There is obviously a great deal to admire about Detroit Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who has compiled a track record worthy of song. Under Dumars the Pistons traveled to six consecutive Eastern Conference finals and won an NBA championship in 2004.
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| Joe Dumars' move for Allen Iverson ruined the '08-09 season in Detroit. (Getty Images) |
Yet if you don't think Dumars is losing his way and losing his touch, you haven't been paying attention. The knack he had for chemistry building steeped in stellar genius is beginning to fray.
Look at this Pistons team and tell me Dumars isn't wandering through the NBA wilderness, a one-time seer overflowing with persistence and pugnaciousness, now destroying his own creation. He has gone from being one of the most brilliant executives in all of sports to one of the more befuddling.
This Pistons team is dreadful, borderline appalling, and the only reason the Pistons are in the postseason is because practically every freaking team in the NBA makes the playoffs. Cleveland could advertise on Craigslist and find a better first-round opponent than the Pistons.
LeBron James is taking this once proud franchise and single-handedly demolishing it. The beating of the Pistons in this series will be so bad there's later going to be a Justice Department memo banning it.
And please, for God's sake, stop the excuse making for Dumars, especially some in the Detroit media. The amount of butt covering the media has done for Dumars in wake of some fairly awful decisions is a misdemeanor in some states.
Even the best screw up. And screw up is what Dumars has done. He has made two major franchise-rocking mistakes.
First, he got fleeced by Denver in the Allen Iverson trade. It was a financial move, but so what? The repercussions of shipping Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets for Iverson are far more provocative and damaging than most people inside the Pistons organization want to publicly admit.
How Dumars couldn't foresee that Iverson was a broken down, cancerous blister is shocking. Dumars showing such a lack of basketball IQ is like a rip in the space-time continuum. It's the kind of gross mistake Dumars rarely made.
It's no coincidence that with Billups the Nuggets coalesced from a group of psychos and underachievers into a serious threat.
Second, while Dumars' philosophical approach has worked in the past, it needs to adapt dramatically. Dumars is so stubborn about getting a high-profile free agent next year he's forgetting that the best way to build a team remains through the draft and the occasional dip into the free-agent pool. Dumars continues to mostly do the reverse.
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Terry Tate: I actually went back to find your column on the Iverson trade in November. I thought you took the side that Detroit got the better end of that deal. Low and behold I found out that you were actually right with your prediction back in November. Needless to say I was stunned. In my defense, you have to admit, most of your articles are forgettable. How you did not bring this November article up in today's article and call out Doyel for thinking Detroit would challenge Boston for the East because of this trade is beyond me. It is not like you to miss at giving Gregg some grief on the rare occasion you happen to be right. |
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| Mike Freeman: Tater Tot: there is no need for me to call out Doyel. We all know he is frequently wrong. Just like there is no need for me to call you out as we all know you are frequently insufferable. By the way, nice to have you back stalking, er, responding on a regular basis. The sex change operation went well, eh? |
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The problem with Dumars' current tactic is he's going the easy route. Getting Iverson's expiring contract allows for more future cap freedom for Detroit to pursue a solid free agent like Carlos Boozer or Tyson Chandler. But one signing isn't going to fix what has been neglected -- broken chemistry.
Dumars is relying on the nebulous panacea of a future big-name free agent and in the process has invited a pandemic of mediocrity.
He's rebuilding on the fly when suffering through one or two 20-win seasons and constructing patiently and slowly through the draft while occasionally snagging a key free agent is the better way to proceed.
The Chicago Bulls (and I know the comparison to Detroit isn't an exact one) have gone from the dregs to the postseason on the back of draft picks like Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.
"The whole season has been a roller-coaster ride," Pistons guard Richard Hamilton told the Detroit Free Press. "At times we look good, at times we look great, and sometimes we look horrible. We've just been indecisive down the stretch [in games] which in the past we never were."
Wasn't the firing of former Pistons coach Flip Saunders supposed to alleviate some of that?
The losing was supposedly Saunders' fault. Now, whose fault is it?
Detroit this year finished below .500 for the first time in eight years. More importantly, the chemistry of this team has been so bad they're no longer the brutal intimidating group that once ruled the NBA. The Pistons are ... soft. Mentally and physically ... they're soft.
When did you ever believe you'd hear that about Detroit?
Be careful, Joe, before you become Brian Cashman.
Minus the hefty checkbook.
