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After going 4 for 12 in the first three quarters Rip Hamilton brought out the cape and mask again, placing the Pistons on his back finishing the game with 21 points on 7 for 15 shooting, despite taking a shot in the mouth from Ron Artest. After the game Hamilton said, “I think it energized me. I am glad I got hit. Sometimes it takes a hit like that to focus and get you going.” Confetti flew from the sky as the Detroit Pistons fans repeatedly screamed “Beat LA“, bringing reminiscent thoughts of the original glory days as Joe Dumars accepted the Eastern Conference Championship Trophy, while in the back of his mind he was thinking I am nowhere near finished. Through all Dumars had accomplished at an early stage of his NBA Executive lifespan, he still continues to look at the franchise he is building as a work in progress. Dumars talked to reporters after the game speaking in terms of being happy where they are, but not being satisfied. Dumars stated “we all felt the urgency and expectation to move to the next round. Now I am hoping we can be relaxed.” Dumars plans on placing his name within the top of the list as not just one of the great African American or black executives, but he is placing his name up there with Jerry West, Red Auerbach, Carmen Policy, Pierre Lacroix, Ken Holland, and Brian Cashmen amongst others as one of the top executives in sports of all time. Dumars is on his way to building a dynasty just the way the greatest executives of sports have done in the past. The biggest similarity Dumars has with the all time great executives is the advancement of his team to the NBA Finals, while yet still building his team. West had luck grabbing Magic Johnson in the draft, while beginning to build a dynasty. Auerbach had Bill Russell and Larry Bird, while Policy had Jerry Rice as his lucky grab of an eventual superstar on a very good team to become great. Well Joe Dumars is hoping his luck came in last year’s draft with Darko Milicic. Milicic is not currently in the Pistons
rotation, but Dumars has placed together a very good team that
is on its way to the NBA Finals The Pistons have shown a lack of creativity over their last three-post season runs, which has lead to off-season moves every year. The most change has come on the perimeter, where Dumars has consistently stated “You must have good guard play to go far in the playoff.“ Every off season under the administration of Dumars the Pistons have made an upgrade within the Pistons backcourt to bring consistency and creativity. After the 2001-2002 post season where Jerry Stackhouse and Chucky Atkins showed great inconsistency, Dumars spent his off season maneuvering around an entirely new starting back court. After that season Dumars was asked what player was he thinking about drafting, and he replied, “I am looking for guys who can create there own shot.“ He brought Chauncey Billups in the first day of free agency and traded Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton. The guy he drafted was Tayshaun Prince. After many scoring droughts and lack of defensive pressure from the bench during the 2002-2003 post season Dumars was not yet satisfied with his backcourt. After the 2003 season Dumars went with youth and began transforming his perimeter players from the bench, ending the 2003-2004 season with an entirely new backcourt coming off of the bench. Atkins, who was moved to the bench after the 2002 season and Jon Barry has been replaced with Lindsay Hunter and Mike James. Hunter and James are notoriously known through the NBA for their aggressive defense, and have been nicknamed “the Pit bulls” by teammates Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace. Hunter and James defense has been great in the playoffs, but both have been very erratic shooting the basketball. There is word going through the Palace that Billups fits that role better coming off of the bench as a combo guard, who has the ability to score. If you look at the trend of Dumars it also tells you that Joe Dumars does not stand for inconsistency or experimenting very long. Dumars gave Stackhouse two years to prove he could be the man to lead this team, and after Stackhouse showed inconsistency he was traded. Dumars also gave similar opportunities to players to prove they could hold a future role on a Pistons championship caliber team as if Atkins, Mateen Cleeves, and Rodney White. If you go by previous actions, it says the ball is now in the hands of Billups and Mehmet Okur for the rest of this post season to make a statement. Despite the draft selection of Darko Milicic with the second overall selection in the 2003 draft, Billups has been Coach Larry Brown’s project this entire season. Coach Brown has battled with Billups, and tried in every way to get Billups to understand when to pass and when to shoot. Okur has been another one of Coach Brown and Coach Mike Woodson’s teacher’s pets, but Okur has had problems in other areas. Okur has shown a lack of toughness and inconsistency on the defensive end of the floor, while he has yet to show the heart to go at defenders in the paint on the offensive end. Billups has admittedly said it has been tough for him. Billups is a natural shooter with the ability to get in the lane to score, and occasionally make the pass. Hamilton said, “There’s always going to be some resistance when you are asking someone to change.” Billups sometime looks like a 32-year-old man trying to relearn how to walk after a stroke, as he tries to reconstruct his game for the team. The next challenge this off season for Joe Dumars will be how, when, and where does he find a distributor, who can step right in with the ability to score, but thinks pass first and shoot second? The greatest point guard to ever play the game with that mentality was Isiah Thomas. Thomas led the original Bad Boys to the glory days. You will be hard pressed to find a guy with that type of ability these days in basketball. At an early age Thomas went through Coach Bobby Knight, Will Robinson, and Coach Chuck Daly before realizing his skills to make his team better. The greatest players in today’s game who may come close to that role is Allen Iverson, Jason Terry, Nick Van Exel, Steve Francis, Tony Parker, Jamal Crawford, and Stephon Marbury. Jay Williams was also that type of point guard before injury. The only healthy player out of the fore-mentioned players that shows a true knack to pass the ball first, yet still be a scorer is Marbury, but Marbury was clamored up in a trade by Thomas himself, now the New York Knicks President. The other option for the Pistons is to work a trade for a prospect within the draft, but once again you have to remember with the NBA draft you are looking from a prospective point of view. Coincidentally the guy that would fit this mode in the draft would be Marbury’s cousin, Sebastian Telfair. Telfair, a 6 foot, 170 pound point guard out of Brooklyn, New York, is arguably the best player in his class. The biggest knock on Telfair is his size, but size didn’t stop Thomas from grabbing two titles amongst many other acclaimed awards. Telfair would possibly give the Pistons the future power of the Eastern Conference with Rip Hamilton stepping up as a star within this year’s Eastern Conference Championship series and Darko Milicic in the wings. The combination of Telfair, Hamilton, and Billups in the backcourt may give Dumars similar visions of the backcourt he once played in with Thomas, Vinnie Johnson, and himself. Telfair is fast with great court vision, excellent passing skills, the ability to get his own shot, and reminds many more of Thomas than Marbury. Telfair would probably be the perfect fit for the scheme Joe Dumars and the Detroit Pistons have constructed for their franchise. Although Telfair maybe the truth, he is still a prospect, and it may take him a second to become a NBA starter. The only other option for the Pistons is Joe Dumars tearing down half the team he built, and going after either Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant this off season. Joe Dumars has said in the past “there is only a hand full of guys I would do that for.” I am pretty sure McGrady and Bryant are two of players within that hand full, but yet I still do not see Dumars trading away the commodities and the plan he placed all the work into as if Darko Milicic, Ben Wallace, and Hamilton. When Portland tried to pry Hamilton and Billups out of Dumars this past season, he did not jump, and I do not know that he would jump for anyone other than Shaquille O’neal or a reincarnated back court of Thomas, Johnson, and himself. Click
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