Pistons fire Flip Saunders

[Starman]

I think Michael Curry will be the next coach. There's a reason Dumars wouldn't allow Curry to interview with other teams.

'Sheed will be traded. They didn't give up **** to get him, so anything they receive isn't bad. He's also a somewhat-valuable commodity considering he's in the last year of his contract.

Rip will be the next likely to be moved. A good player, who I believe is relatively cheap, and never gets in trouble. They need to clear room for Stuckey, like now.

With the right trade or two, the Pistons can re-position themselves as the top team in the East with a core of Billups, Stuckey, Maxiell and Prince, along with whatever they can bring in a trade...which will be more than most people think.

They gave up Mehmet Okur to get Sheed.

Okur signed with the Jazz as a restricted FA, IIRC. They got Sheed for Zelly Rebraca, Bob Sura and, I think, two first-rounders.

You're right on the actual deal, but the decision to let Okur go was a result of having Sheed on the roster. As well as the decision not to get in on the bidding for Ben Wallace, although subsequent events have shown that to be a good move anyway.

 

[Overrated]

Ah, I get what you mean now, Starman. Yes, you are correct.

I'm not entirely sure Dumars would've matched the obscene offer Utah gave Okur, though. It seems at that time, he was considered inconsistent and soft.

Not matching the Wallace offer might've been Dumars' best move since he took over.

 

[rube]

This needed to happen -- bottom line. This team as it is and has been over the past four years has run its course. I'm not saying everything there needs to be imploded, because that's just ridiculous. But Wallace needs to be shown the door and so did Flip. I'm a fan of Saunders, but this team just wasn't his situation -- it wasn't anyone's. This group has taken on a mind of its own and refused to listen to anyone -- except Larry Brown.
Saunders will be back again whenever he decides to do it, and Rasheed Wallace will be playing somewhere else next season. I think Curry and Porter will both get looks, but I think Avery Johnson gets this job in the end.

 

[mustangj17]

Lindsey Hunter has a better chance of becoming the next Pistons coach than Tom Izzo.

 

[Chef]

Darko Milicic has a better chance of becoming the next Pistons coach than Tom Izzo.

 

[rube]

Shows what I know ... Curry to take over. Says, ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3423956

 

[derwood]

Let me ask this...he takes the Pistons to the conference finals and they fire him. WTF? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the Pistons.

Rick Carlisle got the same treatment.

 

[mustangj17]

Let me ask this...he takes the Pistons to the conference finals and they fire him. WTF? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the Pistons.

Rick Carlisle got the same treatment.

Rick Carlisle never would have beaten the Lakers. So it was a good move. Besides, Saunders blew it two straight times in the Eastern Conference finals to the Heat and Cavs. Remember this was a Pistons team who two years earlier downed Shaq and Kobe. Yet, they couldn't stop an older slower shaq and Dwayne Wade.
Then they get beat by Lebron, and Daniel Gibson. Not good.

 

[Overrated]

Why on earth would you write "Daniel" when you could write "Boobie?"

 

[Starman]

Let me ask this...he takes the Pistons to the conference finals and they fire him. WTF? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the Pistons.

Rick Carlisle got the same treatment.

Rick Carlisle never would have beaten the Lakers. So it was a good move. Besides, Saunders blew it two straight times in the Eastern Conference finals to the Heat and Cavs. Remember this was a Pistons team who two years earlier downed Shaq and Kobe. Yet, they couldn't stop an older slower shaq and Dwayne Wade.
Then they get beat by Lebron, and Daniel Gibson. Not good.

They didn't "down" nothin'; they happened to be standing there when Kobe Bryant was allowed to completely self-implode the Lakers' chances.

There were 6-8 other teams in the NBA who could/would have won the championship under the same circumstances. The Pistons were simply the team lucky enough to be in position to win when it happened.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

Hey. The Celtics and the Lakers are in the Finals. The Bulls are coached by Doug Collins. Maybe they just got confused and thought Chuck Daly was supposed to have the job.

 

[PHINJ]

Starman's reflexive Larry Brown bashing is simply inane. Let's compare the records of teams before and after Larry Brown takes over throughout his career.

You want to give Isiah credit for his 56-108 improvement of the Knicks? Go right ahead. Isiah did exactly what he's done ever since he quit playing: He sabotaged the efforts of smarter men around him for the sake of self-aggrandizement.

 

[Starman]

Starman's reflexive Larry Brown bashing is simply inane. Let's compare the records of teams before and after Larry Brown takes over throughout his career.

Sure, why don't we? The Pistons had a better W-L record under Flip Saunders than Larry Brown.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DET/coaches.html

You want to give Isiah credit for his 56-108 improvement of the Knicks? Go right ahead. Isiah did exactly what he's done ever since he quit playing: He sabotaged the efforts of smarter men around him for the sake of self-aggrandizement.

Not unlike, gee whiz, Larry Brown. : :

Not to metion that Kobe wasn't the only one who caused the Lakers' problems that year. Shaq was as much if not more so the cause.

Sure, it was a team effort, Kobe vs. Shaq. That was the particular moment they chose to act out their little pageant for control of the universe, they figured they were so great it didn't matter what they did, they'd manage to win anyway. Any reasonably-solid playoff-caliber team would have beaten them; the Pistons were the ones that did.

 

[Stoney]

Let me ask this...he takes the Pistons to the conference finals and they fire him. WTF? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the Pistons.

It's a Dumars Trademark: in 02 and 03 Carlisle completely turned the Pistons around almost immediately after being hired, and led them to their two most successful seasons since the Bad Boys era. His reward: he was fired and replaced by Larry Brown.

Brown then won an NBA Championship in 04, went to the 7th game of the Eastern Finals in 05, and then was fired (although he was probably walkin anyways).

Saunders then has winningest record in the East over a three-year period and takes the team to 3-straight closely fought Eastern Finals. He's then fired.

Dumars obviously does appear to be a good GM, but damned if doesn't have a penchant for ****canning coaches who've won a HELLUVA lot more than they've lost. Wait til he gets a bona fide loser.

 

[Starman]

It's a Dumars Trademark: in 02 and 03 Carlisle completely turned the Pistons around almost immediately after being hired, and led them to their two most successful seasons since the Bad Boys era. His reward: he was fired and replaced by Larry Brown.

Brown then won an NBA Championship in 04, went to the 7th game of the Eastern Finals in 05, and then was fired (although he was probably walkin anyways).

Saunders then has winningest record in the East over a three-year period and takes the team to 3-straight closely fought Eastern Finals. He's then fired.

Dumars obviously does appear to be a good GM, but damned if doesn't have a penchant for ****canning coaches who've won a HELLUVA lot more than they've lost. Wait til he gets a bona fide loser.

Dumars' first hire as Pistons coach was George Irvine, and he qualifies.

 

[rube]

Let me ask this...he takes the Pistons to the conference finals and they fire him. WTF? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the Pistons.

It's a Dumars Trademark: in 02 and 03 Carlisle completely turned the Pistons around almost immediately after being hired, and led them to their two most successful seasons since the Bad Boys era. His reward: he was fired and replaced by Larry Brown.

Brown then won an NBA Championship in 04, went to the 7th game of the Eastern Finals in 05, and then was fired (although he was probably walkin anyways).

Saunders then has winningest record in the East over a three-year period and takes the team to 3-straight closely fought Eastern Finals. He's then fired.

Dumars obviously does appear to be a good GM, but damned if doesn't have a penchant for ****canning coaches who've won a HELLUVA lot more than they've lost. Wait til he gets a bona fide loser.

Let's not forget that Carlisle alienated just about everyone in the organization in two short years, and then had similar issues later on in Indiana. And will probably have the same in Dallas.
As for Brown, well, he basically screwed himself out of that job by pulling a, well, Larry Brown.
Saunders probably wasn't given a full-time fair shake, but when you step into an organization that expects to win a championship -- now -- and doesn't in three consecutive years, something's got to change. Whether Saunders was the one thing that had to change (and he won't be the only) is unclear in my mind.

 

[TwoGloves]

Isiah is available. I'm sure he'd love to work for Dumars.

 

[forever_town]

The Pistons need an old school dictator, IMO.

Nobody's more of a dictator than Pat.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Whoever the new coach is (and I know it's Curry now), should probably try to find a lot more minutes for Rodney Stuckey.

 

[DocTalk]

Some of us remember Flip Saunders fondly for the CBA championship he brought to the La Crosse Catbirds