Dumars Pistons' real MVP
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
"Where there is no vision, the people perish. "- Proverbs 29:18
NBA commissioner David Stern handed Chauncey Billups the Finals MVP trophy Tuesday night after the Pistons finished beating the pulp out of the Lakers for their first NBA title in over a decade. But let's not kid ourselves. Billups may have scored the most points. Richard Hamilton may have been the most consistent. Rasheed Wallace was the catalyst that made them believe. Ben Wallace was the heart of the team. Larry Brown brought it all together.
But Pistons president Joe Dumars was the real MVP on Tuesday night.
I've read or listened to every theory out there about how and why we were wrong about this year's Pistons.
The East is stronger than we thought. The West is weaker than we thought. The Lakers were distracted and not playing at full strength. The Pistons are the one and only team in the East that matched well with the Lakers. Defense, not offense, wins championships.
In an effort to console ourselves, we'll claim that the Pistons are a fluke. That they don't stack up to the great NBA champions of the past. Michael's Bulls were better. Larry's Celtics were too. So were Duncan's Spurs. In fact, my guess is many of you want to put Shaq and Kobe's Lakers -- minus the version that showed up the past two seasons -- above this year's Pistons.
Don't believe it.
The Pistons are one of the great teams in recent NBA history. And Dumars, the Pistons' head man, is the guy who deserves the credit. He's a visionary who has given GMs an alternative blueprint for how to build a champion.
For the past two decades, almost every GM in the league has followed the same model for building a championship contender. You acquire a superstar in the draft. Add another one in free agency. Bring in support players all around them. Then ride the superstars' backs to victory.
Dumars' Pistons have deliberately taken the road less traveled. There are no superstars. No max contracts. No major egos. The Pistons are a group of misfits -- NBA castoffs working on their third or fourth chance in the NBA.
They are everyman, not superman. They wear blue collars, not white ones -- much like their fans. Their basketball abilities may not fill up SportsCenter highlights. But their hearts are the things of legend.
Look at their starting five.
Chauncey Billups, a Finals MVP before he was an all-star (Dumars was the last guy to achieve that honor), was traded by the Celtics halfway into his rookie season. He spent time in Toronto, Denver and Minnesota before finally finding a team that emphasized his strengths without dwelling on his weaknesses.
Rip Hamilton was dumped by the Wizards in favor of Jerry Stackhouse after Michael Jordan, of all people, felt that Hamilton didn't have what it took to lead the Wizards to the playoffs.
Ben Wallace was traded by the Wizards and Magic before becoming the best defensive player in the league for the Pistons.
Rasheed Wallace had been abandoned by the Blazers for a napkin and some paper clips in February. He was traded again for five players the Pistons had no use for a few days later. No one else would touch him. Some claimed Wallace would destroy the Pistons' chemistry. Instead, he became the spark plug that sent the Pistons on their championship run.
Tayshaun Prince nearly fell out of the first round despite having a stellar college career at Kentucky. Even the fans in Detroit called for the Pistons to dump him in favor of Carmelo Anthony last summer.
And don't forget Darko . . . the guy who was supposed to cost the Pistons a championship this year. When Darko didn't play and Carmelo was dominating on the Nuggets, everyone came out of the woodwork to bash Dumars. Even when the Pistons were playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, the haters were still saying that the Pistons would have had a shot at winning it all had they only drafted Carmelo. Now Darko is the youngest player in the history of the NBA to wear a championship ring. Darko may have had nothing to do with this year's championship run, but he'll play a big part in the Pistons' continued dominance over the next few years.
In almost every way this team resembles the man who built it. In his playing days it was Dumars, not the more high-profile Isiah Thomas or Bill Laimbeer, that was the glue that silently held the bad boys together. Now Dumars has assembled 12 of the stickiest players in the NBA. He has created a team in his own image. Silently, almost without being noticed, they just ran roughshod over a team with four Hall of Famers playing on it.
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]“[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]I know patience can be a dirty word in this business. But at the very time people are writing that our window is closing, I'm telling you it's just now starting to open.[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] ”[/font][font=Times,serif]— [/font][font=Times,serif]Joe Dumars in December[/font]
It wasn't by accident. Dumars has always had a vision about what he was doing. His vision was uncompromising.
In late December I interviewed Dumars amidst more turbulent times. The Pistons had lost four straight. It had been eight games since they broke 90 points. The questions were everywhere. Why did they fire Rick Carlisle? Why did they trade away Cliff Robinson? Why didn't they take Carmelo over Darko?
Dumars was resolute.
"We had gone as far as we were going to go with that team," Dumars told Insider in December. "We had to make a change before it was too late. I knew there was a good chance that by changing the makeup of this team we probably had to take a step back. That, to me, is a small price to pay for a championship.
"I'm not going to sacrifice tomorrow so I can have last year's record. My job is balancing today and tomorrow with the same moves . . . I believe they have the talent to help turn us into a legitimate contender down the road.
"I know patience can be a dirty word in this business. But at the very time people are writing that our window is closing, I'm telling you it's just now starting to open. They gave me that award [Executive of the Year] last year because we surprised a lot of people and turned around a pretty bad team quickly. But I've done more this summer than I did last year. It's just going to take a little longer to see the results. But when they come, we won't be happy just to be in the Eastern Conference Finals."
Six months later, the Pistons are the NBA Champions. Dumars looks prophetic.
"I am happy we won, but I did believe in what I was doing," Dumars said Tuesday night. "It is easy for me to say that if I had to do it all over again, I would do the same thing over again. But I have never backed off a move I made or had second thoughts. I think coming in here and winning it all speaks more for me than anything I can tell you."
"I understand it is part of the job to be second-guessed and have stones thrown your way," Dumars added. "We caught all of the stones and put them away."
Dumars saw it before anyone else could. No other explanation will do.
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
"Where there is no vision, the people perish. "- Proverbs 29:18
NBA commissioner David Stern handed Chauncey Billups the Finals MVP trophy Tuesday night after the Pistons finished beating the pulp out of the Lakers for their first NBA title in over a decade. But let's not kid ourselves. Billups may have scored the most points. Richard Hamilton may have been the most consistent. Rasheed Wallace was the catalyst that made them believe. Ben Wallace was the heart of the team. Larry Brown brought it all together.
But Pistons president Joe Dumars was the real MVP on Tuesday night.
I've read or listened to every theory out there about how and why we were wrong about this year's Pistons.
The East is stronger than we thought. The West is weaker than we thought. The Lakers were distracted and not playing at full strength. The Pistons are the one and only team in the East that matched well with the Lakers. Defense, not offense, wins championships.
In an effort to console ourselves, we'll claim that the Pistons are a fluke. That they don't stack up to the great NBA champions of the past. Michael's Bulls were better. Larry's Celtics were too. So were Duncan's Spurs. In fact, my guess is many of you want to put Shaq and Kobe's Lakers -- minus the version that showed up the past two seasons -- above this year's Pistons.
Don't believe it.
The Pistons are one of the great teams in recent NBA history. And Dumars, the Pistons' head man, is the guy who deserves the credit. He's a visionary who has given GMs an alternative blueprint for how to build a champion.
For the past two decades, almost every GM in the league has followed the same model for building a championship contender. You acquire a superstar in the draft. Add another one in free agency. Bring in support players all around them. Then ride the superstars' backs to victory.
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[font=verdana, arial, geneva]Joe Dumars' vision and conviction have put the Pistons back atop the NBA. [/font]The Lakers have perfected the art. Jerry West paid a fortune to acquire Shaquille O'Neal, the best player on the planet at the time. He wheeled and dealed to get Kobe Bryant in the draft. Mitch Kupchak used the lure of an easy championship to bring more star power -- Gary Payton and Karl Malone -- on board for the ride. Before them the Bulls, Spurs and the Rockets followed the same model. You've got to go back to the late 80s, when Dumars was out on the court breaking hearts and collecting rings, to find a great team without one dominant star winning it all. Dumars' Pistons have deliberately taken the road less traveled. There are no superstars. No max contracts. No major egos. The Pistons are a group of misfits -- NBA castoffs working on their third or fourth chance in the NBA.
They are everyman, not superman. They wear blue collars, not white ones -- much like their fans. Their basketball abilities may not fill up SportsCenter highlights. But their hearts are the things of legend.
Look at their starting five.
Chauncey Billups, a Finals MVP before he was an all-star (Dumars was the last guy to achieve that honor), was traded by the Celtics halfway into his rookie season. He spent time in Toronto, Denver and Minnesota before finally finding a team that emphasized his strengths without dwelling on his weaknesses.
Rip Hamilton was dumped by the Wizards in favor of Jerry Stackhouse after Michael Jordan, of all people, felt that Hamilton didn't have what it took to lead the Wizards to the playoffs.
Ben Wallace was traded by the Wizards and Magic before becoming the best defensive player in the league for the Pistons.
Rasheed Wallace had been abandoned by the Blazers for a napkin and some paper clips in February. He was traded again for five players the Pistons had no use for a few days later. No one else would touch him. Some claimed Wallace would destroy the Pistons' chemistry. Instead, he became the spark plug that sent the Pistons on their championship run.
Tayshaun Prince nearly fell out of the first round despite having a stellar college career at Kentucky. Even the fans in Detroit called for the Pistons to dump him in favor of Carmelo Anthony last summer.
And don't forget Darko . . . the guy who was supposed to cost the Pistons a championship this year. When Darko didn't play and Carmelo was dominating on the Nuggets, everyone came out of the woodwork to bash Dumars. Even when the Pistons were playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, the haters were still saying that the Pistons would have had a shot at winning it all had they only drafted Carmelo. Now Darko is the youngest player in the history of the NBA to wear a championship ring. Darko may have had nothing to do with this year's championship run, but he'll play a big part in the Pistons' continued dominance over the next few years.
In almost every way this team resembles the man who built it. In his playing days it was Dumars, not the more high-profile Isiah Thomas or Bill Laimbeer, that was the glue that silently held the bad boys together. Now Dumars has assembled 12 of the stickiest players in the NBA. He has created a team in his own image. Silently, almost without being noticed, they just ran roughshod over a team with four Hall of Famers playing on it.
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]“[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]I know patience can be a dirty word in this business. But at the very time people are writing that our window is closing, I'm telling you it's just now starting to open.[/font][font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] ”[/font][font=Times,serif]— [/font][font=Times,serif]Joe Dumars in December[/font]
It wasn't by accident. Dumars has always had a vision about what he was doing. His vision was uncompromising.
In late December I interviewed Dumars amidst more turbulent times. The Pistons had lost four straight. It had been eight games since they broke 90 points. The questions were everywhere. Why did they fire Rick Carlisle? Why did they trade away Cliff Robinson? Why didn't they take Carmelo over Darko?
Dumars was resolute.
"We had gone as far as we were going to go with that team," Dumars told Insider in December. "We had to make a change before it was too late. I knew there was a good chance that by changing the makeup of this team we probably had to take a step back. That, to me, is a small price to pay for a championship.
"I'm not going to sacrifice tomorrow so I can have last year's record. My job is balancing today and tomorrow with the same moves . . . I believe they have the talent to help turn us into a legitimate contender down the road.
"I know patience can be a dirty word in this business. But at the very time people are writing that our window is closing, I'm telling you it's just now starting to open. They gave me that award [Executive of the Year] last year because we surprised a lot of people and turned around a pretty bad team quickly. But I've done more this summer than I did last year. It's just going to take a little longer to see the results. But when they come, we won't be happy just to be in the Eastern Conference Finals."
Six months later, the Pistons are the NBA Champions. Dumars looks prophetic.
"I am happy we won, but I did believe in what I was doing," Dumars said Tuesday night. "It is easy for me to say that if I had to do it all over again, I would do the same thing over again. But I have never backed off a move I made or had second thoughts. I think coming in here and winning it all speaks more for me than anything I can tell you."
"I understand it is part of the job to be second-guessed and have stones thrown your way," Dumars added. "We caught all of the stones and put them away."
Dumars saw it before anyone else could. No other explanation will do.
