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1997–98 Detroit Pistons season

NBA team season

Doug Collins (fired)
Alvin Gentry Fox Sports Detroit

The 1997–98 Detroit Pistons season was the 50th season for the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association, and their 41st season in Detroit, Michigan. During the off-season, the Pistons signed free agents Brian Williams, and Malik Sealy. After winning their first two games, the Pistons lost five straight and struggled with a 6–11 start, as Joe Dumars missed ten games due to a shoulder injury during the first month of the regular season. In late December, the team traded Theo Ratliff, and Aaron McKie to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse, and Eric Montross.

At mid-season, head coach Doug Collins was fired after a 21–24 start to the season, and was replaced with assistant Alvin Gentry; Collins would later on get a job as color analyst for the NBA on NBC. The Pistons held a 22–25 record at the All-Star break, then later on posted a 7-game losing streak between March and April, missing the NBA playoffs by finishing in sixth place in the Central Division with a disappointing 37–45 record.

Grant Hill had another stellar season, averaging 21.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, while Williams averaged 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and Stackhouse mostly played off the bench as the team's sixth man, averaging 15.7 points per game in 57 games after the trade. In addition, Dumars contributed 13.1 points and 3.5 assists per game, and led the Pistons with 158 three-point field goals, while Lindsey Hunter provided with 12.1 points, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Off the bench, Sealy contributed 7.7 points per game, while second-year forward Jerome Williams averaged 5.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, Grant Long provided with 3.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, and starting power forward Don Reid contributed 3.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, Hill was selected for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Hill also finished in ninth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Stackhouse finished in fifth place in Sixth Man of the Year voting. The Pistons finished seventh in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 794,567 at The Palace of Auburn Hills during the regular season.

Following the season, Sealy signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves, while Long re-signed with his former team, the Atlanta Hawks, and Rick Mahorn re-signed with his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

Draft picks

Main article: 1997 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	19	Scot Pollard	C/PF		Kansas
2	31	Charles O'Bannon	SG/SF		UCLA

Roster

Doug Collins (fired)
Alvin Gentry
Johnny Bach
John Hammond
Brian James
Mike Abdenour (trainer)

Roster Notes

Point guard Rumeal Robinson was signed by the Pistons during the off-season, only playing with the team during the preseason, and did not appear in any regular season games; he was waived on November 20, 1997.

Regular season

Season standings

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

Game log

Player statistics

GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
72	72	32.3	.416	.371	.825	1.4	3.5	0.6	0.0	13.1
23	0	2.8	.500	.375	1.000	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0	1.6
81	81	40.7	.452	.143	.740	7.7	6.8	1.8	0.7	21.1
71	67	35.3	.383	.321	.740	3.5	3.2	1.7	0.1	12.1
40	17	18.5	.427	.000	.719	3.8	0.6	0.7	0.3	3.5
59	0	12.0	.457	—	.676	3.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	2.4
24	1	19.7	.413	.176	.870	2.8	1.6	1.0	0.0	4.5
28	10	12.6	.456	—	.429	3.8	0.1	0.2	0.5	2.5
30	0	7.8	.377	.000	.800	1.1	0.6	0.3	0.0	2.1
33	0	9.6	.500	—	.826	2.2	0.3	0.2	0.3	2.7
24	12	24.4	.514	—	.683	5.0	0.6	0.5	2.3	6.5
68	44	14.6	.534	—	.704	2.6	0.4	0.4	0.8	3.5
77	10	21.3	.428	.220	.824	2.8	1.3	0.8	0.3	7.7
57	15	31.5	.428	.208	.782	3.3	3.1	1.0	0.7	15.7
78	78	33.6	.511	.333	.707	8.9	1.2	0.9	0.7	16.2
77	3	16.9	.524	.000	.651	4.9	0.6	0.7	0.1	5.3

Player statistics citation:

Awards and records

Grant Hill, All-NBA Second Team

Transactions

August 7, 1997: Acquired the 2003 1st Round Draft Pick (Darko Miličić) from the Vancouver Grizzlies for Otis Thorpe
August 16, 1997: Signed Brian Williams
October 9, 1997: Waived Randolph Childress
October 25, 1997: Signed Malik Sealy
December 18, 1997: Acquired Jerry Stackhouse, Eric Montross and a 2005 2nd Round Draft Pick (Alex Acker) from the Philadelphia 76ers for Aaron McKie, Theo Ratliff and a 2003 1st Round Draft Pick (Carlos Delfino)
January 17, 1998: Signed Steve Henson to the first of two 10-day contracts
February 9, 1998: Signed Steve Henson for the remainder of the season

Player Transactions Citation:

References

[https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DET/1998.html 1997-98 Detroit Pistons]
(August 17, 1997). "Williams Signs with Pistons". The New York Times.
(August 17, 1997). "Ex-Clipper Williams Signs with Pistons". Los Angeles Times.
Thompson, Jack. (August 17, 1997). "Brian Williams Signs with Pistons". Chicago Tribune.
(August 26, 1997). "Pistons Sign Sealy". The New York Times.
(August 26, 1997). "Robinson Takes Pay Cut to Sign with Suns". Los Angeles Times.
Thompson, Jack. (August 26, 1997). "Suns Sign Clifford Robinson". Chicago Tribune.
(November 10, 1997). "NBA -- Nuggets Rocked by Bad News: Eric Williams Out for Season". The Seattle Times.
(November 23, 1997). "N.B.A: YESTERDAY; Magic Takes Charge Early and Cruises Past the 76ers". The New York Times.
(November 23, 1997). "Dumars and Hill Power Pistons Past Hawks". Los Angeles Times.
(December 19, 1997). "PRO BASKETBALL; 76ers Send Stackhouse and Montross to Pistons". The New York Times.
(December 19, 1997). "76ers Give Up on Backcourt, Deal Stackhouse to Pistons". Los Angeles Times.
(December 19, 1997). "Stackhouse to Pistons". The Washington Post.
(February 3, 1998). "PRO BASKETBALL; Pistons Replace Collins with an Assistant Coach". The New York Times.
Bucher, Ric. (February 3, 1998). "Pistons Fire Collins as Coach". The Washington Post.
Smith, Sam. (February 3, 1998). "Collins Out in Detroit". Chicago Tribune.
Sandomir, Richard. (March 18, 1998). "PLUS: TV SPORTS; NBC Hires Collins as N.B.A. Analyst". The New York Times.
Hirsley, Michael. (March 18, 1998). "Collins to Join Costas, Thomas on NBC Team". Chicago Tribune.
Kent, Milton. (March 20, 1998). "NBC Adds Collins and Bolsters Its Playoff Roster". Los Angeles Times.
"NBA Games Played on February 5, 1998". Basketball-Reference.
"1997–98 Detroit Pistons Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference.
"1997–98 Detroit Pistons Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.
Howard-Cooper, Scott. (January 28, 1998). "Lakers Get Four-Star Rating as Van Exel, Jones Honored". Los Angeles Times.
(September 13, 2021). "1998 NBA All-Star Recap". NBA.com.
"1998 NBA All-Star Game: East 135, West 114". Basketball-Reference.
"1997–98 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball-Reference.
"1997–98 NBA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference.
(January 23, 1999). "N.B.A.: ROUNDUP -- ATLANTA; Laettner Is Signed, Then Sent to Detroit". The New York Times.
(January 23, 1999). "NBA Transactions". The Washington Post.
Wise, Mike. (February 4, 1999). "PRO BASKETBALL; A Scrum for the Title". The New York Times.
Broussard, Chris. (February 2, 1999). "N.B.A.: NOTEBOOK -- NETS; Gatling Finds a Way to Add to Points Total". The New York Times.
Johnson, L.C.. (February 20, 1999). "Headliners". Orlando Sentinel.
(February 24, 1999). "Sixers Sign Rick Mahorn". CBS News.
(February 25, 1999). "Transactions". The New York Times.
(October 31, 1997). "Barkley, NBA Officials to Talk". Tampa Bay Times.
(November 21, 1997). "Transactions". The New York Times.
"1997–98 Detroit Pistons Transactions". Basketball-Reference.

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