Maurice Cheeks Fired But What About Joe Dumars? [BLOG]
By: Mike Stone
@stoney16
After just 50 games, the Maurice Cheeks era is over. Pistons owner Tom Gores had President and General Manager Joe Dumars lower the boom on Sunday. It was painfully obvious that Cheeks was not the right guy to coach this group of talented but mismatched players. Cheeks' greatest attribute was he was not afraid to stand up to his players and bench them when their effort was deemed unacceptable. However the constant meltdowns in the fourth quarter were obviously too much for the Pistons absentee owner.
But what about the guy who hired Cheeks. The guy who also hired the previous three coaching jokes is still employed today. Joe Dumars has been the General Manager since 2000. The first half of his tenure was excellent, giving the area a proud franchise to go along with a title and six Eastern Conference Final appearances.
The last part has been Millenesque. How about five coaches in five years. Do the names Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Walter Sharpe, Austin Daye, and Allen Iverson mean anything? Do overpaying people like Hamilton, Maxiell, Prince, andStuckey mean anything? This franchise is a joke right now and the main reason is Joe Dumars has failed as the man responsible for hiring the coaches and putting together the roster.
I don't care if this team makes the playoffs or not. I think they are still headed in the wrong direction and they do not have a general manager to get them on the right path. Joe Dumars should not have the right to hire the next full time head coach or draft the next Piston. He should have been sent packing along with Cheeks.
