Usually after each season I write a little post about the Detroit Pistons season and after the last 4 years, it’s been one of disappointment. We all know the story about how the Pistons won the title in 2004 and despite being minutes from repeating 2005, haven’t gotten back to the Finals. They’ve been eliminated in each of the last three seasons by Miami, Cleveland and Boston.

Usually emotion would get the best of me and I would start calling for heads to roll. Trade Ben Wallace! Trade Rasheed Wallace! Fire Flip Saunders! Read for yourself: 2006 and 2007

Well, I waited just long enough for the dust to settle, because Joe Dumars is doing all the venting for me.

Today he fired Flip Saunders. He also announced that no player on the roster was safe from being traded. The formerly “sacred” starting 4/5 of Billups, Hamilton, Prince and Wallace were now on the market, as penance for their lackluster effort and for not getting it done 3 years in a row. Joe’s words, not mine.

I imagine that veterans like Antonio McDyess (who actually did play hard) and Lindsey Hunter (expected to take a Pistons Assistant Coaching job) won’t be moved. I also expect that budding rookies and 1-2 year players Stuckey, Afflalo, Johnson and Maxiell can feel pretty safe. They all did what they were asked to do.

But this is truly the beginning of the end for the 2003-08 Detroit Pistons. They’ve reigned over the Eastern Conference for 6 years, have only 1 NBA title and 2 Eastern Conference titles to show for it — more than most teams yes, but we’re speaking relatively here — and it’s time for a change.

I can’t say what I would do if I were in Dumars’ shoes. Probably exactly what he is doing. Getting a new coach, and letting the NBA know that he’s open to a deal. Guys that have been off the market for 6 years are now being shopped. I think anyone of them can still contribute given the right atmosphere that a new coach can potentially provide.

I think Flip Saunders can be a great coach. He made the Detroit Pistons a great regular season team. But he wasn’t the right kind of person that this team demanded. In the Playoffs they needed a hard-ass. They needed Larry Brown to not take any shit and tell them exactly what to do. Flip’s not that kind of guy, that thats not a knock on Flip. He just belongs somewhere where his talents can be utilized in a much better way. I would not be surprised to see him in Phoenix next year.

I was really down on the Pistons after they lost this year. But now I’m excited because it’s a new era. It will be exciting to check the sports news and see if anything has changed in the D. It will be exciting to see how a new coach will run the Pistons of tomorrow. It will be exciting to see if they can maintain the level of excellence they are now synonymous with.

It should go without saying, but I’m still a Pistons fan through and through.

Tags: nba, pistons