Bill,
I apologize in advance, because this will be somewhat of a lengthy email. I obviously don't expect this to appear in the mailbag, but I was wondering if you could come up with a rebuttle of some sort. I love your mailbag, but you were way off on a comment about Joe Dumars.
Here's a couple of points I wanted to make from your comments last week:
- How can you say Dumars decided to tank this season after watching two games? Clearly, the move was about cap space to some extent, but it was also about giving the team a different look and potentially a better chance at a championship.
Iverson is past his prime, yeah, but he has more game than Chauncey, and therefore gives us a better chance to win. And sure, we've proven over the last 12 years that no team with Iverson could win a title. Nevermind that AI has never had a team like this. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knows what AI is capable of with a good team. With Tay, Rip, Rasheed, Stuckey, and Dice, he has a good team this time(yes, I'm assuming Dice is coming back).
And goodness, didn't people say the same about KG? Of course. Many people thought that a KG-led team couldn't win it all. Why? Because it had never happened before. Of all people, you should see that history doesn't provide a clear indicator of what's to come.
- LeBron James is not coming to Detroit. Everyone in Detroit realizes this. The only people thinking the trade was about LeBron is your peers: the media. If you think Dumars is going to sit around for a year and put all his cards on signing a big name free agent in 2010, then you don't know Dumars or the Pistons very well. The Pistons never overspend for a top free agent(Kwame Brown and Nazr don't count) and they always find players with the right attitude. Dumars will use his cap space this year to start to rebuild the team. And if rebuilding the franchise means dropping to the sixth seed of the NBA playoffs instead of the 2nd seed, I sure as hell bet every GM in the league wishes they could do that - Boston included.
- Dumars hasn't been perfect: the Darko pick. I know that is never going to go away, and it shouldn't. It's ugly. But Dumars always gets something out of his mistakes. In this case: Rodney Stuckey.
Hired Flip Saunders. This one I agree with you. I couldn't stand him. I wanted Mo Cheeks at the time. But who else was available? The thing I was upset about was Flip still being the coach last year.
- Some other strange quotes on your behalf:
Shoved Carlos Delfino down your throats:
Really?
Pushed out Larry Brown:
LB wanted out. Were you crying about your Celtics inferiority when LB was openly flirting with Cleveland? I wish the Pistons still had Larry, but you can see that guy is damaged goods.
And badly misjudged Mehmet Okur:
Again, really, Bill? Misjudged him when he stole him in the second round of the draft, or when he let him walk and opted to keep Rasheed Wallace, a superior player in every way imaginable? Losing Memo sucked, but who won the 2004 championship for the Pistons: Rasheed or Memo?
Last time I checked, free agents were fleeing Detroit (Allan Houston, Grant Hill, Ben Wallace) and not signing there.
So the last time you checked was 7 years ago? Ben was offered a max contract, Dumars wasn't around for Houston, and Hill left a couple of days after Dumars took over as GM. Those were all max guys that wanted more money than they were worth. Dumars spends Mr. D's money on the right people.
Chris Bosh Loves Toronto?
That's why he signed a contract with an early out, yup. Bosh sounds oh-so-sure about Toronto here:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...b-1f6f4f762804
Finally, what constitutes an elite GM? Outside of the Spurs, name one team that has been more successful than the Pistons since Dumars took over? Nearly every team has missed the playoffs at least once since Dumars has been in the ECF 6 times. Don't get me wrong, I wish that the Pistons had at least one more championship, but if he's a "Solid GM" I would love to see your definition of great GM. Even the all-mighty Lakers have missed the playoffs and been beat in the first round a couple of times.
I know your opinion of Detroit is low, but if it's that terrible of a place to play, how come every player's opinion of it that's played here is so high?
That's all I got for now. Thanks for reading.
PS - Overpaid Chauncey? What would you pay a top point guard in this league? He got Chauncey at a pretty big discount because no one else in the league could pay him what he's worth.
Come visit WTFDetroit.com if you have a second to see what the mindset is of normal Pistons' fans is like.
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