The welfare of General Motors is amid restoration of hope and growth. It almost financially relapsed, the best automaker in America in the middle of an economic downturn, but lately, sales virtually increased.
It's quite wonderful that GM has survived the catastrophe, unlike one of the dumbfounded sports franchises in the NBA, located in the Motor City. Brand-wise, it's utterly soothing to recognize that Buick is respectively raising in sale rates. That's not true for the Detroit Pistons, an NBA team sadly defaced by the helplessness of bewildered and stubborn-minded executives in the front office.
Uh, oh!!
This spells trouble for the Pistons, damned by president Joe Dumars' poor decisions. Although he vowed to become a masterful team executive, turning Detroit into a relevant contender last decade when the renaissance era created a sense of humanity in a town that had experienced sports woes, he could have lost control of the franchise he once built a foundation for as a mastermind.
Under these circumstances, he's lost control of the Pistons, which sadly poisons Detroit and smothers any postseason dreams until the frequent problems of unhappiness in the locker room among the coaching staff and team players is resolved.
What the Pistons have is absurdly tumult and perhaps distress which is preventable, only if he demands control with his louder voice to end the churlish feuds and moodiness, the type of quarrel that could actually divide a group of players and destroy morale.
In the last week, seven Pistons players bailed on second-year coach John Kuester on Friday and reportedly staged a boycott of the team's shootaround to express their unhappiness with an unnoticed coach. It's not a sign of good news, but a sign of disdain and negligence for a head coach with obviously no principles or advice to transcend the proper standards as a well-respected leader.
The state of the Pistons dysfunction is anything but intact or healthy for moving forward, and it's on the fringe of disastrous matters if Dumars refuse to dismiss Kuester. The level of disappointment entirely throughout the Pistons organization is awful, particularly when each player on the team reaches a palpable level of mutual aversion towards the man in control, a problem that could present more issues if the players aren't listening to his suggestions on the floor.
Kuester was ignored greatly in prior games and, on other occasions, was unnoticed in shootaround and practices. But even more so, unsurprisingly, he has an ireful relationship with the disgruntled Rip Hamilton ever since he benched him in late January, an ongoing feud that forced the Pistons players to evoke a boycott. Profoundly embedded in stupidity, his image is shattered for the bad publicity in the news, unprofessionally boycotting the shootaround in attempt to send a point across to Dumars.
After all this, of course, it disunified the Pistons and the insubordination clearly defined the players as the bad boys of Detroit and Dumars as the weakest link, unwilling to regain the upper hand before the organization easily falls apart. The turbulence causes mood swings on the Pistons roster, even more so last week when the Pistons basically quit on their coach in efforts to provoke the firing of Kuester in a protest Hamilton and Tracy McGrady allegedly plotted and inspired half of the roster to miss out on shootaround.
This is merely a blameworthy incident on Dumars' behalf, which doesn't overshadow the saboteur, someone responsible for the plights over the last few seasons. He was a mad genius at one point during his tenure. He was the architect of considerably the Pistons unbelievable achievements in franchise history, and accumulated six consecutive appearances in the Eastern Conference finals from 2003 to 2008 and won an unforeseen NBA championship in 2004.
He masterfully built the essentials of star power, fame and creativity with his brilliant maneuvers, amazingly relieving the doubt of failure, improving upon the NBA to embark on postseason quests and an eventual celebration in the championship.The result, for a general manager, was that he protected his job status and had been the proper voice to elicit any personnel decisions, but now, it's a different result as he suddenly languishes.
The latest slip ups jeopardize his job security, from the rift with Hamilton and Kuester, additional conflict that exploded and transformed the players' attitudes when Hamilton erupted in a verbal attack with Kuester during practice, describing his coach as a failure.
It's not easy to dismiss the lack of professionalism and the destruction, especially when Hamilton is the highest-paid Piston. It was uncalled for to hear a team captain lack common sense and act inappropriately, no matter what he thinks of his coach, no matter if he feels Kuester is inflaming rage among his teammates.
How often do you hear a story this awful??
Not often do we hear a story like this one, simply because professional teams are careful in allowing feuds of being broadcasted publicly. As for Hamilton, he's the focal point in this uproar of activity, ridiculed for foolishly being the problem-child, not the veteran leader of a team in need of direction and guidance, but instead petulant over a pity altercation between him and Kuester.
It's very hard, in hindsight, with the lack of professionalism, the lack of urgency and the lack of wisdom, not to blame Dumars for the dismal collapse in a decline of late. Back when he was conservative, back when he was fine in taking a risk, flashing back to the moment he selected Darko Milicic with the second overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and passed on Carmelo Anthony, a mistake that still is agonizing to the Pistons.
In everything from awful draft picks to hiring coaches on a regular basis, Kuester happens to be the Pistons third coach in six seasons. Kuester, meanwhile, is the second unworthy coach that Dumars has hired, for some weird reason committing to coaches with thin resumes. The peripheral grudges, without any altruism by the way the fans or players may feel, hasn't channeled Dumars' attention to emotionally terminate Kuester, and instead he released a statement that said he was "in full support" of Kuester.
Because it's rare for the team president to defend a coach, by reputation, his explanation is baffling and it would be idiotic to hold on to a head coach that no one admires playing for, no one listens to, and lastly, no one respects whatsoever. If Kuester returns next season, it would be very shocking.
It's evident that Dumars seriously needs to hire a new coach to begin next season on a positive note. Where Dumars flubbed so hopelessly is when he traded Chauncey Billups, the centerpiece of the Pistons' fruition in recent memory, for a rebellious Allen Iverson, who instantly sabotaged the dynamics with his selfishness and egoism by quitting on the Pistons after Curry told him that he wasn't a starter but a second-unit player.
That led to the firing of Michael Curry, a mentor for many of the players, which was a stunning departure. A startled Dumars cost the Pistons immensely, when he never pulled the trigger on a deal that would have sent Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince and Hamilton to the Celtics for Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo before the 2009 season.
The voice in the front office, such is Dumars, turned down the deal unbelievably to ignite another setback, and then he dealt Rasheed Wallace in 2004, an ingredient for the Pistons championship pursuit. Assuming he can survive and flourish with a pair of young players, he signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to lucrative contracts in 2009, but needlessly squandered a combine $100 million on two role players. If Dumars has a sense of pride, he would step down immediately and shield his reputation.
If several players were seen taunting and laughing while a game was in process when Kuester was ejected, on a team with no chemistry and remains dispirited with the head coach, it's specifically a foregone conclusion that he's at the end of his tenure, a term ending all so miserably just as much as Dumars.
-Jonathan Mathis
