The subplot often not mentioned about the Pistons and their collapse this season is the way Chauncey Billups has taken off in Denver.
There is a prevailing thought this will not do much long-term damage to the Pistons because Allen Iverson has an expiring contract. Billups was signed long-tern by the Pistons, but is he really done as a championship-caliber player? He had 36 points and eight assists while handing Chris Paul his lunch when the Nuggets beat New Orleans Sunday. Billups is in his 30s. That’s understood. But what player, honestly, are the Pistons going to get who is as good as Billups in free agency this off season?
It’s a bonafide question to ask in lieu of the way the Pistons faltered this season, and the way Billups’ has sky-rocketed in Denver. He wasn’t addition by subtraction, the way a lot of people are making him out to be, that’s for sure. He is sorely missed.

Random Thoughts

- Rick Porcello throws plenty hard enough, but his success comes more from command of all his pitches and mound presence. It’s amazing, but age and experience often don’t matter in that equation. Some pitchers never acquire it. Others are born with it.

- The ESPN trade rumors about Miguel Cabrera seem like wishful thinking on the parr of the Red Sox. They are floundering without Manny Ramirez, and now that it appears David Ortiz is on the downside of his career.

- Anybody notice the Marlins are 11-1? Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller aren’t necessarily why. Maybin is hitting .206 and Miller’s ERA is sky-high. The best former Tiger on the Marlins: Cody Ross. He turned out to be a pretty good player. It always seemed odd to me that one of the knocks on Ross is that he throws left-handed and hits right-handed. What difference does that make other than it is unique?