Old reliables

The Miami Heat team that won the 2006 NBA championship is but a faded memory, dismantled as quickly as it was assembled.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are farther from, not closer to, the championship prize they chased so brashly and unexpectedly just eight months ago. The same goes for the Chicago Bulls, backsliding from one year to the next with even less to show for it.

The Boston Celtics, all the rage in the first three months of this season, still look vulnerable both in depth and height, especially given Kevin Garnett's strained abdominal muscles and Kendrick Perkins' sore left shoulder. And even the team's most optimistic fans see this as an opportunity of two, maybe three years, tops.

Meanwhile, the 2002-08 Detroit Pistons roll on, consistently, maybe a little boringly, lacking both sizzle and turmoil while offering up equal doses of continuity and change.

Death, taxes and DEE-troit, BASK-etball. Same old, same old, without getting old to the crowds at The Palace of Auburn Hills

Let's just say that the Pistons are the Joe Dumars of the NBA, reflecting their president's everyday excellence with nary a nod to flash. And anyone who paid attention to Dumars' ready, steady style over 14 seasons knows exactly what that means.

"We have had constancy and consistency of our team over the course of these years, including this year,'' said John Hammond, the Pistons' vice president of basketball operations. "The one piece of leadership that has remained throughout has been Joe. Leadership is going to come from some place. Some places, it's the coach. Here, it's a former player who was part of two championship teams and is in the Hall of Fame.''

Dumars was the "plain one'' in Detroit's All-Star backcourt with Isiah Thomas, the reactive player who did more of the defensive dirty work. He never brought the smile or the gab of his smooth teammate, but oh, look at them now in their executive positions, not only in the standings but also in terms of respect.

Thomas, with the Knicks, is a lightning rod through losing, on and off the court; Dumars is just a ground wire who wins.

Joe Dumars is pretty smart,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders told me last week. "This team has been built on the idea that, whether it's been a player, whether it's been a coach, no matter who it's been, if one person moves on, this team is going to continue to play at a high level. No matter who it is, they're able to keep on motoring.''