Austin Kent

I've been thinking a lot lately, about everything, and one thing that I can't seem to get out of my head is the fact that Tayshaun Prince was the only player in our starting line up who looked like he actually cared about the result. I mean the other players obviously didn't want to lose, but for whatever reason they just couldn't translate their feelings into production. Tayshaun Prince said '**** it' and did as much as he possibly could to keep us alive.

If you had asked me last year what I thought of Tayshaun Prince, I would have told you that he is a great young role player, he does all the little things that the rest of our starters don't have to do. He's smart and fits in with this team, filling his role perfectly.

How things change.

Maybe it's his confidence, perhaps it came from experience and now he feels more comfortable on the court, or maybe Tayshaun Prince knows that with every passing day, his coworkers are getting worse and we need him to hold down the fort and protect the image the Detroit Pistons have become synonymous with in the 21st century. Tough, gritty, hard working, and victorious.

The rest of the starting five have all lost at least one of those things, but not Prince.

With all of this being said, it begs the question. Where do we go from here? The answer seems obvious, to jump on Tayshaun Prince's back and hope to build around him. The only problem with this is...it just seems wrong. Not because Prince isn't capable, I believe now more than ever that he is, the problem is that we don't know what the hell is going on with the rest of our players.

Calling it quits in the biggest games of your careers is not something that we could have possibly been prepared for, and we don't know how long it will last. Is this permament? Are our players on a decline? Was this just a bad year? Wait, that's not an excuse to stop trying. Will things ever be the same? Or should we just accept that we're not who we used to be and deal with it.

Eitherway, Tayshaun Prince is idling on the sidelines ready to be the leader of our team. The question is, do we try and squeeze every drop of gas out of Ben Wallace and company first, and if so how long?

One thing is for sure. I'd trade an unmotivated pair of Wallaces, Hamilton and Billups for a future of Prince and Darko Milicic.

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TheHeff

y i think we can get a better prospect out of the wallaces or rip n cbill then darko. I wish him all the best but there is far better players we could potentially get. I've seen some forums online have Brad Miller comin ova while i hate the move it's a good leap on darkos talent currently. I'm not ready to rebuild...like those ****in red wings shirt i use 2 c people wear it's reloading time not rebuilding time.
I think Prince as the future is good cause of the fact he's a smart player n that's only gonna get better. That's one of his big advantages is that he plays so smart n his length which is going nowhere. lol

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MLKG

Would anyone have said the players were declining before the Miami series?

Guys don't suddenly get old in the span of a week.

Don't let a cold stretch of shooting fool you into thinking the players we have aren't something they are.

The team definately needs a speed upgrade at every position but shooting guard, but no need to abandon the players that are already here.

Austin Kent

Sure they don't physically age that much in a week, but even still I could find that easier to comprehend than watch a team of players suddenly stop caring about the biggest games of their careers. That's what this is all about, if it were truly age that was the problem than we could deal with it accordingly, but it's not. It's worse than that. This team isn't talented enough to get by on talent alone, they made their mark as the underdog willing to do the dirty work, to out play, and out hustle the other team, it's like Steve Kerr without a jump shot.

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STUCKEY!

Billups,rip are good for atleast another 5 yrs the way they play.. No need to trade them. Rasheed will bounce back,he will be around longer than we think because of his jumpshot will serve him good when he gets older imo . I hate how the stupid commish had to ruin his energy he feeds off of with that Tech rule in the playoffs. and ben is a huge question mark...

DetBNyce

The future, no. A very big part of it, yes. Tay can get a lot better. Better than I thought he could/would become even after his breakout performance after his rookie year. I'd like to see him be assertive all the time... he should act like Mike Dunleavy is guarding him every game.

Pay Ton

Why would you guys want to abandon ship now? The NBA is as wide open as it has ever been and if I was Joe Dumars I'd only be looking to make some minor changes with these team. Nothing major.

You're going to have as good of a chance next year as you'll probably have in a long time to get another championship as long as you keep your core players and make some minor moves.

Miami definitely isn't keeping their team intact. Shaq is getting old and will soon officially become a role player if he hasn't become one already. The Pacers are a mess. The Cavs are dangerous, but young and still in need of some major help for Lebron. The Nets don't have anything outside of their trio. Kristic is alright, but not good enough to prove to be the difference maker for the Nets being a contending team.

In my opinion you guys are favorites to win the East next year. But that's if you guys keep everybody around. Why mess with that? On the west your only real threat is San Antonio, who always has a good offseason after unsuccessfully defending their title. Dallas is good and young, but contrary to popular belief, that team is mentally weak and there's nothing that tells me they're going to establish some mental toughness next year that will make them good enough to win it all. Phoenix is a threat, if Amare is Amare version 2004. Who's to say that's going to happen.

You guys have a great shot to win it all next year with things being so wide open. There's just not a clear cut dominating team in the NBA right now. Once we start to see a team establish themselves as the dominant force in the NBA, then you can start to abandoning ship. But for now, I say Dumars should try to capitalize on this opportunity and get another ring for Motor City.

I'd make the drastic changes when it looks like there will be a few teams contending at the top for consecutive years. If you guys let this team go, I honestly think you don't sniff a Finals for at least 5 years.

Of course any team can make blockbuster trades and suddenly become a powerhouse and possibly knock Detroit out of contention, but until then, why panic?

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JoeD

I don't know what we mean by the term "future"...if it means team leader and best player on a team, than yes, I think it looks that way. If it means superstar or franchise, than unfortunately no. Tay was where I was hoping he would be in the playoffs after last year (although in the regular season I thought I had been wrong about him). He is an awseome 2nd or 3rd option for anyone to have, and on the Pistons, without a superstar, he can be the first option, it's just a little different than superstar 1st option.

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