Rip Hamilton is “turning into a whiny basketball diva”
Rip Hamilton (photo. DFP)
So here’s the deal with the Pistons, according to Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp: Rip Hamilton and Michael Curry now “barely speak to each other,” which began during the season when Curry moved Rip to the bench to make room for Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey. From Sharp’s column today:
But according to several accounts, what irritated Hamilton most was that Curry made his decision to start Iverson and bring Rip off the bench without privately telling Hamilton first. He announced the benching to the entire team prior to a practice. Hamilton took it as an affront to his new role as team leader in [Chauncey] Billups‘ absence. He grew sullen, truly turning into a whiny basketball diva for the first time in his career.
Sharp goes on to write that Hamilton and Curry were having problems even before that, like one time when “Hamilton’s attitude teetered at the brink of open mutiny, questioning Curry’s coaching expertise on the basis of his limited skills as a player.” He then puts the onus on Curry as a coach to take the first steps in mending the relationship.
During the Chauncey/Rip/Ben Wallace era, one thing I respected about that team the most was their attitude. They had some diva-like personalities (Rasheed, Big Ben), but it never got out of hand to this level where it prevented them from winning. And it didn’t matter who the coach was, because it was a self-policing system amongst the players.
Now we’re finding out Billups was really the guy holding it all together, because as soon as he left, Detroit fell apart and Rip apparently started acting like Kyle-Lee Watson.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Hugo says:
If he is acting so bad, give him to Dallas for Stack and George .
June 29th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
BRUCE says:
Fool missed his boyfriend!
June 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
JHUSTLE says:
@#1 Hugo
U dam right hugo i would love to see that. Stackhouse and George have to be the 2 most worthless “veterans” left in the NBA. Being a Dallas fan i would love to see that move
June 29th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
nic says:
Later Rip.
Don’t know why you were re-signed.
Let me sum up your basketball abilities.
1.) You turn the ball over 70% of the time, and are clueless in transition
2.) You can’t shoot off the dribble
3.) You bitch at the refs constantly, but yet you are not an all star.
4.) People know your game now. You can’t hide behind the screens anymore or behind that mask that I’m sick of looking at.
Go back to Coatsville PA.
Trade him.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
George W Kush Sr says:
I’m also a Pistons fan, and I truly believe that either Curry just wasn’t ready to be head coach yet – being nice there – or he’s truly an idiot.
Only a idiot would alienate his team leader like that. Now this article can call RIP a diva, but he proved himself when he was coming off the bench. So much so that Iverson developped back problems that ended his season. Curry is a follower not a leader, he’s not ready to take a random group of players and make it work. His stint would have worked if Billups wasn’t traded but since the roster was changed so drastically Curry doesn’t have the ability to go with the flow so he died on the sidelines this past season. Fire Curry.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
J Tok says:
Nice shout out to Kyle-Lee
June 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Rafa23 says:
BREAKING NEWS!!! YAO may be out next season, maybe has to end his career!!!
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/60170/20090629/yao_could_miss_09_10_season_career_in_jeopardy/
June 29th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Detroit Dave says:
THE PROBLEM WAS CURRY! You guys have to Remember that Rip, Tay, Sheed and McDysee are used to playing for coaches with High Basketball IQ’s. Those 4 guys know a winning team when they see one and the def know what the hell GOOD COACHING IS. M. Curry was scared of AI and knew that he couldn’t bench Stuckey so he chose Rip. I would be pissed too.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
d'Antonio says:
Penny-wise pound-foolish move by Detroit mgmt to put a rookie coach in charge of a self-coached veteran squad. No way on earth these guys listen to what Curry tries to say…
June 29th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Ansonious says:
Trade him to PHX for J-Rich
June 29th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
NTstateOFmind says:
“Hamilton’s attitude teetered at the brink of open mutiny, questioning Curry’s coaching expertise on the basis of his limited skills as a player.”
wow, thats cold. no doubt curry is a very suspect coach, but as a professional this is some flat-out disrespect from player to coach. Phil Jackson wasnt the best player in the league…
(im not directly comparing Phil to Curry, but rather that a person’s skills as a player doesn’t necessarily translate to coaching success…or front-office jordan)
June 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
NTstateOFmind says:
* or front office, like jordan
June 29th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Kevin K says:
I been saying all year that these scrubs composed of RIP, Tayshaw, forgot the name PG, and Sheed were the most overrated divas in the league. If they just stfu and played along side of AI, they had way better chance to win. Instead they cried like a lil bitch and look at them now.
RIP – what does he do?? cant create his own offense, has to completely rely on a system for him to be effective
Prince – a point forward?? you kidding me? i dribble better with my off hand than this scrub
Sheed – can you grab some boards and shoot less 3s please?
Curry – he was a NBA player? he’s still coaching??
June 29th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
the cynic says:
Hamilton has every right to complain. Curry has no business being on an NBA bench except that he is tight with an NBA GM. Easily the worst head coach in the league (maybe Del Negro). Hamilton is being pushed into a black hole and he may never be seen again. I would be pissed too
June 29th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
bobby stew says:
I never understood why they benched him before A.I. in the first place. R.I.P was/is the guy that brought them a chip and they benched him so that Iverson, who was only there for a year and had no previuos history with Detroit, could be happy. That was a BIG mistake. R.I.P. should get out of there. This team wont see the Eastern Conference Finals again until 2017.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
karizmatic says:
This was covered during the season it was out there that Rip wasn’t happy about coming off the bench and wasn’t being quiet about it. The whole point was the team basically rebelled against Dumars personnel moves and Curry suffered for it as a coach, Iverson suffered for it as a player and the Pistons suffered for it as an underperforming franchise….the fact of the matter is there is a lot of blame to go around in this situation.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Taj says:
Do you blame him?? That teams a mess now!
June 29th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
b says:
This NBA bromance is getting out of hand. Franchise and Mobley. Now Rip misses his boo Mr. Big Shot(no homo).
June 29th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Bron42 aka Had Springs Before Slamball says:
I said this a while back, people were sayin Iverson was bein selfish, meanwhile Rip bitched even more than iverson when he was on the bench. I mean obviously u wasn’t doin something if ya team keeps losin in ur conference and ur offense turns into mush this season even before iverson comes. Rip has never had to prove himself as the leader. He just got it handed down cuz no one else on the team wanted it.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
POPPI GEE says:
This is nothing but Curry’s fault. They need to get rid of him very quickly.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
QQ says:
What a wack. This guy has the nerves to be a diva when he’s only as good as the Detroit (the squad he’s whining against)team offense, which is built to get him looks, is. Put him in any other squad, and he’s just another James Jones.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
hadoken says:
is michael curry then supposed to be birdie? or the white coach…
June 29th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Pee Wee Manigault says:
It just seems to me that the pistons are in their decline. An aging, less effective Rasheed Wallace, a disgruntled Rip Hamilton, and a neophyte with potential in Rodney Stuckey. Dumars needs to make some serious changes because they’re a few opt-outs away from being a lottery team for years to come..
June 30th, 2009 at 12:08 am
big mike HTown's Finest says:
i think curry is supposed to be birdie. i definitely agree that billups was the glue of this team. as soon as he left these guys pretty much let their bitchassness (yes bitchassness) take over. think about it: for all that’s said about a.i. (i love em but he is selfish), these guys shut it down before he even got off the plane. had they really put for the effort, detroit could have been a fifty win team.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Fuck the rip hate says:
The only reason I go for Detroit is Rip, get Rip outta there and I don’t support them no more.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:49 am
SagJism says:
I’m with ya #25 and Iam a detriter and this article is full of BS. Curry was the problem and so was Iverson, nothing was wrong with IVO, he just didnt wzant to come off the bench and he felt it should not have even been a question as to who would come off the bench between him and RIP, thats why his back all of a sudden began to hurt. Joe D said ok, your done for the season. Rip was just pissed because he sees where his team is going and it aint getting any better. We needed to get rid of Chauncy BTW: He was the cause of every loss in the playoffs for the last few years and even when RC was the coach. It was always either Chauncy just didnt show up to play of he was having personal issues with his relationships or just provoked Ben into blowing off the caoch and not come in the game when told too, not once but twice. The 2008 season everyone tries to blame on Sheed but Sheed was doing his thing even with his Guaransheed but he ended up spraining his ankle and we were done. So dont blame Rip for our issues, it is a number of things.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Oscarisalakerfan says:
Curry just got fired
July 1st, 2009 at 10:38 am
steven cinco says:
When Dumars blew Chauncey out of town, that was the end of the era. The was nothing Curry could have done to keep that team from imploding. Not only did you trade away your team leader, but you brought in egomaniac in AI. For What? For cap room so you can signed Villanueva? Ben Gordon? Joe D is losing it. Rip is not the only diva on this team, but he, as a team leader, lead the revolt against Curry.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
johnny says:
^
Good point. Gordon and Villanueva should not be Piston targets, but it looks like they are unfortunately. They will be nowhere near as good as Chauncey and McDyess, who should be on Detroit contracts right now.
Tayshaun and McDyess were the high points of the Pistons season. They didn’t show any “bitchassness.” They never have either that I know of. Then Tay had his best season and Dice had perhaps his best season since he initially signed with Detroit.
Stuckey, Bynum and Kwame did some nice things.
Stuck at the beginning of the year, the other 2 later on.