Detroit Pistons. Dynasty Rebirth.

[DonDavido]

SETTINGS:
Team: Detroit Pistons.
Game: NBA 2K9 (PC).
Season Lenght: 29 Games. I'm not symulating.
Quater Lenght: 9 minutes.
Sim-Quater Length: 10 minutes.
Playoffs: 3-3-3-5.




Mike Curry ready to rebuild. Intense changes waiting for Pistons roster.
When Mike Curry started coaching Detroit Pistons he knew that it's time for big changes. He've met with team owner, William Davidson, and Joe Dumars, co-manager of the team, and decided to make a little revolution. Their main assumption was to build a younger team around Allen Iverson and clear some cap room for upcoming free agent big names, like James, Wade or Bosh.

Curry agreed with Davidson that players such as Tayshuan Prince, Rasheed Wallace or Rip Hamilton have done enough for Detroit and that the team needs fresh blood. That's why Curry decided to use mid-level exception for hiring Shaun Livingston who have recently overcome his horrible injury. He also added Penny Hardaway and Scott Polard but, as we were about to see, their destiny wasn't strictly connected with Pistons Franchise.

"I know that singing Shaun (Livingston) is quite a risk but I'm willing to take it.-said Curry.You don't see guys that big and that agile very often. Our team doctor made a number of test for his knee and it looks like he's completely healthy right now. We'll take care of him."
Livingston was extremely happy to join Pistons team with his undoubtful statment "I'm back. I'm stronger mentaly. It'll we be a great year, I can feel it in my bones." And then he added with laughter: "Especially in my left knee."

That was just a beginning.

Curry made a daring decision of trading away one of Pistons trade mark from last decade, Rasheed Wallace. He acquired Darko Milicic and 2009 1st round pick from Grizzlies with Kwame Brown and Walter Sharpe fullfiling this trade.
That was a busy day for Pistons staff as they've managed to put into work another trade. Darko Milicic didn't even see Mo-Town as he was swiftly traded to Chicago Bulls with Jason Maxiell, Penny Hardaway and 2009 1st round pick from Detriot for a young, talented trio of Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Cedric Simmons.
Milicic, asked how does he feel with situation going this way, answered briefly: "Confused."
On another hand, Noah and Thomas where feeling quite a different way.
"I can't wait for puting Pistons uniform on my chest." Said Noah. "You have to be excited with being in a place like that." He was even more excited with Mike Curry statement that he will give Noah place in a starting five, with many minutes on court.
Thomas was a bit nostalgic, but still happy with that trade. "It's hard to leave place like Chicago behind. The fans, the staff, teammates. It's just hard. But I couldn't think of any better place to go to than Detroit and their head coach amibtions to build a brand new franchise. I'm glad that I can be a part of this plan. DAMN! Let's get it going already!"

The best was yet to come.

Curry shocked NBA world with his next two trades. Rip Hamilton, the icon of Detroit Pistons, had to go. He and Antonio McDyess where sent to Oklahoma for another hugely talented trio. Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and Thabo Sefolosha were now offically Pistons. In the same afternoon another sensational trade came to reality. Tayshuan Prince, Rodney Stuckey, Scott Pollard and 2009 1st round pick from Grizzlies switched places with Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster, from Indiana Pacers. Detroit was thrilled.

"If you take a better look on this, you will see that our team isn't that completely different right now." Told Curry on press conference. Granger will take Prince role. He has great potential, he's defence is getting better on daily basics, he's extremely dangerous with he's shooting. Westbrook will be runing our team. He's young but I have faith in him. He has all the time in the world to learn from A.I. and Livingston everything he'll ever need. He'll be our first point guard as we want to give Shaun time to get back to his rythm, his physical health. We don't want to rush him, he's to valuable. Jeff Green, Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Foster will give us energy and depth from bench that've been missing. And Hibbert? You'll see about him, I got a hunch that he'll reach level of Emeka (Okafor) anytime soon."

As whole Detroit was debating about new Pistons roster, Curry made a few more moves, clearing cap space for upcoming year and adding some decent role players.
He've sent Amir Johnson, Aaron Afflalo and Walter Herrman to Oklahoma for D.J. White, a perspective forward.
He then made his roster complete with adding veteran trio of Dikembe Mutombo, Lindsey Hunter and Alan Henderson.

"It was hot and busy pre-season. I know that our team chemistry sufferd on all of those changes but hey, don't worry. Wins make team chemistry rise and we have plenty of those in front of us." Said Curry on press conference.

"It's exciting. I just can't put it into words. This is it. It's now or never. I'm not getting younger and this is a team that can make it all work. Staff have my complete trust after what they did. I feel like nothing can stop us now, I'm full of energy. It's summer of 2001 again in my heart." Iverson, new captain and leader of Pistons, told on the same conference. Then, he put a big smile on his face and shouted to coach Curry "Hey coach! Coach! Can we all go to practice gym right now? I gotta practice man!".





... as you can see, 2008/09 season was a time for big changes in Detroit.

[DonDavido]

I've put some work in this, so please feel free to comment ant put any opinions. I will be keeping you up-to-date with my games. First match coming soon, I hope.

And please correct any mistakes I make (spelling, grammar, anything).

[DonDavido]

Iverson late heroics pushes Pistons past Rockets 128-122 in overtime.
All the risk that Mike Curry took before this season seems to be working good for Pistons. They've showed new quality in their offensive game managing to keep their hard defense, even though match result might say something different. Starting five from Houston was on fire comibning... 122 points. Surprisingly it wasn't Yao Ming nor Tracy McGrady and not even Ron Artest leading scorers. It was Luther Head with 37 points. Yao Ming delivered triple double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocks. It was a hard night for Detroit frontcourt. You can ask Tyrus Thomas who allowed Yao 7 blocks. "I won't argue, that wasn't best debut I could imagine. I had some hard time scoring and he [Yao Ming] was just dominant in the paint." said Thomas, who still managed to deliver 24 points (mostly from fast break), 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Iverson struggled through three and a half quaters, making just 5 field goals on 21 attemps. But when Detroit needed him the most, he answered. And he answered with passion. In last 10 minutes of game he made 11 shots from 14 attemps, including 2 three pointers. He added 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 9 steals, equal to his carrer record. "I had some hard time tonight. Tracy didn't give me any space but when coach Curry send me on court with 11 points behind and 6 minutes left in 4th quarter I knew this is the time I have to step up. And I did."
Russell Westbrook made an impressive debut in NBA contributing with 16 points, 6 assists and 7 steals. He've heat up crowed few times with his dunks.
Noah had pretty good game with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists with 6-8 shooting against Yao. Granger added 19 points.
The game started awfully for Pistons who were loosing 59 : 40 in to the half. Rockets recorded biggest lead after 2 minutes of 3th quater, being ahead with 23 points. Coach Curry called time out and put Shaun Livingston as point guard and Westbrook as shooting guard, letting Iverson cool his mind. Livingston had 11 points and 3 assists durning that period of game, showing that his injury is far behind him. "It felt really good being on the court again and feeling no pain at all. I want to thank coach Curry and Pistons staff for puting faith in me." said Shaun at the end of the game.
Pistons made a 18-4 run closing score to only 9 points difference. And then Iverson made his entry with a three pointer, steal and three-point play in just 9 seconds. Fans in Auburn Hills went mad cheering their team. "It was amaizng. It gave us wings and we knew that this game is still in our reach. My teammates showed great hustle and determination, Joakim (Noah) and Russell (Westbrook) were just perfect." team captain, Iverson, said.
Coach Curry was a little disappointed whis his team, despite this win. "Our defence could make a better effort stoping Luther Head and Luis Scola. And we still need to improve our offense, Allen (Iverson) will be to valuable in playoffs and we can't put that kind of pressure on him every night. Ofcourse, he will deliver but I would rather see him resting at the end of the game. Still, I think it was a pretty good game. You have to remember that this is brand new team, those guys are playing with each other just a few weeks. They've given a great effort in distributing ball. 9 turnovers in a whole game, you can't argue with that."


And so, new Pistons are starting their adventure...

[kibaxx7]

It's an interesting story man, I just don't see the real Pistons revamping almost the whole roster But it's cool.