This year, Detroit’s 2004 NBA championship will turn 20 years of age and the Pistons organization have already started the celebrations in hopes that some of that winning culture can rub off on the current squad. This past Sunday, the Little Caesars Arena was filled with icons, everyone from Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups.
It has been more than a decade now since any of those former stars played an official league contest, but they still made the crowd roar in memory of the franchise’s last title. The ceremony occurred before Detroit lost 104 to 101 against Miami over the weekend.
Before the start of the game, all ten honorees signed autographs while walking down a blue carpet. The other players there included Darvin Ham, Tayshaun Price, Elden Campbell, Mike James, Lindsey Hunter, Mehmet Okur and Tremaine Fowlkes.
Detroit Pistons honor 2004 NBA championship team: ‘It will never die’https://t.co/LxuoUAN7oP
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“When you get in that room and you hear Lindsey Hunter, the way that he’s talking and cracking jokes, and the same jokes that he was doing today was the same jokes he did 20 years ago, it brings you right back to the locker room all over again,” Hamilton said pregame.
He even shared how much they all miss spending time with each other. “If you talk to guys, especially when they retire from the game and go about their lives, especially the second half of their lives, the one thing they always say is we miss the locker room. To get back there with the guys and be laughing and joking, those stories, is amazing,” he added.
Billups recognized that their greatness resided in the team’s collective spirit. “We didn’t, and we actually took pride in that too,” he shared that Sunday. “We didn’t have no superstars, I would agree with that. We had All-Stars, but superstars are different, and most teams that win it all usually have one or two of those guys.
“We were able to do it without that. But we had guys that could dominate games night in and night out still not be considered that. We never took offense to that. I know I personally didn’t. We didn’t have superstars, but we had All-Stars and we had a great team.”
Former champion believes that this same 2004 roster would thrive in today’s NBA, despite some rules being different
The return of the Bad Boys was an exciting time in Detroit, but a lot has happened ever since. Two decades ago, even hand checking was still permitted. Despite the game changing, Richard Hamilton believes the 2004 roster would be successful in the modern game.
He noted that his Pistons’ had two starting-frontcourt players who could also defend the perimeter, as they would solve offensively with Rasheed’s 3-point shots.
“I think so,” he pointed out. “I think we would’ve done really well at it because you gotta remember with our team, and if you look at teams now, it’s all about can your bigs guard 1-5. That’s a big part of it.”
“And Ben and Rasheed, they were able to switch out on LeBron James. LeBron is the greatest player that’s playing basketball right now. He’s still probably a top-five guy in the league. With our squad the way that we were playing, ‘Sheed was a guy that picked and popped. People always say you need to go in the post, you need to go on the block. So he was before his time. We would fit right into today’s game,” Hamilton concluded.
