NBA Detroit

Any way you measure it, Joe Dumars is a successful man. He won two NBA titles as a player, had the league's annual sportsmanship award named after him, won another title as a general manager and has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

And that's the stuff everyone knows about -- what most people don't know is that for 10 years after retiring as a player he served as CEO and president of a successful automotive supply company he founded. And as a father, he raised a son who just earned a scholarship to play Division I ball.

But for all that he's accomplished, there was one thing missing on his resume: he never finished college. This past May, he finally crossed that item off his list. From William Rhoden of the New York Times:

"Not having the degree was a void that I simply had to fill," Dumars wrote in an e-mail message. "My wife has her master's in education, and we've always stressed the importance of education to our two teenage kids. I just felt if I was going to stress the importance of education, I had to show them exactly how important it was."

So he completed the work. And last month his name was called along with more than 700 other graduates at McNeese State University's spring commencement ceremony. He said that earning the degree, a bachelor's in business management, was one of his greatest accomplishments. That's saying a lot.

I find this amazing: if anything, Dumars is proof that you don't need a college degree to be extremely successful in life, but he valued education so much that he put the time and energy into pursuing a diploma simply for the principle of the matter.

As Watson noted earlier, Baron Davis has been mentioned in some pretty hefty mega-super-uber deal between the Warriors and the Pistons. The rumor is that an Al Harrington and Boom Dizzle for Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups swap would go down. The problem?

Baron can still opt out of his contract, meaning the deal simply could not happen. But Dizzle, through his agent, appears content to get paid $17.8 million next year and stick with the Warriors.

"It doesn't seem likely," [Todd] Ramasar said. "The market could change anytime, but it's unlikely."

[...]"Baron's adamant about remaining a Warrior, but we've yet to come up with an extension," Ramasar said. "As of right now, there's no guarantee that those talks continue, and from a player's standpoint, it becomes emotional."

Here's the second catch -- Baron can't officially not opt out until next Tuesday. And because such a deal between the Pistons and the Warriors would almost certainly have to include a draft pick (as MW, the 14th pick seems reasonable).

Of course, those timelines don't exactly match up. But it's not like the Warriors can't simply pick who Detroit wants and then make the trade for Big Shot and 'Sheed immediately following Baron's decision.

Now, there's puh-lenty of risk involved with that, namely that Baron doesn't opt out. But you would have to figure that Joe Dumars and Chris Mullin would have the particulars worked out ahead of time. Either that or Dumars just told him to hit up on the swell piece Tuesday if he didn't do anything crazy tomorrow. (Read: this smells like a dead end).

When Joe Dumars put his entire roster on the block, he opened the door for a summer of crazy rumors. First came the Carmelo Anthony rumors, which became so rampant that 'Melo demanded an explanation from Denver's front office. Today's speculation du jour? Baron Davis to Detroit.

Geoff Lepper of the Contra Costa Times got the ball rollling by citing an unnamed source within the Warriors who indicates that the Pistons "are now looking at Davis" and would be willing to offer Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace in return. In order to get the money right, Lepper speculates that Al Harrington, who's already thinking about requesting a trade, would be thrown into the mix.

As Tim Kawakami correctly notes, the Pistons would be getting the short end of the talent stick in a Davis/Harrington for Chauncey/Rasheed swap. Could the Warriors sweeten the pot by throwing in the 14th overall pick? Well, possibly, but this deal can't happen on draft day (read: tomorrow!) since Davis has until July 9 to decide if he's going to opt out of the final year of his contract. So unless the Warriors happen to pick someone the Pistons really like, that's a dead end, too.

In other words, there are simply too many moving parts in this deal to think everything could line up perfectly. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News called this rumor "a total fabrication." I won't go quite that far -- Lepper's source isn't just making things up for fun, right? -- but it's possible Detroit's interest has been exagerrated or distorted, much like their alleged "pursuit" of Anthony.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

The locals thirst for a roster explosion. At least 26 other fan bases would trade for this roster in a second. The NBA: Where 'The Grass is Greener' Happens!

Picks: #29, #59.

Needs: Depending on the depth of Joe Dumars' detonation, depth requirements could pop up all over. In particular, the land behind Tayshaun Prince is a bit dry.

Best case scenario: Assuming Amir Johnson plays power forwards in days ahead, a smaller forward like Ryan Anderson (who has a touch of 'Sheed, at least on offense), J.J. Hickson, or Jason Thompson would look good in Pistons blue. At the end of the draft, a defensive-minded combo like DeMarcus Nelson could potentially pay dividends.

Soon after the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third year in a row, Joe Dumars fired Flip Saunders and announced that he intended to make major changes to his team's core.

At the time, it certainly seemed like Rasheed Wallace was about to receive a ticket out of town. He was painfully inconsistent when the Pistons needed him most and showed a marked lack of focus during the ill-fated playoff run.

But while Dumars is willing to make drastic changes, parting with Wallace may prove to be difficult, especially if he's determined to get equal value in return. As infuriating as Wallace's reluctance to stay in the paint on offense may be, the fact remains that he's one of the best post defenders in the league, and on a team without another legitimate center to take his place there are only a small handful of trades that'd make sense for Detroit.

t's funny how NBA coaching jobs fill up in waves -- within a matter of days Terry Porter, Vinny Del Negro and Michael Curry were all hired by the Suns, Bulls and Pistons, respectively. Only Porter has previous head coaching experience (and only two years at that), which means there will likely be a run on veteran assistant coaches for these guys to lean on.

According to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, Porter is open to Steve Kerr's suggestion to bring former Hornets and Cavs head coach Paul Silas on board as his lead assistant. Alvin Gentry, who served under Mike D'Antoni, may be retained, and Dan Majerle is also a candidate for a spot on his staff.

Considering how long it took the Bulls to settle on Del Negro, you have to wonder if they'll be able to put together a staff of assistants before the season starts. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune indicates that Bob Hill, who's been a head coach of the Knicks, Pacers, Spurs and Sonics, is being considered as the lead assistant. John Paxson is also on the record saying that he anticipates hiring one of the myriad of head coaching candidates to join Del Negro's staff. Considering Del Negro has never coached before at any level, the Bulls will probably want to surround him with an extremely experienced staff.

As for Curry, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com indicates that Dave Cowens, who served alongside Curry under Flip Saunders, will be retained. Cowens has previously coached the Hornets and Warriors (as well as the Celtics, if you include his player/coach days from 1978-79), but it's unclear if he's being considered for the lead role. Langlois added that Igor Kokoskov may follow Porter to Phoenix, but Chris McCosky of the Detroit News says that Kokoskov will also pursue head coaching opportunties in Europe.

From the pages of this year's edition of "Trade Rumors That Seem To Spring From The Ether And Return As Quickly" comes a lovely bit of speculation regarding Carmelo Anthony. There have been whispers and insinuations for a few days about Melo potentially being traded to Detroit for some set of pieces.

Combine that with Woody Paige and his WACKY ANTICS(!) and you've got yourself a legitimate piece of buzz. Except Paige's proposal, involving, among others, Anthony, Marcus Camby, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince (yes, all of them) doesn't work according to the cap rules. Nor according to logical thought (a far fetched concept in NBA GMs, I know, but we're talking Dumars, here). Not according to Melo's agent. It does not work on a train, it does not work on a plane. It does not work with the freight, it does not work with BAC of .148. It will not work, Woody You Are, it does not work, not by far.

It seems that more and more the trades that involve two teams talking to each other repeatedly almost never fall through. Conversely, big trades that just "spring up" like the Shaquille O'Neal trade or even the Pau Gasol heist are much more effective. But if you're a fan of the "where there's smoke, there's Carmelo Anthony" approach, throw this one on the pile, see if it lights.

Joe Dumars took the high road when announcing Flip Saunders' dismissal last week by refusing to dwell on Saunders' failings. One thing he did let slip, though, was how disappointed he was in Amir Johnson's playing time in the playoffs and the regular season.

Michael Curry will be introduced as Saunders' successor later today, and I don't think it's a stretch at all to assume a prerequisite for the job was sharing Dumars' hopes for Johnson to see more time in 2008-09. Why does a 21-year-old reserve merit so much attention? Because he's the most athletic player on Detroit's roster, and despite extremely inconsistent minutes, he's one of the most productive players in the entire league.

Wait, one of the most productive players in the league? Indeed, and that's not an exaggeration. This made it's rounds on the blogosphere a couple of weeks ago, but the blog Count the Basket compared seven different advanced metrics for evaluating player performance independent of playing time, and Johnson rated favorably in almost all of them:

Another eye-popper is seeing Amir Johnson, the 21-year-old Detroit power forward who's been riding the pine in the playoffs, ranked first in the league in Adjusted Plus/Minus. This actually isn't as great an anomaly as might be expected - Johnson rated rather well across the board. His consensus ranking was 15th. He was rated lowest by PER (64th), but he ranked 11th in Win Shares and 20th in Statistical Plus/Minus. Obviously one has to use some caution considering he played under 800 minutes on the season, but the fact that he rated well in several metrics could be a good sign for the future.

An avalanche of hires! Following news Chicago has picked Vinny Del Negro to lead its corps(e), Detroit radio station WDFN reports the Pistons have hired Michael Curry to take over for the deposed Flip Saunders (via BallHype).

Like Del Negro, Curry has limited bench background. However, M.C. does have an illustrious resume with the league, having worked as the president of the Players Association for much of his career and spending time with the league as its veep of player development. Curry also spent the past year next to Flip on Detroit's bench, and reportedly has strong relationships with the players.

Del Negro's a veritable blank slate. But you'd assume -- based on Joe Dumars' ideals and Curry's playing-days oeuvre -- that Detroit under M.C. will be a defensive outfit for the most part. It helps that the team remains chalk full of able defenders, and also with offensive firecrackers. Barring a surprisingly full detonation (possible), Curry's already halfway to the playoffs. The key will be in making it back to The Finals in due time (says Captain T. Z. Obvious).

That's all the job openings, folks, unless Mike Woodson meets his demise (which seems strangely possible, given Sekou Smith's latest dispatch).

According to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, multiple sources have confirmed that Suns GM Steve Kerr called Pistons assistant Terry Porter this morning to offer him the Suns' vacant head coaching job, which Porter accepted. A. Sherrod Blakely, who covers the Pistons for Booth Newspapers, doesn't think the offer has arrived just yet, but expects it will soon:

Terry Porter may very well wind up coaching the Phoenix Suns. But a source who has had discussions with Porter today, said the Pistons assistant had yet to receive an offer from the Suns as of 3:40 EST.

When an offer comes - and there's a very good chance that it will come sometime later today - Porter is expected to accept it immediately with a press conference likely scheduled for Tuesday.

Whatever the case may be, it certainly seems like Porter will be heading west. Porter has always been one of the leading candidates for the job. If you recall, Kerr flew into Michigan to interview Porter while the Pistons were awaiting the winner of the Boston/Cleveland series, and Porter was among the select handful of candidates to interview a second time last week.

Porter has two years of experience under his belt, guiding the Bucks to the playoffs with a 41-41 record in 2003-04 before injuries caught up with his squad and the Bucks stumbled to a 30-52 mark in 2004-05. The Bucks opted not to let Porter coach the final year of their contract in hopes of hiring Flip Saunders or Nate McMillan, though they ultimately missed on both. The last two years, Porter has served as an assistant with the Pistons.