Detroit Pistons – Theo the giant slayer

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It was a small deal after the trade deadline that is starting to loom large.

The Pistons did not trade for Pau Gasol, although that would have been nice.
The Pistons did not trade for Jason Kidd. No knock on Kidd, but Chauncey is here and much younger.
The Pistons did not trade for Shaq, although for 1 year that would have been fun.
The Pistons did not trade for Chris Weber. He did talk to Joe Dumars, but there was no roster spot for him.
The Pistons did not trade for Kyle Korver and Kyle fits better with Utah than Detroit.
The Pistons did not trade for … well you get the picture.

Later though, the Pistons signed Theo Ratliff.

The biggest weakness for the Pistons was low post defense. You did not want to waste Rasheed fouling out under the basket all alone. Amir Johnson is not quite ready for prime time minutes and Jason Maxiell does not match up with centers. This is where Theo comes in.

Theo Ratliff, early in his career, does a Vulcan Mind Meld with Doug Collins

But the beauty of that signing shined through the Pistons’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Pistons used Ratliff to guard Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 20 points when the teams played earlier this month. Not this time — with Ratliff fronting him and pushing him out of his spots, Ilgauskas shot 5-for-16 from the floor and scored 11 points.

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It is not a perfect deal, because Theo is recovering from a knee injury, is getting up in years, and does not always contribute a lot of offense.

The Piston Way

The important thing for the Pistons is defense. The Pistons thrive on being tough and playing tough defense. They are modeled in many ways like general manger Joe Dumars.

Playing tough defense is hard to do when the opposing team’s center has free reign. Ben Wallace used to stop that sort of thing, but he left for the green, maybe not the pastures.

Theo will be even more important in the playoffs.

“We’re not trying to wear him out too much,” coach Flip Saunders said. “We’re trying to keep him for games where we think we need some big people. And of course, everyone knows how professional he is. He’s always ready when called upon.”

In the playoffs, he could be called upon to check guys like Boston’s Kevin Garnett, Orlando’s Dwight Howard or Ilgauskas, and that’s when the payoff for acquiring him will really come. He represents the Pistons’ most physical, veteran big-man option off the bench — an important cog on most championship-caliber teams.

Yeah, Theo will become the giant slayer, just making the Pistons that little bit better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did you even notice this deal?

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