Still Misfiring

The results of last few games have made it patently clear that the Pistons are far from finished with the much-needed overhaul of their franchise. Another thing that seems to be patently clear is that nobody not named LeBron is going lead a team to the Eastern conference title in the next couple of years. The Pistons’ window is closed for now, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t reopen in a couple of years if some necessary changes are made. This offseason, Joe Dumars needs to let Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson, Walter Hermann, and Kwame Brown go, freeing up just under $41 million in salary cap room (which I will discuss in a later post) as well as giving the coach the opportunity to retake control of the team’s psyche. Will Michael Curry be that coach? That all depends on his relationship with one player: Rodney Stuckey. As the point guard and the team’s best player (if he isn’t already, he definitely will be next year), Stuckey will be the de facto floor leader of the 2009-2010 Detroit Pistons. Successful NBA coaches from Phil Jackson to Doc Rivers have shown that the most important quality in a head coach is the ability to earn the respect of his stars and keep them happy. Stuckey is a star in the making and if Curry can build a healthy relationship with him while showing any kind of a talent for X’s and O’s, he would earn my full endorsement. Let’s see what he can do.