Worst. Season. Ever.

It's difficult to remember the last time it was this painful to watch the Pistons. I'm not sure how other fans react, but I simply choose to not watch. I successfully avoided all 4 playoff games. I would check in on regular intervals, but it was the same thing I'd seen all season. The opposition had more energy, motivation, and skill.

The '08-'09 Pistons stunk.

In an article on detnews.com today, Chris McCoskey lists just six players that will likely return next year: Stuckey, Hamilton, Afflalo, Bynum, Maxiell, and perhaps Kwame. Missing on that list is Tayshaun. If Dumars does indeed blow up the roster, it seems to be a year or two too late. The Chauncey trade yielded cap space, but what could Tayshaun bring in return? Last summer, he was playing on the Olympic team - no doubt his stock was infinitely higher. I wonder also if Dumars secretly investigated trading Stuckey last offseason when his stock was through the roof. Now he's just an average young guard. As the only player with a safe spot on the roster, Stuckey played like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. Perhaps his teammates resented his "golden boy" status? Either way, not one player consistently clicked with Stuckey. I think he has potential to be great if Dumars finds a way to surround him with decent (and motivated) talent.

In two months, the Pistons will pick 15th in the NBA draft. My guess is that, if Tay is traded, it'll be on draft night. Likely, Dumars will offer Tayshaun and #15 for Bosh. I doubt that'll get it done. It will be a long, arduous offseason, but at least we never have to watch this bunch again. While I appreciate the tremendous run of success, I'm absolutely shocked how quickly they fell. The lack of spirit displayed by this team turned off the Piston fan-base (evident by the awful playoff attendance). They'll return if they believe Dumars has a plan for rebuilding. He's got five months.

Stat of Note
In the 4-game sweep, the Pistons shot 58 free throws. Lebron, by himself, shot 59.

The "other" Draft
Yes, the unavoidable NFL Draft was this weekend. The Lions picks were quite offensive. My grade: "F". Is that too harsh? Consider this... New England - a team that actually already has a decent run defense - found it necessary to draft 3 defensive linemen. The Lions - the worst defense in the league, by a large margin - felt they only needed 1. In the 4th round. With such bad run defense - the most crucial element to a football game, surely they must've stocked up on Linebackers, right? 2 Linebackers. Instead, the Lions blew their 1st round picks on a QB and a TE. It's possible the TE is the best in his position, but that's a luxury pick. Draft a TE when your run defense is not 32nd in the league. Draft a QB when your running game is not ranked 30th. This team has too many holes to be wasting time with these skill players. Stafford is doomed to fail as a Lion. He'll have no protection. But he'll have 4 years of guaranteed money.

So, why, besides general idiocy, did the Lions make these picks? They went with a QB because they didn't want to have so much money tied up in Aaron Curry, a LB. Conventional wisdom is that LBs are not #1 overall picks. Who cares if the Lions have the worst run defense in the league? Who cares if the Lions have nobody fast enough to cover a TE? NFL "experts" say you don't draft a LB #1, so I guess it's gotta be an underclassman QB. Sorry, fellas, Millen may be fired, but, with picks like these, it's like he never left.


New Grade
I was wrong. The Lions actually get an "A+" for this draft. I just read that the Lions picked up Northwestern defensive tackle, John Gill as a free agent. He will help this team.

Future Lion.