Dwane Casey (Mavs asst.), Lawrence Frank (Celtics asst., former Nets head coach), Bill Laimbeer (Minny asst., former Shock head coach), Kelvin Sampson (Bucks asst.), Mike Woodson (former Hawks head coach)
Others: Rick Adelman, Jeff Van Gundy, Isiah Thomas, and Maurice Cheeks
I don't really understand why Dumars and his staff wouldn't pursue Adelman or Van Gundy. Adelman in particular has a fantastic pedigree, including stops in Portland, Golden State, Sacramento, and Houston and boasts a .605 winning percentage in his career as a head coach. Van Gundy would be another guy I'd love for the Pistons to interview or even hire. He's candid, essentially easing any doubts about player-coach miscommunication. JVG has also had success with the Knicks and Rockets, leading New York to the '99 Finals (granted it was the lockout year, plus the league was sans MJ). I've also been salivating at the thought of a Van Gundy post-game presser with Detroit, seeing as he's probably the most entertaining color announcer on national TV right now. I suspect both Adelman and JVG might be a little too pricey for Detroit, that's probably the reason why Dumars isn't interested.
As for Maurice Cheeks, I threw him in there just because he did the most awesome thing any NBA head coach has ever done ever. And also cuz he's been sitting on OKC's bench as an assistant and did an adequate job in Portland and Philly as top dog.
And as for Isiah, I have to be honest, I puked in my mouth a little when I saw this. But then I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I read that Joe was just doing him a favor, because they teamed up to create the most dominant backcourt of all time. Listen, I love Isiah. I love going on YouTube and watching him masterfully facilitate the Bad Boys, knowing when to pick his spots, and being a total badass. But you'd be lying to yourself if you said he's been successful in his post-playing career. He single-handedly doomed the Knicks as GM by giving several massive contracts to Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries, Zach Randolph, and Stephon Marbury. In October of '05 Thomas and the Knicks traded Jermaine Jackson, Mike Sweetney, Tim Thomas, a 2006 1st round draft pick (LaMarcus Aldridge), a 2007 1st round draft pick (Joakim Noah), a 2007 2nd round draft pick (Kyrylo Fesenko) and a 2009 2nd round draft pick (Jon Brockman) to the Chicago Bulls for Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis and a 2007 1st round draft pick (Wilson Chandler). You know that perfect frontcourt that Isiah claimed would be Curry and Zach Randolph and backed up those comments by paying them a butt-load? Yeah, he could've had one with Joakim Noah and Lamarcus Aldridge. Oops. (Zeke also faced embarrassing sexual harassment charges whilst in New York). Now I know that these blunders were all while he was a general manager and that his coaching credentials are slightly more acceptable. But the fact of the matter is that you don't want someone like Isiah, who potentially brings a negative aura with him, to coach your team. You just don't. And I hope all of you cringed when you saw that Chris Broussard report as well.
Anyway, the last two Pistons head coaches--Kuester and Michael Curry--have had trouble fully communicating with their players, and so communication skills are obviously going to be a talking point between Joe D and the prospective coaches.
However, in an NBA locker room, it's almost inevitable that there'll be communication issues at some point during the season. Every franchise must manage egos; a lot of NBA players have been coddled throughout their lives by agents, entourage, family, etc. so there can always be a sense of entitlement and a low tolerance for authority. It's how a coach deals with these personalities that directly influences the team's success. Look how Doc Rivers has handled Kevin Garnett these past four seasons. And Phil Jackson in Chicago & L.A. dealing (somewhat) successfully with ego-centric guys like MJ and Pippen (remember in the 1994 East Semis when Phil drew up the game-winning play for Toni Kukoc and not Pippen then Pippen refused to go into the game considering it a slap in the face? For the record, I don't remember, considering I was three and probably more concerned with building houses out of Duplos, watching Thomas the Tank VHSs, or covering my face while getting irrationally angry at my mom when she took opportunities to film me playing our piano to put into home movies. Yes, these are the things I did as a three year old). Jackson also dealt with the uber-personalities of Shaq, Kobe, and Ron Artest. Rivers is open and honest with his players; criticizing when he needs to, encouraging when he wants to, and also making sure his teams have fun even if it means creating some incentive. Phil made personal connections with his players, often giving them books as Christmas presents. In the press room, he'd sometimes criticize them publicly before talking to them first, but would make amends with his players behind the scenes when necessary. He, like Doc, was always honest with his players, never afraid to tell them the hard truths. Ultimately, what defines both Doc, the Zen Master, and other great coaches is consistency. Consistent demeanor, consistent ways of communication, consistent coaching techniques. That and simply being honest with your players and expecting respect from both sides. If a coach can immediately incorporate that honesty and respect with his players from day one, their roller-coaster NBA season will run a bit smoother.
Kuester obviously did not gain the respect of his veteran players, possibly because of his inexperience as a head coach, his inabilities to successfully give his players constructive criticism, his pathetic attempts at standing up for his team, or a combination of the three. Also it didn't help when he made indefensible substitutions either. Setting the foundation of open honesty and communication would've gone a long way for Kuester, so one of the criterion for the new h.c. should be the ability to be (and do) those things.
So without further ado, here's my wish list--in countdown form-- for the Pistons' new head gig using the above listed candidates (I'm only including the guys Dumars and his staff are considerably looking at).
5. Bill Laimbeer
As previously noted, Laimbeer is currently an assistant in Minneapolis, where he's molded the likes of Kevin Love and (gasp!) Darko Milicic into a formidable frontcourt. (Darko was fifth in the league this year in blocks per game, while Love led the league in rebounding and averaged 20 ppg.) Bill also coached the WNBA's Detroit Shock for eight seasons leading them to three championships.
A lot of Pistons fans have called for Dumars to give Laimbeer his first shot at a head coaching gig in the NBA, but I'm not as high on him as some people are. Let's get this straight: the WNBA is not the NBA. I won't take away any of his accomplishments in the women's game, but Bill is facing a whole different monster. The Association is much, much more fast-paced not only in gameplay, but in media gratification. Coaching scrutiny is magnified ten-fold in the NBA.
Laimbeer's playing days shed light on his attitudes towards coaching. He's equally as vocal, intense, and passionate about coaching as he was when playing for Detroit. However, this vision of physicality and tenacity we saw in Bill as a Bad Boy cannot impede our expectations of him as a coach. I like what Dan Feldman of PistonPowered has to say about Pistons fans' attachment to Laimbeer potentially disillusioning them:
If Laimbeer had spent his career with the Celtics rather than the Pistons, should Detroit hire him? If the answer is no, the Pistons have no business hiring him. Once someone becomes a head coach, the team he played for won’t matter. He’ll have to sink or swim on his own coaching ability, not some sentimentality.Agreed. Laimbeer might make a good NBA coach, he may not. But to blindly give him a coaching opportunity based solely on fond memories and two years as an assistant on one of the worst teams in the NBA shouldn't persuade Dumars to give him a shot.
4. Mike Woodson
Woodson was an assistant coach for Detroit's championship team in '04. He successfully brought Atlanta back into relevancy, starting with a 13-win season in his inaugural ('05) and steadily rose the win total to 53 in '10. The Hawks never took a step back in the win column during Woodson's 6-year tenure. However, he never brought them past the East Semis, including a royal beat-down from Orlando in 2010, when the Magic thumped 'em in four straight games.
Bringing in a guy who's familiar with the Pistons organization as Woodson is is a plus.
Apparently he's known as a defensive specialist, but you wouldn't have known it if you watched any Hawks games from 2005 to 2010. (However, Atlanta's defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) did steadily climb much like their win total during Woodson's tenure). In 2008, Woodson unfortunately suffered from a nasty case of bench-your-best-big-man-after-two-fouls-during-the-first-quarter-then-put-em-back-in-after-halftime-itis, an ailment that has been known to ravage the Atlanta Hawk bench from time to time. Its innocent victims include Al Horford, and that's it. That doesn't look promising, considering Greg Monroe is someone who is very prone to fouling.
I guess I'd be okay with this hire, but I think Joe D. could do better. Which brings us to...
3. Kelvin Sampson
Sampson is famous for being successful at the collegiate level at Oklahoma, and is infamous for engaging in serious NCAA recruiting violations both at Oklahoma and Indiana. He led the Sooners (1994-2006) to the '02 Final Four and also won Coach of the Year in '95.
The good news: We don't have to worry about NCAA violations, so "Mr. Blue Shirt" can make all the phone calls he pleases.
The bad news: The fact that he broke some unwritten ethical code amongst college coaches by stealing Eric Gordon from Bruce Weber sheds a poor light on his moral standing.
The other good news: I don't really care about the bad news.
Sampson has been a Milwaukee assistant since the '08-'09 season and is known for playing a key role in player development, fine-tuning young players such as Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut (when he's not injured). This speaks to his experience at the college level, and is a huge positive if he were to take over this young Pistons team. As a head coach, he emphasized defensive effort (!) (wait, what is this defensive effort you speak of?) and enforced slow, half-court offensive sets.
I like the fact that he has over two decades of head coaching experience and encourages hard-nosed defensive effort, cuz like, that's what Pistons teams are about. I'd be okay with Sampson running the show, as long as he checks out with Dumars and his staff.
2. Lawrence Frank:
In roughly six seasons as head coach of the Nets (2003-09), he posted a sub-par winning percentage of .483, and did not succeed in taking them back to the NBA Finals or even the Eastern Conference Finals, as Byron Scott did twice. Despite a so-so resume with New Jersey, Frank is considered one of the brightest young minds in the league, and at 40 years old, he could potentially stay a while in Detroit (although he won't because no one stays more than 3 seasons unless your name is Chuck Daly). He's paid his dues, being an assistant in Vancouver and New Jersey before taking over the Nets job. He's currently a Celtics assistant.
Here's Feldman again on Frank:
Imagine the Pistons could hire a young lead assistant from one of the best teams in basketball. His reputation says he’s one of the hardest-working and brightest coaches in the NBA.I feel as if this would be a safe hire. He keeps his players accountable and since he's established himself in the league, it's safe to say he'd gain the respect of his team. Also, it looks like Joe D. has already interviewed him, so we'll see what happens in the next few days. Dwane Casey is reportedly the number one candidate for the Raptors job, so Dumars may have to settle for either Frank, Sampson, or Woodson anyway. My vote is for Frank among those three.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Now consider, between stints as a hard-working, under-the-radar assistant coach and lead assistant for a division champion, the candidate spent five full seasons and two partial seasons as a head coach.
That’s Frank.
And for what it's worth, while attending Indiana he worked as a team manager under Bob Knight.
1. Dwane Casey
Casey was the head coach at Minnesota for a season and a half and did a damn good job considering the C-list supporting cast that surrounded Kevin Garnett. Known as a defensive guru (ooh, I like the sound of that), Casey has been an assistant in Dallas since '08. He also served as assistant for the Supersonics from '94 to '05.
As I said above, he's slated to become Toronto's head coach by next week, so I'm not going to keep my hopes up.
After the disastrous tenures of Curry and Kuester, the name of the game is experience, and Casey has a lot of it. He coached in Japan for 5 years before coming to Seattle, also coaching the national team with Pete Newell, instructional guru (hey there's that word again!) and former Lakers GM (yeah, I didn't know who he was either. Here's his Wikipedia page.)
He's learned a lot working under Newell, Nate McMillan, and Rick Carlisle. He's 54, and now is the time to give him another shot at an NBA head coaching job. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it'll be in Detroit. Feldman has also reported that he has a connection with Ben Wallace, again for what it's worth.
Prediction: Dumars misses out on Casey after Casey signs with Toronto, then offers Frank the job after coming away impressed from the interview on Wednesday.
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