Tag Archive for 'Flip Saunders'

Bill Davidson wanted Flip Saunders gone

Published by Matt Watson on June 19, 2008 in From the news. 9 Comments

From Keith Langlois at True Blue Pistons, the Pistons’ official blog:

Joe Dumars wasn’t the only one with a voice that matters who left The Palace the night of the Pistons’ elimination by Boston saying, “I’d seen enough.” So had his owner.

“Absolutely,” Pistons owner William Davidson told me Wednesday morning. “No question in my mind. And I encouraged Joe to sever the relationship with Flip Saunders.”

This is interesting, and perhaps a bit of validation for Chris McCosky. For what it’s worth, Davidson also likes the Michael Curry hire:

“I love Michael Curry,” he said. “Michael worked for us. He comes in at 6 in the morning. The nice thing is when he was a player here, he established a home. He’s kept that home, so his identification with the area and the team is 100 percent. I have great, great confidence that Michael is going to do a tremendous job.”

Joe Dumars speaks

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in From the news and Videos. 37 Comments

After the press conference, Joe Dumars spoke with Stoney and Wojo on 1130 WDFN (mp3) (via Need4Sheed).

In appreciation of Flip Saunders

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in Transactions. 30 Comments

Dumars said the “coaching search” won’t take very long (will he even interview anyone but Michael Curry?), but before we start talking about the new guy, I just wanted to recognize the old one. Flip Saunders had his faults, sure, but don’t forget that once upon a time he was considered the answer to Detroit’s problems.

Yeah, the defense was great in the good ol’ days, but all too often the Pistons would go eight, nine, 10 straight minutes without a field goal. The offense was a disaster. I can’t remember when the word “complacency” became the word of choice to describe this team, but it’s not like the Pistons didn’t always suffer through long periods of play where fans would tear their hair out wondering why they couldn’t just score.

Before Flip, Ben Wallace was the team’s long All-Star. Under Flip, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups have gone to their first three All-Star games, with Rasheed Wallace going for the third and fourth time. It’s easy to dog Flip’s performance in the playoffs, but he guided the Pistons to a franchise-best 64 wins in 2006, a third-best 59 wins this year and a top 10 53 wins in 2007.

Of the teams the Pistons have lost to in the Conference Finals, one (Miami in 2006) ended up winning the whole thing, another (Cleveland in 2007) came on the heels of one of the most transcendent performances in NBA playoff history, and the other (Celtics this year, duh) came against a team that was near universally regarded as the league’s best for most of the season.

I’m not trying to gloss over his failings, but the guy did his job about as well as anyone could have possibly expected. Dumars’ decree that “there are no sacred cows” is proof that he holds the players just as responsible as the coach. This was a change that needed to be made for reasons of timing (namely, Flip entering the final year of his contract) as much as anything else.

I don’t doubt for a second that Dumars will ask his next coach to do certain things differently (Free Amir!), but I also don’t doubt that Saunders will easily find another job and continuing winning a boatload of games. I just wanted to get that out there before we forget and/or bury the guy.

Joe Dumars: “Everybody’s in play”

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in From the news. 36 Comments

Highlights from today’s presser from Keith Langlois’ blog:

* Dumars saying significant change was his desire and that “everybody’s in play. There are no sacred cows here.”

* Dumars saying the last 10 minutes of Game 6, when the Pistons squandered a 10-point lead and lost going away, was “a microcosm of the last three years.”

* Dumars saying that as he walked out of The Palace after that game, he felt a “sense of calm. I’ve seen enough.”

* Dumars saying “this team became way too content and did not show up with a sense of urgency to get it done.”

Honestly, this is exactly what fans should want to hear. Stay tuned.

Update: Also, I should note, Michael Curry was not named the coach, but it shouldn’t take long for us to find out if he really is the leading contender. From the AP:

“This will not be a long, drawn-out process,” Dumars said about a replacement for Saunders. “The next coach is going to be handed a good team. You worry more when you don’t have the players to compete at the level you need them to.”

And my favorite quote:

“The idea you can make yourself bad and make yourself good again, that’s a farce,” he said. “I have no interest in completely ripping the team down. Will I look to making significant changes? Yeah, you’re damn right I will.”

Flip Saunders is fired

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in From the news. 88 Comments

From the Detroit Free Press:

In a statement released this morning, president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said: “Decisions like this are difficult to make, especially with the success we have had throughout the last three regular-seasons. However, at this time, I feel it is necessary to make a change. I thank Flip for his hard work and dedication, but it is time for a new voice to lead our team.”

Pistons.com has the same.

Update: I’m hearing there’s a press conference will be at 2 pm.

2nd Update: A. Sherrod Blakely says Michael Curry will be announced sometime this week.

3rd Update: Keith Langlois is saying Michael Curry, too.

No word yet on a successor to Saunders, though it would be at least a mild surprise if it wasn’t going to be Michael Curry. A former teammate of Dumars in the ’90s, Curry was brought back to Detroit as a free agent at the urging of Dumars in his one-year transition period from player to president when Rick Sund was general manager. Dumars brought Curry back to the team last summer as an assistant coach after Curry had spent two years working for the league office.

Though it would normally seem risky to hire a first-time head coach – especially one with just one year as an assistant under his belt – as the leader of a title-contending team, Curry would assume the job under difference circumstances. Not only is he deeply respected by the current players – Curry, as an NBA role player, rose to president of Players Association – but Curry is eminently steeped in Pistons culture.

4th Update: Chris McCosky is pinning this on Bill Davidson: “Apparently, Pistons owner Bill Davidson has seen enough of the Flip Saunders era.”

I find it extremely hard to believe Joe Dumars didn’t agree with the move. Suggesting otherwise just seems defensive.

Update V: I just called and received confirmation that Rasheed Wallace is still scheduled to appear at SNYX tonight. The idea of actually attending that just got a lot more interesting.

Blakely and Jahnke: Who said Flip’s job is secure?

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in Rumors. 12 Comments

A. Sherrod Blakely argues today that Saunders’ job is hardly secure:

The future of Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders is still up in the air.

However, multiple league sources said Monday he still is likely to be fired, and a decision should be made within days.

Joe Dumars, Detroit’s president of basketball operations, and team owner Bill Davidson are expected to meet within the next day or so to discuss, among other things, whether the team will retain Saunders, who has one year left on a four-year, $20 million deal he signed in 2005.

Blakely cites a couple of instances in which players publicly questioned Saunders’ decisions during games, as well as their apparent penchant for giving credit to Michael Curry:

It does not help Saunders that the Pistons already have two potential replacements on staff in assistant coaches Michael Curry and Terry Porter.

In the playoffs, it was not uncommon for Pistons players, when interviewed after a win, to mention something ‘Coach Curry’ said to them that helped the team play better.

Honestly, the only specific instance I recall that happening was during Lindsey Hunter’s interview with Stephen A. Smith, but Blakely could have easily been referring to things overheard in the locker room that didn’t make their way into an actual story.

My biggest knock on Curry is his lack of experience, but I also don’t know Curry like Dumars does. They were teammates back in the day, and even though Curry was largely a scrub by any definition of the word, he was also a natural-born leader, serving as team captain for several years for the Pistons and Bucks as well as president of the NBA Players Association followed by a stint as the NBA’s Vice President of Player Development. Writing him off simply because he hasn’t paid his dues on the sideline may be short-sighted.

In the end, only time will tell what happens. I see plenty of reasons to keep Flip (namely, he’s a good coach), but my gut has always been that he’s gone. If my gut ends up being wrong, so be it; you won’t see me trying to convince anyone they simply didn’t read it right.

Update: Krista Jahnke of the Free Press weighs in with the most definitive take on the situation:

A person with knowledge of the situation said president Joe Dumars has not sat down with Saunders yet to discuss the past season, which ended last week to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

Nor has Dumars met with owner Bill Davidson, who will undoubtedly have his say in Saunders’ future.

The person said a meeting between Dumars and Davidson will take place “really soon,” and after that, questions about Saunders’ future should be cleared up. The person stressed that Saunders has not yet been given any assurance he’ll be back.

(Jahnke’s article wasn’t published online when this post first went up, but thanks to V for pointing it out in the comments when it did.)

Interestingly enough, Jahnke repeats the (false? unverified?) “Curry wasn’t allowed to interview with Chicago last month” speculation as fact without acknowledging Curry’s quotes from Saturday (in a Free Press article, no less, though not one written by Jahnke), which suggested he’s on the verge of officially interviewing with the Bulls now that the season is finally over.

McCosky backs off comments about Flip returning

Published by Matt Watson on June 3, 2008 in Rumors and The Media. 4 Comments

Yesterday, Chris McCosky was confident that Flip Saunders would stay put:

We were all wrong. All of us who speculated that the Pistons’ loss in Game 6 to Boston spelled the end of Flip Saunders’ coaching life in Detroit were wrong.

Saunders met briefly with Pistons president Joe Dumars on Saturday and all indications are that he was told he will be back.

Understand that with the Pistons, a coach’s job security can change in an instant, but as of today, the plan is for Saunders to finish out the final year of his contract. He’s already working on next season. He will supervise a workout of draft candidates at the practice facility Wednesday.

After posting McCosky’s comments, I eventually updated the post to include dissenting opinions from WDFN’s Matt Dery and A. Sherrod Blakely. Interestingly enough, McCosky himself is already hedging his bets by backing off (excuse me, “clarifying”) his comments in today’s Detroit News:

What I wrote was true. Saunders and Pistons president Joe Dumars met Saturday. Saunders left with the understanding he was to carry on as coach.

I also wrote: “Understand that with the Pistons, a coach’s job security can change in an instant, but as of today, the plan is for Saunders to finish out the final year of his contract.”

Well, yeah, but he also boldly proclaimed “we were all wrong” by thinking that Flip would return, as well as that Saunders “was told he will be back.” Silly us for believing that. So what did McCosky really mean?

Here’s why I wrote that qualifying sentence. Saunders also knew when he left that meeting, Dumars had not yet discussed anything with Pistons owner Bill Davidson. Dumars is expected to meet with Davidson sometime this week.

If Davidson wants a coaching change, then a coaching change will be made. That’s what happened in 2003 with Rick Carlisle. Dumars intended to bring Carlisle back. Davidson, though, was adamant he didn’t want Carlisle to coach his team anymore.

Fortunately, Larry Brown became available and a smooth change was made.

Ah, now it makes sense. Apparently Davidson has a Steinbrenner-esque mean streak in him and doesn’t actually trust his President of Basketball Operations to, you know, preside over operations pertaining to basketball.

Or … perhaps in hindsight, after seeing how many people were taking his initial article as fact, McCosky regrets speaking so authoritatively, especially since he didn’t cite a source (named or unnamed) to fall back on. Perhaps the only thing Saunders was told during his meeting with Dumars was to carry on as usual and that a final decision would be forthcoming.

Either way, McCosky has now backed himself into another corner: if Flip does get canned, it’s because Davidson overruled Dumars’ judgment. Who knew one of the most highly-regarded executives in all of basketball had such little power? Sigh.

I actually agree with the general tenor of McCosky’s ensuing defense of Saunders, but making a bold prediction one day and feeling compelled to hedge the next without having the humility to say “I may have been wrong” or even “I may have been vague” is annoying. My reading comprehension is fine, thanks.

Flip Saunders apparently won’t be fired

Published by Matt Watson on June 2, 2008 in From the news and Rumors. 39 Comments

From Chris McCosky in the Detroit News:

We were all wrong. All of us who speculated that the Pistons’ loss in Game 6 to Boston spelled the end of Flip Saunders’ coaching life in Detroit were wrong.

Saunders met briefly with Pistons president Joe Dumars on Saturday and all indications are that he was told he will be back.

Understand that with the Pistons, a coach’s job security can change in an instant, but as of today, the plan is for Saunders to finish out the final year of his contract. He’s already working on next season. He will supervise a workout of draft candidates at the practice facility Wednesday.

If true, I’m not disappointed — there aren’t any available candidates to replace him that would make this decision a no-brainer, and he did exceed everyone’s expectations by developing the bench in the regular season (he just forgot to use it in the playoffs …)

As I said before, though, I’m nervous about a lame duck coach sharing the locker room with Rasheed Wallace, so this might seal the deal that Wallace is on his way out. That said, I’m wrong a lot, and Dumars tends to buck conventional wisdom in favor of staying trained on the big picture.

The Pistons won 59 games, the third-best record in franchise history. This isn’t a time for rash decisions, and if teams interested in Wallace are only offering 50 cents on the dollar because they think Dumars is backed into a corner, well, it’s just not going to happen. Either way, stay tuned. This will be interesting.

Other opinions:
Brian Spencer from Empty the Bench
Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don’t Lie
Marcel Mutoni at SLAM

Update: Matt Dery of WDFN remains convinced Saunders is gone (via Full-Court Press):

I was online this morning and read Chris’ piece in the Detroit News today about the Pistons and Flip Saunders. It stated that Flip may be back after all after meeting with Joe Dumars over the weekend. I just don’t see that happening. I know Flip may have told Chris that, and heck, maybe Saunders believes it, but I would be so stunned beyond stunned if he returned as coach. Whether you like Saunders or not, he has failed to get the team to where they need to go and Joe knows it, Scott Perry knows it and Mr D knows it. We all know it. Maybe Dumars told Flip he is not going to make a change right now and for him to continue on with drilling draft prospects in the next few weeks, but that still does not mean anything. It happens all the time in sports, the dreaded “vote of confidence” or “no move means status quo” bit..

Granted, it doesn’t look like Dery has any sources, but WDFN is the flagship station of the Pistons, and unlike most talk radio guys spouting off from afar, Dery is at the arena every game and is as plugged in as most reporters.

2nd Update: A. Sherrod Blakely also remains unconvinced:

This season had a disappointing ending, just like Carlisle’s final season did. Despite racking up a bunch of wins, Saunders found himself being second-guessed all season by fans publicly and players privately, just like Carlisle. And when Saunders left for the summer, he felt as though he would be back, just like Carlisle.

Not only did Carlisle expect to be back, but there were preliminary talks about a contract extension.

It’s unclear if such discussions have taken place between the Pistons and Saunders, but returning without one would be difficult and awkward for all involved.

The difference, as Blakely goes on to note, is that Larry Brown, an unquestionably superior coach, became available. No such option exists on the market to replace Flip … yet.

Michael Curry will interview with Chicago

Published by Matt Watson on June 1, 2008 in Rumors and The Media. 5 Comments

Flip Saunders didn’t speak to reporters after leaving the Pistons’ practice facility Saturday afternoon, but assistant coach Michael Curry did, addressing both the speculation that he might replace Saunders as well as where he’s at in regards to interviewing other jobs. From Shannon Shelton in the Detroit Free Press:

Assistant coach Michael Curry talked briefly about his future with the Pistons but said he didn’t speak about the top job with team executives Saturday morning.

“It hasn’t been discussed,” Curry said. “We just finished the season. My mind was focused on the opportunity that we had to get to the Finals. My mind wasn’t on nothing else and no other team prior to now.”

Curry did confirm that the Chicago Bulls had spoken with his lawyer about their vacancy, but the Chicago Tribune reported last month that the Pistons refused to give the Bulls permission to interview Curry, a sign that they want to keep him.

Curry added that he’d be meeting with his lawyer soon to talk about his future.

“I hear things in the media, and I hear things from (my lawyer) as well,” Curry said. “He knew during the season that it wasn’t time to talk about it. We’d discuss it and see what the talk was, and then our focus was how I could continue to help (the Pistons) get better here.”

I think the whole “Curry wasn’t allowed to interview” thing was overblown. For one, Doug Collins is all but officially Chicago’s new head coach, so if Curry is being interviewed now, he’s most likely being interviewed for an assistant’s job, and it makes no sense that the Pistons would deny him the chance at a promotion but allow a lateral move. If the Bulls were actually denied before (and from the sounds of it, it was his decision not to pursue anything), it had to have been the timing of the playoffs.

So why was Terry Porter allowed to interview with the Suns? Perhaps because Steve Kerr expressed to Joe Dumars that Porter was a very serious candidate. From A. Sherrod Blakely:

Porter, who coached the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (2004-2005), has already interviewed once with the Suns and is among a handful that Phoenix GM Steve Kerr will talk with a second time.

“I’m thankful I’m in the second round process,” Porter said on Saturday. “Go down there and do the best that I can do, and see how it plays out.”

Also, it’s not accurate to cite that Chicago Tribune article as confirmation that Curry was denied permission. The exact quote was, “the Pistons continue to give signs they won’t allow the Bulls to interview,” which as I noted at time time, reeks of a reporter not actually knowing for sure but still drawing his own conclusions.

Validating that claim by referencing it again is the MSM echo chamber at its worst, and it makes me wonder if I made of a mistake of buying into the whole “Michael Curry is being groomed as Flip’s heir apparent” in the first place. How do we know this? No one in the organization has put their name to it, but it’s been repeated unsourced by the local media for months, which makes me wonder if it simply began as someone’s hunch before it was repeated so many times it became accepted as fact.

Brief thoughts

Published by Matt Watson on May 31, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 76 Comments

The season ended much earlier than I thought it would, so I’m going to let this marinate a little bit and try to enjoy the rest of the weekend before posting some kind of grand finale. But first, some brief reactions:

  • Congratulations to the Celtics, who convinced me they’re the better team. Even when Detroit got going on all cylinders, the Celtics always found a way to hang around until the very end (Game 4), keep the Pistons at bay (Game 5) or weather the storm and seal the deal (Game 6). There’s no quit on that team from top to bottom. I don’t appreciate the way the team came together in just one summer, but you can’t argue with the results.
  • Antonio McDyess is taking this hard. Really hard. I implore you to read this.
  • This was easily Flip Saunders’ best year on the sidelines, and Tayshaun Prince did his best to deflect criticism from Flip after the game, but I think he’s probably gone — even if for no other reason than the fact that he’ll be entering the last year of his contract next season. I don’t think Dumars/Davidson wants to can him before his contract is up, but I don’t think they want to extend him, either, and bringing back a lame duck coach who’s allegedly struggled to earn the respect of everybody in the locker room doesn’t make sense.
  • Who do I think will replace him? Michael Curry or Avery Johnson are my guesses. Plus, Curry would be dirt cheap as a first-time coach, which would offset the expense of paying Flip to leave.
  • Did Rasheed Wallace play his last game as a Piston? I’m leaning toward yes. He can still produce and is an underrated defender, but he’s not consistent and (most importantly) will be entering the final year of his contract. That said, I don’t think Dumars will give him away — it’d have to be the right package, and it’s difficult to get full value on one of the most misunderstood players in the league.
  • Another guy who might be moved: Rip Hamilton. Not because he doesn’t fit this team, but because his trade value is still sky-high and the Pistons could probably enter next year with Rodney Stuckey playing next to Chauncey Billups and still expect to compete for a title.
  • If the Pistons do start making trades, they better not block Amir Johnson. I know it’s easy to scoff at the hype (though even I laugh at the “Amir LeKobe” nickname one of you came up with), but he’s absolutely the team’s best rebounder and shot-blocker. Even if that’s all he ever will be — and there’s no reason to think it is — that’s worth 25-30 minutes a game.
  • I’ll weigh in more on all of this later this weekend and throughout the summer, I just wanted to get some quick thoughts up lest you think I’ve abandoned ship.

Last but not least, thank you.

This site exists because you guys read it, and I never expected in my wildest expectations that it would draw such an intelligent, loyal and respectful community of readers. It’s extremely humbling to see so many of you guys to claim this little corner of the internet as your preferred destination to talk hoops and watch games. I hope you all stick around this summer — things should get really interesting.

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