OT: Pistons hire Mo Cheeks as Head Coach
"ESPN sources: Mo Cheeks has today agreed to take Detroit Pistons' job. Story posting online at ESPN as we speak"
Many expected Cheeks was the man Detroit wanted, and sure enough they got him. Cheeks has a career record of 284-286 in eight seasonsas a head coach.
Cheeks has played with both Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, and has coached Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace; he’s known to possess an even keel on the sidelines and handle difficult personalities, a trait that works in his favor here.
As coach, one of his main duties will most likely be harnessing and developing young point guard Brandon Knight, if he doesn't move to SG during the offseason. Cheeks was a main influence on Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook, who can be a loose cannon at times.
With a young and promising core of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, and Brandon Knight to work with, hopefully the organization can use both the draft and free agency wisely to build around these guys.
a decent second would be when Mark Carrier gave the intercepted pass to the paraplegic. Glad he's in Detroit!
I was living in Portland at the time (well... Hillsboro) - I remember it well.
Sadly i also remember he wasn't an especially good coach.
IMO, sizeable downgrade from L. Frank. This guy has never advanced out of the first round of the NBA playoffs with some fairly talented teams. Players ran over ex-player Michael Curry and I would expect the same with Cheeks.
Very dissapointed.
I see where you're coming from, but from what i've heard, Frank's lack of playing experience was a frequent complaint amongst the players, and one of the several reasons he was let go.
I think the Pistons needed someone who is known for their player development. The organization is looking to win now. I am by no means sold on this hire, but I do know Cheeks is very well-respected around the league and is looking to turn this team around.
The players have run this ship for too long, the last guy who actually had the balls to not coddle the players was Larry Brown. Flip, Curry, Kuester, Frank, now Cheeks. Interchangable mediocre coaches, not winners.
I don't think that'll be a big problem now. We were still dependent on veterans at that time. Our best players and ones that aren't dispensable are young now. Most of the veterans on this team won't be there after the next season or two.
But I still agree overall that it's not an upgrade. No point to letting Frank go. Should have just given him the two years he wanted instead of hiring Cheeks. Really odd. Rather go with an unproven assistant.
Can't they just save us 3 years and fire him right off the bat?
Don't you mean two years?
Good guy.
Great assistant coach.
Great at coaching guards.
Not a good head coach.
Not very thrilled for some reason, should I be thrilled?
His hire didn't make sense when he was hired, but this may still be a marginally better hire. It will be nice to see how he can do now that he doesn't have to manage so many head cases (ie. the core of his Jail Blazer team and AI in Philly).
I'd argue Rodney Stuckey is a head case. He was part of the player revolt under Kuester.
Hopefully the Pistons either amnesty or find a team willing to take Stuckey.
Frank managed to get out of the first round three times with the Nets. Cheeks is batting 0-fer in terms of playoff series wins.
When Byron Scott was fired in midseason, they were still over .500. Frank should be able to succeed with the talent he had in a weak Eastern Conference. Yet he still couldn't manage to get the Nets to the conference finals.
Frank should have a better postseason record. Cheeks never had a team as the higher seed in any playoff matchup out in the deep Western Conference. Flip the conferences for those two teams and the story may be totally different.
could work, could crash and burn
Why wouldn't we go after him or George Karl?
If he drafts Burke, ill have his back.
Seems odd to ask phil jackson for his help and then kind of blow him off.
"The Pistons announced in May that former coach Phil Jackson, a longtime friend of Gores, was acting as a consultant during the search. But the hiring of Cheeks came without Jackson's favored candidate -- Indiana Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw -- ever interviewing for the job."
full article: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9363105/sources-maurice-cheeks-detroi…
Yeah, I'm with you. For every John Kuester flameout, you get a Frank Vogel. I'd prefer the good established coach, like the Larry Brown hire, but if that can't happen, what's the harm in going with a young guy who is under the radar a bit - like Rick Carlisle was when Joe hired him.
It's almost like Dumars is trying to do the opposite of everything that made the beginning of his tenure so successful.
According to SBNation (who was in turn reporting a Matt Dery tweet), it's a three-year deal with no clear details as yet, although Matt's tweet said he was investigating the possibility that there was an option for a fourth year.
There was a report late last week that Cheeks was the frontrunner for this job, which somehow figures as he was the only one on the list who garnered no interest from other teams, or at least that's what I understand.
What was the reason that the Pistons brought on Phil Jackson to consult on the hire again? I suspect that this hire was not it. Nate McMillan and Brian Shaw were on the list, but CBS reported that Mo interviewed with the Pistons on three separate occasions.
Here's what Gores said about it:
"After spending some time with Maurice, I was very impressed not only with his basketball knowledge but his communication and leadership skills. We are very excited to have someone of his experience and talent help take this franchise into the future.”
Yep, six teams looking for HCs and we hire a retread who wasn't even considered by those 5 other teams. Great stuff, Joe.
Maybe he can cohabitate with Joe D until they are both shown the door in 2015.
That quote from Gores bothers me. It seems like the generic response to any regular coaching hire. In fact, it sounds like what he would have said after they hired Frank.
Gores is a phony, an LA guy who views the Stones as nothing more than an investment. It really makes you appreciate a guy like Mike Ilitch whose only concern is winning that much more, doesn't it? We had it so good for so many years with Bill Davidson, the only bad decision he ever made was marrying that greedy bitch Karen.
Do you have some inside information? Maybe he does see them as just an investment. Or maybe the team means something to him because he grew up in Michigan. I don't know.
My information isn't a secret. I know he's been to less than 8 games total since buying the team. I know his first move when he became owner was to put in a team of "Bobs" with only business experience in place to study the financials rather than the basketball team. I know he doesn't attend owners meetings.
Bill Davidson had a courtside seat he occupied even when he was ill. Tom Gores, not so much.
All this time to pick a coach, along with the help of Phil Jackson, and Maurice Cheeks is the best they could come up with? In his 8 years as a head coach, he only had 2 winning seasons, the last of which was 10 years ago. He's a failure with 2 firings and 3 1st round playoff exits under his belt. On top of that, he's been known to lose control of his players (i.e. - The "Jail" Blazers and the Allen Iverson/Chris Webber fiasco). Great charismatic guy, bad head coach. What a stupid hire.
Keep cycling through coaches if you want, but no one could win with the rosters Joe D has been churning out lately.
You have to think you can only fire so many coaches before you realize the management is not putting anyone "in a position to suceed" and may in fact be the issue
Mediocre hire for a mediocre organization.
Excuse me? An organization that has won 3 titles and had a run of consecutive conference championship appearances isn't a mediocre organization. Outside of LA, Boston, and Chicago, name one organization that has had more success over the last 30 years.
Oh, you're talking about the past 30 years. Ok, well please disregard my comment. The Pistons haven't been relevant in quite some time, and they don't seem to be doing anything to put them in the right direction, this hire in that category. The NBA has changed so much in the past "30 years" that it's hard to compare success in the eras. So please excuse me for making an obvious statement. You could compare the Pistons back when they won their last championship to the Spurs. Where are the spurs with essentially the same core roster? They continue to be at the top of the Western Conference. Their management makes wise decisions with their roster. It isn't like the Pistons, that have 6 SF and 3 PG/SG who aren't good enough to play either position exclusively.