The Detroit Pistons made a lot of changes from top to bottom during the off-season. The most important move they made was hiring Dwane Casey.
The Detroit Pistons have made a lot of changes in their front office and in their coaching staff. Stan Van Gundy is out. Jeff Bower is out.
The Pistons started the off-season by hiring Ed Stefanski to a senior advisory role, reporting directly to owner Tom Gores. The two decided that Dwane Casey was going to be the new head coach of the Detroit Pistons.
He’s the best head coach the team has had since Flip Saunders coaching over a decade ago. The Pistons have gone through a lot of mediocre coaches since that time.
#Pistons Assistant GM Malik Rose believes they made a great hire with Dwane Casey #DetroitBasketball pic.twitter.com/gkfO1pZqIZ
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) August 22, 2018
John Kuester, Lawrence Frank, and Maurice Cheeks to name a few.
With limited cap space, the Pistons weren’t able to go out and make any splash free agent signings. Without a first-round pick, they weren’t able to go out and get the next super star.
The front office has done a great job with the limited resources they’ve had. However, Dwane Casey is their best off-season acquisition.
Why Casey was their best hire
The Pistons currently have a group of veteran players they are relying on to be what gets them back into the playoffs. They also have a group of young talented players looking to find their way in this league.
They could be the difference between the Pistons being an average team and a good team. Casey is known for his ability to get the most out of his young players. That’s something Van Gundy was never able to do. Stanley Johnson is a perfect example of that.
Casey is a winner. His high expectations are why the Raptors have won at least 50 games in each of the last three seasons.
His critics will jump to his postseason numbers. Casey’s team in Toronto has underachieved at times when the games really matter. Part of that had to do with running into a guy named LeBron James. That’s not all on him.
He’s a player’s coach. A lot of his former players weren’t shy about praising what he was able to do in Toronto. They also weren’t shy about expressing their frustration when he was fired after last season.
The Raptors won a franchise-record 59 games that season and Casey was named coach of the year. He managed to fall into Detroit’s lap.
Fans should be happy that the Detroit Pistons were able to get a coach of Casey’s caliber in the off-season. Having a great coach may not seem that important in today’s NBA.
Look at what Brad Stevens was able to do with the Boston Celtics last season without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. They nearly made it to the finals without both of them.
Dwane Casey isn’t Brad Stevens. He’s still one of the best coaches in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Pistons will see results with him in charge this season.