Detroit Pistons 2013-14 season preview

The following post was contributed to FanSided.com from Tony Fischer of Detroit Jock City, your home for all things Detroit spots on the FanSided Network. 

If you could sum up what the Detroit Pistons hope to do this season into one word. That word is surprise.

Last season ended with a thud for the Pistons showing little to no improvement under then head coach Lawrence Frank.  Desperate for a winner, new owner Tom Gores sharpened his axe. But instead of swinging himself he let his general manager do it and Joe Dumars made Lawrence Frank the scape goat.

Gores surprised fans by keeping Joe Dumars and letting him hire a new head coach for the seventh time. Joe didn’t get of completely unscathed as Gores gave him a win or else ultimatum.

So set-up a busy off-season for the Pistons Hall of Famer as he tries to rebuild a team on the fly, keep his job all the while getting the Pistons back to the play-offs.

Meet Mo Cheeks

When the Pistons settled on Maurice Cheeks as their new head coach, the Pistons fan base was under whelmed. Even having the Zen Master Phil Jackson on board didn’t seem to inspire Dumars to hire a big name.

Now Maurice Cheeks is in charge and his reputation as a players coach will help alleviate some of the day to day pressures of a Franchise in transition.

Off-Season Moves

Armed with plenty of cap space, the Detroit Pistons pulled off some of the biggest moves in NBA Free Agency. The landed arguably the best free agent forward this side of Dwight Howard when they signed former Hawk Josh Smith.

They continued to surprise fans by sending guard Brandon Knight to the Milwaukee Bucks for the disgruntled Brandon Phillips.  Phillips is a proven and consistent scorer, a stark contrast to the inconsistent play they were getting from Brandon Knight.

Joe Dumars didn’t stop there and went over seas to claim the Italian League of superstar Luigi “GiGi” Datome.  Datome is a serious scoring threat and will provide the Pistons some scoring punch off the bench.

However maybe the most important signing was that of Chauncey Billips.  Chauncey returns to the place where he won an NBA championship to captain and mentor a young Pistons team.  Billips will provide leadership on the floor and should command the respect of the players.

The Rookies

Pistons Draft choices Kentavoius Caldwell Pope, Peyton Siva and Tony Mitchell all figure into the Pistons plans this year.

Caldwell-Pope will likely be the first guard of the bench in Maurice cheeks rotation while national Champion Peyton Siva’s playing time will be limited until Joe Dumars can find a trading partner for Rodney Stuckey.  The same goes for Tony Mitchell as it relates to the disappointing Charlie Villanueva.