If you're looking for a Utah Jazz contribution to the current good fortune the Detroit Pistons find themselves in - one win away from wresting the NBA championship from the gimpy Los Angeles Lakers - well, there's this: The Jazz sent Adrian Dantley to the Pistons.
It's true, A.D. is no longer with the Pistons. He was traded to Dallas last February 15 for Mark Aguirre. But the point is, if it wasn'tfor the Jazz trading Dantley, who was having his chemistry problems with the Jazz, to Detroit for Kelly Tripucka, who was failing chemistry with the Pistons, and then if it wasn't for the Pistons trading Dantley to Dallas, they might not now find themselves about to rule the world.
It's only a theory. But consider that Detroit's catalyst of the NBA Finals so far is guard Joe Dumars, who almost single-handedly crushed the Lakers in Game 3 Sunday when he scored 17 straight Detroit points, and who will no doubt win the MVP award if it's voted on anytime in the near future.
In the days of A.D., Dumars probably wouldn't have done the above, because Dantley's presence wouldn't have allowed it. That, at least, is what Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said Monday. "We went to Adrian so much in our isolation (offense)," he said. "A lot of other people never got the opportunity - that was one of the main reasons for the trade."
Dantley's name came up because the day before, at halftime of Game 3, he appeared on nationwide television in an interview with Brent Musburger of CBS. Musburger asked Dantley how it felt not being a part of the Pistons' juggernaut. Did he like life in Dallas? Was he rooting for Detroit?
These were merely leading questions. What Musburger was really trying to do was upstage "60 Minutes." He knew, as did much of the free basketball world, that Dantley harbored sour grapes because of the trade; that he believed he was run out of Detroit because Pistons superstar guard Isiah Thomas wanted him out, and Thomas runs Detroit like Capone used to run Chicago.
So Musburger asked Dantley how he felt about the trade, and how it came about, and Dantley answered in a roundabout way, which is his style. This being the same Adrian Dantley who Frank Layden once sent home from a Jazz road trip because he smirked. A.D. has a way of getting his point across without exactly getting it across in so many words.
To Musburger's questions he said, "Well, Brent, I prefer to take the high road in all this . . ."
That didn't exactly jibe with why he agreed to be interviewed on nationwide TV in the first place.
But on with the show.
"I feel like I got screwed," added A.D. He followed that up with a slight smirk. Then he said, "Brent, everybody knows who made the deal, who orchestrated the deal. Even you know, Brent."
He avoided mentioning Isiah's name.
After the game, Isiah was asked, naturally, to comment on Dantley's comment. "I got teary-eyed when I heard it," said Isiah, an emotional, sensitive type who kisses close friends on the cheek, even if they're opponents. "It's like, here we go again. Even when you do things right . . . I don't know."
He said he did not make the trade, even though Aguirre is a good buddy from Chicago, and they kiss occasionally.
He said that Jack McCloskey, the Pistons' general manager, makes all the trades.
"Jack should get the credit," he said, doing a little between-the-lines communicating himself.
Daly also said McCloskey was the deal-maker.
"Adrian Dantley's been saying this all along," he said, referring to A.D.'s assertions that Thomas got him out of Motown. "It's become a theme with him. It's nothing new, and I don't think it's having an impact (on the team). But I think you'll find Jack McCloskey makes the trades here. In my contract it says I have impact, but Jack makes the trades."
In Isiah's contract too. Presumably.
It all leaves Dantley in a position, as Jazz followers well know, that he has been in before - gone but not forgotten. He is still keen enough in the Pistons' minds that they're even talking about the possibility of getting him a ring - should they nail the coffin shut on the Lakers once and for all tonight.
"I'm not sure what the league rules are on that," said Daly. "But maybe . . ."
After all, a contribution is a contribution. And at this stage of the game, why quibble?