Detroit Pistons: Ranking the 5 best coaches since Chuck Daly

Detroit Pistons head coach Larry Brown (Photo credit should read ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Detroit Pistons head coach Larry Brown (Photo credit should read ROBERT SULLIVAN/AFP via Getty Images)
1 of 3
Detroit Pistons Dwane Casey
Head coach Dwane Casey of the Detroit Pistons (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The Detroit Pistons’ coaching history is all over the place.

Since the great Chuck Daly retired, the Pistons have had 15 different head coaches, most of whom were unmitigated disasters.

This was especially true during the Joe Dumars era, as he pretty much went through a new head coach every season and had a string of failures we’d probably rather forget.

Michael Curry, John Kuester, Lawrence Frank, Maurice Cheeks, John Loyer and Stan Van Gundy all had losing records and none of them lasted very long, which is one of the many reasons the Pistons stunk during that era.

I think it’s safe to say that two-time champion Chuck Daly is the best coach the Detroit Pistons ever had, but they have had other high-quality guys sprinkled in since he left.

Here are the top five coaches the Pistons have had since Chuck Daly.

Detroit Pistons top head coaches #5: Dwane Casey

Dwane Casey has coached 220 games for Pistons and has a 81-136 record, which is good for a .368 winning percentage so you might be wondering why he is on this list.

Dwane Casey was hired by the Detroit Pistons to help re-establish their culture and bring some stability back to the bench.

Even though Casey hasn’t won much, he has accomplished those goals, and has proven himself to be one of the best teachers in the NBA, as just about every young Piston has improved under his guidance.

I am sure coach Casey is not happy with his record and would like to start piling some wins into his total, but you can hardly blame him for the losses with the mess he was handed, culminating in last season when the Pistons were actively trying to tank.

Even though Detroit has been bad, they’ve always played hard and improved under Casey, which is more than I can say for any of the other guys listed above.