Michael Curry's promotion to head coach ushers in a
new era of Pistons basketball. It could also be the
start of the second-longest coaching run in franchise
history.
It only took Flip Saunders two-plus seasons to
accumulate enough wins to rank second on the
franchise's all-time list behind Chuck Daly.
Unless things go disastrously bad in the next couple
of years, I see Curry sticking around longer than any
of Daly's successors.
Joe Dumars did not have a prior relationship with the
previous three head coaches he hired. He has a tight
bond with Curry, which began in 1996 when Curry was
trying to break into the league. Dumars stuck out his
neck by hiring a novice coach and he'll give Curry
time to work through his inexperience.
Curry's tough talk during his press conference Tuesday
was refreshing, though it's going to be interesting to
see how successful he is at backing it up. Can he have
the same commanding presence as a Popovich or Jackson
without the glittering resume?
Curry also can't revert to the style he used as a
player to stick around for 11 years. Curry was an
extremely physical defender - the NBA has cracked down
on those tactics since the Pistons won their title in
2004.
The simple philosophy Curry talked about in his press
conference was this: "You defend, you rebound, you
share the ball offensively, you get to the paint,
whether it's dribble penetration or postups, and you
get to the free throw line. That means you're the most
aggressive (team). Those are things that win
championships."
Getting those inside buckets and tough rebounds,
something they couldn't do in the last three
conference finals, requires a prolific scorer and/or
dominating inside presence. The Pistons don't have
that now. So in order for Curry to reward Dumars'
faith in him, Dumars must reward Curry with the right
personnel by making a major trade this offseason.

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