"How much can you really beat a team?"

And it would appear that this would probably be the year that things change that have been the constant over the past years. Kinda sucks but it wont be long before we are back on the top where we belong.

how can you honestly say we are going to be back on top soon?

Man, who let that negative Nancy back onto the team? McDyess is worse than AI!

(I kid, I kid)

brgulker,

why wouldn’t we think the team will be back on top soon?

what part of the team’s recent history tells you that we’re going to suck for years on end?

Boney:

First, I didn’t say anything about us sucking for years on end. I simply questioned why anyone would think we’ll be “back on top” in the near future. By back on top, I can only assume repeated trips to the ECF and eventually NBA Finals? I think that’s a fair assumption.

It’s not the team’s history that concerns me.

Here’s what does concern me:

Stuckey isn’t as good as we though he was — at least not yet.
Neither is Max.
Neither is Amir.

Our coach is a proven nincompoop.

The economy in Detroit sucks, and I can’t help but wonder if our budget is tighter than the official press releases indicate.

Not only is the economy bad in Motown, it’s bad everywhere else, too. All those big FA’s of 09-10 will most likely be able to make more money by staying put than leaving.

So, in short:

Our support roster hasn’t been as good as we had hoped it would be.
The FA market might be leaner than we hoped it would be.

So, we are left with only a couple options:

Draft picks.
Trade (and/or sign and trade).

I’m skeptical that we can rebuild our team by next year with those two options, and I don’t think I’m being overly pessimistic. I think it’s more likely than not that Detroit will continue to be a playoff team — and probably a scary team to play against — but not a legitimate contender over the next 2-3 seasons.

I think you are being overly pessimistic.

There’s absolutely no reason, unless Mr. Davidson’s wife or family all of the sudden wants to tighten the purse strings that this team does not have the freedom to sign players the way they’ve signed them in the past.

The biggest free agent crops in years are coming in the next 2 seasons, and Detroit will make an impact on Dumars’ reputation alone. I don’t think Detroit will be a contender next season, but you can’t say that they won’t be contenders for 2 or 3 years because you don’t know what moves will be made.

brgulker, the bad economy can help Detroit. Teams will be desperate to dump otherwise good players to cut payroll. Detroit can snatch them up without having to give up much (if anything).

So Boney, even if you’re right, you agree with me about one thing: we are not going to be back on top next year… right? Because that was my only point.

The first post said we’ll be back on top soon. I called BS and cited my reasons.

Even if we make some big moves in 09-10 — and I still think a lot of players will stay where they are, especially the biggest of the big names — there’s no way we’re “back on top” before 2011 at the earliest.

Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando aren’t going anywhere, and we’re miles away from where they are.

If we even make it back to the 4th seed in the East next season, we’ll have accomplished something very significant.

Boston’s window will begin to close if they choose not to re-sign Big Baby or Powe this offseason as KG will be another year older… they also have not developed a shooting guard to replace Ray Allen who will be another year older as well.

Cleveland will eventually begin to fade, especially if they have to break the bank to re-sign Varejao. Z is not getting any younger, Joe Smith is likely gone and Ben Wallace is Ben Wallace.

Detroit can make a splash this offseason and put themselves back up next season. I don’t think Joe D locks this roster up this offseason for another 5 year run, but he could with the available money.

I don’t agree with McDyess on this one. I know we’ve been beating on this team for awhile but the Magic haven’t shown any signs of overcoming the hump during any point of this regular season. I think if we face the Magic we will be in alot tougher series than we were the last couple years but I still think a series would favor us than them.

Boston would be crazy to not re-sign at least one of them, IMO Powe over Big Baby.

You’re right about KG and Allen, to be sure.

But I tend to disagree about Cleveland, mainly because I think they will continue to attract veteran FAs like Joe Smith, because they will believe that as long as LBJ is around, Cleveland will be a contender.

Plus, I’ve been impressed by Danny Ferry’s ability, and I don’t think it’s fair to underestimate him. Yes, Z is aging, and Ben Wallace is Ben Wallace. But Ferry found a way to improve his team without any draft picks. Couple that with LBJ’s ability to attract veterans who want to win, and I think you have a long-term sustainability plan… in other words, what Detroit has had in the past.

I worry because even though we have lots of money, I’m not sure we have the coach or roster in place to attract the championship-caliber players we need to be a legit contender.

Will we keep making the playoffs? Of course. But will we be a legitimate threat to actually win it all? I’m skeptical… and I really do wish I were as optimistic as you are.