Le Basketbawl

If you can learn by losing then Detroit Pistons President Of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars should be just about as smart as Albert Einstein after the last two seasons. Wednesday the “Detroit Free Press” reported that Dumars had addressed the media about the last two seasons for the Pistons; a period that saw them go from being an elite team in the NBA to one that is now in “Lottery-Land.” Dumars said that the experience has only strengthened his convictions of what it takes to win in the NBA.

The Pistons were at a crossroads two years ago after losing to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. The nucleus of the team that had made Detroit a winner for about a decade was aging and the team decided that it was time to make some in-house changes. The Pistons fired head coach Flip Saunders who had winning seasons every year on the bench but what was not able to get the team an NBA Championship like his predecessor Larry Brown had. Dumars decided to fill the slot with rookie head coach Michael Curry and the ball started rolling down-hill from there.

Dumars tinkering had not stopped there as a few weeks into the season the Pistons Team President traded the heart and soul of the club and received a cancer in return. Detroit traded point guard Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson a move which would help take Denver to the Western Conference Finals. It was a move that put a hole in the side of the “S.S. Pistons” as the ship had to keep bailing water for the rest of the season.

The story gets better: At the end of the season after getting knocked out of the Playoffs in the first round Joey-D fires Curry and says he is going to bring in a veteran head coach. Instead he brings in another rookie in former Cleveland assistant John Kuester. Then he took the family cow and traded it for some magic beans; or pretty close anyways.

Needless to say the Pistons did not bring back Iverson who became a Free Agent after the 2009 NBA season. With his departure Detroit had room under the salary cap to fix the problems that the club had. But instead Joey-D signed two players in postitons where the Pistons were already set.

Dumars brought in former Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon while the team already had Richard Hamilton. And they signed former Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva while they basically had the same player on the roster in Jason Maxiell. And by the end of the season both those players were on the bench at the beginning of games as they were replaced by rookie Jonas Jerebko. To top things off reports out of Detroit a few weeks ago were that the team had started to sour on point guard Rodney Stuckey, the man whose skills made Billups expendable in the club’s thinking to begin with.

Dumars told the media that the last two seasons were definitely an education for him. He said “You just don’t learn from winning. You learn from losing as well. And what we’ve learned is that we’re more committed now than ever before to maintain our core values and not get away from that and not have the type of slippage that you saw this year. We had some slippage in terms of the toughness and grit that we’ve had for the last 10 years. We drifted some from what we were when we were successful.”

The Palace at Auburn Hills was a place that NBA teams dreaded to go to just a couple of years ago. That is not the case right now. Dumars was also asked about the two Free Agents he had brought in last summer. The Pistons President response was “I wish we could have gotten more from Ben and Charlie, but they were both fighting injuries and adjusting to a new situation. I really think both of them will be better this year.”

Detroit has the number seven pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and they play in the Eastern Conference which is a lot easier to turn a team around in than the West. We will see how much learning he has actually done over the coming weeks as well as next season. There is no doubt that Joey-D has his work cut out for him in Motown.

The “Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel” reported Saturday that Milwaukee Bucks General Manager John Hammond was named the NBA Executive Of The Year. Hammond helped the Bucks to a 46-36 record during the regular season and the team made the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2006. Milwaukee won 12 more games this season than last despite losing star Michael Redd for the season earlier this year. Hammond was not afraid to shake things up on the roster; enticing veteran Jerry Stackhouse out of retirement and then trading to acquire John Salmons from the Chicago Bulls.

Back in August of last season New York Vinnie asked How Much Of Dumars Success Was Due To John Hammond?   Hammond as you might remember was Joe Dumars right hand man during the glory days of the Detroit Pistons. Ever since Hammonds took over as General Manager of Milwaukee the Bucks fortunes have gone upwards while the Pistons have turned into an also ran in a weak NBA Eastern Conference.

One Detroit based fan site “Pistons Forum.com” thought the question was Frickin ridiculous. New York Vinnie is wondering how much they are laughing with Hammonds winning the honor and the Pistons finishing the season at 27-55 in the Lottery and 19 games behind Milwaukee in the standings?

Joe Dumars has taken the “Once Mighty And Powerful Detroit Pistons” and turned them into an embarrassment. As New York Vinnie told you last summer the acquisitions of Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon were Frickin stupid! Villanueva was taken out of the starting line-up for rookie Swedish guard Jonas Jerebko who was taken in the second round! Great move Joe!

Want to know the biggest lie that is said thousands of times each day all over this Great Nation of ours? “I Hate To Say I Told You So!” That is pure Frickin Crappolla! New York Vinnie “LOVES To Say I Told You So!” And so does everybody else! We love to be right! That is just part of being a human being; it validates our beliefs!

So Congratulations to John Hammond and the Milwaukee Bucks; and as for you Joe-D, New York Vinnie thinks you have your work cut out for you!

Just because you can be a good assistant coach does not automatically mean that you can be a good head coach. Some men were born to be Generals while others were only meant to be Majors. Every body has their own role; their own little niche if you catch New York Vinnie’s drift. As long as people stay in that role they are safe; but we are human beings; we have emotions and aspirations. So sometimes we try to stretch the boundaries and reach for the stars. Sometimes we see our dreams come true and other times we fall flat right on our Frickin faces.

It takes a lot of something extra to be a successful head coach in the NBA. Just because you know the game does not mean you will be a great head coach. You can diagram a play 13 Frickin ways until Sunday and that does not translate into being a good head coach. Subsequently you may not be able to draw up a Frickin play to save your Frickin life and still be very effective as a head coach.

Look at Larry Bird when he was coaching the Indiana Pacers; he delegated all the play calling to his assistants. Bird had Rick Carlisle, in charge of the offense, and Dick Harter, who coached the defense.

However there was no doubt about who ran that team.  It was Bird who set the tone Bird was the guy who dealt with the media and when it came right down to it was Bird’s behind that was on the line. In the 1999-2000 season his third as head coach he took the Pacers to  their only appearance in the NBA Finals which they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. And after the series was over he just walked away from coaching; been there done that. They don’t make too many that classy in Sports these days.

Back in July after months of speculation Detroit Pistons President Of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars fired rookie head coach Michael Curry with Dumars stating that he wanted to get a more experienced man being the head honcho during games.

The candidates were said to include Doug Collins and former Dallas Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson. The experienced man he ended up hiring was John Kuester a career assistant-coach. Dumars said he wanted to bring in a veteran; but a veteran is somebody who has done something before. The Pistons hired another rookie head coach.

Just like anybody else who is training on the job Kuester has made his share of mistakes; but the one he made on Friday night was a huge Frickin blunder. The Pistons had lost their third straight game  to  the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 109-98.

One of the few bright spots on the team this season has been the play of starting point guard Rodney Stuckey and the guard had a great game as he knocked down 31 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the loss. A reporter asked Kuester in the Post Game press conference according to the “Detroit Free Press.”  The Pistons bench boss replied “He scored points.”

A reporter then asked Kuester for any further thoughts on Stuckey. Kuester said “Rodney has had a wonderful start but we need him to lead. … He’s a very gifted offensive player, but we have to generate things with being shorthanded from everybody, not just Rodney. Everybody has to take ownership. Even if you don’t make the right play, your body language tells you whether you’re ready to react the way that we want you to and that’s all I’m asking.”

The statement you just read was the biggest problem with on the job training as an NBA coach. Kuester was frustrated; his team had just lost its third straight game. He has probably made similar statements after lots of NBA games when he was an assistant. The difference though is in those he would say those things to other assistants; Friday night he said it to a bunch of reporters.

Kuester apparently got “Sissy-Slapped” after opening his mouth about Stuckey because he addressed the issue with reporters before the team played the Lakers on Sunday. Kuester this time could not say enough positives about his point guard; and he wanted to clarify he has nothing but the highest regard for his starter.

The Detroit head coach said “He has done so many wonderful things for our team this year. He has at times played at an All-Star level. “He has had to handle a lot on his plate with things having not gone this season the way we had hoped in certain situations, but Rodney Stuckey has done a wonderful job! And don’t lose sight of how important he is to this team.”

New York Vinnie is sure that you won’t forget as long as you are employed by the Pistons. You must have gotten quite a butt chewing to do that kind of about face in just two days John! As New York Vinnie wrote at the top just because you can be a good assistant coach does not automatically mean that you can be a good head coach.

Back in August New York Vinnie wrote an article asking How Much Of Dumars Success Was Due To John Hammond? New York Vinnie thought it was a question that needed to be raised after some of the unexplainable moves that Detroit Pistons Team President Joe Dumars had made over a period of a little over a year. As we entered the Summer of 2008 the Pistons had come off their second straight loss in the Eastern Conference Finals. The previous year they had fallen to the Cleveland Cavaliers and in 2008 the Boston Celtics sent the Boys From Motown home for the summer on their way to winning the NBA Title.

The Pistons had been one of the elite teams in the NBA for most of the decade; however they were getting a little long in the tooth and needed to make some changes. However something was changing on the management side of the ledger with Detroit at that point.

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. This summer when the original article was written Milwaukee was coming off a lack luster season however New York Vinnie could see the team was heading in the right direction.

Meanwhile in Detroit their fortunes were heading the other way. Dumars made the still Frickin unexplainable trade that sent Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Of course that turned out to be a Frickin disaster for the Pistons as Iverson helped the team spiral downward finishing below .500 and grabbing the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The Pistons to no one’s great surprise were swept and were sent home for the summer.

Now Dumars had some money to spend for Free Agents this past 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.

New York Vinnie did not think that the moves would help the Pistons get back to elite status this year so I asked how much did Hammond’s input have in Joe Dumars final decision making. One Detroit based fan site “Pistons Forum.com” thought the question was Frickin ridiculous. New York Vinnie is wondering how much they are laughing on November 23? Most Likely not as much.

If you take a look at the NBA Central Division standings you will notice that John Hammond’s Milwaukee Bucks are in second place in the division with a record of 8-3 just a half game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers. And their best player Michael Redd has not even played a minute this season. Oh; and the “Once Mighty And Powerful Detroit Pistons” they are in “LAST PLACE” in the NBA Central Division with a record of 5-9.

Now is New York Vinnie going to write that I predicted this fabulous turn around for the Bucks and that I knew Brandon Jennings was going to score 55 Frickin points in a game? Of course not, New York Vinnie would be out and out lying if I did that.

New York Vinnie also realizes that it is very early in the NBA season and Milwaukee could very easily fall back to earth and the Pistons could turn it around. New York Vinnie has seen nothing that would indicate to me that Detroit will turn things around but that is still possible. However New York Vinnie is wondering if my fans over at Pistons Forum.com will have the Stones to reprint this article like they did the first?

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!

New York Vinnie is starting to have some serious doubts about Detroit Pistons Team President Joe Dumars. Basically it comes down to one of two theories. Either the Pistons have this other guy in Dumar’s position who looks and sounds like their former shooting guard but does not know squat about the NBA. Or the other thing that makes sense is Dumars suffered a terrible injury and his brain just does not work as well as it used to! Because if neither of those things are true why has Dumars been pulling off all these Frickin Bone Head moves for the last year?

The “Associated Press” has reported that the Pistons have signed former Pistons center Ben Wallace for the upcoming season. Wallace was traded earlier this summer with Sasha Pavlovic from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Phoenix Suns in the deal that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Cleveland. The Suns then bought Wallace out of the last year of his contract and released him.

New York Vinnie wonders if Joe Dumars could have possibly watched the Eastern Conference Finals? If he did he surely saw that Wallace looked like a Frickin old man when he was on the court. The veteran was talking about hanging it up after the Playoffs why does Dumars think he can be of any Frickin help to his team in the upcoming season?

New York Vinnie has always held Joe Dumars in very high respect as he has kept his team among the top teams in the Eastern Conference this whole decade. However he started making questionable moves last summer signing the Frickin No Talent Pud Kwame Brown to a contract. Then he made the Frickin trade for Iverson and the team fell apart.

Dumars signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to free agent deals last month. Gordon especially does not seem like a good signing unless Dumars plans on trading Richard Hamilton. Hamilton does become a free agent next summer so that could be the Team President’s plan. Wallace is not going to cost them a lot just the veteran minimum. But what kind of a Frickin message does it send to the fans of the Pistons? Remember how good we used to be?

So Joey D. good luck in Motown (if it is really you and not a double!) However New York Vinnie believes your team will be lucky this upcoming season just to make the Playoffs!

This has not been a great period for the city of Detroit over the past year. Their Mayor Kwame  Kilpatrick had to resign because of scandal. The lifeblood of Motown the “Big Three Automakers” are seeing their industry a shadow of what it was less than five years ago. And to top things off the Detroit Pistons an NBA team that was considered one of the elite teams in the league have hit the skids.  The Pistons who were a major factor in the East up through the 2007-2008 season took a nose dive in the season that just ended.

President Of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars looked like he was gonna be able to turn things around though a week ago. After months of speculation Detroit fired rookie head coach Michael Curry with Dumars stating that he wanted to get a more experienced man being the head honcho during games. He also had $20 million that he could entice free agents to his team filling holes that desperately needed filling.

Well Detroit last week settled on the two players they wanted to bring in with the Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon and Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva each geting long term deals. Now to New York Vinnie those deals do not look to be all that great for the Pistons. Gordon came alive this past season as a two-guard when he was paired with Derrick Rose. He will not start on Detroit as the Pistons have Richard Hamilton as their starting shooting guard.

Charlie Villanueva is a hard nosed gutty player who has gone past what was expected of him and has turned into a very good NBA player. But the Pistons needed a center not a power forward they already had Jason Maxiell chomping at the bit to be a starter. So once again in New York Vinnie’s eyeballs not too great a way to spend the cash.

Now according to ESPN.com Detroit has made up their mind on who they want as the man to lead them into the battle next season. The names that were mentioned were former head coaches Avery Johnson and Doug Collins who are both good guys and have experience. The man whom it appears that they are taking is John Kuester; yes that John Kuester! A man whose name causes opponents to shudder thing about matching up against him.

Now nothing against Kuester but he is a career assistant-coach. Dumars said he wanted to bring in a veteran. Joey a veteran is somebody who has done something before! You are bringing in another Rookie My Man. You can’t spit on New York Vinnie’s head and tell him it’s raining!

Now maybe Kuester will be a good fit for the Detroit Pistons. But he is what he is a career assistant. Joe Dumars is guy chiefly responsible for Detroit being the great team they have been up until last year. But it seems like he has stepped into quicksand and the harder he tries to get out deeper he sinks.