Detroit Pistons: Ranking the Pistons’ 21st Century All-Stars

Detroit Pistons’ All Stars:  No. 2 Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups put up the best years of his career in Detroit, there’s no debate. His trade to the Nuggets to create cap room is one of the most heartbreaking decisions in Detroit sports history. He was basketball in Detroit.

Billups had grit and grind, and played physical, scrappy basketball. He averaged a steal and two fouls most years, and most of those steals were the result of diving for the ball and getting dirty.

His scoring and facilitating numbers were fantastic, especially given the length of his career.

On paper, he was not amazing, just solid. That doesn’t really matter though, as he was the perfect complementary piece to everyone on the teams he played on. He made everyone around him better, not just one other star.

Detroit Pistons’ All Stars:  No. 1 Ben Wallace

Ben Wallace created the position of undersized center/power forward, that PJ Tucker, Draymond Green, and Paul Millsap all currently play. His numbers were never awesome, aside from rebounds and blocks. And those numbers were phenomenal.

If anything, he deserved more than four Defensive Player of the Year Awards. He put up three blocks for three straight years, all while averaging more than a steal and half as a center. His rebounding was off the charts, rivaled only by Rodman and Drummond as the best rebounder in Pistons history. Yes, he only averaged 6.6 points with the Pistons, but I like defense, and he was the best player on some of the best NBA teams throughout the 2000s, he deserved an MVP Award at least once in his career, maybe over Garnett or Nash.