We’ve spent many years stewing together in collective misery over the biggest mistakes Joe Dumars made (if any … are there still commenters out there defending Dumars? I’ve been out of the loop for a while … let me know), but the most pointless (and fun) of those revolved around players who were mostly glued to the bench in Detroit, were given away for little return and blossomed into productive players with proper development elsewhere.
For years, the topic centered on three players — Amir Johnson, Arron Afflalo and Carlos Delfino. All three were likable, seemed hard-working and had small but vocal proponents during their time as Pistons begging for them to get minutes before ultimately being shipped out to bring in higher priced luminaries such as Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Chris Wilcox.
An interesting subplot this season has been the contributions other, shall we say, more frustrating former Pistons who couldn’t complain about a lack of minutes during their tenures, have made on new teams.
Brandon Knight shockingly put up a stat line in Milwaukee that looked vaguely like Dwyane Wade with a 3-point shot. Rodney Stuckey hit 39 percent (GTFOH) of his threes this year and was a major reason an Indiana team that had no business sniffing the playoffs might make the playoffs. Charlie Villanueva — Charlie Villanueva! — is a rotation player on a playoff team. Ben Gordon … well, Ben Gordon is still bad, but he somehow convinced another franchise to give him a multi-year deal. Austin Daye is a NBA champion. You get the picture.
It doesn’t matter whether a player was over-utilized or under-utilized, many players morphed into their better selves after becoming former Pistons. With Dumars gone and trying to inherit Anthony Davis, it’s no longer even fun or instructive to lament his track record. It’s just maddening to continuously look around the league and see former Pistons players utilized to their fullest potential on teams that are not the Pistons.
But listen … the last seven years of mostly uninspired basketball have turned me into a stupid, loudmouth fan who complains about everything. I also have no shame admitting that there are guys I’m openly rooting against — no offense — as punishment for making me watch them play for years. As much as I loved players like Johnson and Afflalo, desperately wanted them to play more as Pistons and was ultimately happy they found success in better situations elsewhere, there is a super petty side that can find no pleasure in seeing certain former Pistons succeed on better teams. So here are my two choices for former Pistons I can’t root for:
- Stuckey: He’s the reason they traded Chauncey Billups. He made the ancient, one-legged, barely-in-shape Tracy McGrady look like a competent point guard by comparison. He wore Ben Wallace’s number. I love this year’s Pacers team of nobodies who fought to stay in the playoff race until the last day of the season, but can’t deny that part of me hates that Stuckey’s tough, heady play and improved shooting has been a major part of that success.
- Daye: During Lawrence Frank’s uninteresting career as Pistons coach, I had plenty of back-and-forths with commenters who were adamant that Frank was a terrible coach for playing veteran Damien Wilkins at the expense of developing Daye. The problem? Daye wasn’t even close to as good as the non-factor Wilkins. I don’t have anything against Daye, but I can’t root for his success either. I also will forever root against those commenters who made me half-heartedly defend Lawrence Frank.
Your turn to vote, or if I’ve left someone out, let me know in the comments.