Thursday, June 17, 2004
The Pistons' executive likes the future make-up of his team.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Joe Dumars was sporting an NBA championship hat and T-shirt while chewing on an unlit cigar.
Almost two hours after Detroit beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, the Pistons' president of basketball operations was still smiling.
"I don't even smoke," Dumars said. "But I just felt like Red Auerbach, so I grabbed a cigar and I threw it in my mouth."
There could be more championship cigars in Dumars' near future.
Optimism
"Maybe we don't have two superstars like the Lakers, but we've got five stars in their own way in the starting lineup and a lot of other solid players," Dumars said. "We've got the best of both worlds because we won now, and we can win in the years to come."
With a starting lineup of players 29 or younger, salary cap space and a Hall of Fame coach, the Pistons seem like a team built to last.
Before thinking about the championship possibilities of the future, however, the Pistons and their fans planned to celebrate today with a parade in downtown Detroit and a rally at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Detroit stunned the Lakers with a group of unselfish castoffs.
The MVP of the NBA Finals was Chauncey Billups, who was on five teams in his first four seasons before finding a good fit in Detroit two years ago.
Ben Wallace, the team's only All-Star, wasn't even drafted out of college. Wallace was a little known player when he came to the Pistons in the Grant Hill trade four years ago in what was Dumars' first major move as an executive.
Even the volatile Rasheed Wallace fit in, and helped turn a contender into a champion.
"We're a team full of misfits, but these misfits are world champions," said Corliss Williamson, who once played for three teams in two years. "A lot of teams are probably kicking themselves right now for losing all the guys in this locker room.
"We did a great job of coming together, and playing hard as a team. I think a reason we won is that we're a bunch of very hungry misfits."
Wallace's future
Re-signing Rasheed Wallace is Detroit's No. 1 priority this off-season.
Wallace, an unrestricted free agent who made $17 million this season, declined to talk about his future plans Tuesday night -- just as he's done since Feb. 19 when he was acquired for reserves and draft picks in a three-team trade.
Dumars said his approach to re-signing Wallace will be simple.
"I'm just going to ask him, 'What's not to like?' " Dumars said, "and I'll tell him we'll do everything in our power to bring him back."
With a 100-87 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Pistons won their first title since Dumars helped them win their second straight in 1990.
Just three years ago, they were 32-50.
"This is an unreal feeling," he said, shaking his head from side to side. "This is the most satisfying feeling I've ever had in basketball, 10 times more than when I was a player."