Detroit Pistons add coaches but Dwane Casey’s bench same

The Detroit Pistons made some additions to the coaching staff and title changes to administrators as training camp is about to open. However, the coaches on the bench for Dwane Casey look to be the same.

When you watch Dwane Casey coaching the Pistons during games, the cast of assistants next to him will look pretty much like last year. However, there have been changes behind the scenes.

Detroit recently announced a slew of changes to the coaching staff and basketball operations, but fans will not see much of them in action.

Casey’s bench assistants, are all back: Rex Kalamian (who served as interim head coach for a few games last year when Casey was absent), Jim Moran, Jerome Allen and Bill Bayno all return.

Casey had turned over his entire bench staff last year, so the players having the same coaches for games is important. These coaches, except for rookies and new players, will be a familiar voice that the players know.

On the development side, three new assistant coach/player development people have been added:

• Keith Bogans: An NBA player for 11 years who spent one season with the Knicks as an assistant.
• Rashard Lewis: A two-time All-Star who spent 16 years in the NBA. He was known as a scorer, so he should help players with their shooting.
• Brandon Bailey:: A defensive coaching specialist, he had been with the Boston Celtics for the previous three years.

Lewis and Bogans had served as assistants on the Pistons summer league team in Las Vegas, so they already have teal Pistons coaching shirts..

Detroit Pistons giving city natives a boost

Among the other changes, two involve natives of Detroit.

• Rob Murphy, a former head coach at Crockett Tech, has been named assistant general manager and president of the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons G League team.
• Stacey Lovelace, who played at DePorres High School and the Detroit Shock of the WNBA, has been named an assistant general manager with the Cruise, as well as special assistant to general manager Troy Weaver.

Lovelace is not the only new female to the Pistons. Bittni Donaldson, who had been with the Toronto Raptors for three years, is now assistant coach/director of coaching analytics. She is fired up for the job:

With such a young team (10 players are 24-years-old or younger), having strong development coaches is quite important. Some new blood is always welcome but the consistency of voices during games will also be a plus for Detroit this season.