[tin mad dog]

Joe's hands may or may not be tied as far as making trades but as the man who assembled this roster and this coaching staff, he needs to step in and work to sort this out.

If there wasn't a Team & Coaches meeting called for today to try and hash this out, that may be his biggest failure. Both Kue and the players are acting like children so somebody needs to be the adult and sort it out. If they can't agree to work with each other for the rest of the year then Joe needs to sort out who needs to go.

Step the fuck up before things get even worse!

[Big Jerm]

Good point TMD. We can argue back and forth about Joe's past moves and how responsible he is for the mess we have, but it's undeniably his job to do something now. Anything less than professionalism from the coach and all players for the rest of the season will show that nobody really has control.

[tin mad dog]

If we had an owner that cared, I'd say that's who should step in at this point since Joe seems to have already let it go too far but we know that's not the case.

[B.I.G.]

My guess is that Joe Dumars knows he's going to get let go if Tom Gores take over ownership so why should he care?

[The King]

New ownership has to bring a flamethrower to this place.

[tin mad dog]

Originally Posted by B.I.G.

My guess is that Joe Dumars knows he's going to get let go if Tom Gores take over ownership so why should he care?

I really hope Joe hasn't become that apathetic.

He may not be making all of the right moves but I don't think he has completely abandoned the work ethic, integrity and self-esteem that he's had for the first 47 years of his life.

[Jeff Hause]

Wel, he gave up that stuff physically: Body's bloated, vision's gone, moving slower... Joe's body is the physical representation of what's happened to the franchise...

[ghandi]

I'm really shocked Dumars isnt doing anything about any of this stuff....Maybe BIG is right and he is gone as soon as the final sale is completed and just doesn't care....If that's not the case then he isn't making a very good show for the new owner to keep his job.......This team is such a disaster now they may very well be the new Clippers for the next several years.....

[B.I.G.]

Originally Posted by tin mad dog

I really hope Joe hasn't become that apathetic.

He may not be making all of the right moves but I don't think he has completely abandoned the work ethic, integrity and self-esteem that he's had for the first 47 years of his life.

I hope not but he silence pretty much the whole season says otherwise. Maybe because he lost two brothers within a year made him not care. who knows, that could be tough so I"m not sure what it is.

[B.I.G.]

I hope we won't be the new clippers. that would really suck.

[tin mad dog]

What really sucks is if they were both wearing jerseys that didn't have a city or team name on them is that I'd rather watch the players who are Clippers this year.

Who wouldn't trade rosters and coaches with them right now?

[Kstat]

I think 2/3 of the league would trade rosters with the Clippers. That's hardly a slight.

[tin mad dog]

Fair enough.

[EJV]

No question that the job has taken a toll on him, and it has probably affected him physically.

He must be haunted by the Iverson move, and recently he has had to compete with other GM's with one hand tied behind his back.

I had forgotten about the loss of family.

Nevertheless, it is Joe time.

I would agree that Joe has too much integrity and self-respect to quit. I just hope that he has not been worn down so much that his best effort will not be enough.

Even if Joe deals with everything behind the scene, he owes it to the public to state in no uncertain terms that he is in charge of the situation.

[B.I.G.]

Sports



The Pistons Should Be Declared A Disaster Zone

February 26, 2011 11:04 AM
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This is it. This is rock bottom. It cannot get worse than this, right? Doesn’t matter if they’re winning or losing, this is the very bottom of the professionalism barrel. There are ruins, there is rubble, and there’s the Detroit Pistons.
Hours after four veteran players staged a protest sleep-in , and were summarily benched, things hit a new low. First, Kuester was ejected in the Pistons’ loss to the Sixers in Philadelphia tonight. And the players responded as you’d expect professionals to. By laughing.
Ugh.
To top it off, Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press is reporting that before the All-Star break, the players walked to the shower postgame while Kuester was talking. Double ugh.
Okay, long story, short story.
Short story: The only victims here are the fans of the Pistons, who don’t deserve this. Any of it.
Long story: Kuester has been losing his players for a year and a half. There have been clashes since the beginning, along with losses piling up. The biggest questions surround Rip Hamilton and his benching this season. On the outside it appears like Hamilton is just a petulant player struggling to accept he’s no longer the star he once was. But combined with all the other stories of unrest, it certainly seemed like there was a pattern to suggest that Kuester was at least partially responsible for the chemistry problems.
But this?
It’s unproffessional. To a ridiculous degree. You’re not happy? Fine. Voice it to management. Or the press. Or on Twitter. But don’t stoop to what you consider to be his level by resorting to childish, immature behavior that will follow you wherever you look to go for the short remainders of your careers. It’s inexcusable, and the Pistons need to suspend and/or fine the players for their behavior. Regardless of what they decide to do with Kuester, the players have to be held accountable, because you can’t run a team like this.
But.
To make John Kuester into a victim here is to deny a pattern of unrest among the players and a disturbing deviation from the norm. There are those that stipulate it was Tayshaun and Rip’s attitudes that helped lead to all the coaching turnover of the past seven years. But there’s a huge gap between being difficult, and veteran guys who at the very least were known as hard workers. To not come to work is the nuclear option. To engage in this kind of behavior goes above and beyond desperate measures. The Pistons are only six games out of the playoffs, but they’re also 18-29 (yes, the middle of the East is still terrible), and there have been multiple questionable moves by Kuester.
Consider it this way. If you’re an executive, and employees who have helped your company for close to a decade all of a sudden start engaging in completely inappropriate behavior in response to their manager, you’re going to punish them. You can’t just let the example stand that it’s okay not to respect the company and it’s management. But at the same time, you’re definitely going to want to examine the manager to see why it is his employees are the ones behaving in this manner. You have to look at the whole picture while reacting responsibly.
But at the heart of this? This is on Joe Dumars. He didn’t move Rip Hamilton last year when he still had trade value despite the acquisition of Ben Gordon. He didn’t move Tayshaun Prince despite his trade value. And he was completely silent at the deadline, despite needing to make moves badly. Maybe it’s the ownership situation, still in flux. But the situation is untenable. One way or another, Dumars has to step in now.
It’s not just time. It’s past time.
We’ll see what’s left of the Pistons when all of this is over. Though we do support John Schuhmann of NBA.com’s idea for Elizabeth Shue from “Adventures in Babysitting” to step in.

[detroitsportsfan]

.....or the Old Clippers. That would really, really suck.

Originally Posted by B.I.G.

I hope we won't be the new clippers. that would really suck.

[Whiteman]

The Pistons reportedly don't intend to fire coach John Kuester, but team president Joe Dumars will make an announcement prior to tonight's game.


Kuester was the target of an apparent coordinated boycott by a number of Detroit's veterans on Friday, which also resulted in fines for Rip Hamilton, Chris Wilcox, Rodney Stuckey, and Austin Daye (while Tracy McGrady and Tayshaun Prince were excused due to illness). Detroit will soon present another buyout offer to Hamilton (who seems to be the instigator of the mutiny) but the odds of his accepting are "slim." He is owed $25 million through 2013 and already turned down a seemingly generous $16 million offer.

[B.I.G.]

link????

[B.I.G.]

nevermind I found it.

[Big Jerm]

Rip is a piece of shit. I can understand him not being happy about his playing situation(although he arguably caused it himself with the blowup at practice), he totally lost any kind of moral high ground he might have been going for when he refused a buyout. Selfish, petty, team-killing prick? Yesssirrrrrrr.

[Whisper]

These fuckers don't even have the integrity to tell the truth. Tummy ache. Headache. Oopsy on the alarm clock. In the past, these guys have been known to be barfing all morning, go on IV's before games, be game-time decisions, gut it out on the court and go home and sleep for 12 hours.And if all you players had legit excuses, why the hell weren't cheering on your teammates. I saw 4 bench guys sit with their hands on their knees when Charlie V made a great move thru traffic and score--right in front of the goddam bench, right in front of you.

[hack]

If this goes on much longer some of them will have sex changes so they can start skipping practices on a monthly basis.

[Kstat]

My guess is Daye and Stuckey had a come to jesus phone call to get their asses to practice and plead ignorance or go down the same drain as Rip Hamilton.

[GC_STONES]

Agreed

Dumars has been awfully quiet, considering he is the true face of this franchise. What the players have done in recent years (3 mutiny against coaches?!) is a direct disrespect to Dumars - and yet, the primary culprit, Rip, is still here and signed to a fat cat contract.

[*JD*]

Judging from the "we're playing nice now" article about Kue and Rip having a shootaround, I'm guessing Joe D. did sit all parties down.

[hack]

He had to wait this long?

[RodimusPrime]

To cut costs Karen hasn't allowed Joe to charge his scooter at any of the Piston facilities so it's been hard for him to get around.

[*JD*]

It's actually a Segway.