http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/dumars_090217.htmlJoe Dumars Q&A - Part III
Pistons president Joe Dumars sat down with Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois during the All-Star break to talk about where the Pistons are at, what might be happening at the trade deadline and various other subjects during a wide-ranging interview. Pistons.com will post the interview over three segments. Here’s Part III:
KEITH LANGLOIS: There have been a lot of reports lately that the economy has affected the NBA, and even multimillionaire and billionaire owners have been hurt by this. Have you had any change in your marching orders from Mr. Davidson based on the economy?
JOE DUMARS: I would say this, and I say this with satisfaction, that we have not had to change our business model. The way Mr. D and I talk about running this team puts us in a position where we don’t have to change our business model. Even in the best of economic times, we were always in the top one or two most responsible financial teams. Even the best of times, when it was in vogue to go out and spend tons of money, when it was the in thing to do, to go out and just spend recklessly, we’ve never done that. Consequently, now, when these really tough economic times hit, we can maintain our business model, because it’s in line with what people are having to do in this tough economic time.
KL: And do you get the sense that there is that going around the league?
JD: No question, because some of these deals that are being proposed out there are to save money, to put it plain. They’re simply to save money and they’re more money-oriented than basketball-oriented. It’s very clear that some of these moves are based on the economic times.
KL: The sellout streak recently ended at 259. I know your focus is really on putting a winning product on the floor and a winning product is ultimately the best way to sell tickets. But just talk about what that sellout streak meant to you and your sense of what pro teams and sports in general mean to this community as a guy who’s been here going on 25 years.
JD: Detroit is a heck of a sports city. We’ve sat around and talked about how in the fall, you can get Michigan State with a full stadium, Michigan 100,000, the Lions selling out, people showing up at Comerica Park, coming out to The Palace. I mean, how many cities can claim that, can do that? I tell people from other cities about that and they just shake their head like, man, that’s unbelievable. The sellout streak and people showing up at The Palace all the time, it means something to us. We know this is a big-time sports city. Between the economic times going on right now, we’re a team in transition right now, it’s totally understandable. I’ve had a lot of conversations about this. I feel for the people that want to come but just can’t afford to do it right now. You know they’re still fans. They are still big-time fans, but where we are right now economically, it makes it tough for a lot of people to come out.
KL: Let’s talk a little more about personnel. Some of the role players have had their roles fluctuate this year as a fallout from the trade. Talk a little bit about how some of those guys have performed given the circumstances.
JD: Well, I think maybe for Afflalo, it probably changed more than anybody else. It’s thrust him into a more prominent role. The young bigs, our expectations really haven’t changed a whole lot for them. But for Afflalo it’s changed some and it’s put more on his plate. But we feel like he’s a mature kid and he can handle it. A three-year UCLA guy that came here pretty mature. When we’ve had guys we felt needed time, we’ve set things up to give them that time. Amir came here 18 years old and we knew, kid’s not ready for a lot on his plate. That’s where you see NBDL and two years down there, then last year coming along slowly and now this year a lot more responsibility. It’s just about that individual player and how much he can handle at that time which dictates how much we put on his plate. What we’re asking of Amir and Maxiell and Afflalo right now, we’re asking because, No. 1, we feel they’re mature enough to do it, and, No. 2, they’ve been here long enough to do it. This is Amir and Maxiell’s fourth year. Afflalo, it’s only his second year, but he’s a very mature guy. We only ask guys to do that kind of stuff if we feel they’re mature enough to handle it.
KL: Since Dice came back from the rib injury in early January, he’s played 20 games and he’s averaging 10 rebounds a game. Those are numbers he hasn’t had since pre-knee injury when he was a 20 and 10 guy. Given that, what kind of career would we be talking about if those injuries hadn’t occurred?
JD: Dice was on track, in my opinion, to put up Hall of Fame numbers before he got hurt. He was that kind of dominant, 20 and 10 guy. But let me say something about that with Dice. Dice is one of the few guys who was viewed as one of these supreme athletes, who dominated, had a major injury, and completely changed his game, to a skilled, more heady player, who doesn’t play way above the rim night in and night out. You rarely see that in basketball, where a guy goes from being this supreme athlete to a highly skilled guy that just understands the game and understands his role. I’ve tried to think who I’ve seen do that and I really can’t come up with anybody else. For the people who remember his game when he was young, when his head was over the rim, to the guy you see now.
KL: It’s like a power pitching in baseball blowing out his arm, like Frank Tanana, a strikeout king who came back with the Tigers and was throwing 75 mile-an-hour junk.
JD: And getting you out. That’s what Dice has done. That’s probably the only example I can think of is a baseball guy, like Tanana. You rarely see that. Even in baseball, how many guys can say they’ve done that? It’s rare what we’re seeing with him.
KL: I thought this was interesting – a Mark Cuban blog the other day where he revealed a player evaluation system that the Dallas Mavericks have developed over the years. And on that list, he had Rasheed Wallace listed No. 14 among all NBA players, one spot ahead of Kobe Bryant. I was surprised he would reveal the player rankings publicly, but what does that say when you look at Rasheed’s numbers – he probably wouldn’t be top 14 in the league – about his value beyond his numbers?
JD: I think people around the league value him. I think people in this city would be surprised how much people around the league value this guy and how people around the league look at him in terms of a big that can do some of the things he can do. Rasheed has become a lightning rod around here for anything that goes wrong. What gets lost in that is what he does do very well. My job is to put him in check when I think he’s getting out of line, but my job is also to recognize what he’s doing extremely well for us, too. The way he guards the perimeter, the way he rebounds the ball around the basket at times, the way he stretches the defense, when he makes up his mind to go down and post how he turns around and shoots over 7 foot guys with ease, the way he talks on defense. And what happens is every team around this league recognizes that, they see that and they know it’s rare to have guys like that. That doesn’t mean they don’t see his flaws, but they also know his plusses and what he’s bringing to the court, they outweigh the flaws that get pointed out so easily here.
KL: I’ll ask a question that I realize you can’t answer in much detail. Because of that – because of his ability to adapt to almost any situation you could throw him into on other teams and because of his expiring contract – I have to believe he is a guy who would have immense trade value. When you’re getting that handful of phone calls like you talked about, is he a guy that people are interested in talking about?
JD: When you are a 7-foot guy, you’re multitalented and you have an expiring contract – let’s just say in general – that prompts a lot of phone calls. Anybody in the league that fits that description will prompt a lot of phone calls.
KL: I’ll wrap it up with this. Any coach, especially with a franchise that has had the sustained success you guys have had, who goes through a rough stretch is going to come under some scrutiny, and that probably gets amplified when it’s a first-year head coach. Just talk about you’ve seen from Michael and how he’s handled the challenges that have been presented to him.
JD: He and I have had a lot of conversations. He’s had some rough patches and he’s had some very, very good patches as well. Walking into San Antonio and getting a win and walking in LA and getting a big win. But he’s also had some rough patches and that’s … two things, I would say. It’s expected, going through a transition, and it’s expected of a young, first-year head coach. So my job is to try to help him through some of those rough patches. But like I said to him, when you are a first-time head coach, when you step into a team that has been really successful, and that team has any kind of struggles, there’s going to be some shrapnel. Don’t duck it, don’t put your head down. Stand there, face the music, deal with it and get back and lock into what you need to do to get better. That’s what I’ve been telling him. Listen, when you step into these roles, these high-profile roles, when you sit in that first seat, no matter what first seat it is, there’s a certain amount of responsibility that comes with that and it’s not going to be all pretty days. You’re going to have some lonely, tough, rough days and long nights of trying to sleep. And he’s had that. He’s had some tough days and some long nights, but it’s expected. It’s expected of any first-year head coach and it’s expected of any coach taking over a team going through a transition.