Chris Wilcox comes to the Detroit Pistons with a chip on his shoulder. That makes him no different from past players who found success in Detroit after bouncing around the league.
"This is a great opportunity to show what I got," said Wilcox, a seven-year veteran who signed a two-year, $6 million deal with Detroit. The 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward has been an enigma of sorts throughout his NBA career.
With his size, athleticism and ability to score around the basket, Wilcox seems to have all the tools to succeed.
And to his credit, he has shown signs of being a dominant player from time to time.
But that is part of the problem.
Those moments are overshadowed by too many stretches in which he is a non-factor.
However, signing with Detroit offers him an opportunity to play significant minutes, which was not the case last year when he split time between Oklahoma City and New York.
With Kwame Brown as Detroit's only true center, Wilcox has a chance to play major minutes as a starter.
When given steady minutes, Wilcox has been productive.
He spent three seasons in Seattle primarily as a starter, and averaged at least 13.4 points per game. However, that changed when the team moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008-09 season. And when the Thunder traded him to New York in the middle of last season, things didn't get better. He averaged 13.2 minutes per game with the Knicks, the fewest minutes he averaged since logging 10.2 as a rookie.
"It was a tough transition, moving from Seattle to Oklahoma," Wilcox said. "Oklahoma was going in another route."
The same could be said for the Pistons .
Although Wilcox is part of this new age in Pistons Basketball, he picked Detroit in part because of its successful past.
"There's a lot of great history here," said Wilcox, who said he also spoke with Washington, Phoenix and Dallas. "By coming here, I can be part of history, and hopefully, we can make some history here, too."
