Detroit Pistons: Ranking the 5 best coaches since Chuck Daly

Detroit Pistons top head coaches #4: Doug Collins

Doug Collins was the Pistons head coach from 1995-1998, coaching a total of 208 games and posting a record of 121-88 for a .579 winning percentage.

Collins was always known as a coach who could get a team to the verge of being good, which is why he was hired by the Pistons after being with Michael Jordan and the Bulls previously.

Collins did a great job with Grant Hill and finally got the Pistons over the hump against the hated Bulls after they had lost 19 in-a-row to their rivals.

Just like in Chicago, Doug Collins ended up fired even though he made his teams better, which tells me he probably wasn’t the easiest guy to work with.

Detroit Pistons top head coaches #3: Rick Carlisle

I always thought Rick Carlisle got the short end of the stick with the Detroit Pistons after going 100-64 for a .610 wining percentage with the team and winning Coach of the Year.

It was determined that he wasn’t a “championship” coach, which he proved wrong later in Dallas, winning a title with the Mavericks.

Carlisle got the Pistons right to the edge of a title before being fired in favor of Larry Brown, who gets a lot of credit even though it was more the addition of Rasheed Wallace that got the Pistons over the hump.

Carlisle is still considered one of the best coaches in the league and I often wonder how the Pistons history might be different if they had just kept him instead of taking on the mercenary Brown, who never stayed long in one place.