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This is not how the 2010-11 season was supposed to go for the Detroit Pistons. Not by a long shot. The hope was that Tracy McGrady would prove to be the missing link between the veterans in the locker room and the growing cast of young prospects and help the team get back into the playoff discussion . . .if not actually back into the playoffs. Instead, even with the addition of impressive rookie Greg Monroe, the Pistons were only marginally in 2010-11 than they were the previous year.

There has been a lot of finger pointing over the course of the year, and a mid-season veteran mutiny was the lowest point this franchise has seen in some time. Still, when a team with as much talent as the Pistons have finish with the dismal record Detroit will have when the dust settles, there is plenty of blame to go around.

"Whenever you have success everybody should take part and celebrate that success and whenever you have failure everybody has to take part in it," Pistons GM Joe Dumars said in a recent interview with WYXT in Detroit. "To sit here and absolve anyone, myself or anyone, from our disappointment this year would be wrong. I can’t absolve anyone. We all take a share of blame into the season unfolding the way it did. I will be the first person to raise my hand and say let me take whatever blame that needs to be taken, let me be the first person to step up and take some of that blame as to us not making the playoffs this year."

The players issues included problems with Rodney Stuckey, who was supposed to be the heir apparent to Chauncey Billups, but has struggled to live up to that billing. On top of that, he’s been disciplined by the team three times this season, a year that included multiple team rules violations by Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, as well. Dumars admits Stuckey was a disappointment this season, but won’t single him out.

"I’m disappointed with a lot of guys and their actions this year. I will stop short of just singling out Stuckey. There’s a lot of guys that I was disappointed in this year. That situation that you just mentioned was one of them. I don’t want to just single him out because there have been some other things that have gone on this year that were un-Piston like and we were all disappointed in."

There has been a lot of talk about whether or not head coach John Kuester will be the first to pay for the Pistons’ disappointing season. Dumars won’t go there until the season is actually over, but we all know the head coach is the easiest scapegoat.

"It’s inappropriate with more games left," said Dumars. "You know how it is. You sit down and you talk after the season, you evaluate things and that’s what we will do. Kue and I will sit down and I will sit down with the new owners. You have to go through that whole process so it would be inappropriate to even sit here and try and speculate right now."

Next in line for the blame game will be Dumars himself, and he’ll be having a sit down with new owner Tom Gores to discuss his own future with the franchise.

"Tom and I will sit down and discuss it. We will figure out what we will do going forward. I won’t get into a whole lot of public speculation about my situation other than to say we will sit down, discuss it, and we will figure it out."

There will certainly be repercussions for the Pistons having the kind of season they’ve had, and it would be surprising to see the new ownership group elect to make a clean sweep of sorts. Whether or not Dumars is part of that, he recognizes that the last two or three seasons have been disastrous for his team.

"(We’re) disappointed. We felt like we should’ve been a playoff team this year. We had a lot of dysfunction this year, things that we weren’t pleased with and things we’re not used to seeing in Detroit. Our mission is to get these things straight and get back to what we had become used to and what people had become used to. That’s our whole focus right now is to get back on track. These last couple of years was tough for everybody because of a lot of situations and our focus right now is to just get back on track."

Listen to Pistons GM Joe Dumars on WYXT in Detroit by linking here!

Up Close: Al Harrington

When Al Harrington signed on with the Denver Nuggets last summer he expected to be in the thick of the playoff chase this season, but he couldn’t have even begun to anticipate the way his team would go about the task. Harrington talks with HOOPSWORLD about the line-up change, winning against the odds, the future in Denver, and more in this exclusive interview:

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The Wild, Wild West

For days now we’ve known what the Eastern Conference playoff picture will look like, but out West – as usual – things are going down to the wire. Every single team in the NBA plays tonight, and nearly every Western Conference game has a playoff seed at stake.

New Orleans Hornets @ Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers @ Sacramento Kings

{AUTHOR_BOX}The Mavericks are currently tied with the Lakers in the race for the West’s second seed, with L.A. owning the tie-breaker. Considering the trouble the Mavs have had with the Hornets and the fact that the Lakers are taking on the lottery-bound Kings, L.A. is very likely to stand as the second seed at the end of play tonight. Still, the Kings have been playing very well of late and would love to end their season (and possibly their run in Sacramento) with a win over the defending champions. If Dallas wins and L.A. loses, the Mavs will hold the second seed. Meanwhile, the Hornets need a win to assure themselves of the seventh seed. (See below)

Milwaukee Bucks @ Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder are the hottest team in the Western Conference and finish their season with a visit from the 34-47 Milwaukee Bucks. If the Mavericks hold serve in Dallas this game is meaningless, but if the Mavs lose to the Hornets and the Thunder beat the Bucks, OKC will jump up and grab the West’s third seed. The Thunder holds the tiebreaker as a division winner and won the season series with Dallas 2-1.

Memphis Grizzlies @ L.A. Clippers

The Memphis Grizzlies are currently tied with the New Orleans Hornets in the battle for the seventh and eighth seeds, meaning tonight’s game will determine who plays the conference-leading Spurs and who plays the second seed. If the Mavs beat the Hornets and the Grizzlies beat the Clippers, the Grizzlies own the seventh seed. If both the Hornets and the Grizzlies lose, the Hornets would hold the seventh seed by virtue of having a better winning percentage in the Southwest Division (see below). 

As a reminder, here’s how the tie-breakers are managed, should some of these teams wind up with the same record:

(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division
(2) Head-to-head won-lost percentage
(3) Division won-lost percentage
(4) Conference won-lost percentage
(5) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(6) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(7) Net Points, all games

The second seed is the Lakers’ to lose, for sure, but if they don’t get back on track quickly, lose it they will.

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