2012 Celtics = 2009 Pistons.
Pistons had won a title all the way back in 2004. In 2008 they still managed to make the Eastern Confernece Finals. By 2009 the old dogs had nothing left... finished the season 39-43 and lost in the first round.
Welcome to the inevitable. Detroit's missed the playoffs the last 3 years and this year they are 12-22. They are on the verge of coming out of the ashes. If all goes as planned, we'll be ready to come out of the ashes in 2017. By then, Rondo will be in his early 30s and hopefully we'll have a couple talented young pups leading the squad.
Yeah, this may not be far off. Although, after Detroit fell off, they compounded their issues by dramatically overpaying bad players (C's may have done the same thing...although I am not sure the contracts are as bad as the ones Detroit gave out), and they traded Billups for Iverson, and have been determined to turn every undersized shooting guard they can get their hands on, into their PG of the future, to try to recreate Billups.
Its easy to make these comparisons, but there are so many things that affect the trajectories of these teams.