Portland Trail Blazers: Turning into the 2004 Detroit Pistons
Chris Phillips
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The 2004 Detroit Pistons are the last team to win a title without having a superstar on the roster. The Portland Trail Blazers currently resemble that team but with a modern era twist.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been overhauled under the guidance of Interim GM Joe Cronin. It’s currently making this guy look incredibly wrong for what he’s written in the past. I still worry about him putting all his eggs in the basket of landing a superstar to pair with Damian Lillard. However, that is a topic for discussion on another day.
Right now, this Portland Trail Blazers team is resembling another championship-caliber team from a different era. I’m referring to the 2004 Detroit Pistons coached by Larry Brown and led by current Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. The NBA came out with their ranking of their 75th Anniversary Team. Unfortunately, not one member of that ’04 Pistons team is on the 75th Anniversary team.
It’s not surprising considering that team had no superstars on it. Instead, they were made up of many players maximizing their individual talents to be more than the sum of their parts. It ultimately culminated in beating the superstar-laden Los Angeles Lakers 4-1. Three of Detroit’s victories were by double digits. However, this is not why you are here or what you’re interested in reading. You are here because the Portland Trail Blazers team is currently being formed in an updated version of that Detroit team.
What we’re going to do is look at that previously mentioned Detroit team and see if the Portland Trail Blazers have a version of that player or if they still need to acquire him. We’re going to primarily focus on the players from that Detroit team that played in the playoffs as they’re the guys who get remembered. Their names are Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Corliss Williamson, Lindsey Hunter, Elden Campbell, Mehmet Okur, Mike James, Darvin Ham, and Darko Milicic.
The 2004 Detroit Pistons are the only championship team to not have a single NBA Top 75 player #Pistons
H/T Magpi3 Reddit pic.twitter.com/KbhLqdp9ML
— Pistons Talk (@Pistons__Talk) February 23, 2022