OT: 5 Pistons potentially protesting Kuester

Submitted by aMAIZEN slot ninja on

Well if things couldnt get any worst for the Pistons things might just have. Apparently McGrady, Prince, Hamilton, Wilcox, and Wallace all missed practice today which the souces say because of a "player protest". The report says Prince and McGrady were home sick and Wallace is dealing with personal issues. However, Hamilton and Wilcox are unexplained. Also, Daye and Stuckey arrived late.

What a disaster Joe Dumars has done.

http://detnews.com/article/20110225/SPORTS0102/102250409/Pistons-protes…

jmblue

February 25th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^

This has gotten to a point where I'm kind of enjoying the soap opera.  Mediocre and dysfunctional is more interesting than mediocre and harmonious.

swdude12

February 25th, 2011 at 2:26 PM ^

Joe D has brought in worthless coaches and got rid of 2 good ones...Brown and Carlise.  His drafts are horrible and his signings are very questionable. How hasnt he been fired? This is to the point of ridiculous.

MI Expat NY

February 25th, 2011 at 2:55 PM ^

I don't really blaim him for either Brown or Carlisle.  He felt like Brown was the right guy to win a championship and got rid of Carlisle, and it worked.  Then Brown, in typical nomadic fashion was looking for the next gig before leaving the one he was at.  

translator82

February 25th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^

William Davidson had a big say in the firings of Brown and Carlisle and I'm pretty sure Joe Dumars had to go along with it. I remember reading that Carlisle had gotten into some heated arguments with longtime Palace staff and it turned Davidson off.

As for Larry Brown, I remember watching a TV interview with Davidson where he basically said he was pissed off at the way Brown handled the entire rumors that he was going to Cleveland and/or New York during that postseason. Bill Davidson was an owner who demanded loyalty and with Brown not quashing those rumors, he had enough with him.

jtmc33

February 25th, 2011 at 2:29 PM ^

It was a fun ride in the early to mid-2000s.

Time to blow it up and start from scratch.  Dumars should have made the Prince to Dallas and Rip to wherever deals go through even if it meant not getting the better end of the trade and/or dropping some extra cash.

Now the chaos will start to effect free agents wanting to come to Detroit, another possible coaching change, losing young players who will jump at leaving at first chance.

Nothing was done to show players and fans that change was coming.  Same old sub.500 team as it has been for 4 years now

jmblue

February 25th, 2011 at 2:34 PM ^

In Dumars's defense, he may have been under orders not to increase payroll and/or future payroll commitments before the sale of the franchise went through.  No one wants Hamilton right now, so trading him may have meant eating his contract.  

Michigan4Life

February 25th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^

as well as Tayshaun Prince and multiple of players with expiring contracts to free up cap space.  I would bring Jerekbo back because of his energy and hustle that he brings to the table.  Might as well get some cap space because of Gordon's and Villaneuva's big contracts.  The Pistons must hope that they can get #2 overall pick where they can get Kyrie Irving to be the PG of the future to grow with along with Monroe.

 

Greg Monroe is the future of the Pistons and he's improving as the season progresses. He's a good rebounder, efficient scorer and has great vision on where/when to pass the ball.

lunchboxthegoat

February 25th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^

What's funny is the more and more I watch/read about/hear about this team the more I can't find a reason to bring back any player not named Jerebko or Daye.

 

This would do this team well:

 

yoopergoblue

February 25th, 2011 at 3:38 PM ^

Dumars really screwed up when he traded Billups away a few years ago for AI.  Billups was the glue that held that team together and after he left we went downhill fast.  Billups has been on record saying that he loved Detroit and wanted to retire as a Piston.

Mitch Cumstein

February 25th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^

While I realize this is in no way feasible given the players' rights and roster restrictions in the NBA, I'd like to see the Pistons pull a Norman Dale and cut all the players involved and field a 6-7 man roster or whatever for the rest of the season.  Fuck them.  Let them try to find another team.

jmblue

February 25th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^

I've long thought that guaranteed contracts are bad for pro sports.  They reduce a player's incentive to perform to his best (since it doesn't matter; he's getting paid either way), and make it difficult for both the player and team to part company if things don't work out.  I have no objection to players making huge salaries if the team is fine with it, but I hate it when it leads to situations like Hamilton's, where both he and the Pistons want him gone but his contract keeps him there.  If it were up to me, I'd only guarantee the first $1 million of a player's salary (which is still a ton of money, in the big picture) and have the rest be at the team's discretion.  As compensation, I'd increase the players' pensions.

Zone Left

February 25th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^

I hear you, but both sides agree to the huge deals.

If the league really wanted to fix its finances, it could really push for the NFL route--contracts stipulate what is and isn't guaranteed. However. I dislike that the NFL can cancel a contract anytime, but the players can't. Labor is a two-way street, and the NFL has the luxury of locking its players in, but doesn't have to keep paying them if they don't want to do so. Seems unequitable to me.

jmblue

February 25th, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^

That's why I'm fine with a portion of the contracts being guaranteed.  I just don't like it when an entire deal is guaranteed, to the point that neither the player nor the team can part company if they want (short of the player retiring).  Maybe contracts shouldn't be longer than, say, four years, so players don't end up signing deals that they come to regret.  

I don't have a problem with NFL teams being able to cut guys.  Hey, that's how it works in most professions.  Players can walk away from their contracts, too.  (They can't sign with another team if they're under contract, but they can quit working in the NFL.)  My main knock on the NFL is that they need to be more generous with their pensions and health coverage for former players.  The eligibility and age limits for pensions should be loosened.   

   

Zone Left

February 25th, 2011 at 5:29 PM ^

"Players can walk away from their contracts, too.  (They can't sign with another team if they're under contract, but they can quit working in the NFL.) "

Yeah, but when the team cuts a player, they can fill the roster spot with someone else. Again, it's a two-way street. I think the NFL should be able to cut players, but the team agreed to the same (hypothetical) five year deal as the player. Why shouldn't the player have the same option the team does?

ixcuincle

February 25th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^

Man the players hate that guy. I remember when Tayshaun got into a tiff with him earlier this season.

Pistons have fallen so far after Chauncey got traded.

orillia

February 25th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^

and the local sports talk radio show was talking about the NBA trades that have recently occurred.  They talked a fair bit about the Detroit Pistons, saying that Dumars is extremely frustrated as the ownership change and previous owner (I have no idea- as I do not follow the Pistons) prevented him and the team from making any moves.  Detroit was apparently extremely active in trade talks but could not follow through on any of them.  That is a view from another GM in the league.

detrocks

February 25th, 2011 at 3:41 PM ^

The Pistons have become increasingly unlikable since Billups left.   He was the leader of that team and with him gone both Prince and Hamilton have become the prototypical spoiled NBA stars even though neither of them are that good anymore-- especially given the size of their contracts.    I won't be sad when Prince goes and I wish that they would buy out the last two years of Hamilton's contract.  

As for the other three guys who were involved in this "strike"-- they should all be happy they have a job in the NBA.   Wilcox is terrible and has underachieved everywhere he went, the Pistons were the only team to give McGrady a chance given the way he went out in Houston and NY and Wallace was pretty much done after what he did in Chicago and Cleveland.  The fact that such second-rate players can make this type of statement is one of the reasons why the NBA sucks.

Don

February 25th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^

For me, it ranks equally with RR's hire of Greg Robinson in the "WTF?" dept.

It just shows that expertise in a sport doesn't automatically equate to sound judgement in personnel decisions.

BRCE

February 25th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^

You can't ride on the past forever. One title does not make you a Supreme Court Justice.

It's more than a few bad moves. This is three straight horrendous coaching hires, the Chauncey/AI trade, the Rip Hamilton contract extension, blowing good cap money on two guys who currently can't even start for the team, endorsing the idea that Rodney Stuckey is a point guard, and whiffing on literally dozens of rumored trades involving Rip and/or Tayshaun.

It would take an abomination for Joe to blow up the good will he built up, but his last few years of dealing absolutely qualifies. And the shills excusing it based on the ownership change don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

Tater

February 25th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^

Dumars is taking a lot of shit for nonexistent "bad moves."  The same people who bitch about him "breaking up the core of a championship team too early" turn around and bitch about him "keeping players past their prime."

Joe's worst move was Darko.  The other moves didn't make much of a difference.  It was obvious that his core wasn't going to win another NBA Championship.  Because he had done so well on trades to get the one he got as a GM, nobody wanted to make him any bona fide trade offers for fear of getting the worst of the trade.

To make matters worse, Detroit is probably one of the last three or four cities where a FA would choose to spend the next five years of his and his family's lives.  So, critics, what would you do?  How are you going to build a championship team when you can't trade for one and can't attract any decent FA's?  

I know what I would do.  I would pay a mediocre career assistant a head coach's salary to be the fall guy, knowing that he is at least getting well-paid for the misery he will endure.  Then, I would put together a team with a lot of youth and/or disposable contracts that will finish bad enough to get me a decent draft pick.  Then, I would hope that the positive buzz around the draft pick would enable me to get a few decent FA's and a competent coach.  

Sorta like what may be happening right now.....

M-Wolverine

February 25th, 2011 at 9:44 PM ^

Who are all these disposable contracts? They have Prince, and a bunch of guys with contracts no one else would touch. And they're not setting themselves up for a high draft pick. Joe's insistence on being "competitive" has them just outside the playoffs rather than the tear down needed to get the top picks you suggest. Last year they went on a mini-winning streak praised by Joe right at the end of the season that effectively cost them a Top 3 pick since the teams right in from of them jumped up. He's not creating a team that can get the next superstar, but a team that is the 80's Bucks, never great, never the worst.
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<br>And what is all this great youth he's put on the team? Monroe will be pretty good, but no star. Then there's....? Jonas? Who hasn't played all season? Daye hardly instills me with confidence either.
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<br>It wasn't breaking up the team that was bad. It was doing it to clear cap space, and then rather than use it to get a name free agent you say he can't get, he just blows it on two untradeable contracts for bench players. He'd have been better off bankrolling the money, sucking, getting Wall or someone later, and saving it for when he could/needed to attract free agents.
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<br>Though I'm not really sure why people won't trade with Joe anymore...he hasn't made a substantially good move since signing McDyess after the Championship...and that was a long ago.
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<br>And you can't really discount how Darko not only put a scarlet "D" on the franchise, but ruined the chances for more titles then and now. He had his chance to get that franchise high pick, and he crapped the bed. Carmelo might not be so anxious to go to New York if he had win some titles already.

BRCE

February 25th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^

Horrid post.

You make it out like Detroit is basketball destitute, which doesn't explain how the built teams that went to the ECF 11 times in 21 years (1987-2008). Free agents are a vastly overrated element to winning in the NBA. Before LeBron bolted last summer, there hadn't been a FA signing that changed the landscape of the league since Shaq left Orlando for LA in '96.



You say his core had no shot to win a title, so why the hell did he sign Rip to such a lucrative extension? Similarly, spending all your cap money on Gordon and CV made no sense if he didn't think he could compete.

He should have blown this thing up years ago and gotten a few real high draft picks. If the season ended today, the Pistons would probably pick #7 again. And even though I like him, you aren't getting back to the top with a bunch of guys of Greg Monroe's caliber.

ijohnb

February 25th, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^

one direct culprit in the mess that is the Pistons right now.  Blame the housing market and General Motors as much as you blame John Kuestor and Rodney Stuckey.  Joe Dumars is to blame as much as Allen Iverson, Karen Davidson as much as Racheed Wallace.  But keep in mind, most dominating teams (and the Pistons were dominating save one Robert Horry 3 pointer) go through a really rough stretch in the NBA after the dust has settled.  6 games out of an 8 seed, it could be much worse.

The Pistons are addition by subtraction at this point.  You can peice together a good 6 man rotation at least bty removing some cancers.  I am one to believe that this whole thing will make sense if we hold on to Monroe, Day,  McGrady, and Gordon.  Give it a minute, I am not sure there isn't a method to the madness.

LSAClassOf2000

February 25th, 2011 at 8:38 PM ^

It's getting to a point where, before each practice and game,  I can hear the famous intro and then a voice...."Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our Pistons......"

Seriously, either Dumars or Kuester has very little time left, it seems. I wonder who goes first....maybe both under new management. 

wmu313

February 25th, 2011 at 10:07 PM ^

If it's true that players are pulling this BS, Dumars needs to step up and let it be known that that type of behavior is unacceptable. They pulled the same crap with Flip Saunders. Time to pull the plug and start over....Tayshaun and Rip should have been shipped out of town a long time ago. 

BRCE

February 25th, 2011 at 11:40 PM ^

Not that he cares because it's the Pistons, but I find it funny that this happened on the same day that big market whore, piece of shit Bill Simmons wrote a column stating that his beloved NBA didn't have a problem with players exercising too much power.