by Grand Rapid Press

Chauncey Billups is gone and an inconsistent Rodney Stuckey as their future? Michael Curry still is their coach? Another skinny big man in the NBA draft in Austin Daye from Gonzaga who likes to sit outside and shoot? What is Joe Dumars thinking?

I don't see where he is taking this franchise. I understand they went to the Eastern Conference finals six consecutive years before this past season. But they deserve a reloading rather than rebuilding phase.

Great runs by any team earn some downtime, but what we have witnessed since that loss to Boston in the conference finals in 2008 is appalling -- bad trades, bad coaching, bad team chemistry, players regressing rather than progressing, and brutal effort in the playoffs this year shows me there is a major Basketball problem in Detroit.

Bad judgment

The past year was the worst in the Dumars era. Does Joe D see Shaq in Cleveland, Vince Carter in Orlando, Derrick Rose in Chicago, Kevin Garnett in Boston and Dwyane Wade in Miami?

The Eastern conference has improved so dramatically in this short offseason the Pistons aren't even a playoff team right now.

He never never should have traded Billups.

Why is Billups in Denver? Wasn't the point of this move back at the start of the 2008 season to set up this big summer of free agents breaking the door down to play in Detroit? Where are those guys right now?

We never thought Curry would be this bad as their coach. Or that the "go to work" new-school Bad Boys would follow a lot of teams and quit on their fans. Or that they would become so average with no future in less than one season.

So the huge question now is what does Detroit do to save everything Dumars has built?

Fire Curry, hire Laimbeer

Curry should be fired and old school bad boy Bill Laimbeer installed as coach. This move alone would energize fans.

Curry is in over his head. Having a coach that doesn't belong there for another year is the blueprint for eternal failure the Lions have patented. Laimbeer would at least be a leader people could trust.

In the talent category, the team is in trouble. Without a franchise free agent signing, they are not a playoff team.

To never give Amir Johnson a chance to start, trade him for nothing and draft a skinnier version of him in Austin Daye baffles me.

Ben Gordon or an injury-prone Carlos Boozer are average free agents that won't sell tickets unless the Pistons surprise early and start winning.

So how do the Pistons win the Eastern Conference in the next five years? The only people migrating to Detroit will be an overvalued player or coach looking to get more than he is worth.

They are in trouble.

What do you do to draw fans in and win games with no superstars and a coach in over his head? If Flip Saunders were never fired and Billups never traded, the Pistons probably would have been a deep playoff team this past season.

Once again, can somebody explain to me how trading Billups and firing Saunders made the Pistons a better team?

I'm waiting.

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