Only a few teams in the league cause such a reaction, San Antonio foremost among them. When you...

Only a few teams in the league cause such a reaction, San Antonio foremost among them. When you pluck Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace off the scrap heap and they become All-Stars, when you trade a volume scorer like Jerry Stackhouse for a Rip Hamilton about whom there were many doubts and he too becomes an All-Star, when you draft Tayshaun Prince down in the 20s of a weak draft and watch him outperform all but a handful of those taken ahead of him, that’s the rep you earn.

Keith Langlois' True Blue Pistons piece on Joe Dumars earning himself a rep for picking up what appear to be dirt in the rough, but wind up being diamonds. I've noticed a lot of people knocking the Wilcox signing around the 'net. They can go ahead and doubt the signing all they want, but we've all seen this before.

over 2 years ago Packey 12 comments 0 recs |

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Exactly-

I do think this IS what Joe is pretty good at- Finding players who have skills and potential, but maybe just need a change of scenery or a new start.

Gordon- Charlie- Wilcox- definitely fit that label. Hopefully they’re as hungry as Rip-Billups-Ben and Sheed etc- were

http://lifeondumars.com/

by wennington on Jul 21, 2009 11:49 AM EDT reply actions

Finding Diamonds

How long since Joe found the last diamond?

by thecommish58 on Jul 21, 2009 3:31 PM EDT reply actions

Stuckey at 15 in the draft few years back

by BennieBladesFan on Jul 21, 2009 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Summers In 2nd Rd This Year

by BennieBladesFan on Jul 21, 2009 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Is that enough or you want more?

Some teams dont find any in a decade……Joe has found a ton of them…..JOOOOOOEEEE DUUUUMMMMMAAARRRSSSS!!!!!

by BennieBladesFan on Jul 21, 2009 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Flip Murray

He’s tearing it up in Atlanta

We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne

by detpistons3 on Jul 21, 2009 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions

You could qualify Arron Afflalo too

We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne

by detpistons3 on Jul 21, 2009 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions

But ask yourself

When was the last time Joe added more than 2 players at a time? He found those diamonds because he needed to, and he rode that success for a long time. Now he needs to find more. When Joe was discovering Tay, Rip and Ben, he was trying to bring a team into contention, which requires alot of new faces. The same thing is going to happen now, but with different diamonds. If Villanueva turns into an All Star forward (which is very possible, take a look at his per-36 numbers), if Ben Gordon elevates to the star we know he could be (also within reach). If Daye or Summers develop into quality players (look at the summer league peformance for further reference). if Chris Wilcox breaks out (this is a tossup, he’s shown flashes), and Stuckey turns into the great player we know he can be. Joe D is going to look like a goddamn mad scientist.

We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne

by detpistons3 on Jul 21, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions

He just did with.....

…..Wilcox Gordon and Vil…….GO JOE D!!!!

by BennieBladesFan on Jul 21, 2009 6:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Did you read the entire comment?

I was implying since we established the core of Rip Tay Ben Chauncey and Sheed, he hasn’t needed to add any major pieces and as a result, we didn’t have any big diamonds like the core we had in place.

We didn't lose the games, we just ran out of time -- Bobby Layne

by detpistons3 on Jul 21, 2009 6:35 PM EDT up reply actions