Dumars: Actually, we had talked before, before the game and he just came up and congratulated me. He knew it was my last game of the regular season with the Pistons. He just came up and congratulated me and said how good he thought I had been for the league and in the league for years. And I just talked to him before the game about "You're a young guy, you've made some mistakes and what you want to do is learn from those mistakes, Allen. You don't want to continue to be 10 years from now making those same mistakes, you know."

I don't think that you can judge any one player by what he does as a young player and stick that with him forever. There are guys who are my contemporaries who did some wild things their first and second years, but kind of grew up and grew out of that. And I just talked to him about growing as he gets older in this league and don't allow himself to become one of those guys that's always tagged with that label he has right now, that he can grow out of it, that he has time to grow out of it.

Miller: What's your opinion as to what his (Iverson's) future is going to be like?

Dumars: I think he has an upside. People say to me all the time, "What is the connection between you and Allen Iverson?" But I see something in this kid I really like, I really do. I see a competitor. I see somebody who really wants to win. I see some toughness, and I like those things about him. The mistakes he's made off the court, you can't condone that, but I'm not here to condemn him for the rest of his career because of what he's done as a young player.

Miller: How bizarre was it to end up in a building all the years you played in the NBA, you end up in the Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech for your final game? (Game 5 between the Hawks and Pistons)

Dumars: It was the most surreal and out-of-body experience I've had in the NBA that I can remember. To play a game, an NBA playoff game, in a building on a college campus, it was just surreal, is the only thing I can think of. If it was in a building that I had been playing in for 14 years or over the last six or seven years if it was a new building, but it was a totally foreign building and it was just a weird feeling.

Miller: So you remember Game 4 more than Game 5?

Dumars: (Laughing) Game 5 was just, it was just too weird. It's your last game, small 9,000-seat arena, it was just, I don't know, it was one of those things that I'll remember Game 4 instead of Game 5 for sure.

(On Dennis Rodman.)

Dumars: I knew Dennis at a different time, very quiet, and reserved and laid-back guy when he first got to Detroit. Even though you see him like he is now, the Dennis I know and remember was a totally different guy. So even when I see him the way he is today I still view him as D.R and the way he was back in Detroit. I always feel like I can talk to him.

Miller: When's the last time you saw him personally?

Dumars: When we played him, the last year he was in Chicago. That was the last I saw him and got to talk to him.

Miller: So can you have a normal conversation with him (Rodman) or is he always this character?

Dumars: Yeah, he comes up and asks me how's my family, how's my wife Debbie. He knows my wife well, she knows him well. He asks how's she doing, how are the kids. None of the antics, just a normal, normal guy when I'm around him.

Miller: Do you think he'll play again in the league?

Dumars: I don't know. That's a great, great question. I know as far as I've read and heard I think he wants to continue to play.

Miller: He told us he definitely wants to play. I said, "Dennis, who's going to have you?"

Dumars: I'm going to stop short of saying that no one will take a chance on him. I've learned over 14 years to never say that because some team always feels that they can use him. They can. He can help them and they think they can deal with him better than anybody else. Somebody always feels like that. I don't know who that team will be, but it's 29 or 30 teams in the league, and it only takes one -- there may be one team out there that will.

Miller: There's been some reports (we'll wait for the official announcement) that you'll join the Pistons front office. You guys don't have a first round draft pick, you guys could use some help, but you're already over the salary cap. Do you think Alvin Gentry could get along with Dennis Rodman? Could he help the Pistons' team?

Dumars: Well, Alvin would have to tell me if he could get along with Dennis Rodman. I couldn't tell him if he could or not. But I don't know if we could fit Dennis in anyway. I mean we're a team that's over the cap and unless we can do something to rearrange our situation, it's going to be tough for us to sign just about anybody right now.

Miller: Another one of your former teammates, Isiah Thomas has been making a lot of noise, involved in Toronto's infancy in the NBA, still works for NBC, he's been interviewed for the Wizards job and is said to be the best candidate there (which isn't a surprise), but now he's talking about owning the CBA. What are your reflections on Isiah as a teammate and what's going on now?

Dumars: Isiah had a huge affect on my career in the way that I try to step on the court and get things done. Here's a guy that, everyday in practice, everyday in shoot around, every game I would just watch him. Even when I was on the court, if he was isolated, I was watching more than just whether I was going to get the ball or not. I was watching to see what his moves were and what he would do. So in terms of a teammate, I learned more from him, just in practice, going against each other everyday, looking to see little things that he did, how he set guys up. It was tremendous. A part of that was he had strong, strong ambition, strong ambition to be successful. So it doesn't surprise me that he's carried that over into off-the-court ventures. He's always been ambitious like that. It's always been something that I looked at with him and said to myself, here's a guy who's a few years ahead of me. I'm going to sit here and soak up as much as I possibly can.

Miller: Do you think he would be a good coach?

Dumars: Absolutely. Because he understands, he's so smart about the game, he really is. I've been in huddles with him for years. I've been in tight game situations, in high pressure situations. I know for a fact that he understands what needs to get done on the court.