If you watched the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the eventual champion Miami Heat, I dare say you saw a lot of ridiculously talented athletes playing the game at it's highest level. That was great stuff.
Given potential free agency, salary caps, and the like, one never knows how long the "cores" of those teams might remain intact, but if they do for a few years, it would not bode well for the rest of the teams in the NBA. Lebron and Co. in Miami no doubt want to win multiple championships, and they very well might. On the other hand, Kevin Durant and the other young guns from OKC got their first sniff of being a champion, and they will likely be back with a vengeance.
After all, who's going to stop them? In the East, the Celtics are definitely getting old, and the Bulls depend on the fragile health of Derrick Rose, but even with him still seem to be a tad shy of championship caliber. The Pacers are the wild card. They're young, very good, will likely get better, and have been flying under the radar. Yet does any neutral observer think they'll pose a serious threat to the Heat in the near future? I doubt it.
In the West, the Spurs exhibit the ultimate in team play, but they're getting old too. The youthful legs of the Thunder exposed that and eventually ran them out of the gym. The previous defending champion Dallas Mavericks have taken a giant step backwards as well. In LA, despite all the celebrities and media hoopla, Kobe Bryant and the artists formerly known as "show time", are quickly becoming second class citizens. Former coach Phil Jackson, the Zen Master himself, is gone and won't be coming back. The Lakers will have a hard enough time staving off the once doormat, but now up and coming Clippers, that they share the same building with -- let alone seriously challenge the Thunder in the next few years.
Yep, if the Heat and Thunder stay healthy and intact, the Finals might very well feature those same two teams for the next few years.
So where do the Detroit Pistons stack up in all this?
The short answer would be -- they don't -- not even close, nor will they be any time soon.
Again, though it was only 5 games, remember the intensity of the Finals between the Thunder and the Heat. Just for grins, pick either of those two teams and imagine the Pistons playing against them under the same circumstances. Come up with whatever words you wish, but sweep, blowouts, and embarrassment occur to yours truly. That would have been seriously ugly.
Yes, the Pistons are getting better, but they're light years away from competing at an NBA championship level. How far away is that? Take the top 2 or 3 Pistons players, and they might, repeat MIGHT, make the roster of teams such as OKC or Miami as being available to come off the bench, but they certainly wouldn't be starters, and might be lucky to see any game action at all.
The guy responsible for the Pistons' personnel is Joe Dumars, once a great Piston player and champion himself. Joe D has made some very shrewd moves over the years, but also a couple bone-headed blunders. Joe's a good man, doing much for the community as well. But in the end, the team he has currently built has ZERO chance of competing for a title in the next several years.
Watching a Pistons' game at the Palace in Auburn Hills is a good time. Those guys put on a great show and are the best hoopsters in town. But see it for what it really is, because there's a few other towns where the teams are vastly superior.
And it's not even a close call.
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