Le Basketbawl

New York Vinnie has been puzzled for just over a year now with the actions of Detroit Pistons Team President Joe Dumars. In a little over a year the Pistons went from being an elite team in the NBA Eastern Conference to a team that will literally have to battle to make the Frickin Playoffs in the upcoming season. You look at their roster as we are in the latter stages of August and it is not about to strike fear in too many teams souls!

The team’s best player Richard Hamilton is now 31 years old which usually is about the age where the dings start to show up on a Pro Athlete. Tayshaun Prince the other corner-stone of the team is 29 which is about the age that an NBA player starts to peak at. Other than those two guys they have some nice players but no Frickin All-Stars. Point guard Rodney Stuckey and forward Jason Maxiell show promise and potential but they are still pretty much unproven commodities.

Dumars had some money to spend this summer but in New York Vinnie’s mind it was not spent wisely. He signed Free Agent forward and former Milwaukee Bucks player Charlie Villanueva after rumors of trying to acquire Carlos Boozer never materialized. Now New York Vinnie believes that Boozer would have been a definite upgrade from Jason Maxiell but Charlie Villanueva is no Carlos Boozer if you catch my drift.

The other big name Free Agent they picked up was former Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon a player who had a career year last season as he was teamed up with NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose. Gordon led Chicago in scoring and allowed them to rid themselves of a total Pud Larry Hughes whom they unloaded on My Boys the Knicks.

However Gordon has proven consistently he can not Frickin score coming in off the bench. Now there is no way he is going to start over Hamilton so does that mean Dumars is going to trade Rip? Or are they going to allow him to walk away as a Free Agent at the end of the season and Gordon will be his replacement?

You look at the other guys on this roster led by the Big Pud himself Kwame Brown and the team that won the NBA Title under Larry Brown does not come to mind. And this has New York Vinnie wondering why Dumars has seemingly lost his instincts over night? It is not like with an athlete that age has gotten to him Joe-D is still a young man as an NBA Executive. So what other reasons could lead to this team going from the Penthouse to the Outhouse?

One of the major changes that took place in the Pistons Organization was long time Assistant General Manager and Dumar’s right hand man John Hammond left the team. Hammond who had resisted overtures from other teams in the past became the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. Hammond took over from Larry Harris who had a roster that was basically a bunch of Frickin Crappola along with Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd. Now chances are pretty good that the Bucks will end up in the Lottery but the team is starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

So how big a role did Hammond play with the Pistons and their success? How much did Dumars count on Hammonds expertise to keep Detroit at the top of the Eastern Conference. And if Hammond was the talent behind the curtain than why has Dumars not gotten another sharp guy to take his place? You can’t tell New York Vinnie that John Hammond was Frickin irreplacable!

Now there is nothing wrong with relying on talent from the people under you. There are a lot of very successful people out there that their best management quality is to delegate! But you have to have the right people in the right spots to get the job done. So Joe if you need some help in the front office go out and get it and stop letting your fans down!