As I just posted on the FanHouse, Joe Dumars held his annual end of the season press conference today, and in it he confirmed that Flip Saunders will in fact return as head coach next year:
“Just because we haven’t gotten to the finals, it doesn’t mean Flip has done a bad job,” Joe Dumars, president of basketball operations Dumars said Monday.
He added that the team doesn’t plan drastic changes this offseason.
“We don’t have a fire sale going on,” Dumars said.
So yeah, I think we all saw this coming — now we just have the official word from the top. I’ll have more about the rest of his press conference later tonight, but that’s probably what most of us have been waiting for (or dreading, depending on your point of view). Let the hair-pulling and wailing commence in the comments.
Update: Dumars talked about more than just Flip Saunders, obviously. I don’t have time to give the rest of the topics their proper due just this second, but instead of waiting for my post, you can read about the press conference at the links below:
- Keith Langlois’ article on Pistons.com
- A. Sherrod Blakely’s blog at MLive.com
- Krista Jahke’s blog at Freep.com
When he was done with the press conference, Dumars gave an interview to 1130AM. I haven’t checked it out yet, but the guys at PistonsForum.com have the mp3. Like I said, I’ll post on this stuff later tonight, but all of this should tide you over in the meantime.
Damnit
It’s hard to find someone that thinks Flip shouldn’t go. At this point it looks like it’s all about the money. How many times can Detroit keep paying coaches for leaving?
one more time?
WTF???!!!!
Tonight on tv20 at 7 is a season wrap up.
“The show will feature a preview of the NBA Draft, a breakdown of the current roster, a discussion with Pistons beat writers and a one-on-one interview with Joe Dumars.”
Remember when we came into the year and the goal was to lessen minutes? And how Flip kept getting patted on the back for doing so?
05-06
Richard Hamilton 35:17
Chauncey Billups 36:06
Rasheed Wallace 34:42
Tayshaun Prince 35:17
06-07
Richard Hamilton 36:47
Chauncey Billups 36:12
Rasheed Wallace 32:17
Tayshaun Prince 36:36
Sheed was the only one that got his minutes lessened. I know its a bit harder to compare since there were injuries but we need Acker/Flip and Blalock/draft pick next season and Delfino be the primary backup for Tay.
Good interview with Joe- http://www.mlive.com/pistons/audio/popup.ssf?070611_wdfn_dumars
i think its the right decision. i rather have flip as a coach than anybody else at this point, unless its laimbeer or isiah. how about van gundy? forget it!!! well anyway, i think its a good news, if everyone stays, all i wanna see is to evolve amir johnson, maxiel, and delfino. also, i wish they can get someone who can reserve for chauncey as a pt. guard and for dyes/cweb as a center without trading/losing prince/rip/chaunce/sheed.
I agree that this is the right decision. There simply isn’t another Larry Brown type coach available, and I really feel like there is no coach available who could do a better job than Flip. I wanted Lambier at first, but realistically I think we need to see him do some coaching of men before we give him a head coaching job. Maybe he could be an assistant coach who’s allowed to get in the players’ faces….
With a draft or trade for a good backup PG, a swing man that Flip will be willing to use off the bench (I don’t get why that isn’t Delfino, but hey, I’m no coach), and the emergence of JMax and AJ, this team will be very strong next season.
Insert Self Pimpage (cheers Matt for the link)
We’ve also got the audio from the Don Shane interview in the same thread over at PF.com (link at the end of Matt’s post).
It’s pretty funny listening to Dumars’ incredulous responses to the blood thirsty fan opinions.
I believe one of the Van Gundy guys would have been a fine replacement for Flip. Well, one down yet Jeff is still available.
Come on Joe, at least consider it!
I agree with this. Developing the youth is the most important thing Detroit can do right now. Amir Johnson needs to play, the kid is great, Maxiel & Delfino also need to see consistent playing team. I hope that #15 plays as well.
What did my20 have to say about the draft? I really want to know who Pistons are targeting and nobody seems to know.
Son of a LeBron.
Detroit’s run out of coaching options.
Joe D didn’t go into a lot of specifics about individuals, other than Flip’s return. He wouldn’t go into why it was infuriating to see the offense drop in point production, but he did say that going from their regular season totals all the way down to the low 80s per night was way too much slippage.
Either Bill won’t let him spend for another guy, or there’s really no other options available to replace. He has to see where Flip blew it. Four straight games of avoiding the paint and settling for contested jumpers . . . they kept running into a wall against an established Cleveland perimeter defense and rarely bothered to take it inside to break up their strangle on the outside. All anyone can do is look how Tim Duncan, Manu, and Tony are ripping the ever-loving crap out of Cleveland’s interior . . . Rasheed, Rip, and Chauncey aren’t far off, despite the fact that Detroit’s never had a Tim Duncan caliber in the post, not during this run.
Nice comparison of minutes, Matt Gibson. I caught the tail end of that Dumars WDFN deal and came home to listen to the full mp3 of it.
Joe was being mostly-mouth-shut with the guys, and thankfully, those guys respected it.
Thankfully, there’s no salary coaching cap. It’s much easier to move coaches. That’s why we rarely see Popoviches, Sloans, Jacksons, and Dalys. I don’t believe Joe’s scared to go back on that statement and remove Flip, either. I’m hoping for it.
Joe talked about a 3-year notion with players. He had high hopes for this blog’s favorite baby-eater. Basically, by the 3rd year, if they don’t get it, they never will, with regard to young players.
I think that’s about as long as a coach has, and in most cases, much less time than that, more like 1-2 years, actually. My expectation was that Flip would improve his sideline game this year. That didn’t happen.
the best thing about that interview with joe d was the palpable disgust he had with losing game 5 the way we lost it. although i’m not sure that’s a good sign, that your gm cares more about winning and losing than your entire roster.
Actually, Flip did grow as a coach this year, but not enough apparently. Obviously, he’s not an elite coach, but neither is anyone else out there on the market. Pretty much everyone else is second tier or untested. (I would veto Isiah, BTW)
I agree with most of the sentiment out there, but let me offer you a favorite mantra of the cognoscenti here (although I think I heard it first from Bill Walton)- I trust Joe Dumars. All Joe D. knows is how to win.
Which begs the question-why not Lam? I’ll trust Joe D. on this one, he knows better than all of us, but he’s gotta know he’s not getting any rings with Flip at the helm.
Here’s some speculation, should Terry Porter actually stay in Detroit, he may get a crack at the job if the Pistons are .500 or worse after 30 games.
I didn’t hear any unequivocal “Flip’s back next year” from Joe. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I’m curious about what Porter could do.