion, the roles to fill alongside a PF/C combination would be:
1. A go-to shot creating wing scorer at either SG/SF, regardless of defensive abilities, who doesn't necessarily need to be a star, but someone who can be the get you a key bucket from the perimeter when required. Hopefully being an approximately 18PPG type scorer, just like the two bigs. For this position, Obviously getting a proper top 10 type superstar would be ideal, but i would love to give Gordon Hayward a shot to be that guy, even though i admittedly have not watched Utah a whole lot the last few years.
2. At the other wing, a strong defensive player who can shoot the 3 on offense. (I think we have that in KCP)
A key element here is that one of those 2 need to be an elite transition player too. This is necessary in order to get easy points amongst the consistent battle of pounding the ball inside with the two big guys.
With that blueprint, Monroe/Starting SF/KCP/And hopefully Drummond would be more than enough scoring in the starting lineup. This means you then would need
3. A point guard that can be the leader of the team, play good defense and get the rest of the team the ball when they need it. I think Marcus Smart could've been that guy, but as looked at in the other thread, if we could somehow land Rondo (If Celtics go full rebuild) without losing monroe/drummond/kcp he would be that and much, much more. He's a top 15 player in the league for a reason... He can do more than just pass. This is likely the toughest hole to fill.
4. In order to take a solid starting lineup to the next level, you need atleast 2 key, reliable bench contributors to go along with that. I would want;
a) another scorer on the wing off the bench, and then
b) another PF/C that can come in and rebound/play good defense for 20 minutes alongside either one of the two starters without it dropping off too much. This is the sort of role that you find with someone/something like Ed Davis or Amir Johnson, just like what McDyess used to do.
Once you have that, over time you can fill out the roster with players who might not have the consistency of the starters, but can contribute at times to turn a good team into a great one on certain nights, much like the heat had with guys like Mike Miller, Anderson, Norris Cole and Shane Battier. With those roles filled, the team can be centered around a terrific PF and C combination whilst still being incredibly balanced, and that becomes a very difficult team to stop.
Its the blueprint i'm worried Chicago is going to beat us to, although with a little more star power in D.Rose and probably Melo, but without the offensive punch that Monroe and Drummond could put onto teams.
Tough, leader, defense first PG
3 & D SG
Scoring SF
Monroe
Drummond
6 Scoring SG/SF
7 Rebounding PF/C
8 Backup PG - run the team, maintain the lead
9 8MPG big body center
For the pistons to be successful, the team has to be built around Drummond and Monroe as the strength of the team. Which is a strength good enough to carry a championship team. Once you can identify that, it is the roles that get filled around them that is the biggest key to the success the team can achieve. And is the main reason for some of the greatest players to play the game, not getting a ring, other than being caught behind that one player that was better than them. In my opinion, the roles to fill alongside a PF/C combination would be:
1. A go-to shot creating wing scorer at either SG/SF, regardless of defensive abilities, who doesn't necessarily need to be a star, but someone who can be the get you a key bucket from the perimeter when required. Hopefully being an approximately 18PPG type scorer, just like the two bigs. For this position, Obviously getting a proper top 10 type superstar would be ideal, but i would love to give Gordon Hayward a shot to be that guy, even though i admittedly have not watched Utah a whole lot the last few years.
2. At the other wing, a strong defensive player who can shoot the 3 on offense. (I think we have that in KCP)
A key element here is that one of those 2 need to be an elite transition player too. This is necessary in order to get easy points amongst the consistent battle of pounding the ball inside with the two big guys.
With that blueprint, Monroe/Starting SF/KCP/And hopefully Drummond would be more than enough scoring in the starting lineup. This means you then would need
3. A point guard that can be the leader of the team, play good defense and get the rest of the team the ball when they need it. I think Marcus Smart could've been that guy, but as looked at in the other thread, if we could somehow land Rondo (If Celtics go full rebuild) without losing monroe/drummond/kcp he would be that and much, much more. He's a top 15 player in the league for a reason... He can do more than just pass. This is likely the toughest hole to fill.
4. In order to take a solid starting lineup to the next level, you need atleast 2 key, reliable bench contributors to go along with that. I would want;
a) another scorer on the wing off the bench, and then
b) another PF/C that can come in and rebound/play good defense for 20 minutes alongside either one of the two starters without it dropping off too much. This is the sort of role that you find with someone/something like Ed Davis or Amir Johnson, just like what McDyess used to do.
Once you have that, over time you can fill out the roster with players who might not have the consistency of the starters, but can contribute at times to turn a good team into a great one on certain nights, much like the heat had with guys like Mike Miller, Anderson, Norris Cole and Shane Battier. With those roles filled, the team can be centered around a terrific PF and C combination whilst still being incredibly balanced, and that becomes a very difficult team to stop.
Its the blueprint i'm worried Chicago is going to beat us to, although with a little more star power in D.Rose and probably Melo, but without the offensive punch that Monroe and Drummond could put onto teams.
Tough, leader, defense first PG
3 & D SG
Scoring SF
Monroe
Drummond
6 Scoring SG/SF
7 Rebounding PF/C
8 Backup PG - run the team, maintain the lead
9 8MPG big body center
Seriously, I guess we're looking at Ariza and similar players is what we're looking for.