 |
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Of the many things Joe Dumars has been acknowledged to be skilled at during his seven-year run in the Pistons’ big chair, his ability to handle the media has gone largely unrecognized.
And when I say “handle,” that’s what I mean. Lots of GMs are cordial in their dealings with reporters, but cordial and effective are two different things. Dumars is largely cordial – though he is completely content to leave the spotlight to his coach and players – but thoroughly effective.
So he was again on Monday when he emphatically denied he was looking to shake up the roster (“We don’t have a fire sale going”) but subtly sent messages to those under his direction – coaches and players both – that everybody had better be on the same page next year, or else.
Here’s what I take from that:
“You could point to a lot of things that were going on and that’s my job to sit here and break it down and analyze it and internally pull no punches about what I’ve seen,” he said. “I think it’s counterproductive to come out here and be critical of things openly, but the things I saw and the things I wasn’t happy about, you best believe that internally it’s getting addressed in a very blunt and straightforward way.”
The popular sentiment coursing through Pistons Nation since their six-game ouster by Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals is that the mix needs to be altered, that the group that seemed so young and vibrant and full of promise in beating the Lakers three years ago and coming within a few minutes of a title repeat in San Antonio in 2005 is suddenly old and lifeless.
Dumars sees a middle ground: Four core players still at various stages of the prime of their careers and enough assets on hand to press them for playing time and soon – maybe as soon as next yea r – invite questions about a pecking order that might not include the four holdovers intact at the top of the list.
Dumars is positive that Jason Maxiell will have a broader role next season. He’s confident that Amir Johnson, given an honest opportunity, will force his way into the rotation. He believes there’s a good chance Alex Acker, who established himself as one of the top players in the tough Euroleague this season, can contribute. And he thinks there’s a good chance that the player who falls to him at No.15 in the draft could be capable of contributing right away.
That’s four fresh faces pressing for playing time – and it’s also possible the Pistons will find someone at 27 in a deep draft and add a significant player with the mid-level exception in free agency. Assuming that both Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess return to the Pistons next season – and those are pretty good bets right now – that inevitably means fewer minutes to go around for the four horsemen. Dumars sent that message not so subtly in his Monday address.
“You can change a sense of urgency,” he said. “If you’ve been playing 38 minutes a game here and you’re saying, ‘I can’t sustain that the whole season and through the playoffs,’ then don’t complain when we cut you to 30 minutes. You cut the minutes back and you say, ‘OK I want the intensity.’ We’re not going to keep you out there for 40 minutes a night.
“You just change the minutes around. If we went forward and say we’re gong to keep playing our core guys 40 minutes a night, you can’t do that. That doesn’t work. I can tell you firsthand you can’t put those guys out there 40 minutes every night and then grind through the playoffs. What you do is say OK we’re not going to ask you to do that. Don’t complain, though, when you play 30 minutes a night. I don’t want to hear it. This is the way it’s going to be. That’s how you address that.”
You can bet that it gnaws at Dumars that Cleveland is playing in the conference finals. It was one thing a year ago when a Miami team with two bona fide superstars beat the Pistons, but this year’s Cavs – with all due respect to the Herculean Game 5 of LeBron James – really had no business beating the Pistons.
And there’s no obvious answer this year. Last year you could point to Rasheed Wallace’s ankle sprain, the shadow of Ben Wallace’s unrest with Flip Saunders and the emotional fatigue Dumars felt his team suffered after spending most of the year as the hunted every night due to the 70-win pace they were on for much of the season.
But this year? The only thing you can really grab is the word Dumars kept coming back to in his Monday address – complacency. They didn’t have it at the start of the playoffs and they didn’t have it when they beat the Bulls – a team, one sensed, that the Pistons felt was capable of beating them if they didn’t put their best foot forward.
I don’t think the Pistons ever felt that way about Cleveland, and it bit them. When you get to that level of the playoffs, you’re going to be playing a confident team, no matter their circumstances. Once the Pistons gave the Cavs a reason to believe, they didn’t have the stuff to turn it back around on them.
Dumars let it be known Monday, in terms both overt and subtle, that those days are over.
“We’re at that stage right now where either you’re going to come and play with that sense of urgency or you’re not,” he said, “and if you can’t anymore, then it’s time to fill that spot with somebody new who maybe hasn’t had all the success we’ve had so far and is going to come with that type of energy.”
The Pistons don’t have to worry about flipping the switch next year. Because Joe Dumars has his finger on it. And when he flips the switch, lights either get turned on – or he’ll turn them out.
