Sep

22

Dumars Will Go Into Season With The Same Nucleus; Is That Good Enough?

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Free Agents, NBA PLAYOFFS, NBA Trades 

I have always had a great deal of respect for Detroit Pistons Team President Joe Dumars. During his playing days, with the Pistons which took place in the the “Bad Boys“era he was one of the few players on that team that actually epitomized class. Dumars along with Vinnie (the microwave) Johnson, and for a short period of time Adrian Dantley, allowed Laimbeer, Mahorn, and Rodman to be the bad guys, while they took the high road.

Since going into the front office for the Pistons, Dumars has built the team from the Motor City into a powerhouse. This decade Detroit has consistently been one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference. They played in two NBA Finals, going 1-1 in the process.

They have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals the last three seasons, and were beaten by three different teams. The Miami Heat en route to winning a Championship, did it in 2006. The Cleveland Cavaliers after years of trying finally beat Detroit in 2007, only to be swept by the Spurs in the Finals. Boston defeated Detroit this past season, and won their first NBA Title since 1986 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dumars spoke to the media in June, and said there would be big changes for Detroit in the off-season. He proclaimed that the only player off limits was rookie Rodney Stuckey. The rest of the team could be had, for the right price (players in exchange.) The only player that the Pistons have acquired since July 1, is journeyman center Kwame Brown.

In a column I wrote last week on our sister site  Le Basketbawl I wrote an article entitled Detroit Being Left Behind As Rest Of East Improves. In that piece I discussed what other teams in the Eastern Confernce had done during this off-season.

We started out with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers who gave Detroit all they could handle in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, are now a much better team than they were at the end of last season. Philadelphia shocked the planet, when they stole forward Elton Brand in broad daylight away from the Los Angeles Clippers. Brand, if healthy and all indications are that he is will be a difference maker in the East.

The team also signed their own two restricted free agents Andre Iguodala, and Louis Williams.The Sixers have also strengthened their bench with the additions of guards Royal Ivey and Kareem Rush, and veteran big men Donyell Marshall, and Theo Ratliff.

Marshall’s former team the Cleveland Cavaliers, have also gotten a big boost in the off-season, by improving an area of need, their back court. Cleveland now has their strongest back court in the LeBron James era. Last month they traded for Mo Williams from the Milwaukee Bucks, and Friday they signed their own restricted free agent Delonte West.

Last month they locked up LBJ protege guard Daniel Gibson to a long term deal. Earlier this month they signed former Memphis Grizzlies guard Tarence Kinsey to contract as well as rookie Darnell Jackson who was a member of NCAA Champion Kansas last season. My sources out of Cleveland tell me that Anderson Varejao is being shopped, which means they would need another young power forward. With arguably the Association’s best player in James, the only question marks are veteran big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace.

The Toronto Raptors who are fully committed to Jose Calderon as their starting point guard traded T.J. Ford to the Indiana Pacers for Jermaine O’Neal. O’Neal will greatly improve with the change of scenery, as well as playing with Chris Bosh.

The Miami Heat picked up two strong young players in the draft in Michael Beasley, and Mario Chalmers. And more importantly D-Wade looks to be fully recovered from his injuries. Look for major improvement from their lost season last campaign.

The Associated Press reported late last week, that Dumars has had a change of heart, and will leave his team with the same make up  they had at the end of 2007. Dumars told reporters that he was not getting the value in return for his current players to warrant a change. Dumars told reporters “We talked to teams this summer, but nothing was presented to me that would make us better than we already are. This can be one of the elite teams in the league that contends for a championship.”

A definite possibility Joe, but let’s face facts. This team is getting old, and now they have a rookie head coach in Michael Curry. Although Saunders is a horrible post season coach, he does great during the regular season. What did they see in Curry that made him a hotter commodity than Saunders? Guess we will have to wait a bit longer to find out.

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