The Hoops Nerd, Pre-Season MIP Awards - Central Division

The Hoops Nerd gives MIP Awards to the most intriguing player in each team during the NBA pre-season. Today, we finish the Eastern Conference by handing out the awards in the Central Dvision. It should be one of the strongest, most competitive and definitely one of the most interesting division in the league. Chicago and Indiana should fight for alpha,  Cleveland and Detroit should fight for a spot in the playoffs and Milwakee...that's a story we might address sometime in the future. Without further ado...

Vacation Planning - Detroit Pistons

I always liked the Detroit Pistons. They always had a strong, definite identity: they're the Bad Boys. In the late eighties, early nineties, they were the villains to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls with brutal players in their lineup such as Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn.  They won championships with these guys. They made it work. Same thing in 2004, except this time they were even more awesome and that Kobe Bryant will forever see this face in his nightmares.

It was a terrible season overall for the Pistons last year, but you couldn't help thinking they were a few details away from making it come alive. They had some bad luck, they took some bad management decisions, but the talent is there and the team is shaping to become interesting again after GM Joe Dumars sabotaged it with a series of bad decisions starting in 2008. So, you know, I'm a nice guy so here is what they should do to get things going in 2013 and make another championship push sooner than later.