The news is just too sad to even think about. How can Chuck Daly be gone? It seems like just yesterday when Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas were wearing those ever so short shorts and winning back to back titles with Chuck Daly keeping everyone happy as the coach.

This story hits home for me after just recovering from cancer myself.

Coach of the Bad Boys and yet a good guy all the time

And his hair was perfect…

And his hair was perfect. Every time I think about Chuck Daly, I think about that old song lyric. Chuck coming down the tunnel, nodding just before going out, and his hair was perfect. Chuck charging down the sidelines, screaming “GIMME A BREAK!” and his hair was perfect. Chuck speeding through a shopping mall, fingering the suits, Chuck grinning through a TV interview, Chuck wearing Armani or Hugo Boss, and his hair — wavy, thick, blown back like a Roman statesman’s — was perfect. It gave him the image of a man in control, always coiffed, always ready.

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Chuck was the perfect coach for all of the strong ego’s on the Detroit Pistons, be it Bill Laimbeer, Mark Aguirre, Rick Mahorn, Vinnie Johnson, or William Bedford, it did not matter, because Chuck knew how to handle them all.

He used that hunger as a motivator. When the Pistons’ effort weakened, he reminded them endorsement deals weren’t offered to losers. He once famously grabbed a phone from the press table and waved it at a lagging Mark Aguirre, yelling, “Mark! It’s the CBA!” He skipped the bromides about teamwork and spirit. He knew success was the reward, and the reward required work.

Chuck worked. He worried. He could worry the smile off a clown. But he worried funny, if you can do that. He was also as good a manager as you’ll ever meet. He could listen to one player moan, another complain, another whine, and ignore all of them equally. He had one weapon: minutes. He used it artfully, and got five disparate personalities to band together to win a championship in 1989, then came back with an altered cast and did it again in 1990.

Maybe it can be summed up by Isiah Thomas and Charles Barkley.

“He was a mentor, a father figure, someone we all looked up to in everything he did. I can’t explain in words how much he gave me as a player and a man. This is an immeasurable loss for the NBA and the entire basketball world.” — Isiah Thomas, Pistons legend who now coaches at Florida International.

“I never understood how a great man, a nice guy coached the Bad Boys.” — Charles Barkley, who played on the Dream Team under Daly.
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Photo source Newscom

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Chuck Daly has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

This one hits hard for the Squibster. Not only was Chuck Daly someone to be admired, but the Squibster just made it through a year of fighting Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Cancer sucks!

Chuck was the coach of the Pistons 89 and 90 championship teams and also the coach of the original Dream Team.

Chuck was the master at getting people to get along and play the team game. How else do you explain the fact that Chuck has Isiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman on the same team and still won and still kept the peace? In 90 they added Mark Aguirre; another player that they said would disrupt the team. Mark became a model teammate under the influence of Chuck Daly.

Chuck was always a sharp dresser and to this day, a celebrity in Michigan.

Did you know that Chuck did not have to call any timeouts in the Dream Team Olympics?

We are all praying for Chuck Daly to beat this and come back strong. Cancer sucks!

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Post from: NBA Obsessed