Joe Dumars Next to Go in Mo-Town?

If I were a fan of the Detroit Pistons, I would want Joe Dumars fired immediately.

After the Pistons advanced to the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, Dumars had a Hall of Fame coach in Larry Brown, a deep and versatile roster filled with team-first players, and the second pick in the '03 draft, courtesy of the Memphis Grizzlies. With the chance to select Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, or Chris Bosh, Dumars instead took teenage Croatian center Darko Milicic.

In spite of the wasted Milicic pick, the Pistons did win the 2004 championship. But instead of evolving into a dynasty, which should have been Detroit's fortune, they never won another title. They lost to the Spurs in the '05 Finals and then proceeded to lose in the Conference Finals the next three years (Heat, Cavaliers, Celtics) before bottoming out and being swept in the first round this year by the Cavs.

During that time after blowing the '03 draft and winning the '04 title, Brown left the Pistons, the roster was never improved enough to put the Pistons over the hump to win another championship, and Brown's capable replacement, Flip Saunders, was fired for not advancing past the Conference Finals in three attempts and replaced by Dell Curry, who had no previous head coaching experience.

Dumars made his biggest mistake this season by trading his best overall player, Chauncey Billups, the perfect combination of passing, scoring, defense, and toughness, to the Nuggets for the infinitely selfish Allen Iverson. After the failed season with AI, the Pistons fired Curry and allowed Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and Antonio McDyess to enter free agency. It gave Dumars and the Pistons roughly $20 million in salary cap space to attract free agents.

Of course, one must remember that it is Joe Dumars, the same guy who drafted Milicic, the same guy who traded Billups for Iverson, the same guy who dumped Saunders for Curry, spending this money.

Fittingly, Dumars spent his money on two good players who in no way make the Pistons contenders to win the championship in 2010. He gave guard Ben Gordon a 5-year, $55 million deal and then handed forward Charlie Villanueva a 5-year, $40-million deal.

That gives the Pistons a roster that still has more questions than answers.

They have no true point guard. They have three shooting guards, Rip Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Gordon, who all need the ball in their hands to be successful. They have one good small forward in Tayshaun Prince. They have no threat in the post. Villanueva is more dangerous from the perimeter and neither Kwame Brown or Jason Maxiell make opposing defenses lose any sleep.

Dumars also wasted his first round pick this year to select Gonzaga's Austin Daye, who is no more than a poor man's version of Prince. In the process, they skipped the chance to take a real point guard (Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, and Eric Maynor all went after Daye) or post player (Dumars passed on B.J. Mullens, DeJuan Blair, and Derrick Brown).

Dumars did land Georgetown power forward DaJuan Summers in the second round, but considering their lack of talent inside, using both of their top two picks on big men would have been a wiser choice.

As a Celtics fan, I couldn't be any happier with Dumars inability to keep the Pistons a contender. However, all of you Pistons fans out there need to find a way to get Dumars out of power before things get any worse.