Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars blamed the team's struggles this season on both upheaval and negativity.

Cleveland swept Detroit in their first-round series.

"That is the most frustrating thing ... because if you're not good enough, you know it, you know it. And you're not as upset," Dumars said Wednesday. "By the time we got to the Cleveland series, we were not good enough. So, hell, I wasn't pulling what little hair I have in my head out. I wasn't pulling it out because I'm looking at it and saying, 'They're better than us.' "

Dumars traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson just a few days into the season, which turned out to be a monumental failure.

"I think when you're going through a transition like that it opens the door for stuff like that to happen," Dumars said. "There's not as much continuity.

"We had so much change. It's almost like we had a built-in excuse this year. Once you start making changes like that, it's almost kind of built in. I disagree with that theory, though."