Dont expect big changes in the Pistons season this year

Auburn Hills -- The first thing Charlie Villanueva saw when he returned to work Thursday was something familiar: Ben Wallace's luxury car in the lot at the Pistons practice facility.

"Yeah, I already knew he was here once I parked my car outside," Villanueva said, laughing. "Saw the Maybach out there and said, 'OK, that's somebody very important who's here.' But I'm not surprised. That's Ben."

Nope. No surprise there, that Wallace was the first Pistons player to take advantage of the NBA allowing teams to open the doors again Thursday after a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement was reached last week.

And while Pistons fans might be surprised to see Villanueva back at all, given all the giddy talk about an amnesty clause in the new labor deal and "impactful" change taking place in Auburn Hills, they should understand that it's going to be mostly the cosmetic stuff they'll see immediately.

Sort of the way it is for the players, since they haven't ratified the new deal — the union first needed to be recertified, while negotiators continued to hammer out details — and since they're still not allowed to have any contact with coaches or front office executives.

Training camp tentatively is set to begin next Friday, along with free agency, in advance of the Dec. 25 tip-off for the regular season. But for the moment, this grand re-opening is mostly just window dressing.Still, Villanueva said, as he met with reporters after a brief workout on his own Thursday, he likes what they've done with the place.

"It feels good," he said, nodding to the new signs and motivational slogans plastered in huge letters on the walls inside the facility. "I came into the gym and all the different colors — colors everywhere — and "EARN YOUR WAY EVERY DAY" and stuff like that, it feels good to be here, you know? I feel some life."

More needed than slogansAnd, yes, that'd probably qualify as a positive first step for the new-look Pistons, now that the lockout has been lifted. If it no longer feltlifeless around The Palace, that'd be a start, considering the malaise that settled in over the last two years with the franchise up for sale and the team falling into turmoil with an overmatched coach and an underachieving roster.

But it's going to take more than some new signage to make that feeling last, once the season starts and the seats aren't full as fans — turned off more by the insult of the past two seasons than the past two months — force the old (team president Joe Dumars) and the new (owner Tom Gores and coach Lawrence Frank) to prove it on the court.

That slogan about earning your way? That's on the wall on the north side of the court in the practice facility. On the opposite wall are three big signs — "HOW WE PLAY" and "OUR CULTURE" and "OUR CORE VALUES" — that spell out Frank's philosophy. And a quick check of the bullet points on the last of those — Trust, Commitment, Accountability, Sacrifice and Respect — shows an 0-for-5 shooting night in the box score for the 2010-11 Pistons.

Which brings us back to the issue of change, and that other sign inside the facility emblazoned with Gores' catchphrase: "Be Impactful."Is an opening-night starting lineup of Rodney Stuckey, Richard Hamilton, Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko and Greg Monroe really change you can believe in? Of course not.

But that's where you might have to begin with this team, as Frank tries to figure out what's salvageable and Dumars tries to see if there's any trade value in what isn't. (Believe it or not, there's some with the likes of Hamilton and Villanueva, by the way.)

And to be fair, all the talk about the amnesty clause seems a bit overblown. Only the teams facing a serious salary-cap crunch, or need to make room for imminent free-agent signings, are going to use it right away. Teams can use the one-time amnesty to shed a pre-existing contract at any point in the life of the new contract, so why rush the decision?

Especially in this weak — and harried — free-agent period heading into the shortened season. That doesn't mean Dumars, who has gotten a free pass because of the ownership situation, shouldn't make a serious bid for one of the prime free-agent big men available — Tyson Chandler or Nene, or even Marc Gasol, though he's restricted.

Change of cultureBut I wouldn't count on a big splash from the Pistons yet. If we learned anything about Gores in the last year, it's that he's methodical in the way he goes about his business. And I'd imagine that'll be true of the personnel moves Dumars makes this winter, like it or not.I know, I know. You want everything to be different. But it's not happening overnight.

For one thing, Detroit isn't South Beach. (New Orleans isn't New York, either, as Chris Paul reminded fans there Thursday.) And for another, the NBA simply isn't going to look much different under this new contract than it did under the old one. The lockout was about income redistribution — from the players to the owners — and little else. It wasn't about redistributing the talent. And it certainly wasn't about reinventing the star-driven model that produced record TV ratings last season.

So the biggest changes for the Pistons — aside from the return of Jerebko and the addition of rookie Brandon Knight — might have to come from Frank's leadership and a return to respectable behavior, if not respectability, from the team he puts on the floor.

And it might be a while before we see any real signs of progress there.john.niyo@detnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111202/OPINION03/112020337/Don’t-expect-big-changes-as-Pistons-open-for-business#ixzz1fOQuIDlm