Question: Which player made the biggest contributions to the Detroit Pistons 2004 NBA Championship title? 

Chauncy Billups deserves a vote because he was the one who received the NBA Finals MVP trophy from Bill Russell.

So did Ben Wallace, not just because of his 10.8 points and 13.6 rebounds per game, but also for his tussling with Shaquille O'Neal in the finals.

Rasheed Wallace should not be forgotten since he's the last piece of Detroit's champion puzzle. Even Tayshaun Prince deserves notice for his obstruction of Kobe Bryant's perimeter shots.

Wait, did you forget about Richard Hamilton?

He was not just Detroit's starting shooting guard. In fact, Hamilton was the team's scoring leader during regular season (17.6 points per game), playoffs (21.5 points) and the Ffnals (21.4 points).

Some would argue that it's not a big deal because the Pistons in those years played defense – so it doesn't matter which of their players scored the most points. Well, defense only kept you from losing, a team must score to win.

When Hamilton retired in February, 2015, most people only remember two things about him: first he was always wearing a mask (due to injury); second, he kept moving, coming off screens and shooting in the middle range.

His story is more interesting than that.

In 1999, Hamilton was named NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player after averaging 24.2 points per game. He helped the University of Connecticut march their way into the final against Duke University. Having scored 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Hamilton won the national championship with his college.

Having been selected by the Washington Wizards with the No. 7 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, Hamilton spent three seasons raising his average scoring to 20 points while earning 5.3 free throws per game. By the way, it's not easy to defend his left-hand penetration layup.

In the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers 4-2. Hamilton achieved a clear-cut victory over Reggie Miller in 24-9 in average scoring. Miller admitted that he could not handle Hamilton because he was moving all the time.

As a one of the best players for "moving, catch-and-shooting" in NBA history, the comments carry a lot of weight when it's from Miller.

Hamilton himself was proud of his moving too. He said he could run a mile in five minutes when he was in high school. "If I'm tired, I know my opponent's exhausted."

In the 2000s, Hamilton, Miller and Ray Allen were often put together as the three best off-ball shooters back then. Nonetheless, Hamilton managed to beat the other to as the first scorer of a champion team. Meanwhile, he used to defend the following guys: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

In fact, Hamilton was not wearing his mask all the time. During the 2005 NBA Finals, Robert Horry beat the buzzer to help the San Antonio Spurs win Game 5, making Game 6 in San Antonio the "win-or-go-home" situation for the Pistons. Hamilton took off his mask and finally left Bruce Bowen behind before he scored 23 points, helping the Pistons win Game 6 95-86.

Hamilton had his own highlight, too. In their second game in the 2005-06 season, the Pistons went to the TD Garden to challenge the Boston Celtics. Mark Blount made a shot to help the Celtics lead 81-80 when there were only 0.8 seconds left of the game. Home team players were so excited that they began to celebrate during the timeout. Meanwhile, Hamilton and his teammates stood there, watching.

When game resumed, Hamilton came off teammates' screen as he always did, received the ball from Prince and then made a shot, like he always did. That shot silenced the whole TD Garden and gave the Pistons the victory, 82-81.