Michael Curry during a stint with the Raptors

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Why would Joe Dumars, one of the smartest GMs in the NBA, hire a NBA head coach with no experience?

Michael Curry was an assistant for the now fired Flip Saunders.

Years ago Michael Curry played for the Pistons. He was somewhat of a defensive wizard with a basic set shot, standing around 6′ 5″.

Curry was traded to Toronto or Milwaukee or some place in part of a bigger package deal. When he was released the Pistons immediately brought him back to sit at the end of the bench.

Why? To play defense?

No, because Michael used to organize bike trips for the whole team on off days, or trips to the movies, or card games. He was all about team at all times. He is still about team and being accountable and that is why Joe D may hire him.

Listen to Stephen A. Smith.

Curry is the right man for the job at the right time because he’s hungry for the opportunity. He’s been groomed for this position. He’s a former Piston. He’s hard-nosed.

“And guess what, he can flat-out coach,” one Pistons player told me during the Eastern Conference finals. “He knows what he’s doing. He commands the respect of the players not only because he knows what he’s doing, but also because he’s not scared to get in anyone’s face.”

“He’ll hold people accountable,” Dumars said recently, when discussing Curry’s head coaching potential. “Every team needs that, but especially one competing for a championship.”

Case closed

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But what about his lack of experience?

Asked last weekend about his lack of experience, Curry scoffed and said, “I’ve been on the bench as an assistant for 15 years. For me, personally, it was an easy transition (this season). Having all those leadership roles I had as a player made it that way.”

Curry had no trouble gaining the respect of the locker room this season. Anyone who has played in the league will garner some leeway in the NBA brotherhood, but Curry took that advantage and went much further.

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Curry is all team.

He installed a mandatory pregame routine that put every other team’s pregame routine to shame. Like clockwork, about 90 minutes before tip-off, Curry had the entire bench gather on the floor to stretch and run drills together.

He put his background as a defensive specialist to good use, chiding players who favored driving one direction and forcing his young guys to beat him soundly. When he saw something he didn’t like, everyone knew it.

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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.”

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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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