Here's a question to ponder as we wait another 11 days for the Pistons to open training camp: Whose team is it? Who is going to grab the reins of leadership?

Michael Curry and Cliff Robinson, the two guys credited with fostering and maintaining a mostly harmonious room the last two seasons, are gone. Who steps into the void?

The team's richest player and leading scorer, Richard Hamilton, is just 25 years old. The oldest and most experienced player, Elden Campbell, is new to the team. Lindsey Hunter? No. He can flash his championship ring, but he has been away too long and isn't expected to play a large enough role to command a leadership position.

Tayshaun Prince and Mehmet Okur will be key players on the court, but both are still too young to be leaders off it.

Corliss Williamson? He is a consummate professional, a well-respected and steadying locker-room presence who leads by example on the court. But it isn't really his nature to be an out-front, hands-on leader. Same for Ben Wallace. Without question, Wallace is the team's rock. It is his work ethic, his physical and mental strength and his selfless and relentless pursuit of success that have defined this team the last two years.

No, it seems to me there is only one guy on this roster who completely fits the job description -- Chauncey Billups.

Ready or not, like or not, it's time for Billups, the offensive leader and go-to guy a year ago, to assume total control of this team. Wait. I hear you. You say, well, with a coach as respected as Larry Brown, a guy who is in the Hall of Fame, a guy who has dealt with every kind of dysfunction imaginable in the game of basketball, how important is locker-room leadership?