They gave up 70 points in the paint in an opening night home loss to Milwaukee.

They culminated a Western trip with a 32-point L at Golden State.

They're 26th in the league in offense with 93.7 points per game.

And they're 13th in the L in defense, allowing 96.4 ppg, behind defensive stalwarts such as Atlanta and New Orleans/Oklahoma.

No, I am not talking about some middle of the road team like Orlando or Denver. These are the Detroit Pistons. This is the team that has gone to the last four Eastern Conference Finals. This is the same squad that has been in two of the last three NBA Finals, winning the chip in 2004.

I'll admit: I thought getting rid of Larry Brown and Ben Wallace leaving would be beneficial to this group. But I'm not so sure now.

With both Brown and Wallace, Detroit had an identity. The Pistons were thought of as the roughest, toughest "team" in the League. They "played the right way" as Brown, the traveling man, used to say. Detroit was able to grind out games and get key defensive stops whenever they needed them.

Then something happened.

They won the title. Detroit toppled the heavily-favored Lakers in five games to bring a third championship to Motown-the first in 13 years. The Pistons were able to play the "no respect" card throughout the playoffs. And the chip on their shoulder wasn't heavy enough to deter them from the ultimate goal.

Goin' to work continued to play the no respect card even after they won the title. They felt that they weren't getting respect nationally, what with only one all-star (Wallace) making the 2005 squad. Detroit was nine minutes away from back-to-back titles.

Then something happened.

The Pistons finally got their respect. They earned it, too, going 35-5 to start the 2005-06 season. Four of their five starters flew to H-Town for the '06 mid-season classic, even putting their stamp on a 122-120 East win. But that respect brought about a certain arrogance that wasn't there before.

Rasheed "T" Wallace and crew continuously b&tch#d and moaned about foul calls. Arms flailed and groans were heard after every whistle. The defense went down a  few notches-which I refuse to put on new coach Flip Saunders. They struggled to outlast a young, non-playoff tested Cleveland team in the East semis. Then Miami ran roughshod over them in the conference finals.

The bad vibes continued as Wallace was wooed away by the Windy City Bulls.

$60 million over four years. Yea, Detroit offered $48 mil; and, yea, Big Ben was the King of Motown. But, you work hard early to get paid later on. And that's what Wallace did. As Mike Epps says, "Get ya money, mane." That's what Wallace did.

Pistons point man and Finals MVP Chauncey Billups appears to be on his way to doing the same thing. Billups is reportedly being courted by the Bucks and his hometown Nuggets. But he and his mates are playing far from wanting to get paid.

Detroit went 1-3 on its recent Western swing. The only close game was a two-point loss at Utah. They lost in Arco by 15 and 111-79 to the Warriors. The team that played 81 of 82 games last season with the same starting line-up has already played a game without two-guard Rip Hamilton (22 ppg) who is nursing an elbow injury.

Things are bad right now in Detroit.

If the playoffs started today, The Pistons would be on the outside looking in. People are even beginning to call them Etroit, as in "no D." But things could be on the upswing. Eight of Detroit's next 11 games are against 2006 lottery teams, with the remaining being against Miami and two with Washington.

The 3-4 Pistons could be 12-5 before the first real snowfall. But judging by body language and play on the court, they're more inclined to finish the swing at 10-7 or 9-8. I figured they wouldn't be able to duplicate their 64-win total from a season ago, but, damn, I didn't see this happening.

It's still early, but maybe Chauncey and his mates need to put an APB out on those chips.