http://espn-att.starwave.com/i/teamlogos/nba/med/trans/det.gifhttp://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/columnists/Stein_Marc_55.jpg
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=2586126

11. DETROIT PISTONS

I'd love to join the Better Off Without Ben chorus. But I can't. If the Pistons still had Milicic, perhaps. If the Pistons had signed Bonzi Wells as their Wallace replacement instead of Nazr Mohammed, maybe. But they don't and they couldn't, thanks to an unlikely chain of events.

The Pistons knew it eventually would be too expensive to re-sign Milicic and Wallace but only consented to trading Darko in February because they believed Big Ben was staying. Yet worse, in my view, was to follow Wallace's exodus: The Pistons quickly signed Mohammed as Big Ben's replacement, only for Wells -- a free agent they loved -- to fall unexpectedly into Mohammed's price range. When Sacramento withdrew its $7 million-a-season offer, Wells was suddenly available for the $5.2 million midlevel exception. But by then, Detroit's emergency fund was gone, robbing the Pistons of an ideal addition to their new 'Sheed-at-center
[smilie=sayitaintso:

Just to clarify, he's not ranking the Pistons as the 11th best team in the East, he's ranking them as having the 11th best offseason in the East.

Just to clarify, he's not ranking the Pistons as the 11th best team in the East, he's ranking them as having the 11th best offseason in the East.
Exactly. Put offseason alone if you wish in the title. But yea he's rating their moves.

Exactly. Put offseason alone if you wish in the title. But yea he's rating their moves.

*slowly takes Stein out of crosshairs*

http://x9a.xanga.com/371b70015813538218885/b26188149.jpg

An off-season in which we lose a current All-Star for nothing shouldn't put us in the top half as far as successful offseasons go.

There are only 15 teams in the East. Our off-season was ranked 11th of 15?

Who is behind us?

Did they lose an All-Star big man for nothing?

Was that All-Star a quality defender?

Ahhh... I had read that as #11 out of 30. #11 of 15 makes more sense to me.