jakebernat wrote:This seems like a bit of an emotionally charged opinion seeing as how the pistons are worth $500 million MORE than the day Gores bought the team. He already has his profit (if he wants it).
The valuation of NBA teams has tripled over the past five years--every single NBA franchise is now worth at least $1 billion--and that's got nothing to do with how the teams themselves are doing. That valuation is of no relevance to Gores unless he opts to sell the team, and there are zero indications that he plans to do so. Immediate profits
are no doubt of interest to Gores, and, by all indications, have been from day one. This makes sense, as he is a businessman. The Pistons are, for obvious reasons, not a particularly profitable team. He's aimed to change that, and he's gone about it in a foolish manner.
He and SVG had/have a vision. It just hasn’t worked out. Everyone is to blame, but to say that we’re bad because Gores is only concerned about making some fast money is a bit naive.
Oh, OK. First off, I didn't blame it entirely on Gores. I've made it very clear elsewhere that Van Gundy's got a large share of the blame, so you may dispense with the strawman. Gores, however, bears a large share of the responsibility. He's maintained a win-now, rebuild-on-the-fly mandate from the very beginning, first with Dumars and then with Van Gundy. Both were forbidden to properly rebuild the team. Needless to say, this is a massive impediment, and his mandate defied the realities of team-building in the NBA. I'm almost certain, given his behavior and the fact that the issue was both entirely devoid of basketball sense and totally not in keeping with Van Gundy's basketball philosophy, that Gores was also the primary force behind the Griffin trade. That trade had zero merit behind the misguided notion that it might sell tickets (it seemed entirely based on the childlike notion that "BIG NAME = TICKETS AND SUCCESS!"). It also bears mention that the general managers he's employed have both been total failures, and that he was also responsible for Van Gundy's hire as coach.
I'd say the notion that Gores does not have a very substantial share of the blame, if that's indeed what you believe, is more than a bit naive.
