Re: Joe D's Best 5 A Joe D article.In summary these are his top 5 moves in the front office.1. The trade for Ben Wallace2. Bringing in Chauncey Billups via free agency3. Trading Jerry Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton4. Drafting Tayshaun Prince5. Trading For Rasheed Wallace(put these in order)<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Hall of Fame deals returned the Pistons to NBA gloryJoe D?s 5 Greatest Hitsby Keith Langlois AUBURN HILLS, Mich. ? If Joe Dumars weren?t already in the Hall of Fame for his playing career, he?d be well on his way toward induction for what he?s done as Pistons president of basketball operations. To fully appreciate where the Pistons are today, it?s important to remember where they were when owner William Davidson handed him the keys in June 2000. The Pistons were coming off a 42-40 season, but they were also about to lose the player who was supposed to return them to their Bad Boys glory days. Grant Hill, who solicited Dumars? mentoring when the Pistons made him the third overall pick in the 1994 draft and grew close to him during their playing days together, left the Pistons abruptly when he became eligible for free agency in July 2000 ? less than a month after Dumars took over the reins. The roster minus Hill included Jerry Stackhouse, Lindsey Hunter, Christian Laettner, Mikki Moore, Terry Mills, Michael Curry and Jerome Williams. A borderline All-Star in Stackhouse, a few solid rotation players in Hunter and Williams, and a bunch of role players. That was a team that had ?lottery? written all over it. But where others saw catastrophe, Dumars saw opportunity. Grant Hill leaving was the 120-point headline on the front page. Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins was the agate type buried back on the scoreboard page. So when you?re picking the five best moves of the Dumars administration, start with that. Here?s a look at Joe D?s top five ? the five moves that brought to Detroit the starters who finally did what Grant Hill was supposed to do, return them to their Bad Boys glory days. The building block Orlando was so giddy to pilfer Hill from the Pistons that the Magic agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that allowed Hill to get more money even though they had enough salary-cap room to do the deal without having to swap players back to Detroit. It would prove to be a monumental blunder. Dumars had been aware of Wallace when he first came into the NBA as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Union who stuck with the Washington Wizards to start the 1996-97 season. Wallace was something of a curiosity piece back then, a guy with an eye-catching physique but no ball skills. He hardly played as a rookie but became part of the rotation in his second season with the Wizards, averaging three points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. He bumped those numbers to six and eight in 27 the following year, then got traded to Orlando with three other players for plodding center Ike Austin. In his only season with the Magic, Wallace averaged 4.8 points and 8.2 rebounds while blocking 130 shots in 24 minutes. ?I saw a role player, but I saw an incredible role player,? Dumars says today. ?What I saw was his incredible energy on the court, his ability to affect the game without having to score. I saw the energy and tenacity to be a full-time starter and thought he could put up scary numbers if he was to become a starter.? On a Pistons roster starved for energy ? and mostly for athleticism ? Wallace did put up scary numbers. He averaged 6.4 points and 13.2 rebounds while blocking 186 shots during the 2000-01 season, his minutes soaring to 33 a game. The next year he led the league in both rebounding and blocked shots, and in his third season with the Pistons Big Ben again led the league with a career-best 15.4 rebounds a game. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times with the Pistons and anchored what became known as one of the two best defensive teams in the league, San Antonio the other. Whatever else becomes of Ben Wallace?s career, and wherever the Pistons go without him since his free-agent departure to Chicago, no one associated with the Pistons ? Joe Dumars least of all ? would ever question the catalytic role he played in turning the franchise back into NBA champions. An easy choice There were three fairly prominent point guards due to become free agents in the summer of 2002. None of them had ever been full-time starters and reasonable people looked at all three and ranked them differently. But there was no question in Joe Dumars? mind whom he coveted among Chauncey Billups, Jeff McInnis and Travis Best. Since leaving Colorado after his sophomore season and being drafted third overall by the Boston Celtics, Billups had bounced around the league. Rick Pitino had left Kentucky to coach the Celtics in the spring of 1997 mostly on the promise of Boston ? which had the league?s worst record and thus the best chance at winning the lottery ? landing the highly coveted Tim Duncan in the draft. The consolation prize in that ?97 draft was supposed to be Keith Van Horn, who went second. Billups went third, and Pitino almost seemed to hold it against Billups for the way the Ping-Pong balls fell. He traded him to Toronto midway through his rookie season for Kenny Anderson and went to Denver a few months later in a three-team deal on draft night. But Billups didn?t last long with his hometown Nuggets, either, playing only 13 games in an injury-plagued 1999-2000 season that saw him swapped to Orlando. The Magic let him go as a free agent following that season and he signed a modest two-year deal with Minnesota, where his rehabilitation as an NBA point guard began under Flip Saunders. Billups played starter?s minutes in his second season with the Timberwolves and averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 assists a game. Nice numbers, but not significantly distinguishing from those of McInnis (14.6, 6.2) or Best (11.9, 6.1 the previous year before an injury-interrupted 2001-02). ?What I really liked about him was his size for the position,? Dumars said. ?He had never been given the opportunity to be a full-time point guard in the NBA. He had size, the ability to score and an unselfish nature. ?I specifically remember handing him a basketball when he came in and saying, ?You?re the point guard now, not the two guard. I?m going to go out now and get a two guard, but you?re my point guard. And I know I don?t have look for this position for the next six years. You?re the guy.? Billups averaged 16.2 points and 3.9 assists in his first year as Pistons point guard. The scoring has stayed consistent throughout his four years, peaking at 18.5 last season when he made his first All-Star appearance and finished fifth in MVP voting, but his assist totals have climbed to 5.7, 5.8 and 8.6 as he?s both proven himself a point guard ? and Joe Dumars right. A bold stroke A month before the Pistons were set to go to training camp in 2002, with baseball heading into its stretch run and the Detroit Red Wings set to break camp in Traverse City ? usually the quietest time of the year for an NBA team ? Joe Dumars stole the headlines. He traded his most identifiable player, Jerry Stackhouse, to Michael Jordan?s Washington Wizards for a player most Pistons fans barely knew. They know all about Rip Hamilton now. Stackhouse?s contract was set to expire at the end of the 2002-03 season and there were indications that he was going to want more money than Dumars was willing to spend. There was never any acrimony between the two sides. It came down to a difference of opinion over Stackhouse?s value ? and whether a team that had him as its first scoring option could ever contend for NBA titles. Even among Joe Dumars? NBA peers, this deal was looked at with skepticism from the Pistons? end of it. ?In just about every one of these deals, there were a lot of questions to them,? Dumars said. ?But you have to know your team. If other people know your team better than you do, then you?re doing a bad job. It?s incumbent upon anybody to know your team better than the experts ? I say that facetiously. ?I know my team. I knew what style of ball we were playing. In the NBA, we were going away from one-on-one isolation basketball toward more movement, more team-oriented basketball. And Rip was probably the best young player at the time at moving without the ball and still being able to give you 20 a night. With Chauncey?s unselfishness and Rip?s ability to move, I thought we had a chance to have our backcourt in place for many seasons.? Hamilton averaged 19.7 points a game in his first season with the Pistons, nearly matching the 21.5 Stackhouse gave the Wizards. More critically, Hamilton has shot at least 44 percent ? peaking at an outstanding 49 percent last season ? every year in Detroit, while Stackhouse has been consistently at 40 percent throughout his career. Joe Dumars had found his backcourt. He had delivered on his promise to Chauncey Billups to go out and get him a two guard. The Palace Prince arrives The 2002 draft will go down as one of the most forgettable in NBA history. If you were to throw all the players taken in that draft back into a pool and do it over, Tayshaun Prince would go third, right after Yao Ming and Amare Stoudemire ? and teams would first want some assurances that Stoudemire?s damaged knee is OK. Joe Dumars got Prince with the 23rd pick in that draft. Among the forgettables taken ahead of him were Nikolas Tskitishvili, Dajuan Wagner, Marcus Haislip, Bostjan Nachbar, Curtis Borchardt, Ryan Humphrey, Kareem Rush, Qyntel Woods and Casey Jacobsen. ?I was holding my breath,? Dumars said of waiting through the first 22 picks to see if he?d get his man. ?Once it got to around 15, you?re sitting there, and just when they?re ready to call out the name, you?re thinking, ?I don?t want to hear T-t-t come out of their mouth.? ? As pleased as Dumars and his staff were with Prince from the get-go, it wasn?t immediately evident to the public that they?d struck gold. Then-coach Rick Carlisle was reluctant to play the lanky rookie from Kentucky, giving him about 10 minutes a night in the 42 games he chose to play him at all. Carlisle preached defense and a ball-control offense, and veteran Michael Curry carried out his orders to a T. ?Rick was just more comfortable with an older, veteran guy,? Dumars said. ?There are coaches like that. He knew what he was getting from Michael and he was more comfortable with than the unknown of playing a rookie.? But Carlisle turned to Prince in desperation in the first round of the playoffs that year when Orlando took a 3-1 series lead and superstar Tracy McGrady was tearing up everyone Carlisle assigned to guard him. Only Prince had the size and quickness to deter McGrady, and his contributions turned that series around. The Pistons eventually got to the Eastern Conference finals and the following season ? with Prince now entrenched as the starter ? they won the NBA title as their perimeter defensive stopper made a memorable blocked shot of a Reggie Miller breakaway layup in the conference finals and then harassed Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. ?As you watch him, you realize this is a kid with tremendous basketball IQ, which goes unsaid way too much,? Dumars said. ?When people speak of Tayshaun, for whatever reason, it?s never mentioned how smart he is. I tell people a couple of things about Tayshaun. ?First of all, he?s the smartest guy on this team. He has the highest basketball IQ. The second thing I always say is that if there?s a guy on this team who could make the transition to the seat I?m sitting in right now, it?s him. He has that perspective. He has that kind of depth to him. And discipline. He has the type of discipline it takes to sit here.? Wonder what Casey Jacobsen is doing these days? The X Factor The Portland Trail Blazers had a public-relations nightmare on their hands. As the only pro sports team in a medium-sized city, Portland?s players swim in a fishbowl like few others. And when a handful of them wound up on the police blotter or the gossip pages over a string of dreadful seasons, the media labeled them with a nickname that hung like an albatross: Jail Blazers. It got to the breaking point in the winter of 2004. Because he was the most prominent among them and had been there the longest, Rasheed Wallace came to symbolize Portland?s plight. Even though management knew well of Wallace?s considerable charitable efforts and his unswerving commitment to his family, his defiant public pose and his penchant for running afoul of NBA officials led them to conclude the reclamation of their franchise?s image had to start with his departure. So when they swapped him to an Atlanta Hawks team going nowhere but interested in Wallace?s expiring contract that would allow them to pursue youthful assets that off-season, Joe Dumars sprung into action. He had barely more than a week before the February trade deadline to act, and he worked the phones exhaustively over that time. On deadline day, he had the framework of a three-team deal in place that also involved the Boston Celtics. All day, Dumars was on the phone with Boston?s Danny Ainge and Atlanta?s Billy Knight, trying to hold the deal together. ?There was a roller-coaster of emotions trying to get that deal done,? Dumars said. ?It was on again, off again, on again, off again and ? finally ? on again at the very end. I thought we were a very good team at the time, but he makes us a great team and maybe the favorite to win it. He could put us over the hump with his bravado, with his skill set and where he was at in his career.? Outsiders looked at the deal, considered the harmony Dumars had managed to strike within his locker room, and were convinced Wallace was going to irreparably harm their chemistry. ?I knew him,? Dumars said. ?More than just from articles or from highlights of him getting techs, I knew if you put him in the right environment, he would perform. He was always going to be somewhat emotional, but he was not an out-of-control guy who would disrupt the culture here. I had absolutely no concerns about him doing that. Sure enough, he came here and proved he was a guy who would fit right in.? Sure enough. With Wallace filling in the holes ? giving the Pistons a legitimate post-up scorer, providing them that invaluable second shot-blocking presence to team with Ben Wallace, supplying another perimeter shooting weapon to stretch defenses even thinner, and drawing all the media heat to him like a magnet to leave his teammates free to fly under the radar ? the Pistons vaulted to the NBA?s elite, winning the 2004 title and coming within a few minutes, a few possessions and a few bounces of repeating in 2005. Joe Dumars has peers who haven?t made one move as productive as any of his top five over the time he?s been in control of the Pistons. Nobody who spends any time in personnel is going to guess right every time. The nature of the business is that you?ll swing and miss as often as not. The best in the business have a laundry list of moves that like to take back. But they also have this in common: They admit their mistakes and move on, not allow them to compound themselves. That Dumars was able to string five home-run moves together was and remains an incredible story. The Pistons won an NBA championship without benefit of a superstar. In a copycat business, it was immediately predicted that their blueprint for success would be emulated by others. It hasn?t happened for a very good reason: Because it?s extremely unlikely anyone could put together five moves like the Joe Dumars? top five it took to elevate the Pistons to a championship level. If he wasn?t already in the Hall of Fame, putting the Pistons together the way he did would have gotten him there.</div>for me it goes5. Drafting Tayshaun Prince: He Was a steal4. Trading for Rip Hamilton: Jerry Stackhouse was good..but we needed a younger Rip.3. Picking up Billups in FA: We needed a PG we got a PG, a finals MVP in fact.2. Trading for Rasheed Wallace: the Final Piece of the Puzzle for a team in search of a championship1. Trading for Ben Wallace: Who wouldhave known that he would be a 4-time DPOY?these are mostly all of equal-importance but this is how I put them.hopefully we get 5 more big moves like this, they might have already happened. we just have to wait to find out!
Re: Joe D's Best 5 1. Trading for Ben Wallace 2. Picking up Billups in FA3. Drafting Tayshaun Prince 4. Trading for Rasheed Wallace5. Trading for Rip Hamilton :dribble:
Re: Joe D's Best 5 I don't think Prince was a steal. He was definately one of the best players available at that pick. Maybe a steal in terms of him turning out to be such a great player and being drafted so late, but it wasn't by any means some stroke of genious by Joe where he drafts a guy no one knows about (like he did with Mehmet Okur). Speaking of that, I think the drafting of Mehmet Okur was definately one of his best moves. Too bad it was ruined by one of his worst moves when he didn't re-sign him.I think trading for Rasheed and signing Chauncey were obvious moves too. Chauncey was the best point guard available. It was him, Tony Delk, or Jeff McInnis. Not a tough call. And as for Rasheed, he was a supertsar available for expendable pieces that we had.Here's my top moves from Joe:1. Trading Grant Hill for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins2. Discovering Mehmet Okur3. Discovering Rick Carlisle4. Signing Antonio McDyess to the MLE5. Trading Mateen Cleaves for Jon Barry and a 1st round pick / Trading Jerome Williams and Eric Montross for Corliss Williamson and a 1st round pickWorst moves:1. Not re-signing Mehmet Okur and losing him for nothing2. Losing Ben Wallace for nothing3. Drafting Darko Milicic over proven NCAA superstars whom are now NBA superstars4. Drafting Rodney White5. Waiving Bobby Simmons
Re: Joe D's Best 5 Yeah, I have to include Okur somehow. Even though he hit the bench when we got Sheed, he was still a pretty big part of the team. He's also made some nice coaching decisions. Carlisle fit the team. When he didn't fit the team any longer, we brought in LB who fit the team even better. The biggest screwup in that area has to be letting Brown go for Saunders. Going from one extreme to another is basically what happened..an it was to much, and a major reason why Ben left as well.Ya gotta include being able to snag Mike James with Sheed as well in the same trade.
Re: Joe D's Best 5 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mobruler @ Nov 13 2006, 11:35 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>ISpeaking of that, I think the drafting of Mehmet Okur was definately one of his best moves. Too bad it was ruined by one of his worst moves when he didn't re-sign him.Worst moves:1. Not re-signing Mehmet Okur and losing him for nothing</div>If we resigned Mehmet, then we wouldn't have the money to resign Billups and Prince. Utah payed a ton for Mehmet, but I would have loved to see Okur back in Detroit.
Re: Joe D's Best 5 We had bird rights on both and still could have signed them. Bill Davidson is a tightwad and Joe has been restrained to trying to stay under the salary cap in his whole career as a GM.
Re: Joe D's Best 5 1. The trade for Ben Wallace2. Bringing in Chauncey Billups via free agency3. Drafting Tayshaun Prince4. Trading For Rasheed Wallace5. Trading for Rip HamiltonThose are mine in order.
Re: Joe D's Best 5 We could have kept Tayshaun and Billups easily had we kept Okur. We just would have lost Sheed. We didn;t have Birds on Okur so had to use our own cap to sign him. If he did that, we couldn't have signed Sheed.I'd trade Sheed for Okur at this point, but 2 years ago..you really had no other choice coming off an NBA title.
