Joe Dumars Draft Preview - Part II

Conducted Friday, June 19, 2009
Joe Dumars Draft Preview - Part II
by Keith Langlois

Continued from Part I

Listen to Part II of the Draft Preview.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pistons president Joe Dumars sat down with Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois on Friday afternoon to discuss the upcoming NBA draft and the outlook for the summer ahead as the Pistons look at trade scenarios and the free-agent market. Here’s part II of the transcript of their conversation:

KEITH LANGLOIS: I know you can’t negotiate with agents for free-agent players until July 1, but what’s your sense, since the season has ended, of how favorable the market will be for you?

JOE DUMARS: When you have this kind of cap space, your goal is and our goal is to add a couple of guys that can step on the floor and impact the game for you. The fact we have a pretty good amount of money puts us in position to make that happen. You can have these plans, but it has to work out, it has to unfold for you. Come July 1, we’re going to go about trying to make that plan unfold favorably for us. That’s all you can do. We’ve put ourselves in position, with the four draft picks coming up this year, with the cap space this year, to be able to quickly add an influx of talent to our team and not have to wait two, three, four years to add that kind of talent. We’ve put ourselves in position to do it quickly and we’d like to get it done.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KL: You’ve said a couple of times over the course of the year that you weren’t sure what would come your way, but the one thing you were sure of when you have that kind of cap space is that your phone would ring. What’s been the volume of traffic and have there been intriguing things that have been presented to you so far?

JD: The phone has been ringing. I wouldn’t say there has been any call that came in that blew me away – wow, we can’t pass this up. That has not happened. But, relatively speaking, when you still have time like this, you may have to filter out some of the phone calls right now. It’s not draft night, it’s not the day before the draft, it’s not the day before July 1. There have been a lot of phone calls, but I would term them as preliminary phone calls, not the hard-hitting, heavy phone calls yet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KL: Things usually happen pretty quickly once July 1 opens with the teams that have the most space, with the premier free agents. I think last year Baron Davis and Elton Brand changed teams pretty quickly. Should Pistons fans expect something to happen with that first week or two of July, or will it drag out?

JD: I would like for it to happen quickly, but it’s a process. We sit here and would hope we could get something done quick, but it’s a process. You have to reach out to the agent, you have to reach out to the player, you have to visit with this guy, you have to present what you’re offering – even besides just the contract, you’ve got to present where you’re going and the talent you’re adding and all of that plays in to it. I’d be hard-pressed to tell the fans, expect something on July 1. We’ve got work to do. You’ve got to work it. And sometimes that happens quickly, and sometimes it takes a while to get it done. I wouldn’t dare sit here and say when to expect something, other than the fact that we are in here trying to make it happen. We’re trying to make it happen. We’re trying to get it done. And that’s all we can do. It takes the other side to help in that process as well. To sit here and give a timetable would mean I’m speaking for the other side, too, and I can’t.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KL: I know the NBA sets the cap figure sometime in early July, but as you prepare for what you’re going to do, what’s the premise you’re going with as far as how much cap space you’ll have?

JD: I’m going with the premise of 17 to 19 million. As low as 17, as high as 19, but we’re in a position where all we can do is make a guesstimate and that’s what I’m doing based on past history and some of the things that have come out of the league.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KL: Perceptions can change pretty quickly. I think if we were having this conversation a month ago, we’d say Cleveland has established itself as the team to beat in the East. And for whatever reason – matchups or whatever – they didn’t have a good series against Orlando. Maybe the model has changed, but Jack McCloskey always tried to tailor his roster to beat Boston because they were the team to beat in the East. Do you sit here tailoring your team to beat anybody in the East, or do you sit here just trying to be the best team you can be?

JD: I think you build the best team you can be, because as you just said, things change. You tailor your team to beat a specific team and that team falls of, maybe you can beat them, but that’s not the team to beat. So you do that and you could end up telling yourself to beat the third-seeded team in the Eastern Conference and, man, we can beat that team every year. You have to build your team to be as good as they can be and feel as though you guys can match up with anybody. That’s really what it comes down to – the versatility of your team. Can we play fast, can we play slow, can we play finesse, can we play physical? That’s the trick of a GM – trying to fill all of those roles and mesh them into one team. Being able to play any style. You build one style and, OK, you’re going to win that battle, but you’re going to lose the other battles. That’s the constant evolution of a roster. Trying to make sure your team can play any style.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KL: One quick roster question and we’ll wrap this up for you. Do you have an indication yet from Kwame Brown, who has a player option, whether he’ll exercise it or opt out of his contract?

JD: No. Mark Bartelstein and I have talked a little bit, but I feel pretty good about it. We’d love to have Kwame back and we expect him back and we’ll see how it goes.