Stupid Fans

The past week, countless Piston fans have chirped on the radio about Dumars destroying the team. Yesterday, a dude complained, "So Dumars basically traded Billups and Rasheed for Gordon and Villa-wave-uh?" (nobody can pronounce his name). Then today I overheard: "Bill Davidson must be turning over in his grave with how Dumars is dismantling his team. Mr. D would never have let Dumars push McDyess out of town."

Huh?

I'm the first to admit that Dumars is not a perfect GM. He may never live down the '03 draft. Yet, his moves in player personnel this summer are solid, if not stellar. Let's live in the hypothetical world where Dumars did trade Billups and Sheed for Gordon and Villanueva. That's a massive Piston upgrade. True, Billups is an all-star, but he's also going to be 33 next season. Rasheed will be 35 (same with McDyess). Gordon will be 26 and Villanueva 25. Gordon already is a 20pt scorer, and Villanueva - not quite in Rasheed's class - could blossom into a Rasheed-like threat. So, instead of allowing the Pistons to drift off into obscurity with aging players, Dumars parlayed them into two young players about to enter their prime.

As far as McDyess is concerned... Dumars did try to keep him in town. McDyess landed a 3 year / $15 million contract. I can't fault Dumars for not offering Dice a 3-year deal. Not that it would've mattered. McDyess was brutally disappointed with the Pistons last season - as we all were. He thought he was returning to a championship team and found a team in disarray. While, the additions of Gordon and Villanueva at least provide a core of players that want to be in Detroit, they are far from elite.

But why all the hate? The team can't stay elite forever. It's time to rebuild, and this summer was a good start.