In Curry's last year here, he had half the rebounds per minute and half the points per minute vs. Delfino. Thats not all that comparable. And on defense, Curry was horrid, Delfino pretty darn good. Curry had a rep as a good defender amongst fans, but not amongst the coaches. The coaches fed like sharks on Curry's lack of quickness and speed. It was kind of laughable watching Curry play power forward for Toronto after O'Neil realized that Curry could no longer follow small forwards around. I believe Curry is why Carlisle got canned, and why O'Neil got canned. Curry then going to Toronto just might have hastened Carlisle's departure from Indiana too.
That's crap (not you but your opinion). When someone wins they tend to get more hubris (very arrogant). LB did not corrupt them. Give me a break. He made the Pistons take it inside and play defense. That's corruption? Last time I checked that's how you win. He yelled at them? Last time I checked people only learn a lesson when they hear it. You can't be quiet.
Going inside and playing defense are attributes that we all love here at the forum. His STYLE of abuse is where we'll just disagree. As far as lessons, there are many ways to learn things, not just hearing. I could suggest many books on different learning styles and their ramifications, but "you already checked"............
I didn't realize that Michael Curry got so many coaches fired. Now that he is with Detroit, perhaps it will be Curry that leads to the eventual firing of Flip Saunders...
He played PF at TOR because they had almost nothing left after a trade that year. Double of nothing is still nothing. Curry persecution must end.
I follow you. I'm kidding around man... It's more like LB is an A-/B+ coach (a little too micromanagement) And Flip is a B/B- coach (little too free wheeling, bad with rotations, weak D at key times)
We're talking about LB and Flip, as far as I'm concerned. And looking at the 05' and 06' seasons as the personnel was almost exactly the same but the results were 5 wins less when it mattered (the playoffs).
I believe the better question is: If Saunders is such a great coach, why can't he manage to get arguably the "best team in the East" into the NBA Finals (especially in a season when he manages to win 64 regular season games)? Brown didn't have any excuses about Darko being a malcontent, or Memo being too arrogant to do what he's asked. He simply benched those guys and coached his way to a title. There was no whining that he couldn't get Chauncey to sign on to the program or that he was simply "playing the hand he was dealt" (©2003 Cola) or how he was being forced to play 4 on 5. He even took it upon himself on occasion to publicly admit after games that he hadn't coached properly, thereby breaking the sanctity of the locker room pact and publicly abusing himself in the media. I don't need reasons why Brown was a great coach. I have a championship collection on DVD that shows me why. I DO, however, need some sort of reason to believe why Flip Saunders should remain as Pistons coach past yesterday and I don't think his missing the bridge collapse should be taken as a sign (tongue in cheek).
Their is one reason and only one reason that I can think of, but it is not even valid anymore. LB and the Pistons got into some problems (unfortunately), and LB left for New York. At that moment their was the belief of getting someone nothing like LB. Someone who would not control things, be a good offensive coach, and someone who would stick around. Flip fit that bill. During that moment though most people who wanted that move thought it would work. People thought the players would use what LB taught them and mix it with Flip's coaching to produce. This has not happened the last 2 seasons though, so why should we expect it now? I can't think of any other legit reasons, so you will have to ask someone else.
What do you all think would have happened if LB stayed? Lets say Isiah did not stick his fat head in and management was a little more tolerant of LB. How would the Pistons have done the past 3 years if LB was still here?
I don't think LB could possibly have done any worse than Flip has done..undoubtedly his results would be better. Ben Wallace might even still be around. A big knock on Larry was not playing the young fellas...but Flip didn't improve that..
No he hasn't has he? We lost Darko and Delfino anyway and no one was really developed yet. Maybe Maxiel but LB probably would have played him anyway.
Maxiel does seem like the kind of young player that LB would have appreciated. Plays inside, hustles, doesn't say much.
going under the assumption that there was some sort of tampering mid season, and i think that something happened. if nothing of that sort happens... i think we win the title in year two of the brown era, we sign him to a new contract to stroke his ego and we win one title in the last two years and lose in the finals the other year. delfino probably leaves when he did, but i think darko leaves sooner and we get more in return... maybe a vetern that helps in our playoff pushes or a nice draft pick.
The Pistons would have at least made the Finals again. The opportunity for a championship would be there if LB stayed, but I can't say they would of won it. I am not sure of that, but if Brown stayed the Pistons would of had a better shot at winning it all. If Brown stayed Ben would of probably resigned, but that also means that Chauncey would of left this off season.. All I will say is LB is a better coach than Flip. I don't know how good the Pistons would have done because if Brown stayed different players would be here and different players would be playing on the court.
I think realistically you could have plugged any assistant coach or former NBA coach into the Pistons head coaching job and none of them could have done any worse than Flip.
And that seems to be the issue a lot of folks have. I think we're hard pressed to find folks who feel that Flip is a difference maker. Either with his schemes, his technique, his teaching skills or his demeanor. It doesn't mean he's a bad coach, it just means that he might not be a great coach.
Unfortunately, we can't compare him to any coach other than LB. Although, we think that any assistant would've gotten Pistons as far as they did with Flip, we don't know for sure. I do feel, however, that if Larry would've stayed, there would've been more trips to the finals.
How so? Have you seen a coach perform worse in the playoffs...ever? I get the feeling you are just playing the Devil's advocate role. You can't possibly have that much confidence is this dude.
