Finally the Pistons' coaching search is over, with Maurice Cheeks winning the job over several more intriguing candidates. Why don't I like this hire? Well, Cheeks has been the epitome of mediocrity as a head coach. He's never won a playoff series, been fired mid-season twice, and missed the playoffs 5 out of 8 seasons (counting the 2 when he was fired before the end of the year). Add to that the fact that he hasn't been working under a great coaching mind (Scottie Brooks got severely out-coached by Lionel Hollins, who was in turn SPANKED by Greg Popovich), and there isn't a lot of hope for more than mediocre results.
I got the feeling that Dumars was pretty locked into hiring a former player, which is stupid, but fits how he's ran things so far. After LB skipped town, Dumars wanted someone who would be more compliant and more offensively minded, so he hired Flip Saunders. After Saunders lost the locker room, Dumars wanted someone the players would respect, so he hired Michael Curry. After Curry made EVERY rookie coaching mistake possible, Dumars wanted someone with more X's and O's knowledge so he hired Kuester. After Kuester beefed with nearly EVERYONE on the team, Dumars wanted someone with head coaching experience and hired Lawrence Frank (although he would have preferred Mike Woodson). With Frank struggling to connect with the players, Dumars decided he wanted a coach with head coaching experience AND playing experience (Villanueva said several times he had problems respecting Frank because he "never played the game". The lesson here is DON'T BASE YOUR HIRE ON WHAT CHARLIE V SAYS).
The top 5 coaches in the league right now are probably Greg Popovich, Rick Carlisle, Tom Thibodeau, George Karl (whenever he gets a new job), and Doc Rivers. Guys threatening to climb the ladder: Kevin McHale (did wonders in Houston), Monty Williams (nothing to work with), Mike Budenholzer (wait & see), Frank Vogel, and Mark Jackson. Of that top 5 group, Pop and Thibodeau never played NBA ball, and Carlisle and Karl were only minor bench players. Of the second group, Budenholzer and Vogel never played NBA ball, and Monty Williams was a career bench guy. Out of both groups, Popovich, Thibodeau, Monty Williams, Budenholzer and Vogel all had zero NBA head coaching experience before coming into their current jobs.
A good coach can be a former player, a scout, a GM, an assistant coach, or a guy that was fired from his previous HC job. Dumars seems to have centered his preferences within non-essential parameters like "has HC experience" and "is a former player" instead of going outside the box. Mike Budenholzer would have been outside the box for Joe D, and Zelly Obradovich would've been even more so. Instead we get a hire that reminds me of the past 3 HC hires - listless and uninspired.
I'm not optimistic (obviously) that this will work out, but allow me to spend a paragraph rebutting myself. It's possible that Cheeks has gotten a bit of a bad rap. That Trailblazers team was difficult to work with, and the 76ers were constantly a team in transition while he was at the helm. Detroit is almost a tabula rasa, and that could be a good thing for Cheeks. Some coaches prefer to go into a situation practically tailor-made for their style, others prefer to mold the team themselves. Mo Cheeks might be one of the latter types. The best coaching he ever did was with the 2007-'08 76ers, which had the youngest roster in the league. Making odds up on the spot, I'd say Cheeks has a 10-15% shot at finding the magic here.
Hey G, do you have Twitter? Big fan of your commenting over on PP.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I don't actually. I tend to be a little old school with these things. I was the last person I knew to own a cell phone, and now I'm starting a blog about 10 years after everyone else did. I'll probably get on Twitter in another 5 years, just as everyone starts getting on the next thing (which will probably allow max. 5 characters & people will update it every 30 seconds).
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