Been a huge fan of Chris Wilcox since his dominant sophomore season with the Terps – when they won the title in 2002 – lead to his early departure to the NBA. (Awesome line to a Diamondback reporter who approached Wilcox, trying to get the scoop: “Don’t ask me shit, dawg.”) His game in the NBA wasn’t very different than what he did in college: Active, but occasionally clumsy around the basket; decent baby hook; powerful dunker; perpetually looking blunted.

The guy’s never flourished in the NBA, though. His best season in the league was in Seattle in 2007 when, playing 31 minutes a game, he averaged 13.5 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Sure, he’s had some injuries, and he’s played on four teams, but this spot in Detroit could be idea.

The Pistons just lost Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess, leaving them incredibly thin inside with just Kwame Brown and Jason Maxiell as the big bodies. Wilcox is a better player than both of them. (We also would rather have him at PF over Charlie Villanueva, but we’re probably in the minority on that one.)

Pretty solid offseason for Joe Dumars, huh? He’s loaded up on a few good players now with his cap room, perhaps assuming that a) he wouldn’t have a shot at any of the studs in next year’s class, anyway, or b) the cap number’s going to shrink next year, so most of the top players are likely to stay with their current teams. The Pistons are younger, set to withstand a sudden falloff due to age by Rip Hamilton (31) or Tayshun Prince (who, amazingly, is only 29, but hasn’t missed a regular season game in six years and has all that additional playoff wear-and-tear).

If Denver drops off dramatically this season, and the Pistons win 50ish games and are a top six seed in the playoffs … maybe everyone will take back all those mean things they said about Dumars after this disappointing season.