Billups doesn't like Joe's drafting.

[chrbal]

Oh good, a hindsight thread.

2003- most GMs viewed Darko very highly and would've taken him. Pistons especially would've (and did) because he was young and they were already a borderline championship team. Delfino was a good pick that late in the draft. I guess you could make an argument for Josh Howard. The guy we took last was taken last overall and really doesn't count.

2004- We picked 55th overall. We drafted some 2 guard that never played in the NBA. But 55th overall. Shouldn't really count. The 1st round pick went to Boston in the trade that got us 'Sheed that got the Pistons a championship.

2005- "The 1st 5 get someone and everyone else is on their own" draft. Max and Amir were good picks considering where they were taken. It would've been nice to see the Toronto version of Amir in Detroit.

2006- They took Will Blalock 60th overall and trade Mo Evans to the Lakers for the rights to Cheick Samb. So in other words a salary dump. Neither guy did anything.

2007- Stuckey and Afflalo in the 1st. Sammy Meija in the 2nd. 1st round went well, but at the time I was hoping they would take Tiago Splitter instead of Afflalo. Could've had Ramon Sessions in the 2nd, but he went the pick before Detroit. Ehh.. This was a pretty good draft, but Aaron was misused.

2008- This is the one that I don't really get. The pistons had a good starting lineup (1st year without Ben, so not great) and a decent mix of youth. Watching the draft and coming up to the 29th pick, there was still a lot of guys on the board that should've gone earlier and were great fits; DeAndre Jordan, Mario Chalmers, Omer Asik, Nikola Pekovic, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. THREE centers, a POINT GUARD, and a defensive specialist. We took DJ White (an undersized 4, on a team with Sheed, McDyess, and Maxiell. Also power forward is the hardest position to fill, said no one ever). and swapped him for 2nds. Then insult to injury, they still could've picked anyone but Nikola..but passed on him to take a 'tweener forward whose nickname was "sleepy" from the powerhouse school of the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Sharpe played 20 minutes in the NBA, Luc has played 335 games in the NBA.

2009- Need, PG. Draft SF???? 5 PGs were taken shortly after Daye. Anyone of them would've been a better fit. Three 2nd round picks. Two filled needs, so one of those two was traded. Summers was taken 15 picks to high.

2010 on. To soon to tell.

[MrBigShot]

I'm really surprised to read Mr. Big Shot suggesting they needed a superstar or star to come in and save the day for them. Those days are done and over. Billups and company had missed opportunities because they squandered them.

Yes, management could have drafted better. Thanks for the hindsight analysis. But that team should have played better let's start owning that too.

I'm really surprised to see you straight up putting words into my mouth. I didn't not say that we needed a superstar to come "save the day", or even suggest it for that matter. I said, and I quote "At least we won a championship. Very difficult to do without a real superstar."

Why/how you thought I felt I was saying we needed a superstar to come save the day is beyond me. I merely said that I was glad we won a championship, and noted that it was difficult to do WITHOUT a superstar. And that's 100% true. Actually, its difficult to do even if you have one. As great as the Heat were this year, they were still pushed to the limit by the Spurs and would have lost had Ray Allen not hit one of the most clutch shots in NBA history. They have 3 "stars", all stars...semantics are not important. The point is that it is very difficult to win championships in this league, and we should be glad that we were able to one without a superstar carrying us. That 03-04 team was arguably the most well rounded team to win it all....ever, from the standpoint that on any given night any of our starters could step up and carry us.

Winning championships without a superstar is rare, that is a fact. The last decade features championship teams including guys like Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, Dirk, LeBron, Garnett, Pierce, Wade ect..

I do not feel that we needed one back then to win multiple rings, and heck yeah do I look back at the Heat/Cavs ECF series and feel like we let a few go, but I still look back at that era as a complete success. 6 straight ECFs, 2 finals, and a championship against the heavily favored Lakers. Championships are hard to come by

[KembaWalker]

ive always wondered how Pistons fans feel about Darko pick in retrospect. i mean i'm sure you guys have been asked this a million times but in even with a time machine would you go back and mess with someone like that if you could? that Pistons team was so great because it was a team with great chemistry, you draft Melo in there over Darko and who knows what happens in the locker room, Melo+LB rookie treatment, who knows if Sheed even ends up on the team etc etc. chemistry is sensitive as hell. like i said, im sure you guys have thought about this way more than i have but i would be deathly afraid to go into that time machine and reverse a guaranteed ring for a what-if even if its getting Carmelo. feel free to enlighten me

[vege]

Maybe if Billups didn't play like a whiny entitled pusssy then the Pistons would have won more championships.

Chauncey should shut his mouth flat out.

After the MVP performance he had nothing but late game blunders and missed shots. For god sakes he got blocked in Game 7 taking a deep 3 against the Spurs...please.

It was the attitude of Billups and Rip after they won the championship that brought our team down a notch or two.

While I would have much rather see Rip get traded, I still didnt mind the Chauncey trade, he had outgrown his welcome in Detroit with his sub par play, his piss poor attitude, and his habit of jacking up 3's with a full shot clock.

Thank you for saving me the time of posting that. Chauncey should STFU.

[MrBigShot]

ive always wondered how Pistons fans feel about Darko pick in retrospect. i mean i'm sure you guys have been asked this a million times but in even with a time machine would you go back and mess with someone like that if you could? that Pistons team was so great because it was a team with great chemistry, you draft Melo in there over Darko and who knows what happens in the locker room, Melo+LB rookie treatment, who knows if Sheed even ends up on the team etc etc. chemistry is sensitive as hell. like i said, im sure you guys have thought about this way more than i have but i would be deathly afraid to go into that time machine and reverse a guaranteed ring for a what-if even if its getting Carmelo. feel free to enlighten me

If I was our GM on that day, I would have drafted Melo. Knowing what I know now, I'd take Wade. People forget how great Wade was in 06...he really carried that team back from being down 0-2 in the Finals. I think we have another 2 championships if we would have taken him...

Shocked at the disrespect for Chauncey in this thread. His jersey will be in the rafters someday. The Iverson trade remains the worst Dumars move in my opinion. Started a premature rebuild and the subsequent Rip extension only set us back even further. People will point to the use of cap space as the real issue after the trade, but I just hated the move period. So did Chauncey, and so did McDyess. And I'd bet Tay/Sheed do as well.

[Cowology]

Chauncey had his ups and downs. He was flat out terrible in the '04 playoffs up until the Finals. He was consistently outplayed in the ECF by scrubs like Boobie Gibson, Jamal Tinsley, some guy who's name I don't even remember, etc. But people remember his Finals performance and forget the rest.

They remember that in the regular season he frequently won head to head matchups against the "elite" PG's, but forget the loooong bouts of suckiness he went through at least once or twice a season. He was a big part of our complacency and lack of hunger.

The problem with moving him was that we didn't have anybody better (or with more potential) to take his place and we still don't. I was all for blowing it up years before we actually did because I wanted to get value back while we could instead of watching our guys decline for 3-4 years and settling for scraps or losing them for nothing. But I didn't mind the Iverson trade because of the cap space it created, I (like many others) objected to how that space was used.

But yeah, Billups coulda played better. Joe coulda done a better job of drafting and not decimating our bench and that woulda helped too...but enough blame to go around here that Billups shouldn't be pointing any fingers. If he doesn't suck we don't lose 3 or 4 of those ECF. If Sheed doesn't leave Horry we might have won back to back. Then again, if Tay doesn't make "the block" we might not have won any. Lotta if's and it goes both ways I suppose. Time to simply move on.

[Clarity]

Joe drafted Monroe & Drummond.

Nothing else matters moving forward.

[MrBigShot]

Moose/Dre are awesome. We definitely need some help in the backcourt, and at the wing position in general obviously. I don't like to give Joe D too much credit for drafting Moose/Drummond honestly. He was very lucky that they dropped. Neither were expected to slip THAT far, and I think many GMS would have made the same moves in his position with the 9th pick. People always say..."Well, 6 and 8 GMs didn't draft them, so it must not have been that easy of a call" but that's more of a testament to GMs making horrible decisions. Monroe/Drummond were an easy call imo, and I would have taken them at 7/9. No doubt in mind, but this I'm not a GM so my word doesn't mean much.

I know I'll get a lot back lash for saying that, but that's what I truly believe.

[Clarity]

I'm with electric mayhem, I wanted Wade the most.

[ElectricMayhem]

I'm really surprised to read Mr. Big Shot suggesting they needed a superstar or star to come in and save the day for them. Those days are done and over. Billups and company had missed opportunities because they squandered them.

Yes, management could have drafted better. Thanks for the hindsight analysis. But that team should have played better let's start owning that too.

I'm really surprised to see you straight up putting words into my mouth. I didn't not say that we needed a superstar to come "save the day", or even suggest it for that matter. I said, and I quote "At least we won a championship. Very difficult to do without a real superstar."

Just so you happen to know, by some zany coincidence, you're not the only Mr. Big Shot referred to around here. Before you, the Detroit Pistons had a point guard named Chauncey Billups who went by the moniker of "Mr. Big Shot" as well. As he is well known by local historians and laypeople alike, and this thread is about the very man's comments, there is a strong chance that this is the Mr. Big Shot who Redeemed was referring to. These types of crazy mixups happen, though. Apparently my parents didn't realize that before I was born, there was a band of muppets that went by the name Electric Mayhem. I've gotten grief about it my whole life. We learn to cope, that's all we can really do.

[Redeemed]

I'm really surprised to read Mr. Big Shot suggesting they needed a superstar or star to come in and save the day for them. Those days are done and over. Billups and company had missed opportunities because they squandered them.

Yes, management could have drafted better. Thanks for the hindsight analysis. But that team should have played better let's start owning that too.

I'm really surprised to see you straight up putting words into my mouth. I didn't not say that we needed a superstar to come "save the day", or even suggest it for that matter. I said, and I quote "At least we won a championship. Very difficult to do without a real superstar."

I think you misunderstood my little rant. It was directed at former Pistons pg Chauncey Billups AKA Mr. Big Shot.

So to recap: No words were put in your mouth, my response/post was directed at the words coming out of Chauncey Billups mouth.

I apologize for the confusion.

[MrBigShot]

lol....I suppose this where I reveal that I am the real Mr. Big Shot!

Anyway, I apologize, it just so happened that I mentioned a superstar...and had the same username as Chauncey's nickname. Sorry about that. No need to apologize, just a case of me not thinking before posting. Can't help but find the confusion a bit funny though.