Empty the Bench

The Detroit Pistons’ meltdown in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics was painful to watch, at least if you’re a Pistons fan.

Tayshaun Prince couldn’t buy a bucket in shooting a woeful 32% from the field over that six-game series… and his trademark man defense did little to stop Paul Pierce from having perhaps the best overall series of his playoff career. Chauncey Billups couldn’t slow down the much-quicker Rajon Rondo, and Rasheed Wallace was outplayed in every phase of the game—at both ends of the floor—by his counterpart and longtime on-court rival, Kevin Garnett. And, as usual, the ass of then head coach Flip Saunders puckered up in crunchtime and he failed to make any decisive adjustments or to inspire his team.

It was a collective disappointment, and the long finger of blame was deservedly pointed at the sum of the parts, not one or two of them. As usual, however, it was the head coach who took a lion’s share of the criticism and to whom the axe fell most fatally upon—Saunders was fired and replaced with assistant coach Michael Curry. GM Joe Dumars famously announced that just about everyone on the team could be had for trade, but nothing transpired to his liking.

All of the regulars are back for what could (finally) be there last chance to win it all, again. To hear the players say it, there’s a renewed sense of dedication, enthusiasm, and team unity under Curry. Oh, guys like ‘Sheed and Billups and Rip Hamilton have fully accepted some of the blame for what happened against the Celtics, but this week Wallace and Hamilton have made clear their disdain for how Saunders ran the team.

Here’s what Rasheed Wallace had to say:

“No, he wasn’t (tough enough). In my opinion, he wasn’t. He let too many things slide. And that goes as far as myself, and what some of my teammates have done,” said Wallace. “If you mess up a guy’s desk and throw coffee on it every day and he doesn’t do anything to stop you, are you going to respect him? It was just with us as vets and he really didn’t want to listen to us. That’s what really hurt him.”

“But we can’t cry over spilled milk now. We just have to go out and prove to all the naysayers that are saying we’re too old and our window is closed and all this and that — we have to prove them wrong.”

And Rip Hamilton:

“I was disappointed at the way Flip (Saunders) did things, that was the frustrating thing about it,” said Hamilton. “I don’t want to talk about (Saunders), either,” he said. “It’s a new season, and I am glad [Michael Curry] is the coach. You can’t look to the past. I am glad to move on and focus on the season ahead of us.”

Surprised at these comments? Me neither.

It was crystal clear to anybody paying attention that Saunders didn’t command the attention of this veteran group at the same level as Larry Brown did. That’s not necessarily a criticism of Saunders, just a fact. And let’s face it, Brown was a tough act to follow and Saunders admirably led this team to a franchise-best 64-18 record in 2005-06 and to three straight Conference Finals. He just didn’t get them back in the Big Dance, and you can’t fire the players, so…

We’ll soon see if the Pistons better react to Curry’s messages than they did to Saunders, and if that will translate to a reappearance in the NBA Finals. A lot of people don’t think they can do it, but despite my obvious biases I really believe they have as good of a shot at winning at all as any other team does. Either way, it’s pretty clear that the Flip Saunders Era, for now, is not being looked upon with fondness by some of these Pistons.

Related Reading:
- ETB’s Scribes of the NBA Interview Series - Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys
- ETB’s Scribes of the NBA Interview Series - Natalie Sitto of Need4Sheed.com
- Flip Saunders Officially Fired by Detroit Pistons

Flip Saunders Photo Credit: Icon SMI