State of the Pistons Address (February 12)

There's no more getting acclimated for Chris Webber. He is now, genuinely, a Piston. And everyone else on the court is better off because of it.

Have you been watching these guys lately? Seven wins in a row, and some of the best passing the Palace has seen in the last four years. During this streak, they're averaging more than 22 feeds a game, with just under 10 turnovers. As Larry David would say: pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Since 2004, they've had those great games where it seems like everything's clicking, and at the end of the night, there are 30 assists in the stat column. When they've played their best, that number has been habitual. Now, with one more world-class passer in the lineup, expect the boys in red and blue to reach the 30-mark even more consistently -- for the rest of the season.

C-Webb is giving Detroit the same kind of lift 'Sheed provided when Joe D picked him up in February of the '04 season. With his natural offensive talent, he draws a lot more attention than his predecessors Nazr and Ben. What is more, he passes the ball better than I realized he did when he was with the talented Kings from earlier this decade. (In that regard, he's even more like 'Sheed, a guy Pistons fans couldn't appreciate fully, or at all, until he was one of our own and we got to watch him every night.)

Having C-Webb catch the ball in the high post makes every Piston on the floor all the more deadly because he can knock down that jumper, he can feed 'Sheed on the high-low look, he can find Tay or Rip curling or backcutting, or he can simply pitch back to Chaunce for a trey-bomb.

These past seven games have been a treat, but I think we're really going to see them start clicking even more and solidifying themselves as the favorite to win the East. Wednesday should be a good gauge, as the Spurs come to town. Close out on Horry, 'Sheed. Close out on Horry.