The Detroit Pistons have gone after a couple of big names to fill their head coaching void after firing Michael Curry. Both Doug Collins and Avery Johnson reportedly considered the job. However, the Pistons have decided to go with someone who is unknown to most basketball fans — John Kuester.

After Pistons President Joe Dumars and Johnson couldn’t agree on a contract or a focus of the organization, Dumars quickly moved to hire Kuester. According to multiple reports, Kuester will receive a two-year contract with a team option for a third season.

Last season, Kuester was regarded as the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Considering that the Cavs won 66 games and their offense appeared to be much improved, Kuester did a fine job.

With the Pistons, he will likely continue to focus on offense. During the offseason, the Pistons signed Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva — two offensive players.

John Kuester - Pistons Head Coach (Image: Zuma Press)

Rasheed Wallace has picked where he wants to spend the next two years. While turning down interest from the San Antonio Spurs and the Orlando Magic, Wallace has agreed to sign with the Boston Celtics. He’s expected to get a two-year contract worth approximately $12 million.

Rasheed Wallace to the Boston Celtics (Image: Zuma Press)

With the Celtics, Wallace will likely come off the bench behind the frontline of Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins. He provides Boston with yet another veteran with championship experience who plays well in the playoffs to go along with Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

Last year with the Detroit Pistons, Wallace averaged 12 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 32 minutes per game. Wallace joined the Pistons in 2004 and helped the team win the 2004 NBA championship.

On the first day of free agency, the Celtics sent a group to meet with Wallace and his wife. They wooed him to join the Celtics.

On Sunday, that wooing paid off.

With the NBA free agency season upon us, one of the first rumors has Ben Gordon close to agreeing to join the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are reportedly offering a deal in the neighborhood of $50 million over five years.

Ben Gordon - Detroit Pistons (Image: Zuma Press)

Gordon has played all five of his NBA seasons with the Chicago Bulls. An unrestricted free agent, Gordon averaged 20.7 points per game last season and played in all 82 contests. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Although he’s played some point guard in his career, Gordon would likely play shooting guard with the Pistons. The question Gordon’s signing would bring up is what would happen with Richard Hamilton. Last season, Hamilton wasn’t pleased when he was sent to the bench.

Another player the Pistons are reportedly interested in is Charlie Villanueva. Last season he played with the Milwaukee Bucks but the Bucks have cut all ties with him. It’s possible for the Pistons to land both Gordon and Villanueva this summer.

Last season, Michael Curry got the keys to the Detroit Pistons and entered his first season as head coach. It turns out Curry was one and done. On Tuesday, Curry was fired by the Pistons.

In his only season as head coach, Curry guided the Pistons to a 39-43 record. In the first round, Detroit got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a series that was hardly competitive. Considering that the Pistons had come off of a stretch of years where they at least made the Eastern Conference Finals, the 2008-09 season had to be considered a failure.

Pistons president Joe Dumars hasn’t said who he will go after to replace Curry. Names that have come up in early rumors include Avery Johnson, Jeff Van Gundy, Doug Collins and Bill Laimbeer.

Curry had a number of questionable decisions last year. He also struggled with how to best utilize Allen Iverson after the trade that sent Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets.

Michael Curry Fired by Pistons (Image: Zuma Press)

Ben Wallace, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Star who is currently on the Cleveland Cavaliers, sounds as if retirement is a real possibility. The 34-year-old bigman struggled with injuries this year and his effectiveness suffered.

During the regular season, he averaged 2.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 rebounds per game. During the playoffs, his numbers fell to 1.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.3 blocks.

Since staring with the Detroit Pistons, Wallace’s game has been in a steep decline. His points and rebounds per game have both declined for five straight seasons.

Wallace not playing well was one of the reasons why the Cavs prematurely saw the end of their season. Dwight Howard’s dominance of Wallace and the rest of the Cavs may have not only sent the Orlando Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, it may have also sent Ben Wallace into retirement.

Ben Wallace to Retire? (Image: Zuma Press)

Chuck Daly, the legendary coach of the Detroit Pistons, died on Saturday morning. Earlier in the year, it was announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Daly was perhaps best known for coaching the two-time NBA champion “Bad Boys” Pistons who won their titles in 1989 and 1990. Those Pistons are regarded as some of the best defensive teams of all-time who won with toughness, determination and clutch play.

The Dream Team of the 1992 Olympics was also coach by Chuck Daly. That team, which included such legends as Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, won the gold medal for the United States with an average margin of victory of more than 43 points.

NBA commissioner David Stern had this to say about Chuck Daly:

“Chuck Daly was known best for the outstanding work he did on the sidelines — from guiding the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships to leading the Dream Team to the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But Chuck did much more than coach basketball games. He positively impacted everyone he met, both personally and professionally, and his love of people and the game of basketball helped develop the next generation of coaches. The void left by his death will never be filled. The NBA family extends its sympathy to his wife Terry, daughter Cydney, grandchildren Sebrina and Connor, and Chuck’s entire family.”

Chuck Daly, Detroit Pistons (Image: Newscom)

R.I.P. Chuck Daly

Cavs 4…  Pistons 0

Only a handful of Detroit players acted like they gave two cents. One of them who did not was Rasheed Wallace. His 6.5 ppg and 11-30 fg do not tell the whole story though, he often did not even debate foul calls, something he has always been known for doing. Tayshaun Prince, visibly slowed by a bad back, was even less inspiring, averaging a stunning 3.8 ppg and 3.5 reb/gm. Tayshaun did not shoot a single free throw the entire series. I’m still wondering why he played 32.2 min/gm. I’d reckon Aaron Afflalo and Walter Herrmann could have at least doubled Prince’s averages in the same amount of minutes.  Not that it would have made a lick of difference, but really, as a Piston fan, it was tough to see Prince play his last 4 games as a Piston so limited (if Dumars is smart, both Sheed and Prince will be in different cities next season).

This graphic tells most of what went wrong for Detroit this series and, well, the whole season actually.

At least Iverson took care of the ball (Image:Ball Don't Lie)

Cavs could be in for a scare in round 2, they are clearly not in playoff mode. They would have been given tougher games by Washington and Indiana. Detroit was not engaged and seemed insulted to even be in the 8^th spot. Somehow the organization didn’t get the “tank for a better draft pick” memo.  As Charles Barkley said on TNT, Detroit had “one foot in Cancun” even before the series began.

And Antonio McDyess chose to come back to Detroit for that?

Can you imagine Denver having the Birdman and McDyess coming off the bench? Dwight could sure use a real power forward to play with. And Boston needs him right about now, Brian Scalabrine just played 10 minutes in a tight Game 5!

What a shame Antonio, what a shame.

Though, I must say, my mood is slowly but surely changing for the better. Allen Iverson never winning a NBA championship is reason enough for a nice, loud CHEERS!

Good luck on that AI, you really showed your true colors over the past 5 months.

By Guest Blogger Jesse Lamovsky

It took a while — more than seven periods, to be exact — but we finally got a glimpse of some drama in what had been a wholly un-dramatic first-round series between the Cavaliers and Pistons. After being punched around for a game and three periods, Detroit finally counterpunched.

Image: Newscom

It began early in the fourth period of Game 2 with Cleveland cruising along with a 79-50 lead and the starters, including LeBron James, tucked securely on the bench. The Cavaliers had jumped out to a 12-2 lead, pushed the advantage to 14 at the halftime break, then blew things wide open with a 31-point third quarter. Beaten to loose balls and offensive rebounds and with the old Detroit fire a mere mass of cooling embers, the Pistons appeared to be floating lifelessly through the evening’s proceedings like a dead goldfish.

Then they suddenly came back to life, thanks in no small part to Cleveland’s reserve corps, which took its foot off the gas way too early. In a seven-minute span in the fourth quarter, the Pistons ripped off a 27-5 run to cut that once-gigantic lead down to seven, at 84-77, with 3:50 to play. The catalyst for the spurt was turnovers: the Cavaliers committed five in the span, including three by Delonte West. They also went more than nine minutes without a field goal, missed free throws, gave up offensive rebounds, and basically stopped competing. It was an all-encompassing meltdown, wholly uncharacteristic for a team that has given consistent effort, 48 minutes a night, nearly every night in this magical season.

Eventually Mike Brown brought the starters back onto the floor, and the run stopped. The Cavaliers restored order, pulled away, and won by 12 points. But for the first time in this series, they had shown themselves to be vulnerable. Now the question remains … will that vulnerability carry over into Friday night’s Game Three at Auburn Hills?

Based on recent Cavaliers playoff history, that question can be answered in one of two ways. Twice in the last four postseasons, the Cavaliers have been on the other side of a fourth-quarter rally to tighten up a Game 2 rout. In the 2006 East Semifinals, Cleveland’s 27-12 run cut a twenty-point deficit to five in what ultimately became a 97-91 defeat. In the 2007 Finals, Cleveland went on a 27-6 fourth-quarter run to chop a 29-point San Antonio lead to eight, in a 103-92 loss. The former run seemed to change the momentum of the series; the Cavaliers took the next three from Detroit before ultimately losing in seven. The latter, it didn’t even merit footnote status, as the Spurs finished off the sweep in the Q.

Certainly the Cavaliers brain trust (specifically Mike Brown and LeBron James) remember both runs, and the effect (or lack of effect) each had on its respective series. It’s hard to imagine either man brushing off Detroit’s late surge as inconsequential. My guess is that the team will treat it the same way their San Antonio mentors treated Cleveland’s late run in 2007’s Game 2 — as a letdown to be stamped out and not repeated, not as an anomaly to be dismissed.

Based on what happened between the teams in 2006, the 27-5 charge may turn the series in favor of the Pistons. But I wouldn’t hold my breath counting on it to happen. There is too much focus, too much confidence, and too much LeBron cracking the whip for it to happen.

Jesse Lamovsky is lifelong Cleveland sports fan and a sometimes sports writer. Learn more about Jesse and his writing at swerbsblurbs.com.

By Guest Blogger Jesse Lamovsky

There really shouldn’t be too much drama involved in a first-round series between a team with 66 wins and a team with 39, and Cleveland’s 102-84 Game 1 thumping of the Pistons on Saturday was about as drama-free as it gets this time of year. Despite a rather lax defensive effort early, the Cavaliers were never really challenged, methodically building a 12-point halftime lead and keeping Detroit at arm’s length the rest of the way. The Pistons never got closer than eight points in the second half.

The kid will stick in this league: Saddled with early trouble, sidekick Mo Williams was a non-factor early, scoring two points, and Anderson Varejao never really got into the flow, taking only three shots the entire game. Aside from Big Z and Joe Smith, Cleveland’s support cast was sporadic at best before halftime. LeBron had to step up early- and he did. Draining his first four attempts from the field, the wunderkind scored 22 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting with six rebounds and four assists, including a highlight-reel left-handed dime to a streaking Joe Smith early in the second quarter. He ended his marvelous half by banking in a 41-foot runner at the buzzer, putting the Cavaliers up 57-45. I would have been a little surprised to see him miss that shot. He’s that good.

Image: Newscom

Usually a little demure about getting down in the post, LeBron was aggressive in establishing deep position and either using his superior quickness to get around defenders or just turning and shooting right over them. A lot has been made over the state of LeBron’s perimeter shot over the years, but his future is in the low block. The man is the same size as Karl Malone and is too fast for pretty much every power forward in the league. If he continues to refine his arsenal of post moves- the Magic-style running hook, the MJ fade-away, the Tim Duncan banker- he can be as streaky as he wants from outside, because he’ll be unstoppable near the basket.

As for Detroit: Not much you can say about the Pistons. They shot 65% through the first four minutes of the second period, but all it took was one cold spell late in the first half to put them in a hole they were incapable of climbing out. Rodney Stuckey (20 points, 7-of-21 shooting) abused Mo Williams early by bulling right by him to the basket, but inexplicably hung around the perimeter lobbing errant jumpers for most of the game’s remainder. Rasheed Wallace scored eight points in the first half but was waylaid by foul trouble in the second. Tayshaun Prince (four points) was a spectator. Rip Hamilton scored 15 but spent most of the night being chased around screens by Delonte West. For the fourth consecutive game against Cleveland, the Pistons scored fewer than 90 points. Not coincidentally, they’ve lost all four games.

If you want to beat Cleveland, you need to be able to any or all of the following things: play up-tempo, shoot well from long range, or score consistently in the low post. Detroit does none of these things. And they have absolutely no answer for LeBron James. Short of conjuring up a young Dennis Rodman, they still won’t have an answer when Game 2 tips off at 8:00 pm ET Tuesday night.

Jesse Lamovsky is lifelong Cleveland sports fan and a sometimes sports writer. Learn more about Jesse and his writing at swerbsblurbs.com.

The Washington Wizards now know who their head coach will be for the 2009-10 NBA season. Even though this season hasn’t ended yet, multiple sources are confirming that Flip Saunders has agreed to a contract that will make him the next coach for the Wizards.

Flip Saunders, Washington Wizards (Image: Newscom)

Saunders will reportedly sign a deal that will pay him an estimated $18 million over the next four years. Expect the hiring to become official shortly after the season comes to an end on Wednesday. Currently, the Wizards are being coached by Ed Tapscott. Tapscott will likely return to his position within Washington’s front office.

The Wizards and Saunders have been linked for many months. With Washington equipped with a veteran roster, the team is obviously in a win-now mode. Saunders has a long track record of helping his teams put victories on the board.

Beginning his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Saunders eventually moved on to coach the Detroit Pistons. Over a span of 13 season, Saunders was able to advance to the conference finals four different times. All told, he has a 587-396 career record.

The Wizards currently have a record of 19-61 — the worst record in the Eastern Conference.