DUMARS FOR GM OF THE YEAR

I’m sure I will lose the very few people who might enjoy reading some of the nonsense I write on this blog, but I can’t help but laugh at the hatred that’s being thrown in the general direction of the Pistons these days, and in a more direct way to my boy Joe. Now the title of this post is obviously overblown. He is in no way a part of the running for GM of the year in any circle of people not associated with a GED reunion. But there is definitely a foresight shown by Dumars that the average fan, and many talking heads, doesn’t seem to appreciate.

Obviously the trade Joe pulled to send Chaunce to the Nugs for AI appears to be one of the worst trades the franchise has ever suffered. Chauncey has led the Nuggets to one of the top spots in the West, joining the Lakers and Spurs as true Western Conference contenders. Meanwhile, the Stones have been relegated to .500 ball and fighting for a playoff spot after making the Eastern Conference Finals for the past six years. Looking at the impact of the trade over the course of the year would lead one to believe that it was as much of a “no contest” loss for the venerable Dumars as OJ Simpson’s murder trial, but it all had to play itself out there too didn’t it?

I’ve written previously on how I believe Rodney Stuckey is the young, dynamic point guard of the future who has a Finals MVP in his future. I wrote that the cap flexibility that the Pistons have created will give them a great chance to find an All-Star big man to go along with Stuck, Rip, and Tay. And I’ve also stated that AI should come off the bench and be the expiring contract has-been that should be hogging the ball with the second teamers, which was what the Sixers had when he was there anyway. And while those are all compelling reasons to continue to believe that this was a good trade for the future, we have an amazing example set before us as to another reason that Joe pulled the trigger.

Joe Dumars was the starting point guard of the Bad Boys with Isiah (no I didn’t spell that wrong) and Company. He saw first hand what a group of hard nosed veterans who were still in their prime could do to the opposition and their star power. So he went about turning the Pistons into the same bunch of team oriented players who could go up against the opponents big guns shut them down. And within a few years, Joe had won a Championship and came within a quarter of winning back-to-backs as a GM like he did as a player.

But this is where the stories diverge. The Brass of the Pistons in the late 80’s kept the core together as they got older and watched them win fewer and fewer games, hoping that another run was in their old and tired legs. What the higher ups failed to see was that they were starting a Geriatric Committee posing as an NBA franchise. Their skills began to decline at a rapid pace, but kept hoping for “one more run” with an aging core that never materialized. Dumars was a part of those Championship teams and was a key member of participating in them. But he was also a member of the team during a good portion of the 90’s, when the team was relegated to the cellar because the younger, up and coming teams of the NBA had caught and surpassed them. This began a horrible streak for our beloved ballclub. They made a habit of not making the playoffs, had high draft picks, and had Terry Mills as their center for close to a decade. The Palace was a Ghost Town of it’s former self, and was in constant rebuilding mode reminiscent of our current Lions organization.

Basically, Joe saw first hand that a core which is kept together too long hoping for that “last great run” is only fooling themselves. And when Joe D. saw that the team had peaked, and were ousted in the ECF for a string of four straight seasons, he knew that that the time had come to react, no matter how hard that might be during the present season. He traded their floor general and brought in a “superstar” with an expiring contract who didn’t play the style that the team prides themselves on. While he knew this would throw off chemistry, he also knew that it would put himself in a position to get a player he missed out on when he had the 2^nd pick of the draft. Joey has made mistakes, yes, but he always works hard to rectify them. He missed out on Bosh, Wade, and Melo, but he is now in a position to redeem himself. He will now look to pair a player of that caliber with their core. It’s quite obvious that Stuckey, Rip, and Tay are the core guys that will be a part of this team in the near future, and it is no coincidence that they are the youngest players from the team that won the ‘Ship in ‘04.

In essence, this is a probable one or two year “rebuilding” period, in which Joe has handed the keys of the franchise to his younger players while increasing the odds of landing a big time free agent over the course of the next two seasons. Meanwhile, we are still beating some of the top teams in the league and will most definitely make the playoffs after Curry finally got the rocks to put his future, Rip, into the starting lineup and benching free agency fodder AI, who is more equipped to play with the second stringers anyhow. Remind me to send a Thank You letter to Allen’s back problems. Bringing AI off the bench with a defensive team around him with an outside shooter to dish to makes the 2^nd unit as good as the Sixers were when THEY made it to the finals with AI. . . . Maybe not quite but you can understand what I’m getting at. ESPN has also reported that AI is willing to do “whatever it takes” to help the Pistons win a championship when his back is healthy enough to allow him to play. Of course, AI is in a contract year and doesn’t want to be considered a cancer going into the (probable) final free agent period of his career. Whether this is just lip service, or a true desire to win at whatever cost, you can’t help but like the chances of the Stones getting “hot” at the right time as Rip put it on PTI Thursday.

Yes, Chauncey is having a great year, and has elevated the play in Denver dramatically. This has most assuredly pushed the knife a little further into Joe D’s back, as he is dealing with trading his prize point guard and now also has to deal with fans and media who always want to win. Yet no one wants to remember what happened to the Stones in the ‘90s. The move impacts the next four years, in which Chaunce will be getting paid twelve million dollars a year as he loses a step, ala Ben Wallace, with the multiple teams he has played for and the albatross contract he is playing out. The next year that Ben is sought after is the year his contract expires. Point taken? So when a team can be a playoff squad with the chance to once again go deep into the postseason while “rebuilding” you have to look at it as a success. There will be no decade long slump in this organization with Dumars at the helm, and that is why he has my worthless vote for GM of the year.