If Joe D panicked when he hired Flip, who should he have hired instead? I don't remember there being another solid coaching candidate available.
Nate McMillian. It was speculated he took the POR job because he was sick of waiting for the Pistons/and/or Flip had been promised the job. With the recent MC spec and then him getting the job, it doesn't seem like a far-fetched idea
It's pretty easy to read between the lines and understand what it was about Flip that Joe didn't like.
Yaaaa Tayshaun is very overrated, hes are best on ball defender, get rid of him and then who will guard lebron kobe pierce..... think before posting
PISTONS: Joe Dumars Q&A - Part III Part 3 For all the Amir fans (I know there are more than 4 out there!!)
didn't nate take the portland job before we finally parted ways with Brown.... the drama that would never end... he didn't have the gutts to just quit. he did everything in his powers to get himself fired... he's a short time coach and if he wanted to walk after year 2 i would hold no ill feelings... but the way he held us captive saying he didn't think he'd even be able to coach becaue of his medical issues made it so Joe didn't have time to get Nate into detroit to atleast talk to him... offfically anyways. Thats why I think our present coach came in last summer, Dumars wasn't going to be caught with his pants down without doing due diligence in deciding whether it was a coach he wanted here or not.
That's the way I remember it. I'm not sure about 'due diligence'. I forget...were there any reports of Joe talking to anyone else?
All i remember is that Flip got the job, and it was speculated for weeks before that he was already in line for it even before LB was "officially fired". I don't recall anyone else being mentioned, but then again i don't remember anyone else who was available (with exp)
I could be wrong, but LB was fired within a week or two of the finals ending. Flip was hired right after that in early July. Nate McMillan was hired in mid/late July, but he had been in negotiations with Portland while the Pistons were still playing. With the exception of Nate and Flip, I can't remember any other strong coaching candidate available.
I remember reading a column (could have been his blog) by McConduit that stated coach Nate was Joe's guy while Flip was Mr. D's guy. I've looked for the old link but can't find it.
I remember it being different as the Pistons were negotiating LB's severance package and during the wait, Nate got picked up. Flip always seemed like the guy they wanted and Nate was just an option.
I think you're right. I would have preferred Nate, but I've never seen Flip's hiring as a panic move. I think Skiles may have been mentioned, but I don't know.
From what I recall Flip was always their guy. Its even rumored that they had talked to him before the season even ended. The had it with LB and quit frankly I do believe that LB had not intention of returning. Everyone recalls 05 as almost as good as 04. Face it, we got lucky. Indy was clearly the better team until the Brawl dismantled them. Then the great 7 game win over Miami when both Shaq and Wade were playing hurt with Wade missing game 6.
I really hate when ppl say this. Injuries are part of the game, and MIA was right there to take the game. They had a 7 POINT LEAD. The Pistons were nails i the final minutes. And then went on to lose (barely; Horry) to a great team No one uses the Oh, MIA got lucky b/c Sheed was injured in 06. And why was Indy better b/c they beat us up in the reg season? Regardless, when you have a psychopath on your team, you take the chance that he might well go pyscho.
Thing is Flip never caught a break here. Now I am not advocating being a Flip fan or anything. But if he had that same circumstances of 05 with a hobbled KG or Pierce then maybe we would have been to team to go on and beat LA. On the pyscho part, one could also say that about Sheed. What do you expect when the chips are down that this guy is going to pick that time to become a distraction. To a certain extent you have to create your own luck. Maybe Curry will be the magic guy to do that. Its not all about the coach either. If we want to label LB as perfect and Flip as a goat then it would not hurt to also look at the circumstances that they both had to deal with. LB has a younger and hungrier team who caught a few breaks along the line.
