Player Revolt? Pistons veterans skip morning shootaround in alleged protest

You can’t make this stuff up. Take it away, Vincent Goodwill:

A day after the trade deadline passed, Pistons players appeared to stage some type of protest against their coach.

Tracy McGrady, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Chris Wilcox did not show up to Friday morning’s shootaround, in what a team source called a “player protest.”

Wow. The threat of getting traded is gone. Now, clearly, things are going to get interesting. You thought the Pistons veterans were rebellious before? Just … wow. We’ll see if any of the five play tonight. Well, four I should say, because we clearly knew Hamilton would not play.

Per Goodwill, the team offered this explanation:

According to team spokesman Cletus Lewis, McGrady was out with a headache, Prince had the stomach flu, while Wilcox and Hamilton apparently missed the bus without a reason. Wallace has been dealing with an ongoing family matter for the past month, though.

John Kuester sounded less than convinced:

“We have some things, some excuses, not excuses, but absences because of headache and stuff like that.”

Much to Kuester’s detriment, Joe Dumars has stayed out of the fray on the multiple coach-player issues this season. Perhaps it’s time for him to maybe consider interjecting? Clearly, the players feel emboldend, and if, as Goodwill’s sources indicate, this is really some type of revolt, it’s unprecedented. Players and coaches feud all the time in the NBA. But to have four veteran leaders and, hilariously, Chris Wilcox, with alleged purposeful insubordination? That issue just can’t be ignored any longer.

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