It's funny to me. Detroit and Dumars take almost the EXACT opposite approach as the Rockets and Morey. It's almost the definition of the dichotomy between a former player running the front office as opposed to a business/mathematician running things. Morey's analysis tells him to strictly stay away from players like Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings, but Dumars' philosophy is to get the names and worry about the wins later.
They need to trade Greg Monroe for a Small Forward who can shoot. Monroe has a pretty polished offensive game but he doesn't play defense and he forces them to play Josh Smith at small forward a lot. Having not a single player in the front court who can shoot from long range is a problem. And the paint is way too crowded. Additionally, there is entirely too much stupid on that team. It's a sad situation in Detroit. The only reason they went out and spent all of that money on Jennings and Smith is because Dumars is desperately trying to hold on to his job. What they should have done is saved their cap room and kept tanking for another season. If they picked up a top 5 pick this year and had all of that cap room next season - good lord. Can you imagine having Drummond, Monroe, one of Wiggins, Parker, Randle, Smart, Embiid, Exum, etc and then all of that cap room in the 2014 free agent class? With Drummond breaking out the way he is, I think you'd be able to talk somebody better than Smith or Jennings into joining that squad. But nope. This is it. And the best they can hope for is that trading Monroe for a sharp shooting small forward will happen.
Poor roster construction. If they had a remotely respectable PG they might have a couple extra wins though.
Excepts Morey's approach is still unproven while Joe Dumar's has won them 1 championship, 2 Conference championships and other team accolades along the way.
I'd say Dumars philosophy is not about names, it's about getting the best possible talent, even if it's talent with some character question, or underachieving talent, or if there's questionable fit with the current roster. Another piece to his method is compiling as much talent as possible and then making moves. I'd say Dumars and Morey are quite similar. There's that same power trader mentality, there's 'talent first' attitude. Morey is like Dumars 2.0, he's more active, he makes all those picks trades, and he does a great job when it comes to gaining financial flexibility and then taking advantage of it. With Dumars it's more simple -- "I'm going to collect the most talented players I can get and then I'll see what I can get for them."
Jennings needs to see a shooting coach, his shot is weird. He involves off hand too much. He's fine when he spots up but when he takes shots off the dribble it doesn't work well. But overall, he's playing pretty well. Looking to engage teammates this year. He is respectable and adequately paid.
Or just trade a pick + some of their expirings for a shooting SF. I'm ok with them starting Smith at SF as long as he doesn't play too many minutes at that spot. Smith-Monroe (at center) is very nice. Monroe-Drummond is also nice. If they can mostly play one of these pairs (as opposed to all 3 of them), and surround them with 3 shooters, it's going to be great. Which is where they seem to be doing more and more. Nothing wrong with Smith starting at SF and playing a few minutes there, as long as they get someone better than Singler for most of the SF minutes. Maybe Boston would give them Jeff Green for some picks and expirings.
I'd say Knicks. Or Lakers. Jennings is decent. KCP is a gem, he's like Shumpert with more talent as a shooter. Well, he's a worse ball handler than Shumpert but Shumpert is poor decision maker with the ball so that's not much of an advantage. Stuckey is a pretty good 6th man. Their backcourt is ok-ish, considering how much talent they have up front. Just give them all some time to gel and if possible add a SF shooter.
It blows my mind how quickly people will overlook these factors when evaluating a team. Most start pointing fingers at a coach, or a specific player any time the talent on paper doesn't translate into wins. With picks like Drummon, Detroit drated talent over need. Almost always the right call in my mind, but it's left them with a clogged front court. Much like ours, only our centers don't have Monroe's shooting touch. Detroit also lacks quality depth, and front-court.
Detroit signed Josh Smith and Jennings with the idea of trading Jennings/Monroe and picks for Rajon Rondo. The problem is Jennings is just not a Celtic player. Ainge is too too smart to ever be interested in trading for a lunkhead like him.
Just looking at his points and assists, the man is a beast. Then you take a look at his shooting percentages.
