Joe Dumars: ‘You Learn from Losing’

Joe D addressed his Pistons’ recent failures, and looked ahead to the not-too-distant future. From the Free Press: “Dumars spoke of how disappointing the 27-55 season was but said it was a learning experience in many ways. ‘You just don’t learn from winning,’ Dumars said. ‘You learn from losing as well. And what we’ve learned is that we’re more committed now than ever before to maintain our core values and not get away from that and not have the type of slippage that you saw this year.’ He also offered broad support for first-year coach John Kuester and said that he is committed to not allowing the possible sale of the franchise to become a distraction. Asked about the futures of longtime Pistons Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, Dumars didn’t address them specifically. Instead, he cited the remaining NBA playoff teams as proof of the need for solid veterans. Dumars noted that he didn’t see enough intensity this year. ‘We had some slippage in terms of the toughness and grit that we’ve had for the last 10 years,’ he said. ‘We drifted some from what we were when we were successful.’ Dumars has several ways to change that, starting with the No. 7 pick that Detroit received in last week’s NBA draft lottery.”