My Sportsman Choice: Detroit Pistons

By Farrell Evans

The Detroit Pistons played the kind of basketball -- team ball -- that Little League hoops coaches preach. John W. McDonough/SI  Chris Stone: Red Sox Nation, you've earned this one  Paul Zimmerman: Boy Wonder brought Boston a title  B.J. Schecter: Red Sox captured Boston's heart  Richard Deitsch: The Babe had a big presence in '04  Rick Reilly: Big Papi did it all for the world champs  Jeffri Chadiha: A reward for reversing The Curse  Lisa Altobelli: Ramirez never took anything seriously  • Sportsman of the Year archive

Team ball, as my Little League basketball coach called it when all five kids played together, is a concept preached by coaches at every level. But coaches are always on the search for a superstar, a player his or her team can go to when the game is on the line.

The lack of a superstar did not keep the Pistons from dismantling the Lakers in five games to win the NBA Championship last season. Detroit did not have a single player ranked in the Top 25 in scoring (Richard Hamilton's 17.6 points were good for 28th in the league) and as a team they ranked 24th at 90.1 points per game. The Pistons won preaching old-school values: out-rebounding their opponents and playing tenacious team defense under new coach Larry Brown. With ball-hawking guards such as Chauncey Billups and a frontline led by The Wallace Boys, Ben and Rasheed, Detroit allowed just 84.3 points last season -- tops in the league and nearly 10 points under the NBA average.

In the playoffs, in which a singular Superman often emerges to score 40 or 50 points in a game, the Pistons kept their assembly-line ethic together. Without a true superstar, they played with jazz-like improvisation. Billups might be the star one night; Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince the next.

The Pistons played with faith and spirit, a brand of basketball which reflected the blue-collar ethos of Motown. Many loyal Pistons fans are tool and die men from Chrysler and Ford, and the team reflected such hard-working and industrious values. (Contrast that with the most identifiable Lakers fans: actors and actresses.)

I know the concept of team ball is not likely to be the subject of a Wheaties campaign, but I'm a big believer in it. And that's why I'm picking the Detroit Pistons team as my Sportsmen of the Year.

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2004 Sportsman of the Year winner on FOX on November 28. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.