So they hire brown who make 4 to 5 times as much. The Pistons wanted brown and Carlisle was cheap to fire since they only pay him about a million a year.
The press conference is going on right now and... Dumars and Carlisle sound like they're in love with each other. Both of them saying their sad, etc. Weird stuff.
What happened was Carlisle REALLY didn't like Milicic, and since Darko's the obvious #2 choice next year, Dumars decided to look elsewhere.
Wow! Larry Brown to Coach Pistons, AP Learns By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Rick Carlisle was fired as coach of the Detroit Pistons (news) on Saturday despite two straight division titles, and a source in the NBA says he will be replaced by Larry Brown. Brown, a Hall of Famer and one of basketball's most-traveled coaches, will be hired on Monday, the source told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Carlisle led the Pistons to a 50-win season and a spot in the conference finals for the first time since 1991. Detroit's playoff run ended May 24, when the Pistons were swept by the New Jersey Nets (news) in the Eastern Conference finals. "It was not an easy decision at all," Joe Dumars (news), Pistons' president of basketball operations, said during a news conference attended by Carlisle. Carlisle led the Pistons to a 100-64 regular-season record the last two seasons, and Detroit went 12-15 in two playoff runs. He was honored as NBA Coach of the Year for the 2001-02 season. "The opportunity for me to be here has been a great one," Carlisle said. "These things are never easy, but you make the best of them." Brown resigned as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers (news) on Monday after six seasons. The 76ers released him from a contractual clause that prohibited him from coaching another NBA team if he left Philadelphia prematurely. Counting Detroit, there are nine coaching vacancies in the NBA. The Pistons (50-32) rallied from a 3-1 deficit against Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, becoming just the seventh team in NBA history to advance after such a deficit. Detroit eliminated the 76ers in the second round. Carlisle had one year left on his contract. He was hired as Detroit's coach on May 25, 2001, after the team fired George Irvine following a 32-50 season. Brown also coached Denver (five years), Indiana (four years), San Antonio (3 1/2 years), New Jersey (two years), Carolina of the ABA (two years) and the Clippers (18 months). His job with the 76ers was his longest in his 31-year coaching career. He led the Sixers to the playoffs five straight seasons, including the 2001 NBA Finals (news - web sites), and will coach the U.S. men's national team this summer at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico. He has a 879-685 record in the NBA, and 1,285-853 overall, including ABA and college. Brown won an NCAA (news - web sites) championship with Kansas in 1988, and became the first coach to take six NBA teams to the playoffs when the 76ers made it in 1999. Although the Pistons were swept in the playoffs, this clearly was a triumphant season for a team without a true superstar. And Carlisle had said it was a record of accomplishment to build on next season. "We take a lot of positives from this year, but it's a tough disappointment to come up short," Carlisle said after his team was eliminated. "Even though we lose 0-4, it's one of those situations where you're oh so close, but oh so far." The Pistons were lucky enough to get the No. 2 pick in the June 26 draft thanks to a 6-year-old trade with Memphis for Otis Thorpe (news). Detroit most likely will select a potent scorer — Darko Milicic of Yugoslavia or Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony — to complement a young nucleus of Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups (news), Ben Wallace (news) and rookies Mehmet Okur and Tayshaun Prince. Hamilton, acquired from Washington in a trade for Jerry Stackhouse (news) last year, is a restricted free agent but is expected to re-sign with the team. The Pistons finished the season with Billups and Wallace struggling with injuries. And the Nets, led by Jason Kidd (news), proved too much for Detroit. "I think everyone is going to evaluate what they did and should not have done," Billups said at the time. "I am sure it is going to be a long summer. We accomplished some things this year, but right now no one is happy about it."
Firing and hiring a new coach seems to be the new fad in the NBA. They should have a lottery to see which team gets which coach.
