I agree Izzo could be a good coach for the Pistons…but as a State alum part of me hopes he never ever leaves.

I love your site, and believe me, that is hard for me to say. :)

Not sure it’s worth paying him big money when he could fail quite badly. I don’t know much about the bloke, can he coach at the NBA level?

Being a Spartie myself, I don’t think it such a bad idea but seeing the way the Pistons just throw away coaches like it’s nothing would probably make him shy away from the opportunity. And to add, knowing that being a coach for the Pistons isn’t such a secure job, his job at MSU will never be at risk.

I read a great article a couple months ago about why college coaches fail in the pros:

Some highlights:

-The faster shot clocks require quicker and twice as many adjustments in a game.

-College coaches generally succeed by bullying players. A different approach is required with NBA players.

I think players would respect Michael Curry and even Lindsey Hunter more.

Curry fits the profile of a good coach. Someone who played in the league and lasted because of toughness and intelligence (Pat Riley, Phil Jackson).

I’m sure Joe Dumars would get a bunch of good X’s and O’s guys around him.

Oh, and here’s the list of players the Pistons are going to bring in for workouts (yo Matt, can I get a hat-tip?):

With no further delay, here’s the early list:
• Shan Foster, SG, Vanderbilt
• Omri Casspi, SF, Israel
• Bill Walker, SF, Kansas State
• Joe Crawford, SG, Kentucky
• Mike Green, PG, Butler
• D.J. White, PF, Indiana
• Joey Dorsey, PF, Memphis
• Courtney Lee, SG, Western Kentucky
• Trent Plaisted, C, BYU
• Giorgi Shermandini, C, the Republic of Georgia
• Kentrell Grandsberry, PF, South Florida
• Malik Hairston, SF, Oregon

I have read up on everyone but a couple days ago I mentioned Bill Walker as someone who seemed to fit the profile. Interesting to see Detroiters Malik Hairston and Joe Crawford on the list.

I saw Mike Butler play against Michigan and really liked him. Not sure if he’s athletic enough for the pros. Maybe he’s a secound rounder.

to draw a major college coach away from their home and comfort zone, it’s expensive. and the history of the college coaches going pro, no matter how accomplished, doesn’t make sense value-wise.

One I thing I never understood is why NBA teams use the same coaches over and over again. I can understand if one coach did not work with one team, and another team gave him another shot. But once a guy has coached more than two teams and has not won what makes GMs think its going to change when they take over their team. I am all for taking a risk on some new blood when it comes to a new coach for our team. Hey Phil Jackson got his start somewhere. Maybe just maybe Curry will be a great coach. As for bringing in Johnson or Van Gundy forget it! College coaches never really make it in the pros. The more and more I think about it I like the idea of giving Curry a chance. Who cares if he only has a year under his belt. I like the fact that Curry is a Detroit guy. He played here and he makes his home here in Detroit. I never like when the Leadership of the team lives else where. I think Hunter would be a good coach to have as his right hand man. The Xs and Os are so overrated in the NBA. Teams have been running the same old plays over and over again for years. Its more about when and how you use the players you have on your team and having them buy into your system. Example game 3 when Boston jumped out a 11-0 lead to start the game. Flip should have never let Boston get that far ahead without making sub. Once the lead got to 6-0 he should have made a sub. The starters were not bringing energy so thats why you have energy guys like Mad Max who comes in and always plays hard. If your starters are not getting it done let the other guys play. Curry may not have the offensive play book as big as Flips but he does have something that Flip never had here and thats the ear and respect of the players. You can’t make a leader. Flip was not a leader. The fact that when he first took over he never made his mark on the team. He should have came in saying hey its great that you guys won back in 2004 but my goals is to make you guys one of the best team in NBA history, however we have to do it my way. Not they won without me and I have never won a ring attitude. He was not a leader and thats what we need on and off the court. We have not had a leader on the court since big Ben jumped ship for the Bulls. We did not have a leader on the sideline since LB. Leadership is everything in basketball and in life. As a leader you have to know when to yell and when not to. You have to know when to kick some ass and when to give some love. You always have to make sure your team is pushing down the correct wall. Coach Daly once said some days he would tell his staff that not to say anything bad about the team that we needed to just cheer for them today to get them going. The key is when to do it and when to just tell your team to get their heads out of their asses and play ball. I can’t wait to see what happens the next few months.

@ Quick Darshan.

I think the folowing guys are interesting:

1. Shan Foster. The kid can shoot the ball.

2. Giorgi Shermandini. I don’t care for Euro players that much but he can shoot the ball and has a nice inside game but so did Darko.

3. DJ White. Hard core kid with a nice inside game. Long arms.

No matter how large a player or a coach’s contract may be, soon enough all people are people and they earn your true respect through their person and not the numbers next to their name. this is why a man in prison with scabs on his legs can command more respect from the yahoos on the cell block than bill o’reilly or steve jaffey can from you at your dinner table.

He would be the Charles Rogers of NBA Coaches.

-Juskimo (Michigan, Class of 2002)

I think it’s been already decided (Curry).

Seriously, I had the strangest team last night. I dreamed that Larry Brown is back and we were apparently at the NBA Finals against the Lakers. Pau Gasol was on the Pistons team. Billups is a back-up guard to Deron Williams. During a timeout they discussed how to stop Coby Bryan.

Am I out of my mind hear? I mean Pau Gasol and Deron Williams as a Pistons?

HB: I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re foreign; right? That’s the only way I can explain that post rationally without wanting to tear my own face off.

What’s the average life span of an NBA coach? 3 or 4 years?

Dreshaj, i think that HB meant to put “strangest dream” instead of “strangest team.”

I don’t know much about Joey Crawford’s measurables, but I’d rather not see him drafted by the Pistons. All he’d want to do is fight Tim Duncan.

Bird: Of course, I was just trying to be “teh funny for the pistons teams for future”.

I think DJ White sounds promising, and seems like he would fit well with our team.

Also, I wanted to ask what other DBBers are thinking about a possible Billups trade. Do any of these rumors hold value, or is it all bullshit? Personally, I don’t believe our backcourt should be traded.

True, teams will kill for a good PG, but Chauncey is still very effective and I respect him as a player. I guess anything is possible depending on the phone calls Joe gets, I just hope it’s the forwards that go before our backcourt.

@Detroit Dreshaj

If you’re saying D.C foreign then yeah.

@Birdman

They were wearing Pistons uniform.

I could see a Chauncey trade. He seems to be as responsible as anyone for that complaisant/nonchalant attitude that seems to have driven Joe D. so crazy. Still, he’s our best crunch time scorer…

My suggestion for the next Piston coach is R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) In the famous movie “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, McMurphy as player/coach of the mental ward’s basketball team, instructed his 6’8"Native American center, Chief Bromden to stay in one spot under the basket with his arms raised over his head and to “put the ball in the basket chief!” Flip Saunders armed with his 5 million dollar contract and 500 page play book apparently doesn’t understand one of the most fundamental concepts of the game, that is that big men are supposed to be stationed close to the basket. Saunders’ “chief”, 6’11" Rasheed Wallace seemed to spend an inordinate amount of his time chucking up 30 foot shots behind that ridiculous 3 point line. Either Saunders never bothered to tell Wallace to get the hell under the backboard and use his height to advantage or if he did, Wallace didn’t bother to listen to him. Same difference. My point is, a lunatic, McMurphy, seemed to have a better basic understanding of basketball then an NBA coach with his “staff” of 20 assistants! Go figure.

Alan, you can call all the plays in the world where your power forward posts up but when said power forward is unwilling to battle for post position with the likes of Kendrick Perkins and drifts out to fifteen feet, it kinda defeats the purpose.

Nurse Ratchett with an electro-shock collar might have been able to keep Sheed on the block, but no non-Tar Heel affiliated basketball coach has been able to do it.

@Alan,
I second the nomination for RP McMurphy as Pistons coach.

Shinons: You are right, Chauncey’s attitude seems to have sparked some of the lack of urgency as of late. As you said however, he is one of the best clutch players in the league, and almost always comes up big when our asses are on the line. I wouldn’t trade our backcourt.

Stuck has “it” so C.B. is out. The main reason cb is “clutch” is because he is the one on the team that has had the mismatch(s). Which is why we all are so pissed. ‘05 parker ’06 retired glove and some dirty chocolate ’07 & ’08 a bunch of nobody’s. HIS TIME HAS COME LIKE FLIP’S FOR BETTER OR WORSE. WE NEED A NEW HEAD ON OUR SNAKE AND I FOR ONE WILL TAKE YOUTH AND FIRE AT PG AND COACH.

Here are the players for whom I would trade Chauncey Billups

LeBron – Not available
Chris Paul – Not available
Dirk Nowitzki – If the Mavs move him, it will be to build around Jason Kidd or explode the team entirely.
Tim Duncan – Not available
Chris Bosh – The Raptors have two great PGs as it is.
Dwight Howard – Not available

More likely offers from other teams would be in the Jason Richardson/Chris Kaman class of players. Billups is vastly underrated in this league.

Is there any reason that the name Bill Laimbeer hasn’t been mentioned to fill the open coaching spot? He seems right on for the job if you ask me, and if you need a coach players can respond to & respect! Thoughts?

A common knock on college coaches is that they don’t command the respect of the players, since a college coach has no track record in the NBA. In recent history, this team has had problems with authority. A college coach might exacerbate matters in this way, in addition to the cons QD refers to previously in this thread.

Same thing for Bill. Yeah, Bad Boy for life, but he’s a WNBA coach, which, fair or not, might generate a similar reaction from veterans resentful of his heavy-handed coaching style (which I presume it would be).

“Same thing for Bill. Yeah, Bad Boy for life, but he’s a WNBA coach, "

Well, then he’s used to divas.

The Pistons will draft Drew Neitzel in the first round before they hire Tom Izzo as head coach.

@O-Town General:
Thank god you’re not our GM.

@Kevin S:
“Well, then he’s used to divas.”

+1

@ Mike Payne:

Then thank God Rosenberg isn’t our GM either.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080604/SPORTS03/806040405/1051

Carey, unlike most ‘NBA fans’ and fans of this team, I have the unique patience to read an entire block of text, and I agree. The only thing I have to add . . . it’s amazing that Joe keeps firing guys at the worst time of year, when the quality coaching litter becomes thin, and this team still does what it does. Counter this with Chicago, who fires Skiles @ Xmas, and they’re still interviewing everyone to find out who will work for next to nothing because the Bulls ownership is personified by cheap and stupid.

Mike Payne: Well it is early and I am throwing out ideas. I take it you do not like them. What say you!

Alan and Mike P: McMurphy is already an assistant with the Lakers, but he’s a lifer with them, so I think we should pass.

I’m a little surprised at this discussion of Izzo. College coaches historically have a difficult time adjusting to the NBA. I also didn’t disagree too much with Rosenberg. Stuckey is a young Billups, with potentially more upside. I think at some point he’s going to be traded.

The key is: what do you get for these players? I’m not as into this as many of you, but the only guy that we could possibly acquire who is a great fit with our team is Brand. OTOH, watching how the Pistons were built, I wouldn’t worry too much about Dumars making a bad trade. ;)

@O-Town General:
Ideas are good, buddy. Its just insane to think that Stuck is ready to take over as our PG and that Chauncey should leave. That’s not to say my ideas aren’t insane either. I just want Joe and Davidson to do whatever they can to get ahold of Andris Biedrins… He can do what he wants with the rest, but I’d kill to have that guy as our starting C.

@V:
I’ve probably mentioned Biedrins 10+ times since Friday, and a LOT beforehand. But: “but the only guy that we could possibly acquire who is a great fit with our team is Brand.”

I’d argue that Biedrins is a better option across the board.

Mike P, here’s scouting info from ESPN on Andris, to help or hurt your case:

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2006-07 season: The master of field-goal percentage struck again, hitting 59.9 percent from the field to keep his career mark over 60 percent. The Latvian lefty is actually a terrible shooter — just watch him shoot a free throw some time — but thanks to his shot selection and finishing ability around the basket, he converts an incredibly high percentage.

Speaking of free throws, he improved enough to make more than half of them last year, which was a huge improvement on the 30.6 percent he made a year earlier. Opponents are still far better off hacking Biedrins than they are letting him try a close-in shot, but at least the difference is shrinking.

Biedrins made more impact on the boards last year, finishing 14th among centers in rebound rate while providing one of the team’s few steady sources of boards, especially after Troy Murphy was traded.

Scouting report: Biedrins lacks muscle, but his activity around the basket makes up for it. He excels at putting himself into position for easy layups and dunks, and has a nice lefty hook shot from close range that he’ll bust out in his rare catches on the block.

Free throws are an adventure, though. Biedrins may have the ugliest form since Chris Dudley, shooting one-hand line drives that often fail to clear the rim and only sporadically have any backspin.

Defensively, Biedrins’ lack of muscle is a problem because it prevents him from defending elite post players one-on-one — which is really what Golden State needs. He’s an active rebounder and shot-blocker and holds down the middle better in zones, but the hope is that he’ll fill out and hit the weights so he can fill a more traditional center role. He also needs to work on transition D — he jogs back too often and gets beat by opposing big men.

2007-08 outlook: If you’re curious, he figures to shoot a high percentage again — the projections have him at a league-leading 62.9 percent. Of greater interest to the Warriors may be his scoring and rebounding numbers, both of which also project to improve as the 21-year-old big man starts heading into his prime years.

The Warriors are due to give Biedrins an extension this summer and based on his age and production would be completely insane not to. Although his game is a bit unorthodox, he was a quality player at age 20 and could be much, much better a few years down the road. It may cost the Warriors as much as $60 million to find out how much better.

The other obstacle for Biedrins may be his coach. As well as he played last year, he saw only 29 minutes a game and Don Nelson seemed to get oddly impatient with him — like the time on Dec. 9 when Nellie yanked him 15 seconds into a game against Hornets.

Nelson’s passion for smallball may be entertaining, but Biedrins figures to be one of the Warriors’ best players this year. If he’s not playing well more than 30 minutes a game, it’s a mistake.

Most similar at age: Al Jefferson

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Here’s a highlight reel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_JY6MGyXvU

Disclaimer: In that video, a lot of what Andris is doing is against a lot of not-playoff-material clubs.

Sauce, thanks my man— its nice to read a professional scouting report on Biedrins. While I’ve only seen him play 20 or so games over the last two seasons, I’ve checked his game stats after each game for the last two seasons. I’ve drafted him in fantasy basketball two years running, he’s always quite a sleeper there since many aren’t aware of him.

After reading that report, I’m not too worried about his FT shooting. I think you can’t ask too much out of a Center. Who knows, maybe I’m biased from having Ben on our team for so many seasons.

If the strength is a concern and we were to sign Biedrins, it might make sense to keep Ratliff around for another year while Biedrins shares a diet plan with Amir and Samb. That’s getting ahead of ourselves though…

For more interest, here is Biedrins’ hotspot chart:
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/7715/biedrinshotspots0604200mr2.jpg

MP: I’ll give you this: he’s clearly better than Kendrick Perkins.

LB: Coming soon, perkistheleast.com?