Will Joe Dumars have another shot in the NBA?
NBA Update: It’s been nearly three years since Joe Dumars stepped aside as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons.
Since then, he’s been all over the place — visiting family and friends down south, and traveling the world meeting basketball minds at all levels.
But he’s back in the United States now, and in an interview on The Vertical podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski says he’s open to another NBA executive gig.
“I would be interested to build another team,” said Dumars, a Hall of Fame player who spent 14 seasons as president in Detroit. “That appeals to me. The second thing is, I think the thing you look for in situations is the ability to build a culture, as opposed to ability to build a team.
“For quite some time, apart from building a really good team — we also built a culture, a mindset. How everybody believed in each other and how everybody saw us a group. And I’m talking about everybody in the organization.”
Dumars was Pistons president from 2000 to 2014, a tenure that included six straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals, two NBA Finals appearances and a title in 2004.
The Goin’-to-Work Pistons were known for their stingy defense and physical play, a trait similar to that of the Bad Boys-era team of the late 1980s. As a player, Dumars helped Detroit to back-to-back NBA titles in 1988 and 1989.
“A culture is everyone in an organization feeling a certain way about each other,” Dumars said. “From video to coaches to secretaries, to everyone in the organization feeling this. And I got that from my initial days of playing. It’s like Chuck Daly and Isiah (Thomas) and Jack McCloskey, who was the GM at the time.
“You build a culture — and there was a name put to it, it was the ‘Bad Boys.’ But beyond that, what I learned is you have to have an identity. And not only do you have to have an identity, but you have to embrace your identity.”
Dumars resigned from his post in April 2014 after six straight losing seasons. Since then, he said he spent the first year making up for lost time with family and friends.
He was able to return to his native Louisiana over the holidays, and come Feb. 1 he was there with his mother to celebrate her birthday.
“I hadn’t done that in almost 30 years,” Dumars said. “My family was doing those things. For 30 years, I was never, ever there.”
The last year-plus, Dumars traversed the world, from spending time with his son’s team in Germany to meeting with friends and coaches in the EuroLeague, to picking the brain of Texas’ Shaka Smart and LSU’s Johnny Jones and visiting old friends John Hammond (Milwaukee Bucks) and Scott Perry (Orlando Magic) in the NBA.
“For me, it’s been great to be able to get away and see people do it differently than what I did for the last 28 years in Detroit,” Dumars said. “For me, it’s been absolutely great and necessary. And it’s been refreshing.”
PISTONS NOTES:
Mahorn joins BIG3: Speaking of the Bad Boys, it was announced Wednesday Piston legend Rick Mahorn has signed on to become a coach in the Big3, a new three-on-three half-court basketball league set to launch in June.
Mahorn joins Clyde Drexler, Rick Barry, Gary Payon, George “Iceman” Gervin and Allen Iverson as coaches in the league, formed by rapper and entertainer Ice Cube. Mahorn currently serves as radio analyst for the Pistons.
Spurs sign Anthony: Ex-Piston Joel Anthony signed a 10-day contract with the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, and it didn’t take long for the news to filer to Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy.
“I texted Joel to congratulate him and asked him about his baby. I got a very cute baby picture back,” Van Gundy said. “Jade Olivia is very, very cute. So, it was fun to see. I’m always happy for a guy like that. One of the truly best professionals that you’ll ever run into in this league.”
Ish the cook? Ish Smith won a celebrity cook-off competition against teammate Darrun Hilliard Tuesday at Detroit’s Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, a public appearance as part of the NBA FIT program that promotes physical activity and healthy living.
And the winner is… @ishsmith! #PistonsFIT #NBAFit @Henryfordnews
Thanks to our judges @staceylovelace, @EarlTheTwirl & @stacygoldberg. pic.twitter.com/zGypi1kqMA
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) January 24, 2017
Category: Basketball
