Rip’s Murky Future
For years now the man behind the mask, Richard Hamilton, has been a staple of the overachieving Piston’s backcourt. In 2002, Hamilton was traded from Washington to Detroit in a package deal centered around Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse. Ever since, he has been a vital cog in the Piston’s war machine, a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals an amazing six years in a row after Rip’s arrival and won it all in 2003-04. Now after many productive years in Detroit, it seems that a tide of change is in the proverbial air.
Last season, we saw Hamilton’s backcourt running mate and trusted floor general, Chauncey Billups, get shipped out to Denver in exchange for Allen Iverson. Acquiring ‘the Answer’ was one of Piston’s President Joe Dumars’ attempts (he also fired head coach Flip Saunders) to reshape his elite roster into another Championship-caliber team to compete for years to come.
Well, we saw how that worked out. Now that the dust has finally settled from last season’s implosion, Hamilton has begun to (uncharacteristically) speak out about the A.I. situation and the team’s lack of strong leadership from the coaching position.
“It could have worked out,” said Hamilton. “I just thought the coach we had at the time (didn’t) put us in situations where we all could be at our best. When you don’t have that, it makes it difficult. All the guys are trying to figure it out on the floor, on the fly, rather than putting us in situations where we could be better.”
Source: The Detroit News
Hamilton is really going out on a limb here to backup Iverson for his troubled season last year in Detroit. Iverson took a lot of heat for all of the Piston’s shortcomings and was basically a scapegoat for the franchise (and Dumars) as they ran him out of town.
Hamilton bashes then head coach Michael Curry saying he failed to maximize the potential of the team by bringing both Iverson and he off the bench at various times throughout the season.This instead of allowing them to both start together in the backcourt from day one.
Rip is right for defending Iverson. He and A.I. starting together would have made quite a potent tandem. The fact that the Pistons were intent on developing Rodney Stuckey came at the expense of their All-Star and future Hall of Famer that was ready to contribute right away. Make no mistake, Stuckey is the future of the team and does need playing time to develop, but not at the expense of hindering your star player that you just traded for. Moreover, as it’s been widely rumored, someone promised AI a starting type of role. How did you expect he was going to react when he suddenly was tossed aside.
By taking Rip and Iverson away from their customary starting roles, Curry hurt their egos and caused them to compete against each other instead of the opposing teams. When they did share the court together personal agendas seemed to be the primary goal, as each player seemed intent to show what they could do and not what the team could do (for Iverson, this trait has followed him to his new team). The result was a roller coaster ride from start to finish resulting in a playoff appearance in which the Piston’s failed to win a game in the first round of the playoffs.
Now Rip, Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince are the sole remaining starters from their championship team in 2003-04. No, Chucky Atkins’ corpse doesn’t count. With the Piston’s bringing in younger talent, i.e. Ben Gordon, Will Bynum, Stuckey, Austin Daye and Charlie Villanueva, one has to wonder what the future holds for the aging Piston veterans.
The fact that Rip is speaking out could spell trouble for his relationship with the franchise. The team has relied and continues to rely heavily on Hamilton for all aspects of its offense. As evidence, his career usage percentage is 28th of all time. The Pistons have also been considerably better across the board with Hamilton on the floor. There is no doubt Rip has been a loyal soldier for D-Town and has been one of the primary stabilizing forces both on and off the court.
Despite all of this, you can’t help but get the feeling that Rip is on his way out of the Motor City sooner rather than later (by the trade deadline perhaps). His production has been very consistent for years, sporting strong career averages of 17.9 points per game on .454/.853 percent shooting, 0.5 threes, 3.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks and 2.2 turnovers. Stats like this would be attractive to a number of teams seeking an upgrade at the two guard position.
Offseason acquisition Ben Gordon is a younger shooting guard who is ready to move into the starting lineup and can easily supply Hamilton’s twenty points a game. Emerging guard Will Bynum could then fulfill Gordon’s role as instant offense off the bench, making Hamilton more or less expendable. If the Pistons can obtain a post presence or dynamic forward in return, the current crop of Pistons guards can certainly step up and fill Rip’s shoes.
Working against Rip changing addresses, however, are both his age (he will turn 32 next February) and his salary (he is scheduled to make over $11 million in 2010 and then $12.5 million per year through 2013) may make him less attractive to potential suitors. In these oh so tough economic times, contracts such as Rip’s are becoming harder and harder to move.
But his reputation as an upstanding citizen (he participates in numerous charity events and frequently donates to local youth campaigns for his hometown in Pennsylvania), and his abilities on the court will always provide a market for Hamilton. If the Piston’s decide to really strip the roster down and completely start anew, they will look to provide more time for the youth of the future (Stuckey, Bynum, Gordon) expect Rip to be one of the first players on the trading block.
He logged major minutes in the season opener but has been MIA ever since with . For as long as he remains a Piston, Rip should see steady minutes on the court. However, the only certain thing in Rip’s future is uncertainty as the Pistons continue their quest to remodel the franchise.
