The Pistons are Misfiring

In his weekly NBA Power Rankings on espn.com, Mark Stein absolutely nailed the problems that are plaguing this year’s Pistons. Stein writes, “Blame it all on Iverson's arrival if you wish. Our theory is that the Pistons know management has its eye on the future and have caved as a result. Either way, they're just not firing. Too often, Detroit no longer brings it.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. In my immediate praise of the forward-thinking Iverson trade, I neglected to consider the fragile psyche of this team. I don’t blame guys like Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace for easing off of the throttle; honestly, that’s exactly what I would expect them to do. There’ nothing wrong with them, they just aren’t exactly self-motivated guys. This is the forgotten factor that Chauncey Billups brought to the table, his ability to keep the combined craziness of Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace in check. Though he was often criticized for being too calm and cool in trying times, Billups always kept the team focused and prevented Wallace and Hamilton’s insanity from infecting the rest of the squad. Now that he’s gone, the Pistons are ruled by headcases. Nothing against Allen Iverson, he is a great leader, but he isn’t the type of leader that Billups was. Iverson leads by example, by pouring his soul out on to the floor every night, but he isn’t the type of leader that will pull his teammates aside and rip them a new one when they act like a 6 year-olds with stubbed toes. The Pistons need at least one vocal leader who commands the respect of his teammates, most notably Rasheed Wallace. Ideally, there would be both a player and coach who can gain Wallace’s respect. This was the case with Billups and Larry Brown when the Pistons won the 2004 title. Even during the last few seasons, when Flip Saunders was Rasheed’s personal doormat, Billups still kept his mates on task. Michael Curry was supposed to be the respected father figure for this year’s team. Unfortunately, he has turned out to be more like a fun uncle, afraid to deal with his nephews’ tantrums, and content to let them run the show. He has completely failed as a leader.

Lately, Curry has been undeservedly credited for taking Rip Hamilton out of the starting lineup. Michael Curry didn’t force Rip to come off the bench, the Pistons’ 5-game losing streak did. Curry was afraid to piss Hamilton off, and refused to send him to the bench, even in the face of tremendous statistical and physical evidence. Curry was only able to alter his starting five after Rip himself realized that the 3-guard lineup wasn’t going to work. If not for those losses, the Pistons would still be starting three players out of position.

In addition to his inability to handle egos and his paralyzing fear of alienating players, Curry has struggled as a tactician. Almost halfway through the season, Curry seems light years away from settling on a concrete rotation. All 12 Pistons average more than 8 minutes per game, but Amir Johnson, Kwame Brown, Walter Hermann and Will Bynum have all piled up at least 5 DNPCD’s. There is some talent on the Piston bench, but there is no team in the NBA that can successfully go 12 men deep. In Curry’s defense, he is in a tough situation with 3 guards who demand 30-plus minutes per game, but that does not excuse the debacle over which he currently presides. He hasn’t found a rotation that works, but even if he did stumble onto something successful, he doesn’t seem willing to stick to anything. With the acquisition of Iverson and a rotation that is constantly in flux, the Pistons have absolutely no semblance on continuity on either end of the floor. Without a consistent rotation, Curry cannot maintain any kind of a strategic direction. He sends out three guard lineups, but then plays a man-to-man defense rife with mismatches and refuses to use his quickness advantage to run a fast-breaking offense. He insists on playing Rodney Stuckey and Allen Iverson at the same time, when it would make more sense to separate his slashers and surround each with catch-and-shoot players like Hamilton and Arron Afflalo.

This is only one example of the Pistons’ coach dropping the ball, but at this point, there’s really no reason to chronicle each of Curry numerous tactical blunders. After all, he is a rookie coach and I understand that he might be struggling to develop a system that best suits his fairly eclectic roster. But that does not excuse the complete lack of effort put forth by the Pistons in their last two nationally televised embarrassments. Curry has lost this team and I don’t think he is going to get it back. Since this season is already a lost cause, I do not advocate firing Curry at this point and actually, I am not 100% sure that I would advocate firing Curry even after the season. More on this tomorrow…