Well, the Pistons firedMichael Curry after one year. Not surprising, really. Is this where Laimbeer comes in?
ESPN says it wont be Laimbeer but I am not so sure. I like the idea. He just quit coaching his team in the Wba after the season started. It seems to have a ring of truth there. Because I do not think he would have walked without having it all choreographed.
I at least want to see Lamb on the bench. I don’t know if I want a Van Gundy.
Curry was handed an ugly mess. Iverson was brought in and Hamilton was delegated to coming off the bench. He and Curry were at odds. Then Billups was gone so who was to be point guard. Stucky did not step up. It was a mess.
Many said the moves were just temporary ,that they would bring in legitimate players the next season. But Curry was just screwed.
Ah, a good ol’ fashioned father-son sports chat.
This is true. Like we don’t have these via email.
Stuckey might end up as a point guard, but unfortunately as a combo guard, which I detest.
Sounds like stunt hiring to me, and I think that Dumars is to smart for crap like that. The Pistons will have cap room to spare this season and/or next and they’d be better suited to find a coach that will attract free agents.
Laimbeer coached the WBa team owned by the same owner of the Pistons. Davidson was a big fan of Lambeer. Laimbeer took a terrible team and made a winner out of it. He did what they asked. Then he quit them just before the Pistons fired Curry. Seems to be stretching coincidence a bit. I can see it happening. He went to Notre Dame and was a very good basketball player. He helped define the team during its “bad boys” time. Then he ran a company for a few years. I think he is qualified.
He’s also a bit of a bastard. Like it or not, the star players run the teams now. Having a colossal jerk for a head coach isn’t the draw in the NBA as it is in the NHL. He’s also never coached an NBA game. The Pistons need to sign some big free agents and a rookie head coach with a knack for making people hate him will not bring them rushing to the door. Bringing in Laimbeer to coach will be the lousy sequel to the crappy first that was the Allen Iverson trade. Dumars is hopefully (and I say hopefully only because the Detroit Lions have crushed all hope in this Detroit fan) too smart to do that.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Laimbeer pretty much hated by his opponents but well liked by his teammates and very coachable? He was often the sacrificial beached whale during that dumb shootout during All-Star weekend that also included a present player and their WNBA counterpart, so he appears to be a good company guy who can take a joke. As much as I hated him as a player, he seems like he’d be a credible head coach with … umm, maybe the exception that he hasn’t coached an NBA game before.
I would take a chance on him.
I don’t think they will hire him, although the timing of the quitting and firing are pretty suspicious. He kinda falls in the same category as Rick Berry and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, smart/knowledgable but a lot of the NBA folk think they were/are total dicks so no NBA coaching job.
They landed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villenueva today. Apparently they have that free agent thing in hand even without a coach.
As a Bulls fan I can say that I’m not concerned. Gordon can get red hot, but he’s not a superstar and he can be shut down in crunch time.
I don’t like the Gordon signing. Villanueva, I’m fine with, although he seems to be injured a lot. I suppose the Pistons had to do something, for if they didn’t, they’d have enough room next year to sign a max contract. They still have about $4 million left, though. They very well may have to trade Hamilton and Prince to get down to a smaller cap number to contend in next year’s free agency.
They’ll likely wait and see how well the team meshes and whether or not Hamilton will improve with the new coach. Shaq being in Cleveland also affects plans because I know Lebron was going to be a target of Detroit next year.
The Pistons would be stupid to mortgage everything in hopes of a big 2010 FA signing. No big name FA is going to the D and they don’t have the coin to really compete with LA, Chicago, NY, Miami or Dallas. There’s about 5 legitimate super stars available in 2010, LeBron, Wade, Bosh and maybe CP3. None of those guys are going to Detroit when bigger markets in better locations have money to throw around. If they do they are going to end up overpaying a second tier guy just to save face.
I agree.
I’d love to see a trade to get Chris Paul, though.
Get in line.
Yeah, but there haven’t been rumors about other teams (that I’m aware of). Suposedly the rumor includes Richard Hamilton and Tayshawn Prince for Chris Paul.
That would free some money up.