The titles and Eastern Conference Final appearances won by Joe Dumars as a player and a GM always came when a collection of very good players beat inferior collections of great players. The formula has merit, but the Pistons now have an agglomeration of role players who on average would max out as the fourth, fifth, or sixth best player on a middling playoff team.

Detroit has several well-equipped ISO scorers and adept perimeter shooters, two of the main ingredients of an efficient offense, but they are entirely reliant on playing gunner basketball and are unsurprisingly ranked 21st in offense. Going up and down the roster John Kuester is charged to work with, you see an entire All-Star team of players that have never been reticent to take the first decent shot they meet.

Compounding this fundamental offensive flaw is the utter inadequacy of a post game. The Pistons took a first step at addressing their deficiency for legitimate big men by drafting Greg Monroe, but they have a very long ways to go before they begin to level out the frontcourt talent gap.

Defensively, the Pistons are horrible against everything except ISOs, which fittingly mirrors their offense.

Desperation Meter: Approaching restricted free agency, it is difficult to envision Rodney Stuckey remaining with the Pistons in the long-term, at least while Ben Gordon is also on the team. He is averaging 18.1 points per 36 minutes on a much-improved TS% of 53.8% and would become an excellent peripheral scorer on a contending team looking for a run this season. They would also hold his Bird rights and be more able to re-sign him in the summer if the audition is promising.

Dumars could look to trade Stuckey in a sign-and-trade after the CBA is agreed upon, but the return would be decidedly more favorable now.

In terms of future sanity and future salary flexibility, trading away Richard Hamilton also is imperative. The expiring contract of Tayshaun Prince is also an intriguing chip for the Pistons to use.

None of these players on their own would yield a real difference-maker in the frontcourt, but the Pistons would at least begin balancing their roster.

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