Young guns power Pistons

PHOENIX – Chauncey Billups threw the ball ahead to Amir Johnson, watched his young teammate barrel toward the rim and winced. Shaquille O'Neal was standing directly in Johnson's path. He wasn't moving.

As Johnson quickly swallowed the distance between them with one last long stride, Billups knew what was coming next.

Ouch.

Johnson exploded off the court. O'Neal met him in mid-flight, extended his right arm into Johnson's chest and sent the Detroit Pistons forward back from where he came. As he hit the floor with a thud, Johnson felt the wind suck out of his chest.

"Sorry young fella," O'Neal said.

"I figure I might as well get it," Johnson would later say, "while I'm young."

That's the collective attitude of these Pistons: Get it while they're young. If Detroit is going to push through to the NBA Finals this season, it's likely going to do so with 20-somethings like Johnson contributing.

Said Billups: "They've grown up a lot."

That was evident Sunday when the Pistons embarrassed O'Neal and the Phoenix Suns 116-86 at US Airways Center. When Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Antonio McDyess headed to the sideline late in the first quarter, the Zoo Crew, as Billups has dubbed the team's bench (they play like animals), quickly hiked the Pistons' lead from five points to 11.

Jarvis Hayes, a 26-year-old free-agent pickup from Washington, scored a season-high 18 points while the 20-year-old Johnson and 25-year-old fellow forward Jason Maxiell combined for 11 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. Rookie guards Rodney Stuckey, 21, and Arron Afflalo, 22, helped hold down the backcourt.

The Pistons frustrated the Suns with their athleticism, beating them in transition and on the boards. So much so that O'Neal said it looked like all of the Suns, himself included, were lacking energy.

"This gives us a lot of confidence," Johnson said. "Especially for later on in the playoffs."

It was after watching his veteran core tire during their fifth consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference finals last season that Detroit GM Joe Dumars let coach Flip Saunders know it was imperative they expand the roles of Maxiell and Johnson. Johnson even spurned more money from the San Antonio Spurs to re-sign with the Pistons because Dumars promised him more minutes.

In addition to signing Hayes, Dumars also made a couple of heady draft choices in Stuckey and Afflalo. The Pistons are now playing two rookies – three, if you also count Johnson, who appeared in a total of just 11 games his first two seasons – in their regular rotation. Of the teams with the top-four records in each conference, only Boston is giving one rookie steady minutes.

"We learned some things the last couple of years," Saunders said. "Two years ago, we played at such a high level and it took an emotional toll to keep it going. Last year, again, I thought we got fatigued."

By expanding their rotation, the Pistons have significantly reduced their starters' workload. None are averaging even 35 minutes. Prince and Billups have each seen their minutes drop by an average of three a game. Over the course of a season, that's a savings of at least six games. The decrease has been even more pronounced of late with Stuckey, who missed the first 1½ months with a broken hand, now entrenched as the backup point guard.

"I feel so fresh, man," Billups said. "Games like when we have tough, tough grinds and I get to come back in the fourth quarter with eight, nine minutes, seven minutes left, I’m so fresh. I'm able to close out games better, make better decisions, be a lot more energetic down the stretch."

Billups didn't have to worry about that Sunday. He, like the rest of the starters, spent the fourth quarter stretched out on the bench with a towel wrapped around his neck. The Pistons' bench isn't just cleaning up in garbage time, either. Maxiell entered Sunday averaging 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds. Johnson, after recently carving out a spot in the rotation, is averaging 6.9 points and 5.3 boards in the past eight games.

That's not to say Detroit's youth infusion has come without some growing pains: On Sunday, Maxiell once tried to dribble through O'Neal, rarely a wise decision.

"If you notice, I bite my lip a lot more," Saunders said. "I have a lot of scars on my lower lip.

"What you have to understand is, with young players, every game is a new game. With youth, you don't know what to expect, good or bad, and you know that going in. You know you might have to adapt on the fly."

The Pistons can afford to do that in the Eastern Conference, where the competition level isn't nearly as fierce as the West.

"In the East two or three or four teams are playing really good," Billups said. "You can't glorify that."

Still, the Pistons proved again Sunday that when motivated they are just as legitimate championship contenders as any of the West powers. In addition to their 30-point victory over the Suns, they dominated the Spurs in San Antonio last month and hammered the Dallas Mavericks by 23 three weeks ago.

"They haven’t changed what they've done the last four or five years," Phoenix forward Grant Hill said. "They have a core of guys who've been together. They are who they are. There are no surprises. That's why they've been so successful."

But while nearly all of the other contenders – with the Los Angeles Lakers being the notable exception – have been assembled to win now, Detroit has also positioned itself to have a bright future. It remains to be seen whether Maxiell, Johnson and Stuckey will ever develop into All-Stars like Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Billups. But together with Prince they could eventually form the foundation of a talented roster.

"They're in the positions we were in our younger days," Wallace said.

Wallace remembers leaning on Chris Webber and Juwan Howard for support as a rookie in Washington. On Sunday he joked that he had been trying to warn Johnson about O'Neal for two years. When Johnson reached in to grab a rebound from O'Neal's hands, the Suns giant simply flung him from side to side. As they lined up for the ensuing jump ball, Wallace told Johnson he looked like a "ragdoll."

"Man, he was strong," Johnson said. "You was right."

Some lessons, it seems, are learned only with experience.