Article by Drew Sharp is worth reading Piston fans. He is right on target

[cool breeze]

The only thing that I question relating to the Drew Sharp article is when he mentions the amount of talent on this Piston team. The Piston management has grossly over estimated the talent. Charlie V once made the famous statement to the press where he said that the amount of loses by his Piston team had nothing to do with the talent. Another head coach took the blame instead of the players while the inept management took the focus away from them because they made the errors relating to players who do not have the necessary skills or personality to be effective NBA players. If Charlie and the current owner are correct and and our Pistons do really have great talent then why in hell is this team last in free throw shooting and among the worst in other categories? Is poor free throw shooting the fault of the coach? Does Drummond call up Mr. Gores and whine about how the coaches are screwing him up at the foul line? Are other players calling Mr. Gores and bitching about how the coach is placing sleeping pills in their water before games which prevents them from showing their amazing talent when they play against Kevin Durant or Labron James? Coaching this group of dysfunctional players from the get go has been a nightmare for coach Cheeks. He recognized that the guards that the owners signed on with could not beat up on any NBA team on a regular basis and tried his best to improve them. That was his focus. 

Now I am wondering who was calling the shots as to drafting or not drafting Burke. How about trading Knight and Middleton for Jennings was that Mr. Dumars idea or Mr. Gores. Now I am thinking that the owner was making all of the decisions along with his LA group of friends. Gores might be trying to model himself after the Dallas owner trying to be more important and no a background type of owner. I have to say that I am sorry for everything that I have said in a negative way about Joe Dumars. I am sure he did not want to trade Knight and Middleton for Jennings. It had to be Mr. Gores who is responsible. Maybe Drummond didn't like Knight. Maybe Drummond wants Rasheed to the the head coach. Who knows but I do know that Drummond doesn''t yet have GAME. He has a lot to learn before he will be a really good player. He is not good enough to be the team leader yet. So stop being an Eddy Haskel type person Andre. Be a man and keep your trap shut and play like you love the game and that should be all you are thinking about. 

The owner has created a real mess. Is is listening to Charlie V as well? Yes Charlie and Will have been screwed out of meaningful playing time. We need a new coach. And don't ever pull Drummond who is a outstanding free throw shooter and a player everyone wants to be going to the foul line with the game on the line. Again sorry for everything I have said about you Joe Dumars. Mr. Gores is the guy who should go.

[cool breeze]

It appears that Andre isn't the gentle giant we all took him for.  And it looks as if Cheeks made a fatal mistake when he pulled Drummond from that game, a week or two ago, after which Drummond stalked out of the locker room without speaking to reporters.

Clearly Gores considers Drummond his team leader and locker room representative.

And I wonder if Drummond wants a bigger role in the offense, instead of the Jenning/Smith dominated offense that Cheeks ran.

There is much palace intrigue in Auburn Hills these days.

If that is true and the owner is listening to a player who still is learning how to play the right way, then the Piston organization is in real trouble. What will the next coach do? It appears we will get a politically correct coach who will wash out Drummond's jock strap after every game. Drummond needed to be taken out of that game. Only a child would storm out of the locker room after being pulled. But it appears that there is one other player that the owner might be listening to these days. Will Bynum that All Star point guard might also be brown nosing the owner. Any good owner should know there is a chain of command and by allowing a player to become close to an owner only ends up badly. What does Drummond want? Or what does Bynum want? How about listening to the fans Mr. Gores??? You have signed too many sub par players especially holding down the guard positions. That is why you are losing so much. The players rule in the NBA. Our players have brought little to no effort in many games and that includes Drummond. Over the past two games everyone has played hard. Coach Cheeks took a harder line pulling players who stink it up at times. What will the next coach do? 

Every good NBA has to have a tough leader who is a key player. An NBA coach is never the leader. Take Orlando for example. Orlando has beaten top teams in both conferences in back to back games. What is happening to this bottom dweller? Oladipo is happening! "If you really want to win you play harder than them" quote Oladipo. Coach Vaughn said "It starts with his enthusiasm for basketball and it's really infectious to his teammates" Vaughn said. "They want to play for him, they want to play with him and I am sure glad he is in a Magic uniform". End of story. So the owner of the Pistons has favorites who can call him and cry on his shoulder instead of being men. One of the missing parts of this team from the get go has been "lack of enthusiasm" by the players in every one of their losses. They often start games looking like they have been on a 3 week bender having done nothing to prepare themselves for the game mentally. We fans want MEN like Isiah Thomas. He was one of those players who made everyone better because his love and respect of the game was infectious. Do any of you fans remember that? So many of you have bought into the crap about coaching being the difference. It is always the players who make the difference in the NBA. We have players who are inconsistent and have always been inconsistent. We have no single player who is a real leader who comes out every game showing that he is a leader who loves the game. The owner has made the fatal mistake of allowing players to bitch about the coach to him. The owner wants to be more of a part of the day to day operations but he has no idea how to run a NBA basketball team. I have been critical of Joe Dumars but he is a former All Star player who has also been taken out of the chain of command it appears. The players can go directly to the owner. No GM can be effective as a leader. No coach can be effective as a coach or leader. So why not have the owner coach this team if he knows so much?? Please sell this team Mr. Gores. 

[Murph]

It appears that Andre isn't the gentle giant we all took him for.  And it looks as if Cheeks made a fatal mistake when he pulled Drummond from that game, a week or two ago, after which Drummond stalked out of the locker room without speaking to reporters.

Clearly Gores considers Drummond his team leader and locker room representative.

And I wonder if Drummond wants a bigger role in the offense, instead of the Jenning/Smith dominated offense that Cheeks ran.

There is much palace intrigue in Auburn Hills these days.

[Sebastian]

That is the question.

The timing of the firing of Mo' McGoo is very suspicious. Why was Mo' not fired back on Dec. 30, when WE were 14-19 with five days to practice before the next game; or on Jan. 11 when WE were 16-22 with 6 days available to practice before the next game? Each opportunity would have provided more time left in the season for a "real" NBA coach to turn this sh!t around.

Could it be that Mo' McGoo was beginning to find his way to a possible Eastern Conference playoff  birth and Gores and Joe would rather tank in an effort to retain the draft pick that could go to the Bobcats/Hornets?

Why hire a nobody (Loyer) to coach the remainder of the season, if the management truly has Playoff aspirations?

[Murph]

 "Ok, I can hear you saying that Joe made all of those moves... are you sh!tting me??? Joe don't know nothing! Billy was pulling the strings!"

Oracle...I know you're being funny, but I think you just made a very serious point. I think it's becoming more and more clear that Bill Davidson was responsible for most, if not all, of the excellent transactions that were made early in Joe's tenure as GM of the Pistons.

And in fact, Joe hasn't made a good personnel move in about 7 years...ever since Billy D fell ill and stopped monitoring the day-to-day activities of the Pistons.

In other words, early on, I think Joe simply acted as a sounding board, while Bill Davidson made the decisions.

I mean, Bill Davidson certainly knew how to win Championships. His Pistons won 3 NBA Championships. His Shock won 3 WNBA Championships. And his Tampa Bay Lightning won a Stanley Cup.

IMO, the genius behind the Pistons was always Bill Davidson. Joe just came along for the ride.   

[FlyDog]

How about new Lions QB Coach Jim Bob Cooter?  He seems to fit the Joe Dumars mold.  

Young and inexperienced:  Check
Arrested for sexual misconduct:  Check

That's it........he fits the criteria.  Plus, with a name like that, maybe the fine folks down river will fill some of the empty seats in The Palace,  They're probably related to the guy somehow.

As long as Joe is piecing the roster together, does it really f*cking matter who the coach is?

Funny stuff, Fly.      

Is that the Lions actually did hire a QB Coach named Jim Bob Cooter, and he has been arrested for breaking and entering, stripping nude, and getting into bed with a woman who did not know him. The Lions provide the material.....all I gotta do is write the punchline.

Anyways......I'd like to see Zeke or big Bill named coach. I also think Joe getting canned is way overdue.

[Murph]

How about new Lions QB Coach Jim Bob Cooter?  He seems to fit the Joe Dumars mold.  

Young and inexperienced:  Check
Arrested for sexual misconduct:  Check

That's it........he fits the criteria.  Plus, with a name like that, maybe the fine folks down river will fill some of the empty seats in The Palace,  They're probably related to the guy somehow.

As long as Joe is piecing the roster together, does it really f*cking matter who the coach is?

Funny stuff, Fly.     

[FlyDog]

How about new Lions QB Coach Jim Bob Cooter? He seems to fit the Joe Dumars mold.

Young and inexperienced: Check
Arrested for sexual misconduct: Check

That's it........he fits the criteria. Plus, with a name like that, maybe the fine folks down river will fill some of the empty seats in The Palace, They're probably related to the guy somehow.

As long as Joe is piecing the roster together, does it really f*cking matter who the coach is?

[Oracle]

Ok, I may be crazy, but to get to the ultimate coach for the Pistons, there's a path you must follow grasshopper!

First, resurrect Bill Davidson! Sure he'll be a bit gamey, but bare with me here. Once he becomes one of the walking dead, he can then...

Secondly have Billy Bite Gores in the face, effectively ending his tenure as Piston owner and establishing Billy back where he belongs.

Now for his next trick, he re-inserts the strings in Joe's ass! Ok, I can hear you saying that Joe made all of those moves... are you sh!tting me??? Joe don't know nothing! Billy was pulling the strings!



Finally, now that the pieces are in place, it's time for the coup de grass, and Billy gets Joe to hire the new coach, and that new coach is.... Drumroll...

Larry Brown's colostomy bag!!!!

Because only sh!t can handle sh!t....

[cool breeze]

WTF??? Why now?

Well Gores telegraphed this when he came to town! He rightly blamed Cheeks and not Joe for the teams failures with this level of talent.

Was Cheeks in over his head? Yes, but only to the point that it was going to take him longer than we had hoped to get it right!

IMO, he was on his way to getting there, and BOOM... Gores turns the flame thrower on full blast!

My three choices for the gig are, in this order, Zeke, Hollins & Laimbeer!

Either of those 3 will do a great job with this personnel

But after what Zeke said last night, he's in first place by a mile for me! Zeke will bring everything we need, and a passion for the Pistons that can't be matched, even by Joe.

Also, with Zeke, we have our new GM in a couple of seasons, who has a REAL eye for talent, and wouldn't make the draft day mistakes that Joe does!

I pity you guys that haven't had the chance to see how intelligent Zeke is when he talks about basketball as an announcer! I could listen to Zeke all day long, he's one of the best basketball minds on the planet, and look at the quality of the dudes he's drafted compared to Joe!

Goodbye Cheeks, we hardly knew ye!

Any new coach will struggle with the current guards on this roster. Cheeks spent extra time with the guards and did identify that you can't win consistently with them unless they were capable of improving a lot.

Zeke said it last night in an around about way. Piston players have no identity. The players need to find an identity that works and then a good coach can help them succeed. The guards need to lead the way and not be the problem.

Zeke did identify that the current players are better suited for an up tempo game. They find their offense and then become better defenders because od youth. But I believe the talent level is not there regarding the guards. Too many missed opportunities by Joe Dumars as caused this mess. Sure would be nice if Burke were a Piston. He looked like a 6 year pro last night. All said I agree that Zeke would be great as coach of the Pistons. But does he want to get chewed up and spit out like the other coaches? I would like to have Zeke as the GM just as much as I like him as a coach.

[Fennis Dembo]

The Top Ten List of  Piston Coaching Candidates

10. Rasheed Wallace - Loved and adored by NBA refs.  Holds the world's record for technical fouls.

9. Isiah Thomas - Good  job with the Pacers, not so much with the Knicks.  7-25 with Florida International University.  Forget about it!  Zeke is a true Piston icon with two championships.

8. Lionel Hollins - Has a cool name.  Born in Arkansas City, Kansas.  That's right Kansas.  Went to high school in North Las Vegas, Utah.  Just fooling, North Las Vegas is in Nevada.

7. Bill Laimbeer - The "Bad Boy" could teach this team his bag of dirty tricks.   The present team could be called " The Dirty Boys".

6. Patrick Ewing - Might be able to choose a lucky number one lottery pick, just like he was.

5. Joe Dumars - You created this mess, Joe.  Now get the team out of it.

4. John Beilein - I put him on the list just to aggravate David Brandon and the Michigan Mafia.

3. Whoever is coaching the Washington Generals - He is bound to go on a winning streak after a forty year losing streak. Don't you think?

2. Mason the Palace announcer - The team would listen to him the first time or suffer massive migraines.  "Deee-troit basketball." Oy vey!

1. Hooper, the team mascot - Probably couldn't do any worse than the last few coaches and he already comes to all the home games anyway and is extremely popular with the kids.

[Oracle]

Yup, you got it, Joe is officially on a lame duck diet!

[Sparma]

Cheeks seemed like a mediocre coach who'd do some good things before he departed. I think he did do some good things, particularly with Jennings and Stuckey. To his credit, Jennings gave proper thanks to Cheeks: "I will like to thank Mo Cheeks for everything, thank you for helping me become a better person & player. I'm still learning." First Jennings had written: "Wait what?" Nice stuff! I'd never heard of a head coach spending hours in the film room going over games with an individual player. And he defined a clear and fitting role for Stuckey. I liked that he mixed it up with the players (sometimes with bad results, it seems!), something the non-basketball playings Frank didn't dare to do. (Of course, I know there were all kinds of problems, but this seems like the time to say some nice things about Cheeks.)

The most surprising thing I learned in reading various stories is that Drummond speaks with Gores every couple of weeks. I did remember the pool game Gores talked about before the season, with Dumars and Drummond. Gores' all in with his star player as well as the management style (including analytics) that got him where he is. Makes sense. Eventually that should lead to good results. On the negative side, I remain convinced that Gores pressed for something like the Gordon trade in order to get quick results (which I hold against him).

John Loyer? The biggest thing that means to me is that Joe's skating on super thin ice now, if he doesn't get to make yet another coaching commitment. Gores will now be paying three head coaches the rest of the season, so it's understandable he's being cautious.

I also hope Gores' firing of Cheeks means that a major desperation (Monroe) trade to save the season, or to save Joe's job, is now really unlikely, if the message is that we could have done much better with the talent in place. I'd be happy to see any or all of Smith, Jennings, Bynum, CV, Stuckey, and JJ traded. I don't oppose making a good trade involving Monroe, but think it extremely unlikely Joe can pull one off involving Monroe in the next couple of weeks, so I'd rather resign him and roll from there.

Hollins' sounds good, but his anti-analytics will likely get him blocked by Gores. I'd be happy to see Billups getting a shot (Merc brought him up earlier) but think his chances of failing would be pretty good under these circumstances. He'd be better off waiting. For once I'm in agreement with Drew Sharp: it's time for Joe to go the bench and see if he can make this talented but misbegotten roster work, before being shown the door (or being gently moved into the role of consultant).

[Oracle]

We win too many games!!!

Is this a tanking move?

The cards will be revealed once we know who the new coach is!

If it's an assistant, or some lame duck, then we know that a big overhaul is coming, and Dumars in next to get axed!

BTW, I don't believe reports that Joe wanted to give Cheeks more time, that smells of good cop, bad cop! Gores doesn't give a crap if Cheeks is pissed at him, but Joe does!

[Oracle]

A woman is smiling her sweet ass off  

[Oracle]

Sure Zeke is my #1, but Hollins did something remarkable in Memphis!

Hollins made his big men finally work well together, and he turned a marginal PG into a real, solid PG!

Even bigger he forged a surprisingly well put together team that surprised the west, with stellar defense and decent offense... basically who we should have been this season!

This is why he's my second choice, and was my first choice before Cheeks!

Is Hollins rigid and tough? Hell yeah, but the good news on that is that players know exactly what's required of them and either produce or don't play. Hell LB was rigid and tough, it's not the end of the world, but would be culture shock for this team now!

[Oracle]

WTF??? Why now?

Well Gores telegraphed this when he came to town! He rightly blamed Cheeks and not Joe for the teams failures with this level of talent.

Was Cheeks in over his head? Yes, but only to the point that it was going to take him longer than we had hoped to get it right!

IMO, he was on his way to getting there, and BOOM... Gores turns the flame thrower on full blast!

My three choices for the gig are, in this order, Zeke, Hollins & Laimbeer!

Either of those 3 will do a great job with this personnel

But after what Zeke said last night, he's in first place by a mile for me! Zeke will bring everything we need, and a passion for the Pistons that can't be matched, even by Joe.

Also, with Zeke, we have our new GM in a couple of seasons, who has a REAL eye for talent, and wouldn't make the draft day mistakes that Joe does!

I pity you guys that haven't had the chance to see how intelligent Zeke is when he talks about basketball as an announcer! I could listen to Zeke all day long, he's one of the best basketball minds on the planet, and look at the quality of the dudes he's drafted compared to Joe!

Goodbye Cheeks, we hardly knew ye!

[Sebastian]

It appeared to me that the players liked playing for Mo Cheeks maybe with the exception of Will Bynum. Did they fire the coach because Bynum hasn't played for the past two games? If so, the owner is insane. The team appeared to have found themselves and were playing at a different tempo. The combinations of players the owner and Joe Dumars signed to contracts have been the problem all along. However, as usual I sure am not saying I know what is best for the team. Maybe there is a big trade coming and maybe management thought a different coach would be needed because of that.

I know a lot of fans think that Laimbeer would be great for the Pistons. But how about the best player of all time, Zeke, being considered for the job if he is interested? What Isiah brings is good luck and good fortune in my opinion. He has such a great personality and all of the NBA players love him. His comments last night seem to be right on relating to the Detroit Pistons. This team is young trying to find their identity and they must find it on the court making mistakes like they are doing now. We need at least one or two different guards of course and the sooner the better. Will these players respond better to Laimbeer or Thomas? It is time one of those two become Pistons again. There is no way that Rasheed is ready to become the head coach. And why is Lionel Hollins a good candidate for this team if anyone knows please speak up...

Yo, cool, I'm with you. The next coach has to be someone that Jennings will respect and listen to. The only two options that I would be available are Zeke and/or Chauncey.

Hollins would be to rigid of a personality for Jennings at this time of his career.

Zeke as the HC would save Joe's job (ass).

[cool breeze]

It appeared to me that the players liked playing for Mo Cheeks maybe with the exception of Will Bynum. Did they fire the coach because Bynum hasn't played for the past two games? If so, the owner is insane. The team appeared to have found themselves and were playing at a different tempo. The combinations of players the owner and Joe Dumars signed to contracts have been the problem all along. However, as usual I sure am not saying I know what is best for the team. Maybe there is a big trade coming and maybe management thought a different coach would be needed because of that.

I know a lot of fans think that Laimbeer would be great for the Pistons. But how about the best player of all time, Zeke, being considered for the job if he is interested? What Isiah brings is good luck and good fortune in my opinion. He has such a great personality and all of the NBA players love him. His comments last night seem to be right on relating to the Detroit Pistons. This team is young trying to find their identity and they must find it on the court making mistakes like they are doing now. We need at least one or two different guards of course and the sooner the better. Will these players respond better to Laimbeer or Thomas? It is time one of those two become Pistons again. There is no way that Rasheed is ready to become the head coach. And why is Lionel Hollins a good candidate for this team if anyone knows please speak up...

[Sebastian]

Chauncey B-B-B-Billups!!! Gores may as well get his money worth from Chauncey for the remainder of the season, as Chaunce is done as a NBA player, but his wisdom and basketball IQ can be better used as the interim Head Coach of the Pistons for the remainder of the ’13-’14 NBA Season.

Additionally, move 'Sheed to the bench and away from the row of seats behind the bench.  

[merc]

Hollins says he's interested in the job.

[FlyDog]

Fire Joe.

[Fennis Dembo]

Everybody knew Cheeks was going to get the ziggy sooner or later. The question I have is why right now after they played their best two home games of the season? Why wasn't he fired during a losing streak? Four coaches in three and a half seasons is not a good track record for a GM. Joe must be feeling the heat.

[lemonpen]

We're dead with an owner as impulsive and intrusive as Gores seems to be. This is freakin ridiculous.   

[Murph]

The Pistons fired Cheeks?...already?...is this some kind of a hoax?

Who's going to coach them now???

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