I remember the Pistons being the embodiment of culture. I mean they made the conference finals for 6 straight years. But they haven’t been competitive since 2008. They are now close to, if not, the worst franchise in the league. How? This can’t only be because of Gores? Or can it?
Bill Davidson was the Pistons owner for the 89, 90 and 04 titles.
The window for the going to work team was pretty small. They were all late 20’s/early 30’s when they put that group together. Tayshaun being the only guy under 25.
They tried to hold it together too long. Possibly because Davidson was near the end of his life and wanted to see them competitive for as long as he could.
Dumars and Davidson hatched an plan to “rebuild on the fly”. They traded their best player and leader, Chauncey Billups, to Denver for an expiring Allen Iverson. A rookie Rodney Stuckey showed a few flashes of elite talent and Dumars went all-in on him as the future (for a few seasons). They blew all the created cap space on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Two guys who came to Detroit, collected their paychecks and promptly stopped giving a fuck.
Detroit started cycling through awful coaches. Davidson passed away and his frankly gold digger wife held the franchise hostage for a few seasons while she looked for a buyer. She didn’t just want to sell the team- she wanted the purchaser to also buy the Palace, Pine Knob and another venue if I recall. Mike Illitch was interested, but couldn’t come to terms due to all the venues Karen Davidson demanded be part of the deal. Mike’s plan was to move them back downtown. So in swoops ego maniac with some loose 30+ year old ties to Flint to buy up the team. Platinum Equity, technically bought them. Gores has been personally buying more of the team as his own over the years. But during the time the team was for sale, Karen prohibited Dumars from adding salary. The only notable FA acquisition he made was for a broke down Tracy McGrady on a veteran’s minimum.
Then Gores thought “improving the culture” was all it took to be a winning franchise, setting the team back another decade in futile pursuits.
And I don’t really need to get into the weeds on the SVG era and beyond. It was one mess after another.
The team has a shit owner who won’t let his personnel make decisions. And Gores isn’t smart when it comes to basketball. He should stick to what he’s good at, like exploiting prison inmates.
I’ve been a fan since Grant Hill was wearing a Pistons uniform. I’ve been a fan through it all but I’m on the precipice of throwing the towel. I just don’t want to be on this roller coaster of constant disappointment.