Welcome to a new era of Detroit Pistons basketball.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the season opened Wednesday with little interest and even less expectations.
A year ago, Detroit was coming off a sixth-straight conference final and looked to be in line for one more run with a mix of veterans and up-and-coming players. But a bad trade, brutal coaching and a lack of chemistry sunk any pipe dreams of glory.
How quickly things can change. And now, these are the forgotten and overlooked Pistons.
In the Eastern Conference, the rich got richer. Shaquille O'Neal now resides in Cleveland and is committed to getting "a ring for the King." Orlando added Vince Carter and Boston brought in Rasheed Wallace -- to come off the bench.
The Pistons countered with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. You can probably count the number of fans who rushed out to buy one of those jerseys on one hand.
Expectations for the Pistons aren't high, as many pick them to miss the playoffs. They were the No. 8 seed last season and were swept out of the first round despite having Wallace and Allen Iverson on the roster.
I'm not sold, though, that this is going to be a lottery team. Maybe Detroit is a notch below the Cavs, Celtics and Magic, but there certainly are more than a few teams in the conference more bleak than the Pistons.
The one issue I see is Detroit's lack of an identity.
Are they returning to that gritty defensive style? Bringing back Ben Wallace to roam the paint with Kwame Brown and Chris Wilcox suggests that.
However, that doesn't fly with the addition of Gordon and Villanueva. Both are known for their offensive abilities, but have never received much praise at the other end.
And whose team is this? Who gets the ball in the final seconds of a tight game? The Iverson experiment last year proved that Detroit isn't the right fit for one of the league's superstars. But somebody has to take charge and be the go-to guy on and off the court.
The one thing that may help is Joe Dumars' decision to throw back to yester-year. He named John Kuester -- who was on staff with the 2004 title team -- his new coach.
Dumars also brought back Ben Wallace and somehow Chucky Atkins found a role with a squad. Going back even further, Gordon's role has been compared to Vinnie Johnson from back in the "Bad Boys" era of back-to-back NBA championships.
Maybe the throwback style is a good thing for Detroit. If history has shown anything, it's that the Pistons are at their best when overlooked and counted out.
And I don't think anyone's counting on them for much right now.
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