Keith Langlois has a solid round-up of all the inspirational soundbites from today’s press conference:
Curry said he hoped he would “never get the chance to read one of you all say the team didn’t play hard, they pick and choose when they want to play, they play up to the level of their competition, the regular season doesn’t mean anything.
“For me as a coach, that’s a direct relationship to me. That’s a stab to me. That hurts me more than losing in the conference finals, because that’s something you directly control. And that’s one of my goals, personally, to never let that be said about a team that I coached and a team that represents this organization, because you don’t get that nowhere else in the organization. Everybody else in the organization works every day.”
A few questions later, somebody wanted to know how you keep players motivated. Curry fairly pounced on that one, too.
“I don’t think you make anybody play. I think you substitute. Put somebody in there that wants to play. The way you have a motivated team, you remove the ones that are unmotivated. That’s pretty simple.”
My only request is that he maintains the same philosophy from the opening tip of the regular season to the final horn of the last playoff game. Needlessly scrapping a strategy that won 59 games in the regular season for the conventional wisdom of shortening a bench in the playoffs and sticking with veterans simply because they’re veterans was one of the most frustrating developments over the final two rounds of the playoffs.
Dumars also reinforced his zero-tolerance policy for “flipping the switch”:
After Curry talked about his zero-tolerance policy for those less than fully committed to an honest day’s work, Dumars took a whack at it, too.
“You don’t want that said about your team at all,” he said. “Michael is right. That’s not something you’re proud of when you hear that. When we wake up and we hear our team shows up when they want to or they turn a switch on and turn the switch off, that’s not a compliment. That was never a compliment to me. Mike and I are on the same page with that – we want guys to show up every single day. You don’t take days off. You don’t turn the switch off. You don’t turn the switch on. When you walk into The Palace and they turn the lights on and throw the ball up, you’re playing to win. You’re playing to win every night. That’s what I believe in and that’s what he believes in. If we got away from that a little bit, going forward that’s not going to be the case. If you don’t show up every night and play, you can’t be rewarded for that. That’s where we stand. We stand together on that issue.”
Now go back to something Dumars said a week ago at the Saunders press conference: “I just want to make sure that we as a team, as an organization, are all on the same page and that wasn’t always the case, I felt, this year. It was too scattered at times. It really doesn’t matter how strong you are in this seat that I sit in. That one voice has to make sure we keep everything and everybody on that same page.”
Interesting how Joe used to take such a strong stance defending the team’s effort. He would say something to the effect of “No one wins 82 games. If you win 59 games, there probably isn’t a switch”. Now Joe’s almost admitting that there was a switch of sorts. With this hire of Curry and the way Curry has spoken since being hired, it sounds a lot like some of these Pistons haven’t been giving their all.
On the WDFN interview just now, Curry mentioned how he can accept losing to a better team more than any “flip the switch” nonsense. Curry really sounds like he’s taking charge of the team, while Flip often seemed like he was trying to shepherd guys around. I’m not saying that’s fair, or even fact, it’s only my perception. At least Curry’s rhetoric is what many of us crave, though I don’t know it’ll pan out in practice.
What does everybody think about Rasheed hanging around the conference? What the hell..?
Keegan,
Sheed’s hanging out “cause there’s a new sheriff in town” and would you want to be shipped to Charlotte?
I like what I’m hearing from Curry and his professional profile of playing hard every nite will ring with this group.
I don’t see how trading Billups/Prince/Sheed/1st rd for Melo/Martin/Camby makes the pistons better. Where’s the points going to come from? And if Melo gets 30 he gives up 40…before he actually quits.
I think Joe D made part of the comment “business is open” regarding the availability of the starters and as a warning because I think he was already looking at Curry or Avery J. after firing Flip.
Finally, has anyone heard anything about center Chuck Saimb (spelling)? I saw him dressed on the sidelines during the playoffs along with Walter Hermann…and what’s up with him? He’s an energy guy who can hit the 3..exactly the type of player Curry is looking for. Thanks.
It was basically Rasheed endorsing Curry as the new head coach, in my opinion. When Rasheed agrees or disagrees with something, he makes sure everyone knows it. When Larry Brown was in Detroit, Rasheed made it obvious he wanted him there (be it verbally or through his body language). Throughout Flip’s tenure, Rasheed made it obvious he was not nearly as enthused. Rasheed showing up to Curry’s press conference basically shows ‘Sheed supports the move. Unfortunately for ‘Sheed, that may not even matter, since he may not even be in Detroit come training camp.
Which brings me to another thing. ‘Sheed’s always been the scapegoat, especially after Game 6 of the ECFs. It was obvious that Rasheed gave far less than 100% during the playoffs, but I believe that was entirely due to ‘Sheed (rightfully) disagreeing with Flip’s coaching during the playoffs. Now that Curry holds the reins and ‘Sheed seems to have given his blessing, would it be a mistake to trade Rasheed before seeing how he plays under Curry? ‘Sheed’s skillset is rare, and I’m sure Dumars knows that we wouldn’t even get close to equal value for Rasheed; the main reason his name’s been thrown around in trade rumors has been his seemingly lackadaisical effort (and obviously his appealing contract). I really think Dumars should wait on pulling the trigger on a major trade involving the starters, especially ‘Sheed, until seeing how they mesh with Curry. It would be wise to wait until the trade deadline, not only due to the fact that more GMs are willing to give more and take back less around February than the off-season, but also to see how the players respond under a head coach who demands and seems to have already gained the respect of the entire lockerroom.
“It was obvious that Rasheed gave far less than 100% during the playoffs, but I believe that was entirely due to ‘Sheed (rightfully) disagreeing with Flip’s coaching during the playoffs.”
Rightfully? A player can be excused for not giving full effort in the freaking playoffs? You’re on an island with this one.
Donaghy shows up for Game 3! Hooray!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3436401
i am highly critical of what appeared to be Rasheed’s selfish indignance towards flip saunders as coach. most kids who play highschool sports learn that they have to respect the coach, because he is in charge. unfortunately, NBA players are not accountable if they choose not to respect the authority of the coach. sometimes, the coach is even blamed for not “earning” the respect of the players, which i think is absurd.
but rasheed’s choice to play inconsistently for three years as a way to show his disapproval of the coach did not do any good. flip saunders was still going to be our coach (until this year). i think its a very childish behavior. it hurts a very special team who had a chance to win multiple championships. it hurts the fans. and it hurts himself. he apparently spent three of his prime years passively protesting a coach he didn’t like. if i have the opportunity to play NBA basketball like rasheed does, i don’t care who my coach is- i’m gonna play my absolute hardest and do my best to win every night.
for as much as I love rasheed for his colorful personality and his incredible talent, his behavior is downright childish and disrespectful to his team, and his fans. i think he really took for granted the situation he had here in Detroit. unfortunately, he may find himself being shipped out.
It’s obvious whats he’s doing there, Butter, but it’s too late for his rah-rah crap. If that’s his motivation to be there, that he wants to play for “the new sherrif,” and I have no other idea why he’d be there, it’s becomes just another Rasheed sideshow. This just strains my opinion for Rasheed even more, because it’s completely unnecessary. It smacks of protesting too much, like Ben Wallace walking out in the Pistons uniform after the Miami series. Privately, he can make it known to management how badly he wants to stay; this appearance today was for the media and, by extension, PistonsNation.
“Remember, if I’m gone, I really wanted to be here!”
“Whats he’s” - That’s terrible.
I’m not trying to bash the guy, either. Rasheed is a good player. Even I can’t say with a straight face that you can truly replace him with Amir, Max, Nene, Okafor, or whatever solution is currently traveling the rounds. But it sucks that he’s Mr. Solidarity right now, when he wants, when it’s in HIS best interest to be.
@Matt Watson: By saying he rightfully disagreed, I do not mean that the way he went about doing it was right. What I meant was that I believe he was right in not agreeing with Flip Saunders’ coaching during the playoffs, shortening the bench and going away from what worked all season. Sorry for the mix-up; I completely agree with you, as does probably any decent sports fan, that not giving 100% when you’re fully able to every night, especially in the playoffs, is ridiculously unprofessional. I love what Sheed brings to the game when he gives it his all, and like Keegan said, there really isn’t anyone on the market who could really replace him, which is why I think it would be better to wait and see how Sheed carries himself under Curry before deciding whether or not to ship him out.
I heard a report that Donaghy said that the Lakers/Kings playoff series was fixed. That sounds about right. That was the worst officiated series I’ve ever seen (the Mavs/Heat one was pretty bad too).
“Big Shot” Rob wouldn’t have had a chance to be a hero if the refs didn’t help the Lakers erase a 20 pt. deficit.
Man, QD, this feels like Donaghy will be releasing little tidbits like this over the next bit of time.
(1) Re Quck Darshan’s point about Donaghy. Wow. I had exactly the same reaction: that series, and maybe the Mavs/Heat were the two worst-officiated series I’ve seen (as opposed to the annoying way certain stars like Jordan would always get calls).
(2) I seem to be one of the few around here willing to defend Rasheed. He’s played well in a lot — a lot — of playoff games for Detroit, including a good number this year. I will continue to say I wouldn’t mind it if he stays, and if he goes, we better get a good post offensive player who is willing to D up Dwight Howard.
I don’t think Detroit can willingly make a whole bunch of changes knowing that the series may have been “entertainment,” as Rasheed said.
Speaking of entertainment, at the half of the Lakers/Celts Michelle Tafoya interviewed Kobe and acted all surprised, asking, “Kobe! So far in the first half you’ve shot more free throws than the entire team did in game 2! How do you explain that?” Kobe smiled wryly, paused for a second, and said, “I don’t know. We’re playing the same way.”
(Kay Wan: Ah, that makes sense. My bad)
Hey! The refs FINALLY called Garnett for that illegal screen he does up top on the pick and roll! Sure, there were only 17 seconds left in the 4th quarter of a close game, but at least it was called.
(the entire game was pretty ugly, actually)
hahaha, Garrett, I came on here to comment on the exact same thing about KG’s illegal screens. His punk ass does that on nearly every Boston possession. Dude should get six in the first half of most games.
I just called the Garnett thing out in the Amir thread! Grrrr! Great minds think alike, I suppose.
It’s because we got burned by it time and time again, so it’s good to finally see him get called for it. They’ll probably never call it again. I still say Flip should have gone to the media and called Garnett out in public for it, that way the spotlight would have been on it and everyone (besides us) could scrutinize it, and the onus would have been on the refs to call it.
Also, tangentially, there’s a nice anecdote about Michael Curry standing up to illegal screens on the court in this Freep article: (here). Perhaps next year we’ll see someone actually cause a proper “altercation” in such a context…
That is a boss anecdote DJ Canoli, I missed it. Thank you for sharing!
Garrett: As long as LA wins the series, I’m over Garnett’s rampant cheating and Pierce’s whining. That being said, on the Pistons front, I’m not so convinced that we don’t just need much more than an attitude change. Honestly, both of these teams don’t seem up for the big lights of an NBA Finals. I don’t think I’m in the minority in saying we could absolutely hang with this Lakers squad (As well as this Boston squad, if we gave a damn about showing up. I’m looking at you, Rasheed.).
This wouldn’t be the first time that Joe said a ton of crap about change and then it was never delivered on (this year’s mandate on Flip’s radical rotation changes ring a bell?). That being said, I’m not trying to be critical of Joe, I’m just saying he may be singing a different tune about roster changes when training camp rolls around.
Lakers-Kings, eh? Duh? Can’t wait to hear about Heat-Mavs, donaghy had no part of that one, but it’s just a matter of time before someone will speak out.
I’ll have more on this later. Mike and Mike are giving Donaghy’s letter quite a bit of airtime this am.
For Michael curry: I think it is a pretty difficult job for anyone who is being the head coach of Detroit Pistons because of the high expectations from both media and fans. I believe it’s time to make more realistic goals in 2008-2009 season for the new coach: Let’s win something around 50 games in regular season and go back to 7th straight ECF after that. Then trying to pass the game 6 of 7th ECF because they haven’t done that for 3 straight years. Anything can happened if Michael’s Pistons pass the game 6 during the ECF next season. My point is, Mr. Curry needs to at least maintain the same level of what Saunders did for the Pistons in the past 3 years before they are looking forward for more.
For Sheed: I don’t understand why so many people want Pistons trade him to other teams just because his lazy and not hard working attitude on basketball court? Look at the following sentence carefully before you think “trading Sheed is the right thing” again: I think it’s time to move him from starting lineup to the bench based on his current age and basketball skills. It is better to give him 20 to 25 mins per game instead of giving him 30 to 35 since he sometimes show he feels kinda bored in some games. Remember, it is very difficult to find the good quality big man from coming off the bench, especially most pistons fans are not sure if Theo Raliff will be back to the team or not next season. So keeping Sheed in the team is very important issue again because of his vertern skills and experience will be the big plus during the playoff time. Just image what the result will be if Sheed playing behind Maxeill all next season long? To be honest with you guys, there is no reason for the team like Pistons who have been to ECF for 6 straight seasons to have the dramatic players changes; so can we think about the smaller change like switch starting lineup with bench players (Sheed plays behind Max or Affalo replaces Hunter and Lindsey is focus on his new front office job with the Pistons) instead of trading any piston to any NBA team this summer?
Has anyone checked out the revamped DetroitPistons.com? Looks great, btw.
Billups will be traded for AI. You read it here first.
@Diablo it looks stupid. I don’t like it. Had to mobilize.
Throw me into the “Rasheed isn’t that bad” group.
I don’t think his appearance at the Curry introduction was a calculated message. I think he is just being honest, and there is never anything wrong with that.
I don’t think any of our guys deserve to go more than any other one does. That doesn’t mean I don’t think moving someone could be beneficial though.
Would really like to have a proper C if we are keeping Rasheed. Would really like to see the young guys get solid PT.
I’d rather make the ECF for a 7th straight time than not for the first time in 7 years. Winning the title would be awesome, but let’s not forget how great we’ve had it since 2004. It’s been a great time to be a Pistons fan, and Detroit needs fans more than ever because now you have the entire nation second-guessing this team’s focus and direction and desire. I trust Dumars and I support the team, and if all of our core starters are back next season, I’d be thrilled. I understand you can’t settle, but just look at what most of the rest of this country has to cheer for. Detroit’s done well.
I don’t get the fascination with Iverson. The guy’s like 32, he has a LOT of tread on his tires (entered the league at 20), has an injury history, needs to take a ton of shots to score his points, and has the whole “we’re talking about practice” attitude. And he makes franchise-player money. I’ll pass.
We should definitely entertain offers for Sheed, but in the end, the best move is probably just to renounce his rights a year from now and pocket the cap room. Trading him means taking on a big contract in return. Maybe we can get a trade-deadline bargain for a good player, but I doubt it.
Nate, I think you mean Iverson has a lot of MILES on his tires. The tread is worn out. I agree though… and i have no idea how Iverson could fit into the backcourt with any combination of Stuckey with Rip or Chauncey.
I’d take Iverson back when Matt Geiger was exercising no-trade clauses. Now, with AI at 32, making the money he’s making, I balk.
Yet, I never question The Answer.
Keith Langlois is teasing a big Q & A with Joe Dumars that’ll be posted tomorrow.
http://truebluepistons.blogspot.com/
It looks veeeerrrry interesting.
http://markmadsen.com/blog/CommentView,guid,d8eb0e98-f5fa-49f1-b3ee-9a017405a365.aspx
Mark Madsen claims Detroit lost a gem of a coach in Flip Saunders.
^ via TrueHoop
Mark Madsen treats objects like women.
i refuse to refer to flip as a “coach” anymore. he’s an “offensive coordinator”. and even that is kinder than “human twitch-machine”