NBA ‘Bad Boy’ Wants Players to Do as He Says, Not as His Teams Did

The punishments and the pushback aren’t unique to basketball, and Dumars said he’s open to hearing the grievances. His phone number is plastered around league locker rooms. Players, agents and coaches sometimes call. Mostly, it’s general managers, his former peers, politicking, complaining and gossiping.

One of Dumars’s former colleagues recently called him, bemoaning that his team had allowed 68 points by halftime.

“You know what the shame of it was?” he told Dumars. “We were up by 5.”

Many rules changes over the years have made it easier for players to score, such as one of Dumars’s initiatives for this season: stiffer penalties for defenders who commit blatant fouls to stop breakaway plays.

Teams are averaging 114.5 points per game this season, the most since the 1969-70 season. Fast break points are up. A new player tops 50 points, it seems, nearly every night.

“The game is so clean now, it’s just about who’s the best player,” Dumars said. “There’s nothing that’s junking the game up.”

‘Protect the game’

A car arrived at the N.B.A.’s Midtown headquarters in January to transport Dumars to that night’s game between the Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.

“Joe D,” a Madison Square Garden security guard said with a fist bump. “It was better in the ’80s and ’90s.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/sports/basketball/joe-dumars-pistons-nba-suspensions.html