Comments that Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores made after last season should worry fans in light of recent blockbuster trade proposals.
He was asked how the Pistons would move now that they had finally crawled out of the cellar and said, “Our urgency is not going to stop. … That is an organizational motto here. We have to move with urgency. The urgency is not going to change.”
On the surface these were harmless comments and things you want the owner of your favorite team to say, but given Gores’ history of “urgency,” it’s best he leaves this to Trajan Langdon.
Tom Gores: When urgency gets desperate
The Pistons finally won a playoff game for the first time since Tom Gores has owned the team, so of course we spent the summer talking about how they could blow up their roster to trade for a star.
To his credit, Trajan Langdon knows he will benefit from patience, from seeing more from his young players before he makes any rash decisions. It’s smart, and will hopefully lead to sustained success for the first time since the Goin’ to Work days.
So far, Tom Gores has stayed out of his way and hasn’t pressed for the types of big moves that have destroyed the Pistons in the past and had his fingerprints all over them.
The last time Gores felt urgency, the Pistons made the disastrous trade for Blake Griffin that yielded minimal short-term gains but doomed the team for years to come.
Gores expressed urgency when pushing to give Andre Drummond a max contract, another move that hurt the team long term, so let’s hope he’s staying out of the negotiation room with Jalen Duren.
Gores has taken a more hands-off approach in recent years, and that is a good thing, as he needs to leave the basketball stuff to the basketball people, write the checks and go back to selling phone time to prisoners or whatever it is he’s good at.
But will he get that “urgency” itch again?
We’ve seen the Devin Booker rumors resurface, and while I’ve outlined how this would be a disaster for the Pistons, it’s also the exact type of move an impatient owner with more money than common sense would push for.
Let’s hope Gores isn’t that guy anymore, as making a trade for a player like Booker would go against everything Langdon has preached since taking over as team president.