By Deven Khrucell aka Pimp Scwalla

From the beginning of his tenure as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons, Joe Dumars has been pretty hard to read when it comes to his prospective draft picks.  No matter how many names are thrown in the mix for potential selections, I never come close to what Dumars is thinking.   For example, in 2008 He made Walter Sharpe Detroit’s top pick when most people barely even knew who he was.  But after watching the 2009 NBA draft I might have a clue into the thinking process behind Dumars’s selections.

Since his first draft in 2000 when he decided to select Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves (passing on Hedo turkoglu and Michael redd), whenever Joe Dumars is in a bind and needs to reach into his bag of tricks, he usually comes out with a forward.  When I took a count of each player that Dumars selected since becoming the Piston’s president, I found that out of a total of 23 picks, 14 of them were fowards and of those 14 forwards selected, 9 of them were small forwards, which is equal to the total number of picks at the other three positions combined.  It’s apparent that Joe has a lot of love for the forwards—but why?

In an interview after selecting the Piston’s first round draft pick Austin Daye in the 2009 NBA draft, Joe Dumars told everyone that when drafting a player, he looks for someone that can play more than one position. But after taking a closer look at his draft track record, I think it’s a little more than that.  I think a certain body type and ability gets his attention as well.  For example, not only is Tayshaun Prince able to play more than just the small forward position, his long lean frame and level of athleticism makes him one of the most versatile players in the Pistons line-up with the ability to play four positions.  As a rookie, how nice was it to see Tayshaun at 6 ‘9′ slow down Allen Iverson in the 2003 playoffs and follow that performance up with locking up a very hot Tracey McGrady enabling Detroit to defeat Orlando.  His length also enabled him to disrupt an otherwise unstoppable Kobe Bryant in the 2004 NBA finals, which earned him the name “Kobe Stopper” by fans.  He was as important as any other Piston during their championship run in 2004.  Maybe that explains why Dumars, knowing how good Carmelo Anthony was at 6 ‘9′, couldn’t resist taking Darko Milicic who had the potential to play the same position at 7 feet tall.  Taking Darko with the third pick turned out to be Dumars’s worst decision to date–all other top five selections are, simply put, the franchise of their teams.  In retrospect I’m sure he would have taking Anthony instead.

Carmelo Anthony wasn’t Joe Dumars’s only missed opportunity.  In the 2001 draft that followed a season where the Pistons were just 32-50.  Dumars was very high on a freshman forward from UNC Charlotte by the name of Rodney White.  He saw enough in his game to pass up the likes of Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Tony parker and Gilbert Arenas.  This was at a time when Detroit had just lost superstar player Grant Hill and the best the Pistons had at point guard was a very limited, Chucky Atkins.  But disappointment didn’t stop Dumars from continuing to pursue his type of players.   In 2008 he took as he described it, a “long look” at UAB forward, Water Sharpe, who at the time, no one really even knew and then he drafted four more forwards the very next year in the 2009 NBA draft. 

This goes to show that Joe Dumars just likes what he likes.  He looks at players from a different perspective than other people do.  That’s why he’s able to strike gold with Tayshaun Prince when many others passed him by and also fail miserably with Darko Milicic when others were wondering…”what the hell!”  One thing’s for sure, when it goes good it really goes good and when it goes bad, he’s been able to weather the storm pretty nicely.

This is always a good read.

Check out our boy B. Packey over at Motown String Music.

One of my favorites parts of the website is his Morning Shootaround.

Its essentially a round up of all things Pistons.

Here are some major points to note from today’s Morning Shootaround:
It has been a busy couple days, full of rumors and trades.  Pistons Nation wonders if Joe Dumars should have considered the Celtics alleged offer a little more.  I didn’t like it when I first heard about it and I don’t really like it much more now, but Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! doesn’t know what the hell Joe Dumars was thinking rejecting the trade.

Life on Dumars writes a letter to Amir Johnson touching on Amir’s time with the Pistons and his future.  Personally, I don’t think Amir was used fairly during his stint with Detroit.  I think a fresh start will do him well.  That being said, if he was going to continue to get minimal minutes, he definitely was not worth the $3.6 million he was set to make this season.

Michael Rosenberg of The Free Press has a message for Joe Dumars: Spend now, Pistons! Don’t wait until next year.  Some people think Dumars is clearing all this cap space to wait for the esteemed 2010 free agent class.  Dumars has been on record as saying he intends to spend the Pistons’ cap space this off-season, and it makes complete sense.  The worst case scenario is the Pistons’ offers get turned down this off-season and have a ton of money to dangle in front of guys like Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and that other guy next off-season.   However, the chances of the Pistons winning a bidding war for one of those three are slim and it’d be a shame to get to that point and lose out on all these free agents.  I’m a big supporter of the “get better now” campaign.

Peace,

Pistonscast.com

*Check the link to read the rest of the Morning Shootaround.

By Deven Khrucell (aka Pimp Scwalla)

When the Detroit Pistons go on the clock June 25th, it’ll be anybody’s guess who Joe Dumars might draft at number 15 and even more of a mystery is what position. One thing’s for sure, with the current state of the Detroit Pistons, he had better choose carefully.

The Piston’s main concern right now is trying to pick up impact players from the free agent market or by trading for them. Most of the big name free agents are big men like; Bosh, Okur, Boozer, etc… Players like those won’t come cheap. In order to make this possible, there’s a good chance they will lose Rip Hamilton and/or Tayshaun Prince.

The draft pick that I see fitting best in this mix is Louisville Cardinal, Terrence Williams. Williams is a lock-down defender with plenty of explosiveness and is able to knock down three point shots when needed. I also like the fact that he is a four year guy who can guard both the two and the three.

 While Williams won’t quickly replace Rip or Tay, drafting a guy like Williams could help soften the blow of losing one or two of Detroit’s cornerstone players. His versatility makes it easy to slide him into either the shooting guard or the small forward position. He also gives the Pistons some leverage when decide which players are going to be here in the future.

 Many believe Rodney Stuckey is a better fit at shooting guard and the Piston’s should draft a point guard. That definitely makes sense, but let’s look at the whole picture. Drafting and working with another young point guard (at this point) will be too daunting and could be disastrous for an inexperienced Michael Curry. Besides that, we still don’t know for sure that Rodney’s late season woes were because of the position he plays or the fact that being a great NBA point guard can’t be achieved over night.

 Either way we look at it, in order for Detroit to get better, it’s going to cost them at the shooting guard or small forward position–leaving a big hole in the line-up. Why not fill in that hole with someone that can play both - it just makes sense.

What do you think?

Via Chicago Tribune
Are we finished with the Ben Gordon rumors yet?

Ben Gordon denied rumors that his agent already has a deal in place with Detroit on Wednesday.

“You can’t even negotiate until July 1, so that’s just rumors,” said Gordon. “I really don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“One thing I’ve learned for sure in the NBA is you don’t have a deal until something is signed,” Gordon said. “Come July 1, I’m excited to see what’s out there. I’m excited with the possibility of getting a long-term deal.”

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Ben Gordon’s agent is reportedly telling people that his client has a guarantee from the Pistons.

The agent claims that Detroit has promised Gordon $11 million annually, which makes sense considering that the guard rejected $10 million and $9 million from Chicago in the previous two years.

There have been rumors that the Pistons are looking to trade Richard Hamilton, which has only accelerated the speculation that they are targeting Gordon.

Via Bulls.com
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I SAY PISH POSH!!!!

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