yahoo.com - AUBURN HILLS, MICHIGAN (TICKER) —Despite coaching the Detroit Pistons to the Eastern Conference finals each of the last three seasons, Flip Saunders is out of a job. The Pistons fired Saunders on Tuesday, four days after the Pistons were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the conference finals. Saunders, 53, had one year remaining on the four-year contract he signed with Detroit in June 2005. But Pistons president Joe Dumars decided it was time to cut ties with Saunders, who posted a 176-70 regular-season record in his three seasons with Detroit. “Decisions like this are difficult to make, especially with the success we have had throughout the last three regular seasons,” Dumars said in a statement. “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.” http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txpistonssaunders&prov=st&type=lgns I though he would be staying since it isn't his fault the Pistons are looking old. Time for them to make some real dicey moves this offseason is they wanna keep their window open.
he may be, but he is still pretty decent. what coaches are left? avery johnson? jvg? mark jackson? the best option for them would be johnson. jvg is very larry brown like, and they parted ways with brown. i think, johnson would just bring fire for one season, due to his way of coaching. he would motivate them, something that lacked on the veterans of that team. (billups, prince, wallace) but after one season, they would lose that motivation if they don't get a championship.
There best option would be to rebuild, trade their big 3 while they have value and let some no-name coach them until they are ready to contend again. Probably did Flip a favor.
Flip was awesome, i love that guy he put together the most solid rotation the NBA has seen in a while. Conference finals every year? All they need are a couple of tweaks
They have been to the conference finals the last five or six years and have some solid young players in stuckey and maxiel, and dumars is one of the best in the business at finding pieces that fit. They need to reload not rebuild.
I really don't think so. This is a group that has fallen into a "we know better than coach" mode of thinking. Avery has gained a rep as dictator-type. I would be stunned if that act lasted more than 4 months with these guys. Van Gundy they might listen to and respect. Mark Jackson they won't. It sucks, cause they could be the best in the East (and should have been the last 3 years), but they're a pack of guys that don't respect anyone other than themselves, and have lost a major amount of motivation since beating the Lakers. Probably time to break them up. Completely. Evan
i agree that the piston players dont' respect anyone except themself. but with avery, there will be some risk, but i just think his dictator style of coaching will wake them up. jvg is a coach that makes players into his system. players may say, he's the best coach, but at the same times, there were other players that hated him. i just don't think jvg has what it takes to get these players motivated. the players that liked him, never had a ring, so jvg had an easier job since they had the same goal. the goal for joe dumor, is to find a motivator, so they can keep winning rings. i think it's too late to rebuild. they can't get a focal point player with billups, prince, rasheed, rip. even rockets won't trade mcgrady for billups, prince, and rip. they have nice young players in stuckey, afflalo, and maxiel. i just think they need a motivator and another decent draft pick.
Definitely possible. But realistically they don't have a chance at winning a title with that core. Their time isn't now. They should continue to build around the young guys and find some other young players by trading the stars while they still have value. They aren't going to beat any west team in the finals for the foreseeable future. They have been to the conference finals 5-6 years in a row, they have also had 76 different coaches in that span.
JVG would be a great coach for the Pistons. It's also a job I could see him pursuing. Welcome back indeed.
You guys really think he and Sheed would coexist? I think not. I'm in the camp for Avery Johnson, he could be that strong voice that they would listen to.
Not an upgrade. I wonder how long JVG will get to milk that Finals appearance from almost 10 years ago. It would actually be nice to get him out of Houston; it would definitely cut down on a lot of the JVG threads, since I assume you would stop hearing him on Houston radio all the time, and of course ESPN/ABC.
Pistons have been one of the best teams in the NBA in the regular season, just like the Mavs. But they couldn't win anything, just like the Mavs. I belived Flip was the right coach for them but everything has its begginings and ends. We shall see if it is a good decision.
