October 31 vs. Houston: Not only is this Opening Night for Detroit, it’s their chance at some revenge against the Rockets’ newly acquired point guard Jeremy Lin. The last time the team saw the sensational young guard, they were getting their tails handed to them in a 101-79 loss against the New York Knicks, Lin’s former team. The players might not say it aloud, but viewers shouldn’t be surprised if Pistons guards Brandon Knight and Rodney Stuckey take it to Lin.

November 12 vs. Oklahoma City: This game will be key for two main reasons. Facing one of the best young teams in the Association, it will be key for the Pistons to gauge their progress as a team against the Thunder, who should be considered title contenders once again next season. It will also be their first home game in almost two weeks, as they’ll immediately head out west after the home opener to face some of the West’s best squads.

December 3 vs. Cleveland: With two closely contested games and two blowouts between these two teams, it would appear that the Pistons-Cavaliers rivalry has been renewed a little. Both teams are led by young guards – Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight – and seem to be trending upwards after several down years. With both guards leading their respective teams, this could become an interesting matchup for years to come.

December 14 vs. Brooklyn: This is the first time that the Pistons will be seeing Deron Williams’ new place, The Barclays Center, along with the newest Net, Joe Johnson. The former Atlanta Hawk always seemed to give the team fits on the defensive end, so it’ll be interesting to see how head coach Lawrence Frank gameplans against him. They will also have to contend with the team’s resigned core of Williams, Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace, and Kris Humphries. This squad may be an offensive juggernaut, but will their defense be up to par?

December 28 vs. Miami: The defending champions make their only visit to the Palace just a few days before the new year, and this one should be a real test for the Pistons. The Heat upgraded even more this offseason, signing sharpshooters Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis after drafting Justin Hamilton, an athletic big man out of LSU. Allen and Lewis spreading the floor on offense will test the perimeter defense of the Pistons, who ranked dead last in terms of opponent’s field goal percentage and in the middle of the pack for 3-point shooting percentage.

January 1 vs. Sacramento: This may be the second time that the Pistons will see Demarcus Cousins and the Kings, but it’ll be the first time at home. That should give Pistons’ fans a chance to see the two best big men of the 2010 draft go head-to-head once again. If that draft was redone today, Greg Monroe and Cousins would very likely go 2-3 behind #1 pick John Wall, and possibly before him depending on the team. These two will forever be linked because of that draft, so every matchup between them is intriguing.

January 6 vs. Charlotte: Charlotte may not be on most people’s “Must Watch” list, but now that former Piston Ben Gordon is a Bobcat, it makes this encounter a little more interesting. How will Pistons fans, who probably had mixed emotions about signing Gordon back in 2009 anyway, react when his name is announced at gametime? GM Rich Cho and owner Michael Jordan also upgraded their roster through the draft and free agency, making them much less likely to be the worst team in the league. They’re still young and will probably be in the lottery again next year, but they should prove competitive.

January 17 vs. New York: As of right now, this game is “TBD,” but from several sources, it would appear that this contest will take place overseas – London, to be exact. The Pistons and Knicks will battle it out in one of England’s largest sporting venues, The O2 Arena, where the Nets and Raptors played twice last season. Both games between those two were tightly contested but not sold out, but with the worldwide appeal of New York, this game should be close to capacity. Against one of the lower seeded teams in the Eastern Conference, this contest could also prove critical should the Pistons be in playoff contention.

February 27 vs. Washington: Normally a regular season game against the Wizards wouldn’t be on a Pistons fan’s mind, but with this game being one of the three televised games for Detroit in 2012-13, it should be a good game to watch. Washington’s front office also realized that several main players were holding the team back, including JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche, and Rashard Lewis. Well, problem solved – they replaced all three and may finally have a competent squad. The Lewis trade netted them veteran forwards Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor and they drafted scoring guard Bradley Beal out of Florida. They may not compete for a title, but they should prove to be a competitive team once again.

March 1 vs. New Orleans: No one upgraded their team more this offseason than the Hornets, who got both a new owner and the #1 pick in just a few weeks. New Orleans obviously went with Anthony Davis with that pick, but that was just one of the many major moves the made this offseason. This matchup comes toward the end of the year, and the Pistons’ own lottery pick – UConn big man Andre Drummond – could very well be playing major minutes. This game could be a showcase between two of the 2012 draft’s most hyped players.

With 82 games in a season, it’s hard to narrow it down to just 10; did we miss any key games in this entry?

We’ll start in the Central Division, where one team (Chicago) is still tops, but is on shakier ground than they’re used to. Much like the “Central” divisions in MLB, picking a clear winner for this division is a tough task, as there are maybe one or two favorites but the very real possibility of a surprise finisher.

Chicago Bulls

PG: Kirk Hinrich
SG: Richard Hamilton
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Joakim Noah
C:  Carlos Boozer

Bench: Taj Gibson, Marquis Teague, Vladimir Radmanovic, Jimmy Butler, Mike James, John Lucas III, Brian Scalabrine, Marco Belinelli

The Hinrich signing this offseason is a temporary move, as the team’s star guard Derrick Rose recovers from a torn ACL suffered in last season’s playoffs. With no return date for Rose, it could be a tough year for the Bulls, who have enjoyed a great deal of success atop the division the last few seasons. One of the most defining factors of the team – their bench – has been decimated this offseason, with the losses of Kyle Korver, Omer Asik, CJ Watson, and Ronnie Brewer. Relying on the 34-year old Hamilton is also a gamble, as he hasn’t shown much since leaving Detroit.  After winning 50 games last season and running away with the Central, next season could be much more of a challenge.

Indiana Pacers

PG: George Hill
SG: Paul George
SF: Danny Granger
PF: David West
C:  Roy Hibbert

Bench: DJ Augustin, Lance Stephenson, Gerald Green, Tyler Hansbrough, Ian Mahinmi, Orlando Johnson, Jeff Pendergraph, Miles Plumlee

The Pacers lost just two players this offseason – Darren Collison and Dahntay Jones –  but both played a fairly important role in last season’s successes. While Jones is mainly a defensive specialist, Indiana traded for Collison in 2010 to be the team’s point guard of the future. Unfortunately for him, Hill has emerged as a capable replacement and George has shown NBA ability at the shooting guard, so the team decided to trade the former UCLA Bruin to the Mavericks for Mahinmi. This team’s strengths lie in their frontcourt, however. After resigning Hibbert, the team now has him, West, Granger, Hansbrough, and Plumlee locked in down low. League-wide that may not be the most impressive lineup, but in the weaker Eastern Conference, it could very well win them the division and possibly a high playoff seed.

Detroit Pistons

PG: Brandon Knight
SG: Rodney Stuckey
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: Jonas Jerebko
C: Greg Monroe

Bench: Will Bynum, Kim English, Andre Drummond, Khris Middleton, Austin Daye, Corey Maggette, Charlie Villanueva, Kyle Singler, Slava Kravtsov, possibly Ben Wallace

After three straight seasons of lucking out in the NBA Draft, the Pistons have three potential building blocks for the team’s future. Monroe is an emerging center, Knight showed flashes of brilliance last season, and Drummond has already turned heads at the Summer League games in Orlando. That said, they range in age from 18 to 22, meaning there will likely be more learning bumps along the way, but since a title run isn’t likely in the near future, the team can play with lower expectations. Fans may not like that, but it’s the truth, and it could prove more invaluable to the development of all their young players. Stuckey will continue to evolve as a shooting guard alongside Knight. Four-year college players English and Singler should be logging minutes next season as two “veteran” rookies, while players like Bynum, Daye, Villanueva, and Maggette will be playing for either another contract or simply the chance to stay with the team. Sneaking into the playoffs as a low seed could happen, but another lottery trip is just as likely.

Milwaukee Bucks

PG: Brandon Jennings
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Mike Dunleavy
PF: Drew Gooden
C: Samuel Dalembert

Bench: Carlos Delfino, Beno Udrih, Doron Lamb, Ersan Ilyasova, John Henson, Ekpe Udoh, Larry Sanders, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Tobias Harris

The Bucks have been in a strange purgatory-esque place for several years now: never good enough to win a title but never bad enough to get a top draft pick. After drafting Andrew Bogut first overall in 2005, Milwaukee made the playoffs just twice (2005-06 and 2009-10) and lost both times in the first round (Detroit and Atlanta, respectively). Apparently that was enough for the Bucks, and they traded Bogut for Monta Ellis and Ekpe Udoh last season, leaving the team with two shoot-first point guards in Jennings and Ellis. It should be an interesting experiment next season as the duo has had a chance to learn more about each other’s games during the offseason, but my money is on both players jacking up ill-advised shots. The rest of the roster is littered with some intriguing young pieces (Lamb, Henson, Udoh, Harris, Mbah a Moute) and other serviceable parts (Gooden, Dalembert, Udrih, Dunleavy), but overall, this could be another average year for the Bucks.

Cleveland Cavaliers

PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Daniel Gibson
SF: Omri Casspi
PF: Tristan Thompson
C: Anderson Varejão

Bench:  Dion Waiters, Tyler Zeller, Donald Sloan, Kelenna Azubuike, Luke Harangody, Samardo Samuels, Alonzo Gee, Jon Leuer, Jeremy Pargo

If this was owner Dan Gilbert’s grand scheme for rebuilding post-LeBron, he may want to rethink it. After a 19-win season netted them a star point guard in Kyrie Irving, Cleveland has gone on to to collect an assortment of lower-level NBA talent and several players who spent more time in the NBDL than the big show. They are essentially a lesser version of the Bucks – not a good comparison. They traded a possible young star in JJ Hickson to the Kings for a tweener in Casspi, and drafted Thompson – another small-ish forward – with the fourth pick after drafting Irving. Varejão has always been a frustrating player to defend, as his tough low-post play and questionable flopping have gained him notoriety around the league, but he suffered a broken wrist last season and missed all but 25 games. With Irving breaking his hand in Olympic warm-ups earlier this month, things haven’t gotten much better for the Cavs. Unless a major (unforseen) move is made, the next few seasons could be much of the same for the Wine and Gold squad.

What do you think? Are the Bulls and Pacers the class of the Central, or could a surprise team top them both?

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