Joe Dumars: In his own words(入选名人堂之特别访谈)

[tinysands]

Pistons legend Joe Dumars, headed into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, recaps his Road to Springfield in a seven-part series starting today in the Free Press. It is based on his interview with sports writer Krista Jahnke in August.

PART ONE: Great ending, unlikley beginning

September 3, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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Joe Dumars, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard, played more seasons (14) and more games (1,018) than any other Piston. (Detroit Free Press)

The original call I got, I was sitting in the barber's chair getting a haircut. I got the call then.

Having gone through the process the year before, there's a window from 12 to 2. The year before, I got the call about 1:30, 1:35. So I knew, OK, I doubt if they're calling me this late if I've made it.

So when I got the call around 12:15, I felt like it must have been a good call for them to call that early.

And the news, it's strange, because the guy says, "Congratulations, you're now officially a Hall of Famer," and it's just kind of numbing for a while to hear that. It was just kind of numbing to me for a while.

I finished getting a haircut and obviously don't say anything to anyone in the barbershop. And I come back to my office, right here, and spend the rest of the day working until 5 o'clock. At the end of the day, I walked down the hall to John Hammond's office, my bags packed, ready to go.

And I said, "By the way, I made the Hall of Fame today."

He looked at me like I was crazy. Said, "Are you kidding?" I said, "Nah, I was."

I went home about 5, and I told my wife around 7:30, 8 o'clock that night.

Actually what happened was I got home for two or three hours, and we were talking and stuff, and she knew I was supposed to get the call that day, so around 8 o'clock she said, "Let me ask you a question."

I said, "What's that?"

She said, "Are you going to tell me what these people said or not?"

I said, "Yeah, I made it."

And she said, "Wh-wh-why wouldn't you call me at 12 when they called you?"

I said, "I didn't feel like talking about that."

So I had to get out of that a little bit.

So it was great. A great feeling. I told John Hammond, I told my wife and that was it for like two days, I didn't say anything.

Then finally it started to leak out. During that time, though, initially, it was just kind of a numbing, overwhelming feeling like, "Wow, wow, this is like awesome." But we're still playing; the season is still going on.

So after about four or five days of congratulations, congratulations, I kind of threw myself right back into the season. We're playing, we're trying to get back and win a championship.

To be honest with you, from that point on, it was not even a secondary thought to me. I never thought of it until the season was over. Really until the month of July was over.

After the season, the draft, summer league, free agency, after all of that got done, then I started thinking about it here recently like, "Wow, we've got the Hall of Fame coming up."

So it's been kind of good because I haven't had a chance to dwell on it.

* * *

I heard people say in the past, people who were voted into the Hall of Fame, whether it's baseball, football, whatever, they all said the same thing, you just kind of reflect on your past.

And I'm not different.

I think about being a little kid running around. ... I was the youngest of seven kids by my parents, so being the youngest I was always the one trying to live up to something.

That's what you end up thinking about a lot. You start thinking, like, "Wow, where I came from to get to here. ... People have no idea."

Small-town, rural Louisiana, exposed to little to nothing other than to what you caught on television or something, and to get to this point, is just overwhelming sometime.

Where you come from to get to here is just ... wow.

(Joe Dumars was born May 24, 1963, in Shreveport, La., the youngest of seven children to Ophelia and Joe Dumars Sr. He grew up in nearby Natchitoches.)

Without a doubt, my youngest memory is of the hours and hours I spent in my backyard playing by myself.

We had a pretty big backyard. We had an area where it was a basketball court and it was all dirt. Like dust.

I recall being in that corner of the yard, where it's just a basket and dirt area, just playing by myself in the corner of our backyard. Just out there for hours on end by myself practicing.

Imagining games in my mind. I was certain players, and I was constantly playing fourth-quarter games by myself, like, OK, I'm playing against Maurice Cheeks, I'm playing against Dr. J, all these guys who are older than me, and I'm hitting the game-winning shot.

Or if I miss, I'd run, get the ball and call time-out and set up the last shot. Now I've got a winning shot at it.

So I was playing all these games for hours and hours. Just being in my backyard by myself playing.

And I loved it. Loving waking up every day, waking up looking into the backyard knowing I'm going to go out there for hours.

And I wasn't thinking about the NBA. I wasn't doing it like so many kids today that make it. I was doing it because it's just what I loved to do.

There was a liquor store directly in front of our house. Our driveway, if you looked from the front of our house straight to the back of the yard, it was right there to the basketball court.

So the light from the liquor store made it light up, and it stayed open to midnight. So I knew I had until midnight if I was in my backyard, especially in the summers.

In the summers, I would stay out there until the liquor store closed, and when they turned the lights off, the game was over. I felt like OK, they shut the arena down, so I'd know then it was time.

* * *

Listen, I played all sports. And I was blessed and fortunate enough to be a good athlete in all sports. In baseball, in football and basketball.

But I didn't give up all the other sports until my last two years in high school, when I just strictly played basketball. Until then, I was playing catcher in baseball, and in football I played both ways, defensive back and running back.

I loved all those sports. But I just had a passion for basketball.

I was trying to create my own path. My older brothers were all football players. Everyone in my family was a good football player. I was along that same track, following them. And I really wanted to carve my own niche.

I felt like if I did a different sport, I could carve my own niche and that was really the only reason I did it. I loved basketball. But I was also looking to separate, because when you're the youngest, you're trying to do something to carve your own niche, especially when you come from a big family.

I have six older siblings, and five of them are boys, and they're all athletes and they're all football players and they're all very good.

I was just like, I've got to do something. You can get lost in a big family.

* * *

A couple of things had a tremendous impact on me as a kid growing up.

One was the incredible hard workers my parents were.

Incredible hard workers.

Every day.

The second thing that made a big impression on me was that they never complained. They never made excuses. They just got up and did it.

And the last thing was their tremendous amount of humility out of both of them. Very humble, good people.

And so when you grow up in that environment where you have parents who are extremely hardworking, they never complain and they're very humble, and that's all you see every day of your life, it becomes a part of you. It becomes a part of the fabric of who you are. It has an effect on how you see life.

That's how I saw life growing up. We're all products of our environment, whatever environment we're in.

I grew up with the mind-set that this is the way you're supposed to do it. I've seen my parents do it, I saw my older siblings do it, and this is the way that I'm going to try to do it.

They were strong Southern Baptists, who grew up in the church and went to church every Sunday. You didn't have a choice; it wasn't like you were gonna say, "I'm not going to go this Sunday." You better get up.

That was a huge part of it. They were very spiritual people who believed in it. That was the foundation down there. But it was also a sense of community, in taking care of what's around you.

I don't know. They just had that in them.

Both of them had it in them to be good people. They wanted us to maintain that humility and always look to help other people.

A lot of the clichéd things you hear, but, man, I'm telling you, they lived it.

It wasn't a cliché for them. They lived it every day.

[tinysands]

PART TWO: Playing defense leads to success

September 4, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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Joe Dumars says the Pistons became content last season, costing the franchise a title shot. (JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press)

After high school in Natchitoches, La., Joe Dumars moved on to McNeese State, a small Division I school in Louisiana. It wasn't a place superstars were often primed. But Dumars found the environment perfect to prepare him for what would come next.

It was a really good situation. Karl Malone and I were in the same conference. He was at Louisiana Tech, I was at McNeese State.

My first game in college was against Marquette. The second game was against Ohio State. We were those Division I small schools that played these bigger schools, and Louisiana Tech was doing the same thing.

For guys like us, it was an opportunity to showcase against the big guys.

It was four years of being in that environment where you felt like every game was a chance for you to prove that you were as good or better than what you were seeing on TV or reading in the papers every day.

So you kind of grew up with that and had that, especially in college. You had that mind-set.

Every chance, every game is a chance to prove it. That's it.

We played so many big schools, so many big schools, and every time we played them, it was just, for me and a whole lot of other guys, it was, OK, we have a chance to prove something right here.

I liked that. It kept you hungry for four years.

I think that you should never lose that.

You should never lose that ability to try and push yourself. Or to try and prove something.

I think that's what gives you a chance, man, I really do. That's what gives you a chance to be great; if you are in that mind-set that you have to prove it every day that you walk in here, that you never get content, never get complacent, like, OK, I'm here, I've arrived now.

That's the quickest way to get beat -- is to get too content, which is what we did this season, I have to say.

We got too content. I have to throw that in there. That's what we did. We got too content, and it caught us.

That doesn't sit well with me. It goes against everything I believe in.

* * *

The Pistons drafted Dumars No. 18 overall in 1985. Once he arrived in the NBA, he realized his game needed to evolve if he wanted to play for the Pistons as a rookie.

In college, I was just waiting to get back to the other end to score.

What happened was, it wasn't about making it, it was about playing. It was just, OK, what's the quickest way for me to get on the floor? I didn't want to sit here and wait.

OK, we have a high-scoring team, we have guys who everybody wants to score. You know what? I can get on the court if I can play really great defense.

So it was just a way for me to get on the floor. All I wanted to do was get on the floor, and I was thinking to myself, "OK, once I get out there, I'll show everything I can do."

But to get out there, I gotta play some great defense. It was just a conscious decision I made so I wouldn't have to sit for a year.

And it worked out. It worked out great.

If I could have just come in and played right away and not had to do that, I wouldn't have done that. I was just trying to figure out how to get out there.

I tell people all the time, "You can make yourself." If you're a good offensive player and you have all these moves and footwork and can score ... you can't do the same thing on the other end?

That was one of the things I told Rip Hamilton when he got here. I said, "Rip, everyone talks about you can run all day and you never stop moving. ... But that's only on the offense end."

I kind of challenged him with that. If you can do that on the offensive end, you can do that on the defensive end. I wasn't a defensive player; I was just doing it because I had the ability to do it. I always tell people that; look, don't tell me you can't play defense.

Trust me, I know. I did it.

[tinysands]

PART THREE: Dumars couldn't believe playing with idol Isiah

September 5, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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Isiah Thomas, left, hugs former teammate Joe Dumars during a ceremony to retire Thomas' number at the Palace on Feb. 17, 1996. (JEFF KOWALSKY/Associated Press)

At McNeese State, Joe Dumars listed Isiah Thomas, another future Hall of Fame guard, as his favorite player. Then as a rookie, midway through the 1985-86 season, Dumars found himself starting alongside Thomas in the Pistons' backcourt.

It was exciting every day to come in.

Especially my first year, it was exciting to come in every day and know that I was starting, after the first 20 or 25 games, I don't remember. But during that time when I started starting with him, I felt like a sense of excitement every day I came in, like, wow, I can't believe I'm starting in the backcourt with this guy.

Because, you know, the last couple years in college, they would always ask the college players who's your favorite player. And I always would say, "Isiah Thomas. I like the way the guy plays."

And then to say, you know, you're playing with the guy. It was an awesome feeling, but probably more exciting, if I could put one word to it. Then we created a great bond on the court, we ended up becoming a really good backcourt together, and that made it even better.

I know when I first started starting, we went like 10-0. And so it kind of clicked right away from the first time we walked out there together, it just kind of clicked right away.

I had watched him play so much, I felt like I had a feel for his game and what he liked to do. Knowing that, I just tried to mesh my game with his. I think it started right away.

* * *

You earn all the guys' respect by what you do the first day you walk in here.

It was a tough crowd when I came in here. They had established their own niche, and they had their own crew of guys. You know, a new guy coming into that, you have to prove yourself to all those guys. You have to prove that you're smart, you have to prove that you're willing to put the work in, and, definitely with that team, you had to prove that you had toughness.

They wanted to know that you were tough. And they wanted to know that when things got tight, you were the type of guy who was going to be there and never back down.

That was perfect for me because I was willing to do all that and more.

And after half a year or so, they realized right away, OK, this guy is one of us, he embodies everything we embody. You become a part of the group.

The first day I walked in, they said very little. Very little. It's not like it is today. Today it's all hugs and handshakes. It's all love right now.

Back in that day, it was about earning that respect.

I recall the first time coming in it was kind of, "Hey, what's up, young fella?" And kind of keep moving. It wasn't, "Hey, let's go out to dinner."

And, you know, they weren't going to embrace you until they felt like you were in the foxhole with them. It was different then. It was totally different then it is right now.

But I was OK with that because I didn't mind earning. I'd never been given anything before. I'd just come out of an environment where you had to prove it every single day.

I'd just come out of an environment of a school of 10,000 students playing in Louisiana. So it wasn't like I was used to being this cover boy. I was used to having to earn it.

So when I got here, that was the setup here. I said, "OK, I can do this. I've been doing this all my life."

When I first started starting and we started winning a lot, I think everybody realized we've got something pretty special here.

From that point on, we built on it.

The next year, we advanced further, and then we went on to win championships. So it was kind of an immediate impact of what it could be. It didn't take a long time to try and figure it out. We knew right away that we had something special here.

I loved playing with that team. I loved it.

* * *

It was a team of really diverse personalities. It was a very eclectic team. Just different sides of the ship, it really was.

It was a lot of different guys with different personalities, different lifestyles with different interests. Completely different. But the great thing about it was, when we'd come to practice or shootarounds or games, all those differences were left outside and it was a single-minded focus on the floor.

That was kind of great about it.

Off the court, guys had different things they were involved in. Dennis Rodman and John Salley were young guys, doing their own thing. Isiah had his own niche. Bill Laimbeer had his own niche, and Vinnie Johnson, myself. Just totally different. Different interest, whatever. Once you got on the court, I don't know, it was just magic on the court with those guys.

That's what made it great. That such different guys could come together for one bond.

[tinysands]

PART FOUR: Agony of '88 Finals leads to Joe D's acclaim in '89

September 6, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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Joe Dumars, named the most valuable player of the 1989 NBA Finals, poses with his MVP trophy and the 1989 Jeep Cherokee he was awarded in New York. Dumars averaged 27.3 points and six assists as the Pistons swept the Los Angeles Lakers, 4-0, in the '89 Finals. (Associated Press)

The first time Joe Dumars made it to the NBA Finals, in 1988, the Pistons lost to the Lakers in seven games.

Probably the first really deep hurt that I had in basketball.

I think we all were extremely distraught over losing because we felt we were the best team. We understood that in this league, in professional sports, there's no guarantee you're going to get back, there's no guarantee that it's going to happen.

So you've missed an opportunity to be a world champion. And now you have to live with that and hope that everything falls into place and that you stay healthy and everything works out, that you have a chance to win it again.

But until that happens, you have to live with that hurt. You have to live with that disappointment.

So it was a tremendous disappointment, losing in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It was a devastating loss for us.

But it inspired us. It inspired us to come back and be champions the following year.

* * *

The next season, the Pistons got back to the NBA Finals. In one of the more memorable moments of that championship march, Dumars scored 17 straight points in the third quarter of Game 3, finishing with 31 and saving the game in the final seconds with a spectacular block on the Lakers' David Rivers and an out-of-bounds save.

I remember screwing up on that play. The reason the guy got the ball was because I screwed up.

He was not the main option on the court. So I was looking at who the main option was; I was going to go over and help. I kind of took a step away from my guy to try and get closer to who the main option was. As soon as I did that, I looked up and saw the ball going to my man, who was wide open in the corner.

I was just thinking, "Oh, my God, I screwed up!" And I started flying at my guy, just trying to get a hand up in his face. And the closer I got him, I realized, "I can block this, I can block this."

So what I remember most is screwing up that night. And then bailing myself out, and everyone saying, "Oh, wow, what a great play," and I'm sitting there wiping sweat from my head thinking, "Geez, I screwed up, though!"

* * *

In Game 4, the Pistons completed a sweep over the Lakers, winning the team's first NBA title. During the team's final time-out, Dumars sat on the bench with a towel over his head.

I remember sitting there so vividly, thinking in a very, very calm way. I wasn't giddy or anything like that. I bet my heart rate was like a standstill heart rate.

I was thinking, "Wow, we are actually NBA world champions."

I have seen this scene so many times in my life growing up. And I was thinking, "Wow, I'm sitting here on this bench as a world champion right now."

I was just kind of reflecting then. I was 25, maybe, at the time. As a 25-year-old kid just sitting thinking, with all the madness and craziness, and I could hear Bill Laimbeer screaming, and I think Isiah Thomas was crying and Rick Mahorn was doing his thing, and I remember sitting there and just thinking to myself, "Wow, I can't believe I'm sitting here in Los Angeles right now, about to walk off the court as an NBA world champion."

Just a simple thought like that.

* * *

Later that night, Dumars was voted the Finals MVP. He averaged 27.3 points and six assists and shot 58% from the field and 87% from the line in the sweep.

I guess if there's a moment, a defining moment in your career, I guess that was it for me.

Because not only do you become a world champion, but it's the first time that you get introduced to the entire nation.

I guess it was just a defining moment for me as a player, for people to appreciate what I was doing.

I was very, very proud. Because, I'll go back to this -- small town, rural Louisiana, four years at McNeese State where you're the cupcake on the schedule for Ohio State and Alabama and everybody else you play, constantly having to be in that mind-set of having to prove yourself over and over again, coming to a team where the guys just kind of stand back and say, "OK, who's this young kid from Louisiana, can he help us win?" To being in the starting lineup, having to prove that ...

So, yeah, I was very proud of it because it was a sense of accomplishment.

But I think you can be proud of your accomplishments and still have humility. I don't think they're exclusive.

You can be proud, but proud in a way that you're not boastful about it. You still carry yourself with humility.

That night that we won it in L.A., I gotta say, was the most magical night in basketball that I've ever had.

I've had a lot of good moments since then. But that particular night was the best.

I remember it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last game. I'm looking down, I see Magic Johnson staring there, I see Pat Riley, I see James Worthy, Kareem, and I'm looking at the whole scene.

So that night, in the Forum, where I grew up as a kid watching all these games on TV, and then you find yourself sitting there ... that was the most magical night that I've ever had in basketball.

That feeling lasted probably the whole summer.

We went in and we swept the Lakers and we won it at the Forum and it seemed like everybody was watching the Finals at that time, so everywhere you went, that's all that people were talking about.

So it lasted for a while. That great feeling lasted for a while.

What they're saying about Joe

• "I feel very blessed to have been able to coach him. He is class personified. He exudes class in every way. He is a champion as a player as an executive. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to spend three years of my life with him." Doug Collins, former Pistons coach.

• "He's reminiscent of the still living Mo Cheeks, who happens to be one of my favorite players. When I found out Mo was Joe's idol, I knew we had a great find on our hands." Former Pistons coach Chuck Daly, from June 9, 1989, in the Boston Globe.

• "He is loyal to the game. He treats the game with respect. He does the right things all the time ... I think anybody who understands what it takes to succeed in life has to be loyal to their craft. They treat the craft with respect and dignity and the craft in turn will treat you with that same respect and dignity." Pistons athletic trainer Mike Abdenour.

• "I remember a player from Indiana elbowed Joe a couple of times in a game, and he went to the referee and had a little conversation. Next day I said, "What were you talking about?" And he said, "Well, I told the referee, either you handle it or I'll handle it. And Darrell Walker was later asked ... who's the one guy on this team you wouldn't want to fight? ... And he said, "Joe Dumars, because you'd have to kill him to stop him." Team president Tom Wilson.

• "Joe was a great player, no question about that. Also he manages to fit whatever the role was that was necessary. Joe would make sure that that got done. We drafted him in a late round and he turned out to be one of the greatest players we ever drafted." Team owner Bill Davidson.

• "I feel very fortunate to have both coached Joe and now to work with Joe in this capacity and see him succeed in both positions. I can't imagine anyone more deserving, who represents himself as a person, a player and for the organization like the consummate pro. He was not only a great player but also a champion and a serious competitor and yet the sportsmanship award is named after him. What more can you say?" Team vice president of basketball operations, John Hammond.

• "Undoubtedly, Joe's play on the basketball court speaks for itself. He is a two-time world champion and arguably, he helped form one of the greatest backcourts in NBA history, with Vinnie, Joe and myself. He was a Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame person. His contributions to our game of basketball far exceed what he has done on the court. He was a great teammate and great person. He is someone that when you were in battle against an opponent, you never had to look around to see where he was -- he always had your back." Former teammate and enshrinement presenter, Isiah Thomas.

• "What I liked most was he lived right by a saloon growing up, but he never had any bad habits at all. He was good in school, he did whatever the coaches wanted him to do. I've coached a lot of great kids, but he one of the greatest I ever coached." High school coach, J.D. Garrett.

• "If there was a hall for quality people, Joe Dumars would be in that, too irregardless of his basketball talent. Take the talent out; that was just the avenue, the vehicle that Joe chose to make the most impact on the world. Joe is one of the finest people in the world, and he's always been that way, his entire life." Dr. Chris Maggio, childhood friend, and now director of alumni and development at Northwestern State.

• "I happy to see people recognize Joe. He was the most important part of those championship teams." Charles Barkley, fellow inductee.

• "I've known him for a number of years. We've crossed paths several times. I've watched (Pistons) games in his suite and he's a suite holder of ours.

"To me, Joe has always embodied class and professionalism. He's clearly competitive at the highest level but he does it with such dignity and professionalism. It's admirable." Tom Lewand, Lions chief operating officer.

• "I moved to Detroit in 1994 and obviously I'm aware of what he accomplished as a player, with winning back-to-back championships with the Pistons. But I've watched him closest and really been impressed with him as an executive. He really has been incredible to watch, and if he hadn't made it in as a player, he might have as a builder." Ken Holland, Red Wings general manager.

[tinysands]

PART FIVE: A great victory, then a tragic loss

The night his father died during Finals

September 7, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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With his mother, Ophelia, and his son Jordan by his side, the Pistons' Joe Dumars watches his jersey get retired to the Palace rafters. (ERIC SEALS/Detroit Free Press)

The Pistons lost Rick Mahorn in the expansion draft after winning the championship in 1989, but they returned to the NBA Finals in 1990. The Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers split the first two games in Detroit.

The Pistons flew to Portland, where they hadn't won in 17 years, for Games 3, 4 and 5. Dennis Rodman was out for Game 3.

And before the game, Joe Dumars learned his father has gravely ill in Louisiana. That night, Dumars scored 33 points, turning the series around. But after the game ...

t was a Sunday afternoon game, Game 3 in Portland. The series was 1-1.

We go out and we win Game 3, and I have a good game.

So we're all excited, first time we've won there in 17 years. We come off the court, go into the locker room, everyone is just on cloud nine because now we've got the home court right back. We lost it in Game 2. Now we've got it right back.

Everyone is just geeked and giving each other high fives and jumping around. I wasn't doing that; I was just sitting there chilling, shaking guys' hands, good win, good win.

Chuck Daly comes in and says, "Way to be tough, guys. You did what you're supposed to do. We've got more business here, yada, yada, yada. Let's go get showered. Great win."

He turns to me. Said, "Joe, I need to see you outside for a second."

I said, "OK, cool." But I've got to go do a media thing, I'm assuming, anyway, because I was the player of the game and I think they may have stopped me as I was walking off the court.

So I'm thinking, OK, well I've got to go do some stuff.

As soon as I get outside the locker room door, Jack McCloskey is right there, and Isiah Thomas is walking out right behind me. I said, "All right, where we going?'" (Public relations director) Matt Dobek is there, too. They said, "We just need you to come down here," and I said, "OK. What's going on?" They said, "We just need you to come down to this little room and take a phone call."

I kept walking, and then, boom, like a ton of bricks, it hit me. I'm still sweating. I was just on the court. Now I'm walking down the hall and, boom, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I kept walking, but inside I was like, "Oh, man. My dad's dead."

Sure enough, I get on the phone, and my wife said, "Well, I just want to tell you, your dad passed right before the game started."

I don't know what I said.

I asked her, "How's my mom?" And she said, "Fine. She's waiting for you to call her when you get a chance."

So I hung up with her, and I'm in the room and Jack McCloskey's on one side of me and Isiah's on the other side, and they had been told right before the game. They knew before the game, but they didn't tell me until afterward.

I turned, Jack hugged me, and Isiah hugged me. I go back to the locker room. By the time I get back, they'd told the team, and guys are coming up saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

I put my warm-ups back on, and Jack McCloskey said, "Look, we have a plane for you. Mr. D said you can have his plane if you need to go to Louisiana tonight."

I said, "Well, I've got to go back to the room and call my mom. Let me figure out what's happening."

* * *

That's what I do. I get in a car with Jack McCloskey, with my uniform on and with my warm-ups on, I never even changed. I go straight to the hotel and call my mom and deal with it from there.

I get on the phone with her, and talk about strength. ... A lot of families out here have strong men in them, but a lot of families have strong women in them, too.

It's a Sunday, so I tell her the owner said I can take his plane and come home. And she's like, "Come home when?" And I said, "Tonight."

And she said, "For what?"

I said, "Just to be there."

She said, "Look, there are a thousand people here at this house right now. What are you going to do here? Don't come here. You don't need to come right now."

I said, "Well, what do you want me to do?"

She said, "Look. You guys are up, 2-1." She's talking basketball. "You guys are up, 2-1. You play Game 4 on Tuesday. You win that game, you're up, 3-1. When is Game 5?"

I said, "Thursday."

She said, "You win that game, it's over. Friday, we'll have the wake. Saturday, we'll have the funeral."

And I said, "Well, OK, well, if we don't win, though, I'll be there anyway."

She said, "Well, that's why you guys will win. You'll win, and then you'll be home."

I said, "OK," and she said, "That's it. Don't worry about coming home. We got this. Everything is taken care of. Just win the next two games."

I didn't say it, but I'm thinking, we haven't won here in 17 years, we just won the first one, you're going to give us three in a row now?

It happened.

And that's what happened. I stayed, I played Games 4 and 5, we won both games, we won the championship.

If winning the year before was the most magical night, winning the following year was the weirdest night. Because everybody's celebrating, as we should. We just became world champions again. Back to back.

I found myself pulled that night. On one hand, I really wanted to celebrate. On the other hand, I'm devastated and know that I have to go the next day to a wake for my father.

Tough night. I didn't want to be a downer around everybody else. But I didn't feel like I should be celebrating crazy either.

Got up and flew the next day. I missed the parade and everything.

[秦南玥]

PART SIX: Lessons learned as era ends with losses

September 8, 2006

BY JOE DUMARS

AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060908/SPORTS03/609080344/1051

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20060908&Category=SPORTS03&ArtNo=609080344&Ref=AR&Profile=1051&MaxW=233&Border=1
Joe Dumars says he hasn't played a lick of hoops since he retired in '99. Not even a pick-up game. "I don't have anything else to give," he said. (JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press)

After the Pistons' back-to-back championships in 1989 and '90, the Bad Boys era lasted only a few more seasons. As the team went from winning more than 60 games in a season to losing 50, Joe Dumars was the constant, the tie that connected the difficult present to the glorious past. It wasn't an easy transition.

It was tough, just because you're used to winning. It was tough to take to losing.

It was also just as tough to take the apathy that came along with it -- from everywhere. We became irrelevant. And that was probably tougher than the losses.

You wanted the losses to mean something to the players and the fans and the media. And it didn't. It got to the point to where everybody was apathetic to what was going on with us, and that was hard to be irrelevant.

That was the toughest part of that transition. And you never want to get there. You never want to be irrelevant.

But it was an opportunity. It's easy to be a great person and a great leader and say you stand for all those things when things are going well. It's easy.

I looked at it and said, "Here's a great opportunity for you, Joe, to really stand up for what you say you believe in, and not allow it to consume you or swallow you up or change who you are."

So I made a pact with myself that I was going to try and carry myself, treat people and act the exact same way as when we were winning.

The tough times, that's when you can really determine a personality, a real character.

Yeah, there were days I felt like exploding. And if I thought exploding would have changed it, I would have. But I thought exploding would have been nice for five minutes and then 10 minutes later, I'd be living in the same world.

So I talked to guys. I kept talking and talking and talking to guys. It had a profound effect on my thoughts on how to build a team, how you run an organization.

You don't have to worry about telling somebody how to carry themselves as a champion. Everyone is feeling good, saying the right things.

It's when things are bad.

A lot of times I get the question: What had the biggest effect on how you've done this job, as team president? And I always say to people those down years we had here, of not allowing your organization to get there, and stopping the certain things before it keeps festering and turns into something bad.

I saw that happen, and I said I'd never allow it to happen.

* * *

In 1999, after 14 seasons, the longest career in Pistons history, Dumars finally called it quits and retired.

I was ready. Physically, mentally and emotionally. I was ready.

I was never one consumed with being a professional athlete. I knew I was deeper. I had more depth to me than just, I can run and jump and shoot. I never viewed myself in that context, as that's who I am and that's what I am.

As I got closer to retirement, my mind-set was ready. By the time I played my last game, there were no tears, there were no long, sad good-byes. You know, basically to Grant Hill and Lindsey Hunter and those guys, I said, "You guys have it now. It's all in your lap now."

I've never looked back. I can honestly tell you, I've never missed it. I don't miss playing. I never did when I retired, even the next year. I enjoyed the fact that I'd done it, and I'm done with it.

I've never played basketball again. I never intend to. I'll rebound for Jordan, my son. And I'll shoot a little.

But some guys play, play three-on-three. Oh, no. I'm done.

I don't have anything left in me. I don't have any desire to go out on the basketball court and play.

I gave everything. I don't have anything else to give. I completely exhausted myself with it.

And I don't have anything left to do. There's nothing I didn't get to accomplish that I wanted to. I don't have any regrets about my career, like I wish I could have done this or I wish I could have done that. I was fortunate. It all happened. I'm not going back trying to relive anything. There's nothing to relive.

---------------沙---沙---沙---的---分---割---线----------
• Pistons legend Joe Dumars, who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame tonight, recaps his Road to Springfield in a seven-part series in the Free Press. It is based on his interview with sports writer Krista Jahnke.

• If you missed the first five parts, go to freep.com/joedumars. On Sunday, Joe D told of the call from the Hall and his early years. On Monday, he moved from high school to college to Motown. On Tuesday, he talked about playing with his idol, Isiah Thomas. On Wednesday, he relived the first NBA title. On Thursday, he recalled the night his father died during the NBA Finals.

What: Basketball Hall of Fame induction.


When: 7:30 p.m. tonight.


Where: Springfield, Mass.


TV: ESPN Classic.


2006 inductees: Joe Dumars, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Geno Auriemma, David Gavitt and Sandro Gamba.


就这样不能按时完工了

[秦南玥]

PART SEVEN: Staying humble despite others' bombastic ways

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/SPORTS03/609090328

September 9, 2006
Published: September 09. 2006 3:00AM

BY JOE DUMARS
AS TOLD TO KRISTA JAHNKE

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Joe Dumars speaks at a ceremony honoring his election into the Basketball Hall of Fame in March. He was officially inducted Friday. (LISA POOLE/Associated Press)

Joe Dumars officially became a Hall of Famer on Friday. Here are his final thoughts in this weeklong series: on what it means to win, to lose and to stay true to yourself through it all.

I think you have to bring a certain passion if you want to be a champion in this league. If you don't have passion for what you do, especially in professional sports, you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to be a champion.

You better have a tremendous passion to be the best. If there's anything I learned about winning, that's it. Because if you have passion, you're going to be willing to sacrifice, you're going to be willing to work hard and be unselfish and do all those things.

That's what passion brings out.

You can't fake passion. You either have it or you don't. If you're trying to fake passion, eventually, people will see through it. When you're passionate about something, you're going to do all those things it takes to win.

If you're faking it, you're not going to do those things. You're going to shortcut and find excuses.

That's what I'd say about winning. You have to have passion.

About losing, I learned, first of all, losing has to hurt and hurt for real. It can't be kicking a chair and throwing a water bottle to try to prove to people that you're disappointed about losing.

Losing has to hurt internally. You have to feel something about losing. You have to be willing to accept that you're not good enough and be willing to change what you're doing, and I've always felt that way.

Because you can be upset all you want, but if you don't change what you're doing, you're just going to keep losing, keep getting upset, and that doesn't make sense to me. Never has.

Accept that you weren't good enough, and be willing to change.

* * *

After it was announced that Dumars had made the Hall of Fame, the basketball community largely applauded. Charles Barkley said Dumars never got the respect he deserved. But there are some out there -- the bloggers and message boarders of the world-- who think Dumars doesn't belong.

I understood that, a lot of times, to get the respect that people say you deserve, you have to almost seek it.

And I knew I never did. So if you never seek it, you can't be upset if you think you don't get it.

I never sought that kind of hype. I was never going to promote myself. And if you want to get to what the core of the Hall of Fame means to me, that probably would be it as much as anything.

Getting there without having to promote myself, without having to do any silly stuff, without having to fall into the reality TV-type mode that goes on now.

You maintain your dignity, you maintain your humility. You let your body of work speak for itself. And if people choose to say, "Is he worthy of being a Hall of Famer?" then so be it.

That probably means as much to me as anything. I've not had to change who I was. I've not had to compromise who I am to get there. I was either going to sink or swim. I wasn't going to change. I wasn't going to promote myself, I wasn't going to campaign, and I always thought my body of work was worthy.

I understand that so much about something like this is about the hype that goes around it. So many people are attracted to the hype part of it. That's what gets people's attention.

In today's society; I know what sells. But I refused to do that. I refused to make bombastic statements. I refused to do any of that stuff.

* * *

How do I want to be remembered?

Well, I'm not dead.

But a few words: professionalism, character, dignity and winner, because I've been fortunate enough to win a lot in this league, to win everything you can possibly win.

All those things would be how I view what I've been able to accomplish.

But start with character and dignity because that's who I've been, and that's who I'll continue to be.

I'm not about to become some character. I'm just not.

I can't do that.

Contact KRISTA JAHNKE at 313-223-4493 or kjahnke@freepress.com.

The series

• Pistons legend Joe Dumars, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, recaps his Road to Springfield in a seven-part series in the Free Press. It is based on his interview with sports writer Krista Jahnke.

• If you missed the first six parts, go to freep.com/joedumarscq-jj. On Sunday, Joe D remembered his call from the Hall and his early years. On Monday, he moved from high school to college to Motown. On Tuesday, he talked about playing with his idol, Isiah Thomas. On Wednesday, he relived the first NBA title. On Thursday, he recalled the night his father died during the NBA Finals. On Friday, he reflected on the tough times after the Bad Boys era faded.

• The hall's Class of 2006: Dumars, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Geno Auriemma, Dave Gavitt and Sandro Gamba.


Pistons in the Hall

Joe Dumars is the 12th Detroit Piston to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player. But only four -- Dumars, Dave Bing, Bob Lanier and Isiah Thomas -- spent their best seasons in Detroit. According to the Hall, these inductees have ties to the Pistons since the franchise moved from Ft. Wayne, Ind., in 1957 (listed with year of enshrinement):

Players: Walt Bellamy, 1993; Dave Bing, 1990; Dave DeBusschere, 1983; Joe Dumars, 2006; Harry Gallatin, 1991; Bob Houbregs, 1987; Bailey Howell, 1997; Bob Lanier, 1992; Bob McAdoo, 2000; Dick McGuire, 1993; Isiah Thomas, 2000; George Yardley, 1996.

Coaches: Larry Brown, 2002; Chuck Daly, 1994.

Contributors: Earl Lloyd, 2003; Fred Zollner, 1999.