Joe Dumars Enjoys ‘Sense of Freedom’ from New Pistons Owner

Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars claims that previous team ownership had handcuffed him to a certain extent, but that he’s much happier in his job now. From the Detroit News: “Pistons president Joe Dumars always stayed quiet about the restrictions placed on him by former owner Karen Davidson. Saturday, though, he opened up a bit, after introducing rookies Brandon Knight, Kyle Singler and Vernon Macklin. It was suggested to Dumars that working for owner Tom Gores gives him a new lease on life as an executive, and he didn’t disagree. ‘Sense of freedom — that’s a good term,’ he said. ‘Listen, you do these jobs and you have to throw yourself into them completely 100 percent. You can’t do these jobs with any level of success if you’re 50 percent, 60 percent of what you can and can’t do.’ Dumars hasn’t made a trade since July 2009, the longest stretch in the league — and his longest since he was named Pistons president in 2000. After signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva two summers ago — moves that hasn’t turned out the way either side envisioned, he’s been virtually idle. Re-signing Ben Wallace to the biannual exception ($1.9 million), doing likewise with Will Bynum to a modest extension that took longer than expected, and signing Tracy McGrady to the league minimum have been his only transactions since.”