The Secret Is Out; Hammonds Not Dumars Was The Real Difference Maker In Motown!
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 will never start a fight, but he's not afraid to finish one.. Mess with New York Vinnie and he'll rip your nuts off and throw them down the sewer!
November 24th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
We probably won’t reprint it, because our news guy stopped posting news posts once the season started. It’s not conspiracy against a guy who refers to himself in the third person, promise!
That said, how much did John Hammond have to do with Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince being healthy, because the performance of Gordon and Villanueva has been (in my humble opinion) better than expected. The Pistons are playing without more than 1/3 of their payroll. And I’m one of the last guys to defend some of Dumars’ bone head moves, but trying to make the case for Hammond at this point is sort of working from a negative proof fallacy. Maybe the absence of Chauncey Billups has something to do with not making the ECF for a 7th straight year? Maybe John Hammond was the only thing keeping Dumars from trading Billups 3 years ago?
You’re welcome to join the debate and if you want me to remove your backlink, and not award a linkback for this post because you don’t like to be “reprinted”, I can accommodate that. I would have thought you would be happy for any attention you get.