Opinion: State of the Pistons

While their history may be legendary, the past few years for the Detroit Pistons’ basketball organization have been the complete opposite.

The Pistons have not made the playoffs since 2009 and these past four years have been brutal on the organization. They have finished No. 12 (2010), No. 11 (2011), No. 10 (2012) and No. 11 (2013) in the Eastern Conference over the past four years and just have not been able to pull themselves out of their slump.

Along with their poor records, they have not had the best coaches either.

Both John Kuester and Lawrence Frank did not prove to be successful coaches and, honestly, should not have even been considered for the job. Kuester had been an assistant coach his entire career up at that point and Lawrence Frank did not even play college basketball.

Honestly, I believe that our misfortunes revolve around one man, President of Basketball Operations, Joe Dumars.

Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Dumars had an outstanding run as Pistons President from 2000-2009, but I truly believe that Joe is mentally burnt out. Over the past four years, his management operations have been very questionable and as a result, he has impacted the success of the Pistons.

Coaching selections such as Lawrence Frank and John Kuester didn’t turn out for the better, and to be honest, I truly don’t believe that their current coach, Maurice Cheeks, is a good fit for the team.

As of recent, the team has added on some impressive talent (Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith and Andre Drummond), but the pieces have to work in order for it all to be a success.

The season is not over yet, but the Pistons still have plenty of work to accomplish in order to once again rise to the top of the NBA.

Firstly, they must end this playoff drought and crack into the postseason. Whether as the No. 1 or No. 8 seed, the Pistons need to make the playoffs to boost their confidence and show how much they have improved.

Second, if necessary, the Pistons need to fire Maurice Cheeks and hire an NBA coach with great coaching success under his belt. No matter how much money they have to dish out, picking up a good coach will be worth every single penny if he can get them to the postseason.

Lastly, they need to get the front office under control. Joe Dumars is an NBA legend and has great success as the Pistons’ president. But if their fortunes do not change by the end of this season, I have no doubt that Dumars will be a thing of the past.

While the rest of the NBA season looms and the future is unknown, one thing is for certain – the Pistons must improve their ways. If their misfortunes continue for much longer, I do not think anyone in this world, let alone the league, will ever take the Pistons seriously again.


Ashanti Seabron is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports.