What is going on with Joe Dumars? He announces he wants a coach by Tuesday and pursues Avery Johnson, but was unable to come to terms with Johnson on a contract. No matter, the coach that brought quick offense to Dallas and seems to know a lot about point guard play will not be the Pistons coach, because he wants too many years and too much money.

So now Joe D is pursuing John Kuester and lo and behold we find out Kuester was a Piston assistant to Larry Brown when they won the NBA title. Why didn’t we know that? We should have.

He earned a lot of respect within the franchise during that stint for two reasons.
One: More than any other assistant, he stood up to Larry Brown. Kuester and Mike Woodson were considered Brown’s two best assistants, but Kuester was more likely to disagree with the head man. This was especially impressive because Kuester is a North Carolina alum, like Brown, and Carolina guys form the tightest fraternity in basketball.

And two: After one season in Detroit, Kuester left to be an assistant for the New Jersey Nets. That was partly because Kuester’s family stayed in Philadelphia when Kuester followed Brown from the 76ers to the Pistons. But it was largely because Kuester knew that in order to be an NBA head coach, he had to work for somebody besides Larry Brown.

source

Antonio McDyess to the Spurs

Oh, and one more Piston related morsel. Antonio McDyess is ready to sign with the San Antonio Spurs.

Joe D has gotten rid of Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson, Amir Johnson, and now Antonio McDyess. Can Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince be considered anything but trade bait at this point? It is a Piston garage sale.

Photo source Newscom

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It was ultimately a player revolt and Coach Michael Curry was the victim. You see, in the NBA the players and especially the star players rule. Michael Curry was a rookie coach and a coach that had my doubts on his ability to do the job from the very beginning.

If being a rookie coach on a team that was on the way down was not bad enough, Curry also had to lose star player Chauncey Billups in a trade for Allen Iverson. Hey, you better have superior leadership and people skills if you are going to coach a team with Allen Iverson.

Once Rip Hamilton turned his back on Coach Michael Curry, he was done

When Rip Hamilton was benched for Allen Iverson in a manner that did not suit Rip, you could see the handwriting on the wall.

Giving Curry every opportunity to correct his rookie blunders was Joe Dumars’ original plan, but then it became apparent that the fractious relationship between Curry and Hamilton was beyond saving.

Curry foolishly alienated Hamilton, not telling him privately about his decision to bench him for Allen Iverson before telling the entire team. And in a recent conversation with the Free Press, Curry didn’t seem to be in a hurry to meet with Hamilton to rectify any differences.

Dumars had no alternative but to trust his instincts, despite the outward appearance of a franchise once again going through coaches like tissues. When in doubt, cut your losses and minimize the damage. If it was going to happen, it’s better for the organization to pull the trigger now rather than wait and fire Curry two weeks into next season
source

Early favorite for the job is Avery Johnson, who used to coach the Dallas Mavericks.

Image: Zuma Press

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How bad are the Grizzlies when Avery Johnson turns down a 5 year contract?

You remember Avery as the Dallas coach.

Johnson, 43, certainly fits Heisley’s profile, having posted a 194-70 record in four seasons with the Mavericks for a winning percentage of .735. Before his dismissal in May after two straight first-round playoff exits, Johnson took Dallas to the NBA Finals for the first time in the club’s history in 2006.

Johnson also earned NBA Coach of the Year honors that season and followed up the trip to the Finals with a 67-15 season in 2006-07, before his tenure with the Mavs began to unravel with a first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors and former Dallas coach Don Nelson.
source

Not only did the Grizzlies offer up 5 years, but they have 3 awesome looking rookies in O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother), and Darrell Arthur.

Rumors have former assistant coach Hollins taking the job. Hollins resume is a little less than sterling, so maybe the Griz will keep looking.

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Flip Saunders is told by the Detroit Pistons Joe Dumars to take his ball and go home

Image details: Detroit Pistons v Boston Celtics – Game Five served by picapp.com

Who will be the next coach of the Detroit Pistons?

Saturday Joe Dumars spoke to Flip about his final year. All decisions have to go through the owner Bill Davidson. Evidently Bill sees what my good friend RonB pointed out to me, “good thing the Pistons did not go to the finals or Flip would get a five year hiring extension”.

In other words, Flip was not the coach to take them all the way! (So it would be a problem if he made the finals and lost.)

Does not matter, as of Tuesday, Flip Saunders is fired.

President of basketball operations Joe Dumars said it’s “time for a new voice to lead our team.” Saunders had a year left on a four-year deal he signed in 2005. The decision comes three years after Saunders took over for Larry Brown, who led the Pistons to two straight NBA finals.

“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.”

source

It is odd only because Joe Dumars has raised the bar so high.

In Saunders’ three seasons, the Pistons were 176-70 in the regular season and 30-21 in the postseason, but they lost in the Eastern Conference finals each year.

The Pistons have appeared in six straight conference finals, the first franchise to do so since the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. But they also are the second team in league history to lose in the round before the NBA finals three years in a row, joining the Celtics from 1953-55.

So who will be the next coach?

Assistant coach Michael Curry appears to be the leading candidate to replace Saunders. Other possible candidates include Detroit assistant coach Terry Porter and former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson.

Hmm, Michael Curry – no head coach experience.
Terry Porter – Losing record with Milwaukee Bucks.
Avery Johnson – could not keep Houston Rockets motivated.

Can this be it?

Time for a Joe D miracle!

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Mike D’Antoni says “it was the Spurs, come on. Whoever beats them in the NBA playoffs?”

Image details: Phoenix Suns v Los Angeles Lakers served by picapp.com

Basketball owners amaze me. They seem to be hands off until you least expect it.

This year in the playoffs, it is easy to see that the teams that play the best half court defense will win, assuming the teams are somewhat equal teams.

Do only owners wake up to this after their team is knocked out of the playoffs?

We saw Avery Johnson fired after the Mavericks lost to the Hornets. They played very little defense.

Now the Suns may fire their coach Mike D’Antoni, although Steve Kerr, the GM, is denying it.

Despite averaging 58 regular-season wins the past four seasons, Mike D’Antoni might be out as Phoenix Suns coach.

A SI.com report on Tuesday night said the coach will not return after his team was eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in five games in their best-of-7 first-round playoff series. D’Antoni has two years and $8.5 million left on his contract.

source

It seems odd to think of firing D’Antoni when losing to the Spurs. After all, it was Steve Kerr that brought in Shaq, got rid of the Matrix, to supplement the running game of Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Shouldn’t Steve Kerr’s job be on the line?

NBA Basketball special comment Phoenix has now lost to San Antonio 3 times in the last four years in the NBA playoffs.

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Byron Scott in with the new.

Avery Johnson out with the old.

That was the swan song of the Coach of the Year award.

New Orleans 99 Dallas 94

Top 10 reasons Hornets eliminate Mavs

10. Chris Paul at beginning of a potential Hall of Fame career, while Jason Kidd near the end of potential Hall of Fame career.

Chris Paul had 24 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, and the Hornets held on for a 99-94 victory over the Dallas Mavericks to win their first-round series in five games.

source

9. Dirk Nowitzki settles too often for jumpers, even when there is a mismatch on D.

8. Poor recognition of mismatches on defense by Dallas.

7. Poor defense by Dallas.

6., 5., 4., 3., 2., 1. No clue how to defend by Dallas.

Just in case you think the Mavs never played defense, there is proof that they did.

Dallas never led and was hurt badly by an 11-1 Hornets run after Nowitzki’s free throw had pulled the Mavs to 73-66 early in the fourth quarter.

Dallas played solid defense on New Orleans’ next possession, keeping the ball on the perimeter, but Pargo hit a deflating 3 at the shot clock buzzer.

Time to stop blaming Jason Kidd.

“We’re better than what we showed this series,” Nowitzki said. “The summer is going to be long. … You don’t want to say stuff when you’re emotional and disappointed. … You’ve got to look at what you can do to make the team better. We’ve got to look at it this summer again, but it’s not the time now.”

Nowitzki gave mixed reviews to the Kidd trade, which cost the Mavericks young point guard Devin Harris, a former first-round draft choice.

Dallas will probably be looking at firing former Coach of the Year Avery Johnson and adding some defense to their games.

Kidd and Johnson never found a rhythm together, never found a common ground to make this work. And Mark Cuban did nothing in the losing locker room to end speculation that an NBA Finals collapse and two straight first-round playoff blowouts would end Johnson’s run as Mavericks coach.

“Nothing to say,” the Mavericks owner said, throwing a fistful of popcorn into his mouth.

“I pass.”

source

Yes, Chris Paul was brilliant and outplayed Jason Kidd, but do you think for a minute Chris Paul would not have destroyed Devin Harris?

Dallas needs Defense.

NBA Basketball special comment Chris Paul sure is fun to watch. Go Hornets.

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Jason Kidd not going anywhere right now!

Wow!

In what looked like another blockbuster trade of an Eastern Conference team to a Western Conference team, did not happen.

Whether this trade gets done or not is up in the air right now.

There appears to be a contract snag with one of the players to be traded, Devean George.

Dallas Wins

Dallas went out and beat Portland anyway.

George started because of an injury to Josh Howard — and went 0-for-11. He had no points, four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
…
Dallas also was without starting point guard Devin Harris (ankle) and key reserve Jerry Stackhouse (hamstring). A bigger distraction was talk that Harris and Stackhouse were part of a deal that would bring Kidd from New Jersey in a deal that also would include George and reserves DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager. source

The contract of Devean George has a no trade clause and his agent, Mark Bartelstein is meeting with George to discuss it.

George was supposed to be among the players headed from Dallas to New Jersey, but he blocked it because of a virtual no-trade clause as part of a contract status called “early Bird rights.”

After Dallas beat Portland on Wednesday night, Mavs coach Avery Johnson said there was “zero” chance the deal would get done, but added that was “as of now.” source

The trade deadline is Feb 21st.

Here is an explanation of how Larry Bird or Early Bird Rights work.

Without the player’s consent when the player is playing under a one-year contract (excluding any option year) and will have Larry Bird or Early Bird rights at the end of the season. This includes first round draft picks following their fourth (option) season, who accept their team’s qualifying offer for their fifth season. When the player consents to such a trade, the team loses its Larry Bird/Early Bird rights, and the player is considered a Non-Bird free agent. Note: when there is an option year involved, they can get around this regulation by invoking the option prior to the trade. source

Sounds like there is an out, but Devean will have to give up the Early Bird Rights and then New Jersey would lose the rights to George at the end of the season.

NBA Basketball Fan Question How much would Kidd change Dallas?

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