Tom Gores Comments Lack Credibility

Feb 1, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores watches during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons won 113-96. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Tom Gores finally made it to a game on Saturday. Nice of him to show up. Normally one might use the cliché better late than never.  But in the case of Tom Gores and the 2014 Pistons its better never than late.

After receiving a playoffs or bust mandate from Tom Gores in the offseason, the Pistons have limped to a 19-27 start.  During that time the owner of the Pistons has been nowhere to be found.  Not at the palace and not in the media.

Gores finally attended a game and was at the Place to witness the Pistons beat down of the 76er’s on Saturday.  After the game he finally addressed the state of his franchise and a brief evaluation of the general manager.

"What are we one-game out? We’re not that far out. It’s frustrating because we’re better than our record. At the same time there’s a lot of hope right now. I see a lot of possibilities. We have to come together. We have to jell. I don’t think you could say our team and our players don’t work hard. I think they work hard. We just have to figure out how to work together.’’I actually don’t think we have done our best job to make sure they’re working at 100%,” Gores told reporters. “We have great young players. These are guys that need a lot of preparation. We have to get better and these young men work really, really hard. I feel like our job is to make sure that they are at their maximum and I don’t think they’re at their maximum.”"

Gores is right about one thing, the Pistons aren’t playing together and should have a better record at this point in the season. But for Gores to point at the Pistons place in the standings and see a sign of hope shows a complete detachment from reality.

The Pistons are 9 games under .500.  9 games! Tom Gores doesn’t actually expect a team with that record to make the playoffs without major changes.  Does he?

Whether he does or not does makes no difference. Gores seems completely unwilling to make any changes in the front office and is content letting this season play out. That means another season of missing the playoffs, another search for a head coach and another lottery pick.

The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the Joe Dumars era will finally come to an end. That is unless Teflon Joe can keep this seasons stink from sticking to him yet again.