There have been multiple reports that Detroit's Joe Dumars is near the top of New Jersey's list for possible replacements when Rod Thorn leaves on July 15. New Orlean's GM Jeff Bower is also rumored to be on the list New Jersey has interest in. Dumars said today that he has no interest in the job, but he'd be borderline foolish not to consider it.
With the Detroit Pistons possibly being sold in the near future, the financial future of the franchise comes into serious question. Will the owner be a free-spending, carefree guy that just wants a winner? Does the potential new owner have a strong enough desire to win? Depending on the answers to some of these questions, Dumars may be finding himself under plenty of restrictions on what he can do in the very new future.If he were to go to the New Jersey Nets, those questions have already been answered. Their new owner will spend any amount of money it takes to win a championship. He has also already told Nets fans he expects a title within the next five years. If Dumars were to make the move, he would be able to do virtually whatever he wanted. While he would probably have to verify moves with Prokhorov or his associates, but he would never have to worry about money being an issue.
The Nets are meeting with Bowers today, but if they really want the best guy, they might want to wait a bit before making an offer. While Bowers has done pretty well with the Hornets, he has overpaid for guys that haven't been close to worth the money. He's also made poor trade decisions in the past. The most notable was trading superstar Chris Paul's best friend Tyson Chandler for an overpaid and under achieving Emeka Okafor.
If they offer the job to Bowers and he takes it, look for New Orleans to make a very strong push for Dumars to join the Hornets. Dumars is a Louisiana native and would likely jump on the opportunity. While going home might be a good thing, going to a team that has an owner trying to dump money and talent over a team trying to spend every dollar possible to win a title is just bad business.
