The

2000–01 NBA season The 2000–01 NBA season was the 55th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning their second straight championship, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 1 in the 2001 NBA Finals. Not ...

was the Pistons' 60th season as a franchise, the 53rd in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, and the 44th in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

area. During the off-season, retired All-Star guard and Pistons legend

Joe Dumars Joe Dumars III ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is the executive vice president and head of basketball operations of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play either shoo ...

was hired as General Manager, as the team acquired Ben Wallace and second-year guard

Chucky Atkins Kenneth Lavon "Chucky" Atkins (born August 14, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player who played for nine different NBA teams throughout his career. Basketball career Atkins played college basketball at the University of South ...

from the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

, acquired

Cedric Ceballos Cedric Z. Ceballos (born August 2, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. As a small forward, he played mostly for the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers, later finishing his National Basketball Association (NBA) career ...

Dana Barros Dana Bruce Barros (born April 13, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player from the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college, he played at Boston College, finishing as one of the school's all-time leading scorers. He was ...

and John Wallace from the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

, and acquired

Billy Owens Billy Eugene Owens (born May 1, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Syracuse, where he was an All-American and th ...

from the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

. The team later on signed free agent Joe Smith during the first month of the regular season. However, Ceballos was traded to the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

in late November after 13 games, as the Pistons acquired

Corliss Williamson Corliss Mondari Williamson (born December 4, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former basketball player who played for four teams during his 12-year NBA career. He last served as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. His nickname is ...

in exchange for Jerome Williams and

Eric Montross Eric Scott “Big Grits” Montross (born September 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets ...

in a midseason trade with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

. However, the Pistons struggled losing four of their first five games, then after a 13–15 start, they lost 13 of their next 15 games, finishing fifth in the Central Division with a 32–50 record. One key piece to the team's future appeared to be

Jerry Stackhouse Jerry Darnell Stackhouse (born November 5, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores men's team. He played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and ...

, who had a stellar season averaging 29.8 points and 5.1 assists per game, while being selected for the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. In addition, Smith averaged 12.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, while Atkins contributed 12.0 points and 4.1 assists per game, and Wallace led the team with 13.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Following the season, Smith re-signed with his former team, the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

, while head coach

George Irvine George Irvine may refer to: *George Irvine (politician) (1826–1897), Canadian politician *George Irvine (basketball) (1948–2017), American basketball player and coach *George Irvine (diver), see William Hogarth Main See also

*George Irving ...

was fired, top draft pick

Mateen Cleaves Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977) is a retired American basketball player. He played parts of six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Michigan State, where he led the Sparta ...

was traded to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, John Wallace was dealt along with

Jud Buechler Jud may refer to: People People with the surname * Leo Jud (1482–1542), Swiss reformer * Jakob Jud (1882–1952), Swiss linguist People with the nickname or given name * Jud Birchall (1855–1887), American baseball player *Jud Birza (born 1989 ...

to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

, and Owens retired.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z - clinched division title :y - clinched division title :x - clinched playoff spot

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Awards and records

Transactions

References

See also