Pistons are toast, and John Kuester should have to watch until the bitter end – plus Dumars will use mid-level exception

John Kuester deserves to be fined for what he did last night.

Late in the third quarter, Ben Gordon swung his elbows to clear space and may have hit A.J. Price. Gordon was called for an offensive foul – hardly a big deal.

Kuester went off the deep end, screaming at the official who made the call. Then storming to other end of the court, he went after another official and was ejected.

When asked about the incident after the game, Kuester paused before trying to put the words together.

“It was.. I was…,” he mumbled.

He talked about the foul difference in the game and how Price flopped.* The league probably won’t take kindly to those comments. But that’s not why I think he should be fined.

Kuester got out of watching the rest of the game.

Good for him. But I want him to pay. If the rest of us have to suffer through the end of this season, so should he. No early exits.

*Kuester also said Gordon’s offensive foul took away the Pistons’ momentum. I knew things had gotten low this year, but I didn’t realize it’s so bad the 5-0 run the Pacers were on, which expanded their lead to 11, when the foul occurred counts as momentum for Detroit.

The Pistons lost, 98-83 – and it was only that close because the Pacers are terrible. With Ben Wallace out, Detroit doesn’t have the players or fire to even compete with lottery teams.

I wish I could say the players should give full effort no matter what – like Tayshaun Prince, who had 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He’s seemingly gone back to the robot-like player who can do a little bit of everything as long as you don’t ask him to do too much. He just puts his head, doesn’t think about his role and does his job.

For the most part, I like players who think and share their feelings. But I prefer this Prince. When Prince thinks and shares his feelings, he’s been a malcontent and distracted by criticism. I don’t want him shut his brain off all the time, but it might serve him best to do it around basketball.

But he’s the exception. How can these players not be worn down by this season? It stinks. A lot of this team is used to winning, and this isn’t easy to deal with. It shouldn’t be easy to deal with.

I can’t take much more, either. I don’t want to hear George Blaha getting excited about the Pistons cutting a 16-point deficit to 11 or calling it a huge possession down 11 later in the game. I understand it’s job, and I don’t begrudge him, but it’s annoying – especially after he’s had to say similar things all season.

Before this game, Chris Iott of Mlive wrote:

"If the Pistons cannot muster enough energy and effort to beat the Pacers, it means they have waved the white flag."

I’m not one for putting too much stock into a single game. But I’m ready to surrender, too. Let’s get past these final 11 games as quickly as we can.

Joe Dumars plans to use mid-level exception

Here’s the real news of the night:

Joe Dumars said in an interview with Eli Zaret that aired during tonight’s telecast he plans to use the mid-level exception this summer to acquire a quality player.

I was worried with the economy down in the area, coupled with his desire to sign Will Bynum, that Dumars wouldn’t use the MLE this year. Thankfully, it’s in the cards.

Dumars also said he plans to acquire a quality player through the draft and another via trade (which indicates he’s not looking to dump Richard Hamilton for an expiring contract – at least not as the only deal of the summer).

That’s a plan I can get behind.