Mutiny in the Motor City

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Head coach John Kuester of the Detroit Pistons had an extremely short bench to work with after a mini-mutiny last week. (Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)


Watching the Detroit Pistons unravel in the manner they have recently has been something to see. Last Friday's incident in Philadelphia where several players missed a morning shootaround -- rumoured to be a walkout of sorts on coach John Kuester -- brought the team's troubles boiling to the top.

You could make the argument that the Pistons were the Eastern Conference's team of the decade from 2000 to 2009.  But three years after last playing in the conference finals, the franchise is in disarray and many of their mistakes are coming home to roost.

While the team went up for sale after the death of long-time owner Bill Davidson, his widow has had trouble selling it in the post-recession economic landscape that is Michigan. A potential deal with the owner of the NHL's Red Wings and MLB's Tigers, Mike Ilitch, fell through. Now, while a sale to private equity magnate Tom Gores appears imminent, it's clear that the handcuffs placed on the franchise during the process have not helped.

However, players and management have no control over that, and much of the team's on-court problems come back to general manager Joe Dumars. While he was a great player -- the best defender Michael Jordan played, according to MJ himself -- Dumars has been a failure as a GM. Not a breathtaking failure, considering he helped build a long-term contender and the 2004 NBA champions, but a failure nonetheless.

Drafting a downward spiral

Interspersed with shrewd acquisitions like Richard Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse is drafting Darko Milicic ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade. With all due respect to his best draft pick, Tayshaun Prince in 2002, how much more success could the Pistons have had with one of the aforementioned?

The downward spiral really began in 2008 when Dumars fired coach Flip Saunders after they lost to a much better Celtics team in the Eastern Conference Finals. Replacing him with former player Michael Curry the following season resulted in a 39-43 record. Then in the summer of 2009, after trying and failing to land Avery Johnson, Dumars hired Kuester -- who was a backup plan at best. He also overpaid Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon, essentially giving the two of them major building block status as the Pistons looked to get younger.

Pistons seized up

Dumars also waited too long to trade Hamilton. When he did attempt it this season, a sullen Rip refused the offer to go to Cleveland, where he wouldn't have had to play anyways -- the woeful Cavs would have bought his contract out, leaving him the chance to join a contender.

And that's where this player mutiny comes in, allegedly led by veterans Hamilton and Prince. The torpedoing of Kuester appears venomously personal, which is why the coach's attempt to put a happy face on it after the fact looked ridiculous. Hamilton has also torpedoed his reputation. Whether Kuester is a good coach or not, the optics of a group attack from players on a bench boss are not good.

Sure, players get coaches fired all time (i.e. Magic Johnson and Paul Westhead, Dominik Hasek and Ted Nolan). But when the majority of a team -- and mostly veterans at that -- pulls a group stunt like this, it demonstrates that the inmates are running the asylum.
And for the Pistons right now, asylum is a good word.

Calderon steps up

In the Raptors' three games going into Tuesday, Jose Calderon has faced three of the best point guards in the league -- or in league history: Derrick Rose, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. Calderon has averaged almost 11 assists per game, above his season average. He was set to meet Chris Paul Tuesday and new Net Deron Williams twice in London, England, this coming weekend.

On that topic, seeing as the Raptors and Nets are the bottom two teams in the Atlantic Division, and have to cross the Atlantic to play each other, I think highest-scoring team in the two games should get something ocean-themed.

Like of one those 'pirate ships in a bottle' or something.

Big night for Thompson

Worth noting: Brampton, Ont.'s Tristan Thompson scored an NCAA career-high 26 points in Texas' 75-70 loss to Big 12 rival Kansas State Monday night.

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