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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Yesterday, we discussed how Isiah Thomas was still loved in Michigan no matter what kind of mockery he makes of himself out in the world of coaching. Today, we will look at the fact that he appears to be making a mockery of himself again.

Isiah Thomas is dismayed to find out he has doubters

Florida International deserves everything they get, so they better have an exit strategy. For myself, let us hope that Isiah surprises the nay sayers (that includes myself) and finds his coaching mojo.

The doubters are out there.

“He feels like he’s toxic in the NBA right now,” a longtime Thomas associate said. “He thinks this is the only way to get back in the basketball world.”

Out of the era of Michael, Magic and Larry, Thomas always considered himself the outsider, the dismissed superstar. He was the captain of the Bad Boys, the 6-foot-nothing point guard missed on being mythologized like Jordan, Johnson and Bird because genetics dealt him six too few inches. He never got over it, and never stopped making everyone else pay a price for his perceived slights. As a pro basketball commissioner, executive and coach, Thomas lived to abuse power and humiliate and even sexually harass underlings. He spent too much money on players, too little time on the job. His Knicks days were one big party on someone else’s tab.

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It is just that kind of day. The kind of Michigan day when you go outside and the cold rain beats down on your head and the sun is lost somewhere on the other side of the clouds. You know in the back of your mind that this is about as good as it gets and at least there is no snow. Yes, it is just that kind of day.

Someone at Florida International lost their minds and hired Isiah Thomas at the same time.

Isiah Thomas always brings the cherubic smile

How will Thomas be able to match the previous coach?

The Golden Panthers have lost 20 games in three of the last four years, and haven’t had a winning record since going 16-14 in the 1999-2000 season. FIU finished fifth in the six-team Sun Belt East Division this past season, and only averaged 693 fans for its home games — one of the lowest totals in Division I.

Thomas replaces Sergio Rouco, who was reassigned Monday after posting a losing record in each of his five seasons as coach.
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In Michigan, we still love Isiah Thomas, especially a whole lot better than this rainy cold weather. Isiah brought drive, determination, talent, and titles. We really liked the titles. He dominated as a small guy in a very tall guy’s game. Odd, because if he walked into the room, he would most likely be bigger than most average men. They listed him at 6′ 1″ and 190 pounds of rock hard muscle when he was playing.

Later, as a coach, the rocks turned out to be in his head. But Michigan is still behind Isiah and wishes him all the best. Come on, Isiah; show them boys that drive and determination that made you great as an NBA player.

Oh, and if you don’t? We will still love you. You brought titles. Geez, are we shallow.

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How many times can one man screw up and still be considered for a job? Donald Sterling of the Clippers has met with Isiah Thomas of the Knicks to discuss employment.

The discussions between Thomas and the Clippers were described by one source as informal yet substantive. Thomas remains under contract to the Knicks for the remainder of this season and two more, but he has the franchise’s permission to seek employment elsewhere. He was fired as Knicks coach and general manager last spring and was replaced by Donnie Walsh in the front office and Mike D’Antoni on the bench.

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Isiah Thomas looking for work

A source close to Thomas says he really is looking for a college coaching position. Good luck on that.

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These are the type of comparisons we all love to make and your intrepid author is no exception.

Joe Johnson can’t carry Kobe Bryant’s jock strap you may say, but if you break down the stats it turns out he can carry Kobe’s jock strap and carry it rather well.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Bryant was averaging 27.7 points on 47.5 percent from the field, 35.0 percent from 3-point range and 86.9 from the line. Johnson was averaging 21.6 points on 43.3, 34.4 and 80.5 percent, respectively.

Break down Bryant’s points and you’ll find that 14.6 percent of them come on 3-pointers, 27.5 in the paint, 22.5 on free throws and the other 35.4 percent from midrange.

Johnson’s breakdown is 27.3 percent on treys, 26.7 in the paint, 16.9 on freebies and 29.1 percent from midrange.

They score in a similar fashion.

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But you know that there is more to it than that, don’t you? You do, don’t you? Well?

Yeah, there is that intangible part that makes Kobe great and Joe really good. The difference is in that skull thing that sits above the neck on both players. Kobe has what some would call a genius of athletics. Can we say that? Guess we already did. Kobe knows he will take your team to the mountain, he will win the game, make the big shot, the big pass, whatever it takes and he has done it before.

Isiah Thomas used to say that Michael Jordan was the most competitive athlete he ever met. If you beat Michael Jordan at hoops then be prepared to play until he wins or you drop dead. If you did drop dead then Michael would probably be a bit upset at not getting a chance to beat on you. You can just picture Michael dragging your dead body out on the court and jumping over you to jam the ball and shouting out, “That is 1 to nothing, your outs!”

Kobe has that and Joe would like to get it.

Maurice Evans, Bryant’s former backcourt mate in L.A. and Johnson’s current backup in Atlanta, agrees. “I think you see a little bit of the mental edge [with Bryant] as far as the confidence level, as far as winning championships and having a greater level of success,” Evans said. “When [the Hawks] played Boston last year and they went to Game 7, Kobe’s been in situations where he’s actually won that game and had that type of success. Once Joe gets that under his belt, I think he can start playing on that level.”

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When Joe gets that edge then maybe, just maybe he will earn a category on my blog. Until then, Joe better keep taking it to Kobe until he wins!

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Call me crazy, but there is a part of me that watched Isiah Thomas play college ball for Indiana and NBA ball for the Detroit Pistons that just wants to see Isiah smile. Sorry Knick fans, even Isiah deserves to smile.

Isiah Thomas smiles

Yeah, yeah, it was Isiah passed out in his home and not his daughter. Geez, where does Isiah go now to reduce his legacy?

Authorities have not publicly identified Thomas as the victim, but a person familiar with the case has confirmed it was the former New York coach and NBA star. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press because of privacy concerns.

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Isiah had overdosed on prescription pills.

Hall said the bottle had a name on it, but he would not disclose the precise medication. He said police called the overdose accidental because there was no suicide note and no indication the victim suffered from depression.

Man, what is going on. Poor Isiah just seems to sink lower and lower.

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Isiah Thomas may not be happy

First they said it was his daughter. Even his son said that. Towing the company line.

Reached Friday evening, Harrison Police Chief David Hall confirmed that a 47-year-old male had been taken from Thomas’s home. He refuted claims that the incident involved Thomas’s daughter.

“I understand that this person claims it was his daughter; he is lying,” Hall said. “It was definitely not his daughter, it was a male. We know the difference between a 47-year-old black male and a young black female.”

Hall said that the man was unconscious when officers arrived at the home shortly after midnight.

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So now we know it was Isiah and sleeping pills, but was Isiah trying to end it all?

He has had a couple of really tough years and maybe now nothing seems to be working out for him. Isiah is super competitive and needs an outlet for that. Maybe his failures are adding up too fast.

But that is all conjecture and we may never know. There was no suicide note or other indication and that seems strange. Maybe Isiah was just having trouble getting to sleep?

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Stephon Marbury may never find his potential

For better or worse and most of the time worse, Stephon Marbury has been the face of the New York Knicks. He was like a plague to both Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. Now the Knicks are prepared to face life without him.

The rumor is that the Miami Heat will go after Stephon. That may be a bad idea even though the Heat need a point guard.

Yes, yes, if Stephon Marbury would mind his ways the backcourt of Marbury and Dwyane Wade would be awesome, but therein lays the problem. Would he mind his ways. Stephon once admitted that he only played for the money.

Miami seems to be the wrong team for that to happen. Where is the leadership? Matrix is unhappy. Beasley if off to a ‘fined for smoking’ start. Wade is off and on injured. Riley is getting old. Just where is the strong leadership?

The Knicks are preparing to put Marbury on waivers by the end of the week, several sources with knowledge of the situation told Newsday. The team must await the go-ahead from Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, however, because it would involve eating another large chunk of money in a buyout, Newsday reported.

Marbury is entering the final year of his contract, worth $21.9 million.
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Two stories…

Years ago my Detroit Pistons picked up NBA troublemaker Mark Aguirre. It will never work the experts said, but the experts failed to take into account the strong leadership of Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. Aguirre was everything the Pistons wanted and the reward was an NBA title.

Story number two…

One night while playing against my Pistons, Stephon Marbury buried shots from all over the court in the fourth quarter. You know that shot chart they show with the circles that are red for made shots? Stephon had about 10 of them all from different places on the court. It was amazing. Don’t even remember who won.

So that has always had me wondering if Stephon went to a team with strong leadership and could display those kinds of talents, just how good could he be? Just how good could the team he played for be?

We may never know.

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Zach Randolph only equals a Darko and a Marko?

How can this even be a real trade?

Memphis is looking to trade Darko and Marko? What? Come on.

No, as reported in Hoopsworld, …

The deal, which has been on the table for quite some time, had the Knicks sending Zach Randolph to the Grizzlies for Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. As we’ve discussed at length in this space, the positive for the Knicks in what would otherwise seem like a lop-sided trade, would be the possibility that Mike D’Antoni’s expertise with European players might be just what Milicic needs to finally arrive as a productive NBA player.

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Zach’s value went down under Isiah Thomas and could go up under Mike D’Antoni or could not. Anyway, that seems to be the holdup on this trade. What is Zach really worth?

By the way, go to Hoopsworld. It is a fun read.

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Adrian Dantley guarding Larry Bird

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Wow! That is all you can say about a Hall of Fame class including Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Pat Riley.

But for me there is a double Wow for Adrian Dantley.

Pat Riley had this story about Adrian Dantley and it says it best.

Dantley was playing for the Los Angeles Lakes in the late ’70s, and Riley was the traveling secretary.

It was Riley’s job to assign seating on planes, and he always sat Dantley next to the reticent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Dantley always wanted another seat, but Riley kept rejecting his request.

“He was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Kareem,” Riley said.

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Adrian just had a knack for scoring that you can’t teach.

NBA Adrian Dantley factoid - Dantley led Notre Dame in scoring in 1974-75 (30.4 points per game) and 1975-76 (28.6 points per game), while also leading the team in rebounding those two seasons with marks of 10.2 and 10.1 rebounds per game, respectively. He was also the leading scorer on the 1976 US Olympic team that captured the gold medal in Montreal and was drafted sixth overall, by the Buffalo Braves, in the 1976 NBA draft. He became the third Buffalo player in five years to receive the NBA Rookie of the Year Award when he won it after the 1977 season.

Adrian played briefly for my Detroit Pistons (Ok, Bill Davidson is the owner, not me, and he is also going into the Hall of Fame, not me. Go figure, could have been me.).

The Pistons were in their glory years with Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Joe Dumars, but Adrian was so good offensively in the half court that the Pistons would be caught just standing around as Adrian stared his man down and then took off for the hoop with some amazing move that resulted in a basket or foul. The Pistons wanted to run more so Adrian was sent packing and an aging Mark Aguirre was brought in.

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