Where hope lies for Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings
The “Triple R’s” — rebuilding, rebooting, retooling — have become a tiresome lament.
The Red Wings are the worst team in the NHL, the Tigers were 114-loss terrible in 2019 and the Pistons are rapidly and deliberately moving in a similar downward direction.
It’s frustrating. The messaging is never about the present. It’s always about the future, yet it’s ambiguous.
If there is hope, it’s the seeds of Detroit’s best teams have usually been sown during the worst of times.
Consider:
• The Tigers hit rock bottom in 1975 as veterans from the 1968 World Series championship squad aged. By 1978, they had a winning record, ultimately capturing the 1984 world title.
The 2003 Tigers lost 119 games, second-most defeats in MLB history. By 2006, the were in the World Series, beginning a run of five postseason appearances in nine years, including another American League pennant.
• The Red Wings were known as the Dead Wings throughout the 1970s, but began to climb after Mike Ilitch purchased the team and hired Jimmy Devallano as general manager. After a gradual buildup that included many disappointments, the Red Wings won four Stanley Cup titles in 11 seasons.
• The Pistons dropped into an abyss during the short-lived Dick Vitale era, but hired Jack McCloskey as general manager and eventually won back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990. The Pistons had three losing seasons in four and won just 32 games in 2000-01. By 2004, they were NBA champions again.
Yet, the idea of getting bad, subsequently receiving early picks in the first round of drafts and turnarounds magically happening isn’t necessarily true.
There is no doubt it provides an edge, but there is much more to it.
The ‘84 Tigers were without question built through the MLB Draft — Alan Trammell, Jack Morris, Lou Whitaker, Lance Parrish, Kirk Gibson, Dan Petry, Tom Brookens. However, only Gibson was a first-rounder.
The Tigers actually missed with the second overall pick in 1976 MLB Draft, left-hander
Pat Underwood. They dealt first rounders such as Glenn Wilson and Steve Kemp to seal their title deal.
The development of the 2006 Tigers greatly benefited from Justin Verlander, the second overall pick in 2004, swiftly establishing himself as the staff ace.
But other non firstround selections and home-grown players Curtis Granderson (third), Brandon Inge (second) and Joel Zumaya (11th) had nearly as much impact on the dramatic upswing. The Tigers also invested heavily in free agents Ivan Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Kenny Rogers, and traded for Carlos Guillen and Placido Polanco.
The Red Wings hit the jackpot with Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman at fourth overall in ‘83, but it was 13 years until they won the Stanley Cup for the first time of four in 11 seasons.
None of the most important key parts following Yzerman, those drafted and developed by the Red Wings, were first-round draft choices — Nicklas Lidstrom (second), Sergei Fedorov (fourth), Darren McCarty (second), Pavel Datysuk (sixth), Henrik Zetterberg (seventh), Vladimir Konstantinov (11th) and Chris Osgood (third). The Red Wings’ first-round selections from that era didn’t have nearly the same impact on their championship pedigree.
Isiah Thomas was the second overall selection in the 1981 NBA Draft. He unquestionably changed the course of the Pistons dramatically. Joe Dumars was a late first-rounder, though, and Dennis Rodman a second-rounder. McCloskey made several astute deals to surround that core, especially for Bill Laimbeer, Vinnie Johnson and James Edwards.
Dumars as GM built the Going to Work version of the Pistons in ‘04 mostly via trades and free agent signings. Tayshaun Prince was taken late in the first round.
Dumars, with his team rolling toward an ultimate championship result, had a shot with the second overall pick in the draft and infamously blew it by selecting Darko Milicic.
The dynamic has changed, too, because the NHL and NBA have draft lotteries. It doesn’t guarantee the first overall selection to the worst team. The current Red Wings aren’t necessarily tanking. They are organically by far the NHL’s worst team, but still only have an 18.5 percent shot at the first overall pick.
Last week, after trading for two second-round picks for Andreas Athanasiou with Edmonton, Yzerman, now the Red Wings’ GM, made the point of “increasing the odds” by simply adding draft picks.
In the NHL, more than half the second-round selections don’t even play in the league, but the stars from the second round are nonetheless many.
Fans, even sports executives, discuss being lucky via the draft.
It seems more like a mindset, though. It’s amazing how well Detroit sports teams have often drafted after hitting rock bottom, and not in the first rounds with premier picks. Conversely, they have often treated the draft as an afterthought when on top.
Building teams from the ground up is painfully difficult. Even when done properly, there are more disappointments than triumphs with individual players. The uncertainty is maddening. There are absolutely no guarantees.
The best part is the payoff. It’s only sweeter if it arrives.
We’ve seen it before in this town, and not that long ago, with the Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons.
It’s only a matter of time until it happens again.