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Detroit Pistons fans have been hoping to avoid this feeling for eight years. Ever since the Pistons won 50 games under Rick Carlisle in 2001-02, watching the Pistons play has felt a bit too much like a dream.

For eight years the Pistons have been among the NBA’s elite. We have been witnesses to perhaps the NBA’s unlikeliest MVP candidate, Ben Wallace, as he won four Defensive Player of the Year Awards. We adored a journeyman, Chauncey Billups, and lifted him up as our leader for seven seasons. We even related to the temperamental Rasheed Wallace, yelling his name in unison and approved as he picked up technical foul after technical foul, as if we knew how he felt and his anger was justified. That era, however, has officially ended.

When Rasheed Wallace signed with the Boston Celtics earlier this month, that feeling Pistons fans had been fortunate to avoid for eight years hit like a ton of bricks. Mediocrity is setting in.

Growing up watching the Pistons taught me a few things. Grant Hill was going to be better than Michael Jordan until injuries set in, Doug Collins was simply strange, and above all else, the Pistons were mediocre. 

These past weeks have served as a harsh reminder of the realities of being a Pistons fan.

John Kuester (rhymes with rooster) was chosen as head coach, replacing Michael Curry. Kuester was a part of the 2004 title team, serving as an assistant coach to Larry Brown. Shades of Brown’s coaching style can easily be seen in the new coach. Almost every quote Kuester gives contains at least one mention of defense, an emphasis on trust, and an insistence on “playing the right way.”

Last week the Pistons signed Ben Gordon to a five-year deal. Gordon has proven to be an electrifying offensive player capable of taking over a game as he did with some regularity during his tenure with the Chicago Bulls. Signing him, however, can mean one of only two things. The first is that Gordon, a shoot-first guard from UConn, is here to replace Hamilton, also a shoot-first guard from UConn. The second option is that Hamilton is not leaving this season, which would mean that Kuester would have to find a way to utilize two shooting guards (Gordon and Hamilton) and Rodney Stuckey, who may or may not be suited to play point guard, on the floor at the same time. Sounds oddly familiar to last season’s debacle.

The Pistons also brought in Charlie Villanueva, a player who has never been to the playoffs, plays suspect defense, and seems to have an aversion to rebounding. Villanueva was also signed to a five-year deal.

These are the Pistons that you may recall from your younger days.

Questions concerning Kuester’s ability to perform as a head coach will undoubtedly surface during low points of the season. This is, after all, Kuester’s first head-coaching job and because of last season’s disaster, Pistons fans get queasy when they hear the words “first-time head coach.” However, it would be unfair to throw the man in the water and cast this season in the tank (as many fans already have) for many reasons.

Comparing any coach with any sort of track record to the awkward way in which Michael Curry attempted to coach the Pistons is unfair. And despite this being his first attempt at a head-coaching gig, Kuester has been a good NBA assistant for the last thirteen years. Kuester’s most recent gig was honing the offense of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Thinking about the future, we’ll wonder how long Kuester will last and if there are any Pistons’ guards who can play defense.

We should also recall the highlights of the past eight years.

We remember Tayshaun Prince’s magical block on Reggie Miller in the 2003-04 playoffs. We remember wondering if Billups was even capable of showing emotion as he hit shot after shot, each one more significant than the last. We remember that a guaranteed victory did not necessarily make it happen, but to “Guaran’Sheed” it made its occurrence undeniable.

If all of this were actually a dream, then Pistons fans were fortunate to ever be a part of it, because the future doesn’t look bright.