I. Personnel Changes

No significant personnel changes at this time

II. Season Recap

No one, even the most optimistic hardcore fan, would have predicted a season for 2001-2002 as successful for the Pistons as reality became. The Pistons went 50-32, finishing first in the Central Division, 2nd in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the Toronto Raptors in 5 games for the first round before falling to the Boston Celtics in the 2nd round, 4 games to 1. Awards for this season the Pistons received were: Coach of the Year, Rick Carlisle. Defensive Player of the Year, Ben Wallace. 6th Man of the Year, Corliss Williamson. Cliff Robinson was 2nd team all-defense.

III. Roster

   NUM PLAYER            POS HT    WT   DOB    FROM                       YRS
    9  Victor Alexander   F  6-10 265  8/31/69 Iowa State '91               4
    7  Chucky Atkins      G  5-11 160  8/14/74 South Florida '96            2
    1  Dana Barros        G  5-11 165  4/13/67 Boston College '89          12
    20 Jon Barry          G  6-5  210  7/25/69 Georgia Tech '92             9
    35 Brian Cardinal*    F  6-8  245  5/02/77 Purdue '99                   1
    12 Michael Curry     F-G 6-5  210  8/22/68 Georgia Southern '90         7
    14 Damon Jones        G  6-3  185  8/25/76 Houston '97                  3
    31 Mikki Moore*       C  7-0  230 11/04/75 Nebraska '97                 3
    39 Zeljko Rebraca     C  7-0  257  4/09/72 Yugoslavia                   R
    30 Clifford Robinson C-F 6-10 225 12/16/66 Connecticut '89             12
    42 Jerry Stackhouse  G-F 6-6  218 11/05/74 North Carolina '97           6
    44 Ratko Varda*       C  7-1  265  5/06/79 Yugoslavia                   R
    3  Ben Wallace       F-C 6-9  240  9/10/74 Virginia Union '96           5
    5  Rodney White       F  6-9  238  6/28/80 North Carolina-Charlotte '01 R
    34 Corliss Williamson F  6-7  245 12/04/73 Arkansas '96                 6

VI. Stats

                              REBOUNDS
Player G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF TOT APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
Jerry Stackhouse 76 76 35.3 .397 .287 .858 1.00 3.10 4.10 5.3 1.01
.49 3.50 2.10 21.4
Clifford Robinson 80 80 35.7 .425 .378 .694 1.00 3.80 4.80 2.5 1.11
1.19 1.89 3.00 14.6
Corliss Williamson 78 7 21.8 .510 .200 .805 1.50 2.60 4.10 1.2 .63
.33 1.76 2.90 13.6
Chucky Atkins 79 62 28.9 .466 .411 .692 .40 1.60 2.00 3.3 .91 .14
1.62 2.20 12.1
Jon Barry 82 6 24.2 .489 .469 .931 .50 2.30 2.90 3.3 1.15 .24 1.35
1.60 9.0
Ben Wallace 80 80 36.5 .531 .000 .423 4.00 9.00 13.00 1.4 1.73 3.48
.88 2.20 7.6
Zeljko Rebraca 74 4 15.9 .505 .000 .771 1.10 2.80 3.90 .5 .38 .99
1.14 2.60 6.9
Dana Barros 29 20 20.1 .385 .338 .778 .00 1.90 2.00 2.7 .48 .07 1.14
1.30 6.7
Damon Jones 67 0 16.2 .401 .371 .729 .20 1.30 1.50 2.1 .34 .01 .91
1.20 5.1
Ratko Varda 1 0 6.0 .667 .000 1.000 .00 1.00 1.00 .0 .00 .00 1.00
3.00 5.0
Michael Curry 82 75 23.3 .453 .269 .791 .20 1.90 2.00 1.5 .57 .12 .73
2.50 4.0
Rodney White 16 0 8.1 .350 .222 .857 .10 1.00 1.10 .8 .56 .13 .88 .40
3.5
Victor Alexander 15 0 6.5 .353 .000 .500 .50 1.50 1.90 .4 .00 .07 .33
.40 2.7
Mikki Moore 30 0 7.2 .475 .500 .769 .70 1.00 1.80 .4 .23 .30 .47 1.20
2.6
Brian Cardinal 8 0 5.4 .462 .429 1.000 .30 .50 .80 .3 .13 .00 .00 .60
2.1
Team Averages 82 0 240.0 .452 .376 .756 9.9 28.9 38.7 21.5 7.9 6.9
14.6 20.7 94.3
Opponents 82 0 240.0 .447 .362 .755 12.1 30.6 42.7 20.0 7.9 4.1 15.5
22.9 92.2

V. Salaries and Contracts

2001-2002 TEAM SALARIES

      NAME               SALARY    LENGTH TOTAL VALUE GUARANTEED OPTION
      Chucky Atkins      3,300,000 6 yrs. 22,500,000  2006
      Jon Barry          3,175,000 3 yrs.  9,077,000  2003
      Michael Curry      2,400,000 5 yrs. 12,000,000  2004
      Dana Barros        1,500,000 2 yrs.  5,200,000  2002
      Victor Alexander     591,000 1 yrs.    591,000  2002
      Damon Jones          566,000 2 yrs.  1,280,000  2002
      Brian Cardinal       465,000 2 yrs.    781,000  2002
      Clifford Robinson  7,656,000 4 yrs. 29,092,000  2003
      Jerry Stackhouse   5,500,000 7 yrs. 38,668,000  2005
      Ben Wallace        4,500,000 6 yrs. 31,500,000  2006
      Corliss Williamson 4,000,000 7 yrs. 35,497,000  2007
      Zeljko Rebraca     3,500,000 1 yrs.  3,500,000  2002       2003-x
      Mikki Moore        2,531,000 2 yrs.  5,379,000  2002       2003-y
      Rodney White       1,694,000 3 yrs.  5,463,000  2004       2005-x
      Ratko Varda          333,000 1 yrs.    333,000  2002

VI. Positional Analysis

Point Guard
The Pistons biggest problem. Chucky Atkins would be a good backup on most teams, Dana Barros is too old and too small, and Reggie Geary and Damon Jones simply don't have the skills to be a big-time player on a team otherwise of high caliber.

Shooting Guard
Strong suit of the Pistons. All-star Jerry Stackhouse anchors this position, with dependable 'Alternator' Jon Barry coming off the bench. Needs depth.

Small Forward
Michael Curry is the usual starter at this position, providing strong defense and intangibles. 6th man of the year Corliss Williamson gets significant minutes, and Rodney White could develop into a star here. May need depth to handle Curry inevitably retiring.

Power Forward
Ben Wallace won defensive player of the year and was 3rd team all NBA for his stellar work in the post. This is his natural position. Backing up Big Ben is Rodney White and Brian Cardinal, not to mention some of the centers can play here also.

Center
Cliff Robinson played this position for a majority of the year -- at 6'10", he's undersized. Newcomer Zeljko Rebraca showed a lot of talent here and could become a starter eventually. Ratko Varda, Mikki Moore, Victor Alexander are available for insignificant minutes. Rebraca is probably the future at this position, and as he's 7 feet tall and has shown many positives, this position isn't a major worry.

VII. Coaching/Management

Many people believe Joe Dumars, President of Basketball Operations, should have won Executive of the Year for his stellar work at turning around these Pistons. Head coach Rick Carlisle /did/ win Coach of the Year for his work.

Head Coach - Rick Carlisle (College - Virginia)

Assistant Coaches

• Kevin O'Neill (College - McGill (Montreal))
• Tony Brown (College - Arkansas '82)
• Bob Ociepka (College - Quincy College '70)
• Trainer- Mike Abdenour (College - Wayne State '74)

VIII. Previous drafts

• 85 - Joe Dumars
• 86 - John Salley
• 87 - none
• 88 - none
• 89 - Kenny Battle
• 90 - Lance Blanks
• 91 - none
• 92 - Don MacLean
• 93 - Lindsey Hunter
• 94 - Grant Hill
• 95 - Theo Ratliff, Randolph Childress
• 96 - Jerome Williams
• 97 - Scot Pollard
• 98 - Bonzi Wells
• 99 - none
• 00 - Mateen Cleaves
• 01 - Rodney White

IX. Team Needs

X. Your selection

I choose this player as candidates at PG (Williams, Dickau, Mason) were already taken, putting myself in a position of 'best talent' available who also filled the lack of scoring the Pistons exhibited in the playoffs. Grizzard is a proven scorer who's very athletic -- his only downside, 3 point shots, is ~30% and will improve significantly.

XI. Other Players considered

Frank Williams, Dan Dickau, Roger Mason, any of those 3 would have been chosen (in order of preference) if available. But they weren't. Considered Tayshaun Prince before remembering the Pistons are supposed to mirror the Bad Boys in toughness -- he certainly doesn't. Dan Gadzuric also did not exhibit toughness worthy of a Piston. Marcus Taylor would be a possibility (remember Mateen Cleaves, MSU pg chosen higher than he deserved?) however, Taylor is too raw at this point and the Pistons need help NOW either at PG or an added scorer, he'd be neither.