The Detroit Pistons have found their man. News broke on Monday morning that Dwane Casey will be the 36th head coach in franchise history. The 61-year-old has 23 years of coaching experience in the NBA.
The Detroit Pistons have hired Dwane Casey to be their next head coach, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN. Wojnarowski also reports that both sides have agreed to a five-year deal.
Casey most recently served as the head man for the Toronto Raptors the last seven seasons.
At 61, he brings more than three decades of coaching experience with him to the Motor City. Casey has been a fixture on NBA sidelines since the 1994-95 season.
Now he’ll get the chance to coach his third NBA team. He led the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2005 to 2007, and the aforementioned Raptors from 2011 to 2018. His all-time head coaching record is 373-307.
He took Toronto to new heights, including the franchise’s first-ever Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2016 and a club record 59 wins in the 2017-18 regular season. Casey was fired by the Raptors back on May 11.
When Dwane Casey left Cleveland Saturday morning, he was not inclined to take the Pistons’ job. But ownership/management led by Tom Gores put a full-court press on over the weekend to get the deal done—and relented on letting the new coach pick his assistants, per sources.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) June 11, 2018
Travis Gibbs recently wrote a piece detailing why he believed Casey was the right man for the job.
The news comes just over a month since former president and head coach Stan Van Gundy was fired on May 7. Van Gundy spent four seasons with the Pistons, compiling a record of 152-176.
Detroit is still without a president and general manager in the meantime.