This season marks Joe Dumars’ tenth as Pistons General Manager. During that time, the Pistons have won a title, made two NBA Finals appearances, and appeared in six straight Eastern Conference Finals. He brought the Pistons from the bottom floor all the way to the top and, now, as the 2009-2010 NBA season is upon us, he’s brought them back down to the middle (at best).

For years, most Pistons fans have defended Dumars against jabs thrown by outsiders. We were quick to label him one of the best GM’s in the league when others called him overrated. As he begins his tenth year, I’d like to take an honest look at Joe Dumars’ tenure as Pistons GM.

2000-2001: THE BEGINNING

There’s no doubt that Dumars inherited a bad team from his predecessor. Prior to Dumars’ tenure, the Pistons made the playoffs five times since their back-to-back championships. The result: one Eastern Conference Finals trip and four first round exits.

Dumars’ first moves as Pistons GM were two draft picks: Mateen Cleaves (14) and Brian Cardinal (44). Cardinal turned out to be a decent player, but Cleaves never panned out. At the time, however, this was obviously not known.

Dumars didn’t take long to mold the team into his own image. In a risky move that paid dividends, prior to the season, he traded superstar Grant Hill to the Orlando Magic for Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace. At the time, the trade was questionable, but it was clear Hill needed to go. I think even Dumars would admit that, regardless of how much he liked Ben, he had no idea the trade would pan out as well as it did.

Dumars made a number of moves throughout the season, ridding Detroit of Lindsey Hunter, Christian Laettner, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Jerome Williams, and Eric Montross in exchange for Billy Owens, Cedric Ceballos, John Wallace, Eric Murdock, Dana Barros, and Corliss Williamson. He also signed Joe Smith. That’s a breathtaking number of players shuffled around, even if it was only with four trades.

It was obvious Dumars wasn’t happy with the current team and that he had a vision of what he wanted the Pistons to look like. This season, as expected, was unsuccessful. Detroit had unimpressive starting lineup of Atkins, Curry, Joe Smith, Stackhouse, and Ben Wallace. They finished last in their division with a 32-50 record.

2001-2002: THE COACHING CAROUSEL BEGINS

This year would mark the first of six times Dumars would bring in a new coach. He brought in first-time head coach Rick Carlisle in May of 2001. Carlisle would go on to have a decent run in Detroit, despite never having much success in the playoffs.

This draft showed the best and worst of Dumars. In the second-round, he stole Mehmet Okur with the 38th pick. Okur would go on to have a decent (at worst) pro career, even if it never materialized in Detroit (more on this later). In the first round, however, he completely blew the ninth pick on Rodney White. Some notable names taken after White: Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Gerald Wallace, Tony Parker, and Gilbert Arenas. Yipes.

Dumars made two trades this season. He dumped failed-experiment Mateen Cleaves to the Kings for Jon Barry and a future first-round draft pick. Barry would go on to have a solid career as a backup in Detroit. Dumars also traded John Wallace and Jud Buechler for Cliff Robinson. Robinson proved to be a good fit at the time for Detroit, giving them two solid seasons.

Dumars’ other notable signing was giving Corliss Williamson a multi-year contract. Williamson had a solid career in Detroit, winning the sixth man of the year award.

Despite an underwhelming starting lineup (Atkins, Stackhouse, Curry, Robinson, Wallace), the Pistons returned to the playoffs after flipping their previous year’s record to finish 50-32 and win their division. They won an exciting first-round series with the Raptors before losing to the Celtics in round two.

2002-2003: ONE STEP CLOSER

The Pistons replicated the previous season’s record and again took their division with a 50-32 record. A big reason for this was two key moves Dumars made prior to the start of the season. He signed Chauncey Billups to a multi-year deal and swapped Jerry Stackhouse (and others) for Richard Hamilton (and others). Chauncey and Rip would go on to form one of the best backcourt duos in all of basketball. These two moves are probably two of Dumars’ best. He signed Billups for only the mid-level and took a chance on Rip that paid off huge.

Dumars once again showed off his draft savvy this year, stealing Tayshuan Prince with the 23rd overall pick. Tayshaun developed into one of the best perimeter defenders in all of basketball and has anchored the Pistons’ SF position for much of this decade.

Dumars also ended the Rodney White experiment by dealing him to the Nuggets for two players and a future first-rounder.

The Pistons made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, disposing of Philadelphia and Orlando before getting swept by New Jersey.

The Pistons, however, did show flashes of dominance in the playoffs. Tayshaun finally got some key minutes and came up huge numerous times in the postseason. Expectations were high for next year.

2003-2004: 3 CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVE

In what would become a regular offseason staple for Dumars, head coach number two came on board as Larry Brown replaced Rick Carlisle in May 2003. Despite all of the negatives Brown brought to Detroit, his importance in returning the Pistons to the Finals cannot be understated.

Before we get to the brilliance of this season, you cannot overlook Dumars’ biggest blunder as GM: picking Darko Milicic with the second pick in the draft. Here is who Dumars missed out on: Carmelo, Bosh, Wade, Hinrich, and even Pietrus. To be fair to Dumars, Darko was the consensus number two choice for most GM’s. However, you cannot ignore all of the talent that was passed up to choose Darko. Plus, we are evaluating Dumars to see if he fits the mold of a great GM. A great GM does not fail because others would have failed as well. A great GM succeeds where others would have failed.

Before the season started, the Pistons got rid of two anchors to their lineup in recent years: Clifford Robinson (for Bob Sura) and Michael Curry (for Lindsey Hunter).

But of course, the big Dumars transaction this year was the acquisition of Rasheed Wallace (and Mike James), while only having to surrender Chucky Atkins, Lindsey Hunter (who would later re-sign), and Bob Sura. The general consensus at the time of this three-team trade was that the Celtics – specifically, Danny Ainge – were insane. And maybe he was. The trade made little sense for the Celtics and it’s still unclear why Ainge agreed to it.

Whatever the reason, Rasheed Wallace was now a Piston. Along with Ben Wallace (now considered one of the best low-post defenders), Tayshaun Prince (still improving), Richard Hamilton (quickly evolving into a deadly assassin), and Chauncey Billups (becoming one of the best point guards), the Pistons had a dynamite lineup. They finished 54-28, good for second place in their division.

In the playoffs, the Pistons quickly disposed of the Bucks in the first round. In round two, however, the Pistons were pushed to the brink against the Nets, taking seven games to beat New Jersey. The Pistons then took out the Pacers in six games (this series saw one of the greatest blocks in NBA history when Tayshaun swatted a sure-fire Reggie Miller layup).

Then came the Lakers. No one gave the Pistons much of a chance. They had a Cinderella season, most said, but were no match for Kobe, Shaq, Payton, and Malone. Most were talking sweep. It wasn’t quite a sweep, but it was close with only five games. The Pistons, however, not the Lakers, were the victor. The series was never even really close. The Pistons outplayed L.A. on both ends of the court to win the title.

Four seasons in and Dumars was looking really good. Yes, he made a few draft blunders (to put it mildly) in White and Darko, but he also was responsible for signing or trading for the entire Pistons starting lineup that won the championship, including the head coach.

Many were talking about Dumars as one of the better GM’s in the NBA.

2004-2005: BACK-TO-BACK?

Without a first-round pick in the draft, Dumars had a relatively quiet offseason. He inked Hunter and Rasheed to contract extensions. Perhaps Dumars’ most notable move was the one he didn’t make. He let center Mehmet Okur sign with the Utah Jazz. At the time, this move made sense. Rasheed had earned a contract extension by helping the Pistons win the title. Memo did his part as well, but the Pistons could not afford to keep both. Memo had youth on his side, but the Pistons thought they could contend for a few more years, so they went with experience and chose Sheed over Memo.

In hindsight, it was probably the wrong move. Sheed would start a gradual decline in skills this year. His attitude never became a huge distraction, but just Sheed being Sheed was sometimes enough to drive Pistons fans crazy. Memo was overpaid by the Jazz, but he turned out to be a solid center, good for a double-double on many nights. He wasn’t nearly the defender as Sheed, but he also didn’t come with the headaches.

Dumars also brought Antonio McDyess on board. McDyess was determined to win a ring and thought he had a great shot with the Pistons. Dice went on to have a great career in Detroit, including a season where he started for the first time in years.

The Pistons had a good regular season, finishing first in the Central with a 54-28 record. Before making the Finals, the Pistons defeated the Sixers, Pacers, and Heat, in five, six, and seven games respectively. This set up a Finals of Detroit vs. San Antonio, where the Pistons lost in seven games. Despite hanging with the Spurs for seven games, the Pistons never looked dominant. They made careless defensive mistakes and seemed overmatched by the Spurs.

The postseason was an interesting one for coach Larry Brown. He openly expressed interest in other jobs, including coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers. This clearly did not sit well with other players.

Despite losing the in the Finals, expectations were again high for the following season.

2005-2006: COACH NUMBER THREE AND THE GRADUAL DECLINE BEGINS

Dumars had a decent draft, selecting Jason Maxiell (26) and Amir Johnson (56).

The big move, however, was the firing of Larry Brown and the hiring of Flip Saunders. Besides getting rid of Larry Brown and his antics, many fans were hopeful that Saunders could use some of the magic he used with Kevin Garnett on Darko Milicic.

That never happened, however, as Darko was shipped out of town along with Carlos Arroyo for Kelvin Cato and a future first-round pick. That was the moment that things started to turn sour for Dumars as GM. That trade doubled as admitting that he (Dumars) messed up.

The Pistons also inked Tayshaun Prince to a contract extension. There were a few other minor transactions, but nothing major.

The Pistons had their best regular season in recent memory. Flip Saunders was doing a great job as head coach, but it did help that his starting lineup had been together for a while. Four of the five Pistons starters even made the all-star team (sorry, Tayshaun). They eventually finished with a 64-18 record, which was the best in the NBA.

The playoffs, however, did not go as planned. The Pistons got rid of the Bucks in five games, but then struggled against the Cavs, needing seven games to dispose of the young team. The Pistons then lost in six games to the eventual champions, the Miami Heat.

Criticisms of Saunders started. In Minnesota, he was known for having no playoff success. It was looking like things would stay the same for him in Detroit.

2006-2007: LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN

Despite some calls for re-shaping the Pistons lineup, Dumars kept things largely the same. He did make a few small signings, one of which was one of the worst Dumars ever made. He signed Nazr Mohammed to the full mid-level exception. Nazr never made an impact for the Pistons and had a horrible stint in Detroit before being traded the following season. Why did Dumars sign Mohammed? Well..

Dumars’ big move was, again, the one he didn’t make. He wisely passed on Ben Wallace, letting him sign with division rival Chicago for a contract that was widely criticized from day one.

Another experiment-gone-wrong was the Chris Webber trial. Webber signed with the Pistons in January 2007, despite a rocky exit from Sacramento where it was painfully obvious he was injured and not up to his usual level of play.

The Pistons finished first in the Central with a 53-29 record. For the second year in a row, they got bounced in Eastern Conference Finals, this time by Cleveland, in six games.

Despite advancing far into the playoffs ever since winning the title in 03-04, the Pistons never looked like a dominant team. They were fighting the stigma of a fluke championship team that couldn’t hang with the NBA elite.

2007-2008: A ROLL OF THE DICE

With no big man partner in site for Sheed, the Pistons opted against adding someone else and instead promoted Antonio McDyess to the starting lineup. Given his history of injuries, it was thought to be a risky move, but Dice held up well for Detroit and was one of its most consistent players.

Dumars had a solid draft, picking Rodney Stuckey (15) and Arron Afflalo (27).

The status-quo was, for the most part, maintained for the whole year. The Pistons finished 59-23, good for first in the Central once again. Also once again, however, the Pistons were bounced in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games, this time by the Boston Celtics.

It was clear that some changes were needed. Despite six-straight trips to the conference finals, this team was starting to show its age. They had a weak bench and a starting unit that appeared to be growing tired of each other. Flip was also looking more and more vulnerable as time wore on.

Some big changes were in store for the Motor City.

2008-2009: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

This season saw a lot of questionable moves by Joe Dumars.

First up, he got rid of Flip Saunders for… Michael Curry? Flip clearly needed to go, but for a first-time head coach? It didn’t make sense then, and it showed. Curry was a horrible head coach. He constantly juggled starting lineups, lost control of his players, and never seemed to look comfortable on the bench.

Next up, the signing of Kwame Brown for two years. Players like Kwame shouldn’t get contracts for longer than ten days, much less two years. He had proven nothing in the league so far other than being an OK defensive player at times.

Then, he signed Jason Maxiell to a monstrous contract extension, relatively speaking, at $20 million over four years. Maxiell had proven to be a solid backup at this point of his career, but he was a niche player. He was best in powerful, short bursts. Five million a year was a bit excessive.

Then, only a few days into the season, came the trade that would breakup the Pistons team as we knew it over the past few years: Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess (and Cheikh Samb) for Allen Iverson. This was a horrible trade by every stretch of the imagination. McDyess was a valuable asset capable of starter minutes. Billups was one of the best point guards in the game with a reasonable contract. In return, they get Allen Iverson?

Five years ago, this trade makes sense. Now? Not so much. Dumars could have gotten so much more in return for Billups. Even though Dice eventually re-signed, the trade bombed. Curry stupidly moved Rip to the bench, only to watch as Iverson bombed with his new team. Rip and Curry were never the same, even after Rip returned to the starting lineup after Iverson went down with an “injury.”

The Pistons managed to make the playoffs despite finishing four games under .500. The Cavs swept them in the first-round.

2009-2010: AN IDENTITY CRISIS

Dumars started things by firing his fifth coach in ten years and bringing on Cavs assistant John Kuester, another first-time NBA head coach. Curry desperately needed to go and given the lack of coaching talent available, this move was defendable.

Drafting Austin Daye with the 15th overall pick was also defendable.

Trading Arron Afflalo, a defensive stopper with potential, for a second-round pick was questionable.

Signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva for over $90 million combined with no plans to solidify a battered-and-bruised front court was reprehensible. I like both players, but Dumars paid too much for both, especially when you consider Gordon is going to come off the bench.

This move would have made sense if Dumars planned to shop Rip for a starting PF or C, but no such move was made. The Pistons are left with a roster containing one of the worst frontcourts in the NBA (adding Chris Wilcox and Ben Wallace did nothing to help them) and no true point guard (Stuckey is a SG at heart and Bynum is anything but pass-first).

The current Pistons depth chart looks like this:

PG: Stuckey / Bynum (two good players, but neither are a true PG)
SG: Hamilton / Gordon (paying over $20 million for the same position is just plain stupid)
SF: Prince / Daye (decent enough if Prince can return to his old form and Daye has a nice rookie campaign)
PF: Villanueva / Maxiell / Wilcox (this would be OK if the C position didn’t look like…)
C: Kwame Brown / Ben Wallace (this might be the worst C duo in the NBA)

It’s hard to imagine the Pistons making the playoffs or finishing close to .500.

JOE DUMARS: JUST ANOTHER GM

If you judge Dumars solely on his achievements, he is a tremendous GM. He hand-assembled the 2004 championship team and made many personnel decision that kept the team competitive in the following years. But to be fair, you can’t just look at the good moves. You can’t just look at the Memo and Tay drafts, the Sheed and Rip trades, and the Billups signing.

You have to consider the bad as well: drafting Darko and Rodney White, six coaches in ten years, trading Billups for Iverson, signing Kwame Brown, signing Nazr Mohammed, overpaying Jason Maxiell, overpaying Charlie Villanueva, and signing a backup SG for $10 million per year in Ben Gordon.

Dumars is far from the worst GM in the league, but he also isn’t anything special. After the 2003-2004 season, things started to go downhill. Even though the Iverson experiment bombed, they would at least have cap room to play with. But they wasted it on a backup SG and an unproven PF.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope Stuckey evolves into a standout point guard. I hope the Rip/Gordon SG combo pays dividends. I hope Daye blossoms into a great player. I hope Maxiell, Villanueva, and Wilcox form some sort of formidable low-post threat. I hope Dumars has another Sheed-type trade in him.

History, however, points in the other direction.