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Darko Milicic is not the Pistons' problem. Sure, the team had the opportunity to draft Carmelo Anthony (or Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade for that matter), but the Pistons fared just fine without Anthony last season.
Mediocre play from the front line is not a huge factor for Detroit, either. The Pistons too often get beaten on the boards, but they ranked 25th in the league in rebounding last season and still won 50 games.
The switch from Rick Carlisle to Larry Brown as coach is not much of a problem, though Carlisle had the team so tethered offensively that Brown is finding he must call a play on every possession, which has forced some adjustments. But it is hardly a reason for a slow start.
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In fact, just how slow the Pistons' start has been is debatable. They were 21-13
through 34 games, putting them on pace to win 51 games, with their killer West
Coast trip already behind them. They won 50 games each of the last two years.
Still, the Pistons have been inconsistent early in the season and should be on an even better pace than what they have established.
But forget all those other excuses because point guard Chauncey Billups thinks he knows exactly why Detroit is slightly lagging: himself.
"We've had some up and down times, no doubt," Billups says. "Everything is so new right now, and we are working through it. But I take a lot of that responsibility. I haven't been really consistent, and they need me to be."
Now more than ever, in fact. This season might be considered Billups' "prove it" year. He has had a remarkably odd career to this point, playing with six teams in seven seasons and never fulfilling the potential that had made him the No. 3 overall draft pick in 1997. Billups finally got himself some stability and a starting job when the Pistons signed him to a six-year deal in July 2002, and last season was the best of his career. What's more, in the postseason, Billups took the mantle of the go-to player on a team that supposedly was lacking a go-to player. An ankle injury cut short his postseason -- and the Pistons' hopes for a berth in The Finals -- but Billups entered this season not just as a worthy starter, but as a possible All-Star.
At times, Billups has been every bit as good as he was in the playoffs. He's tough, wide-bodied and drives the lane aggressively. He's a very good defender and does a good job rebounding.
"He's a tough guy to stop," says Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "And he seems to have gotten smarter. He is one of those guys who, as he has matured, has become a much better player. He obviously, at some point, made an adjustment and really changed how he approaches the game."
But Billups has endured some difficult stretches this season. In late November, he missed two key free throws that would have sealed a home win over the Hornets. Instead, Baron Davis wound up winning the game on a last-second dunk, and Billups -- along with the Pistons -- slipped into a monthlong funk. The Pistons went 7-8; Billups shot just 36.8 percent from the field. Only last week, when the Pistons again played at home against the Hornets (with Billups fighting the flu), did he seem to climb from his rut. He outplayed Davis, scored 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting and led the Pistons to a 108-99 win.
Whether that game can put Billups back on track is important for Detroit. The team has been patient with its occasional struggles so far, but if the Pistons are to fulfill their potential, they need Billups to be at the top of his game. Few players have the statistical impact on their team's fortune that Billups does. He is averaging 21.2 points and 42.5 percent shooting in Pistons wins; he is scoring 15.2 points and 33.9 percent in losses.
Billups admits that he and Brown still are getting familiar with one another. Brown -- himself a former point guard, and quite a good passer -- is notoriously tough on point guards, and he expects them to think the way he did. But Billups is a scorer, not a pure point. He does not excel on the fast break, which Brown has been trying to emphasize.
"I knew he was going to be demanding coming into this," Billups says. "I had heard all kinds of things like that. And it's true, he puts a lot on you as a point guard. He is trying to make me more of a cerebral player, which no coach has really done with me. He wants me to think through game situations. It's what he would do.
"But, also, it requires that he learn about me, about my game, too. I never had a coach like him, but he has never had a scoring point guard like me, either. It's a work in progress. I like the challenge because I want that responsibility. I want the game to be on me, win or lose."
It's already happening. Ben Wallace is the Pistons' best-known player, and Richard Hamilton is an excellent complementary player. But more and more, the no-name Pistons are becoming Billups' team. He just has to prove he is worthy.