OT: Avery Johnson will not be coaching the Pistons
According to ESPN Avery Johnson and Joe Dumars have broken off talks about the Pistons head coaching job.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4311090
*crickets*
Edit: "Where we are right now as a team is kind of like where we were at the start of the Rick Carlisle era," Dumars said. "And a $4 to $5 million (a year) coach is not what we need right now. We didn't have one of those until we were close to contending for a championship when we got Larry (Brown)."
Dumars said the coach probably will be either John Kuester, the former Pistons assistant now with the Cavaliers, or Tom Thibodeau, a Celtics assistant.
Good defensive mind, hopefully he can bring that to a team that doesn't look strong defensively at the moment, although that is subject to change anytime soon.
...that cleveland assistant? Laimbeer? Joe himself?
ESPN rumors swirling that John Kuester (the cavs assistant) is already in talks with Joe D. I'd guess if he was offered he would take it. I can only hope the Pistons strike gold with him.
Apparently one of the reasons the Avery Johnson thing broke up was because of lack of job security.
Also heard on sports radio that whoever the Pistons hire, they want to keep the assistant coaching staff in tact. Which to me seems pretty odd.
Am I the only one secretly hoping for Laimbeer?
I personally believe that Combat Basketball will bring Detroit back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
has my vote. Let Dave Cowens be ASSt coach.... Think of that combo..... ex-bad boy and ex-Celtic greats, coaching together....
I liked him as a player, but think he would fail as an NBA coach. As Chuck Daly said, it's liking coaching 12 multi-million dollar companies. If the players tune you out, it doesn't matter how good you are with the X and O's.
He proved himself in the WNBA though... so its not too far of a stretch to see him as a head coach in the NBA.
I'd love him to be an assistant. As the head guy, not sure. It would be interesting to watch, though.
Laim will be brought in some capacity. If Joe is smart as he has shown in the past...the hiring of Laim should be a no brainer.
Really wants head coaching experience but does not want to pay for a good coach. Laimbeer has turned down asst. coaching positions, he wants to be a head coach or nothing at all.
ESPN has updated their article on Avery saying that Kuester (former asst under Larry Brown w/ Detroit) will be hired. At the very least, it takes away from Cleveland and will give us a leg up when facing them. I think the days of D are over...we're going to be a 100-105 pt scoring team from now on.
while the team is rebuilding doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Carlysle worked out okay, we should get him back! Then fire him right when we get good. This Thibodeau guy sounds like he has potential...as for Bill Laimbeer, I haven't decided whether that would be a good thing or not; he does have some experience now, and even more maturity, but he hasn't coached the men before, hmmm...
I'm beginning to question Joe D's sanity. Were not very good so lets get another inexperienced coach to guide the team. You have to question the strategy given what will be available in free agency next year.
Of course, as we go from a D oriented team which brought three championships to one that tries to outscore opponents which has presented zero championships. What the heck...so long Dee Troit Basket Ball....
With the way our roster is now, its not set up for us to land anyone in 2010. I also don't think we're going to be a run and gun offense either. Kuester is a defensive guy. So, we'll see how well he can get the team to play defense.
Now, as for questioning Joe D's sanity...I've been doing that for years. Pretty much every decision since 2005 has been mediocre to poor.
There was no reason to sign Johnson unless you honestly believed this team could contend for a championship this coming year, since Johnson seems like the type of coach who can push a good team to greatness for a year or two, but who grinds on his players after a while and would likely have to be replaced. Get a young guy with some experience (the major issue with Curry was that he had virtually no experience even as an assistant), give him a young nucleus, and see what happens. Worked with Carlisle; may work here.
As for 2010, did anyone honestly think any of the big names were going to move to Detroit? Lebron, Wade, and Bosh were the most prominent names bandied about, and none of them were going to choose Detroit over their current situations. I much rather Detroit spend money on players this year than have a bag full of money go unused next year.
Does anyone remember how Avery Johnson took a perrenial play-off Mavericks team (and one that had just been in the conference finals) and let them fall out of the play-offs under his watch? Just me? Thank God he didn't get the job.
I always wonder why the top coaching candidates are people who were fired from their last coaching job. I'm all for hiring an up-and-coming asst. coach over a mediocre coach with experience.
In the NBA I think it's pretty common for a legitimately good coach to max out the results he's gonna get in a given situation (Avery Johnson with the Mavs, Jeff Van Gundy with the Knicks and Rockets, Mike Fratello with every team he's ever coached, etc.). That doesn't mean these guys aren't very good at what they do; it's just a really rare thing for a coach to stay consistently good with the same team for a long period of time. I think it's a pretty solid bet that Avery Johnson will coach some more very good teams before his career is done.
Also, it's easier to scapegoat the coach when the team fails in the postseason than it is to actually upgrade the roster.