This firing is making everyone stink. Everyone is coming out of the woodwork to place blame for last season. I'm starting to wonder if "Pistons DNA" was all a gimmick. Did any of these guys ever have it?
That whole story of the players revolting the day before he was fired was a little over the top. With that said, we really don't fire coaches that much more than other teams. Seems like plenty of teams have new coaches every year. I still do think Curry can be a decent coach someday. Keep in mind that he got the job from excelling as an assistant and the next step from there is in the drivers seat. He seems to relate well to younger players but had a hard time getting respect from the vets. Then again - who would that team respect? It all boils down to that he did not get the job done. On another team in a different situation he may have done well. DNA is about winning. If you win then you have your own identity. Lose or underachieve and they are not going to model anything from your team.
When will Joe D be held accountable? He hired Curry, he traded CB for AI. I personally had no problem w/ that without the benefit of hindsight. In short Joe is also culpable for the Pistons situation, but the scape goats are the HC. Will Joe fire himself next? I am not beating up on Joe, just don't think it's fair that every HC in recent past has gotten trashed/blamed i.e. RC was not good w/ the working staff, irritated his players sometimes LB was not a good man Flip had no control/respect Curry inexperienced, no control/respect At some point in time we have to look past the coaches. The previous gentlemen can't all be incompetent, seems like the players and Joe have a good deal of stake in this too.
"When will Joe D be held accountable? He hired Curry, he traded CB for AI. I personally had no problem w/ that without the benefit of hindsight. In short Joe is also culpable for the Pistons situation, but the scape goats are the HC. Will Joe fire himself next?" Anakin I don't get it. Did most of you guys really think we were going to win it all last season with Iverson on board? Cause personally, I never thought it was going to happen. Iverson in his younger days never won it, Iverson coached by better coaches never won it, he didn't get it done in the east or the west. We got an older version, not a wiser version. I've got a great looking 1994 GMC truck parked in my garage, no visible damage. It idles like a kitten purring. Put it on the freeway ramp and it starts belching smoke like an old coal burning locomotive going up a mountain side. That was the Iverson that played for us. I too expected us to be more competitive than we were. I expected the game to look like they were having some fun. Like those first few games with Chris Webber in a Pistons jersey when he was actually passing the ball (remember that week?). I expected Iverson to actually fulfill his contract since it was the ending year and he was facing one last deal in 2010. When he quit on the team, he screwed it. He never gave 100% let alone 110%. It wasn't Dumars that screwed the pooch, it was Iverson. I honestly don't believe he had it in him to give. Like Webber. He never got into a rythm cause he's broken. His petulance, his quitting was first about the frustration you feel when you suddenly realize you can't go 10 rounds with the young guy across the ring, second about protecting himself and his 2010 deal making by feigning injury and limiting his market exposure. It should be noted that neither had we gotten it done in the last couple years with Billups. That's how we got Iversons contract. While Billups looked refreshed and helped guide the Nuggets to the Western Finals, C-note vanished, disappeared (poof gone!), in the last two games against LA. He failed to get it done too. That's perspective. It is what it is. So I don't get the amount of venom directed at a guy in over his head, (Curry) as if he personally crapped a Championship run down the commode. When Iverson went sideways so did our guys. Cause and effect. We lost the same composure we'd lost in the last couple seasons before Iverson, but instead of a little leak we bled like stuck pigs. Same with Dumars, he knew we weren't going to win it this year, he was attempting to keep "cheeks in the seats" and to provide some spark until he could cash in the big chip. He didn't anticipate that his locker room wouldn't, couldn't keep Iverson in check or that they might actually mutiny with him. So yes we should've put on a better show. Yes we should've gotten past the first round on paper cause with a better record we wouldn't been forced to face Cleveland so early. But none of that changes the fact that Iverson was brought here to leave here not live here. Which by the way Dumars said repeatedly. So it seems the only folks that actually thought it had the potential to be the 2008/2009 Championship team are residing in this forum. Just for grins, supposing Cleveland & Orlando had major blowouts and we had faced LA in the Championship, anyone in here really think we would have beat them? Really? And if Kobe had suddenly come down with an intense case of the Swine Flu, and we won it all, would you be hollering now to extend Iversons contract? Cause if Dumars then refused to give the guy say 15-18 a year ya'll would be kickin dirt on his grave claiming he robbed us of our legacy.. What I think this season teaches Dumars? Trade them sooner. Don't try to build a 6-8 year dynasty cause the dynamics are just too hard to control. You can influence them, but you can't harness them. A solid 4 or 5 year run, then move 40% down the road to freshen the brains, blood and legs. Don't get caught putting on a song & dance show with geriatric players. Don't let father time, loyalty and long contracts catch you sleeping. Of course that would keep 50% of this forum frothing and spitting that we just got rid of future hof'ers, but that's the way sausage is really made..
During our two great years with LB forum members were spitting and frothing too G-Man. LB didn't play Darko, LB had a bad personality, LB was temperamental and moody etc. etc. The expectations for a Pistons coach include a winning personality, politeness towards secretarial staff, a "win-now" philosophy combined with an ability to develop young players and give them a lot of playing time and a committment to staying in Detroit and not looking for other jobs. It can't be a surprise when an inept "over-his-head" coach get raked over the coals too.
To be honest, I don't like the players or the coaches. I just like the game. I like the game for completely different reasons now.
Our coaches overplayed the best starting 5 in basketball after the Championship and didn't trust the bench to give them rest or contribute. We gave players away after they disappointed us instead of showcasing them and getting value in the trades. Development is a big part of the game and could have been the difference between knocking on the door in '05 and '06 and a 3-peat. The infamous Tay guarding Duncan is a cliche at this point, but it is still a perfect example of the corner that we painted ourselves into.
I think that's why I don't watch basketball any more. I really don't care much for the game itself. But I was really into the players way back when. So now, I don't care much for them, and therefore nothing motivates me to turn on the game. Get a few players and a coach I can root for, and I'll be rooting my butt off again.
I am personally finding the actual NBA game more and more annoying as it morphs toward Stern's ideal. The foul situation stresses me out even if I'm watching the Clippers play the Bobcats on a Tuesday night.
in Non-piston ville, the most fun i've had watching basketball in the last few years has been the Hornets playoff run a year ago, Golden State upsetting the mavericks in 2007, and almost any pre-steve kerr phoenix suns team
IMO, more so than the other major sports, Basketball is an artform. A Jamaal Wilkes jumper is art. ...a Gervin finger roll. ...Kareem's skyhook. ...Blalock's three. I enjoy watching our Pistons. I don't root for the players. I don't root for the coach(s). I root for the uniform and the city of Detroit.
Gotta bad feeling about this one...Look for Joe to hire somebody that most of us won't be happy with. Still don't think Bill is coming aboard.
