Who would have had a better chance against the Spurs?

Pistons. They are virtually the same team who pushed the spurs to a seven games like no other East team did in all their championship runs

Last season's Finals series would have been more exciting (and closer, if I may add) if it had been the Detroit Pistons against the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs exposed a lot of weaknesses on the part of the Cleveland Cavaliers, something they (as a championship team) did a good job at. The Pistons are a more familiar rival in the eyes of the Spurs and really, while there would not be any real surprise as to what Detroit could really have done had they matched up against the Spurs instead of the Cavs, they'd be able to pull a trick or two here and there to put the Spurs off-track and gain some advantage over their more favored opponents from Texas. They're a really experience bunch of veterans, anyway, and at their level they should be able to see through a lot of things that can be exploited on the Spurs' part to get an advantage.