WDFN 1130AM Joe Dumars Interview June 11 2007

Thanks scoe...you're dead-on on the importance of this interview. I haven't listened to it all the way thru. I've paused it early in to share my take. Killa's questions and Joe's responses about Flip & Sheed starting at around 4 minutes are the meat of the interview so far. My reading between the lines: Joe is admitting that Flip and Sheed don't get along and that Joe is forced into the role of peace-keeping. Is Joe gonna take a place on the bench next season to keep Sheed cool putting up with Flip's incompetence?

Flip & Sheed don't work, just like Flip & Ben didn't work. Somebody has to go.

Interesting. Looking for PG speed and a guy who wants to get the ball and stay in the post. Also looking for a guy who can create.

When Lebron scored on two straight dunks without anyone challenging. "Sick is not strong enough."

Joe. "I got a lot of stuff to address. A lot." "Play hard when you are on the floor or go find a mediocre team that will let you coast."

"I don't care what they are sayin'. But are they bringing it...you may sound good, but if you don't bring it here...on the court...I don't pay attention to what they are saying. I want to see what you bring when they toss the ball up at 7:30."

"You have to cut those minutes. You got to. You got to." Joe said it three or four times.

Joe didn't sound too happy about Tay playing this summer with Team USA.

So after listening to all of these interviews we are going to assume that Joe would even for one minute stand for "having his hands tied" with a coach he viewed as "incompetent".

Not me. Either he has bigger issues with the players, or he is not making his decision to can Flip public. I don't buy for one minute that Joe would settle for having his hands tied. Ever.

WXYZ has another interview with Don Shane on their site.

You could be right. I don't want to think that Joe would settle for not having all the tools to do his job though.

The thought makes me sick as much as the thought of Pistons giving up dunks and layups made Joe sick.

IMO it's personal vs politics. Joe wants to stay with the Pistons, but can't undermine BillD and stay here...hence, babble speak. Too bad Joe doesn't have the checkbook.

See previous post. I really hope that is not the case. It would be a pretty big blow to the teams chances under Joe. GM's need more freedom than that.

True.

This summer should be very telling to that end. Joe admitted to being "infuriated" with the product out there.

Now the question is what is he going to do about it. It can't be all about regular season minutes with him.

Infuriated but not taking action?
Bronze and Boobie did us in.
But scrubs like Ilguskas and Snow carried the day.
Dumars better be pissed.
Bools blew us out twice. That's rough enough.

Thanks for posting that stuff, roscoe. If I had to read between the lines (and it's tough with Joe), Flip is basically on a half-year to one-year leash. Unless we start seeing some serious minute decreases for the core group and for development of Amir, Max and Delfino, Flip will be leaving the organization at the All-Star break. The dropoff in points that bothered Dumars was something that bothered a lot of us. Where's Flip's offensive ingenuity? Basically, Dumars is saying this to Flip: Find a way to win or else! Listening to the interview does not make me feel any better about next season because Flip is still here and that means we'll continue to love the jump shot. I'm glad Joe D was pissed. He should have been. I think Flip is on Double Secret Rothstein Probation.

You mean flip will be the cause of the two Wallace leaving.........i do not think flip will be able to survive if the pistons do not at least get to the eastern conference finals next year. Rasheed needs to pull back, he cannot coach, referee and play in the game. Come on Rasheed, you can do it.

I'm hoping that Flip may be on Double Secret Rick Carlisle probation while the Pistons secretly interview the replacement.

That's excactly how I see it. Being a GM of a major sports franchise is not a job one can easily walk away from. Resigning over whether a coach should be replaced would be a costly decision. It would entail not only the loss of this GM job, but perhaps make it impossible to get a similar job with another franchise. Joe could also quite reasonably conclude that Bill D. is not going to be around forever, and that if he (Joe) sticks it out, he will have many years in the future to put his stamp on this team.