Detroit Pistons: Fans sound off on Dwane Casey. Are they right?

The Detroit Pistons are once again one of the worst teams in the NBA and there is plenty of blame to go around.

Fans tend to want to blame anyone but the players, which is understandable, so a lot of the blame this season has fallen onto head coach Dwane Casey.

I generally try to stay away from blaming the coach, as this isn’t high school. These players are adults and they shouldn’t need a coach to motivate them to play hard or stop making the same dumb mistakes.

This is also a very young team that really had no chance of being good this season as constructed, especially after losing Cade Cunningham for the season.

But that’s not going to stop end of the bar GM’s from yelling “Schemes!” and “Rotations” after every loss, as if there is a way to scheme your way out of not having enough talent in the NBA. The NBA is not Princeton vs. Georgetown 1989, there is no magic play that can make up for a lack of talent or experience.

That being said, there does have to be some accountability and since teams can’t fire all of the players, it usually falls on the coach, fair or not. Dwane Casey has a 116-231 record as the coach of the Detroit Pistons and is only signed through next season, so it makes sense that fans would want a fresh approach. I don’t think anyone dislikes Casey personally, but being a nice guy and a great mentor isn’t going to cut it forever.

In a recent poll, I asked Pistons’ fans what the team should do with Dwane Casey and the results were somewhat surprising.

Here is a breakdown of what they said, and the pros and cons of each choice.

Should the Detroit Pistons fire head coach Dwane Casey?

Count me in the “still undecided” camp when it comes to Dwane Casey, as I think it’s really impossible to evaluate this season given the context of what has happened.

I was actually surprised to find the many people felt the same or said, “No, give it more time.”

Nearly 30 percent of those who responded were not in favor of firing Casey or weren’t sure. If you just flipped through Twitter you wouldn’t think it’s that high, but the people who want the coach gone usually yell the loudest.

I think there are benefits to a wait and see approach for the Detroit Pistons. As bad as this team has been at times, it doesn’t seem like they have given up on their coach, and we’re not seeing the telltale signs (body language, arguing, drama) of a team that has tuned out their bench leader.

Casey has a track record of getting teams to the playoffs when he has the roster to do it, and did get one extremely mediocre Pistons team there. They’ve been rebuilding ever since and he’s continually had one of the youngest teams in the league. Even with all of the losing, the players think highly of him.

You can also argue that all of the young players have improved under Casey even though the team results haven’t been there. We’ve seen it with Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart this season, and he’s been working diligently in the film room with Jaden Ivey to help improve areas of his game.

Young players listen to him and he has earned the respect from the veterans, but that didn’t stop 71.3 percent of voters from saying he should be fired, either immediately or at the end of the season.

Are they right?

Should the Detroit Pistons fire head coach Dwane Casey?

Just over 25 percent of voters thought that the Detroit Pistons should fire Dwane Casey right now, which would be a drastic move, as it’s not like getting an interim coach is going to suddenly turn this team around in the rest of the second half.

But firing him now would show that the team is finally holding someone accountable for all of this losing, and it would also give them the chance to audition an interim coach before making any type of commitment.

Assistant coach Jerome Allen is the guy most believe is next up for the job if the Pistons stay in house, so firing Casey now would give him the remainder of the season to show what he would do differently and whether he is ready to take over the reins.

It would also allow the Detroit Pistons to keep some amount of continuity on the bench while getting a younger voice who may have a fresh perspective.

But the bulk of the voters said the Pistons should wait until the end of the season to fire Casey. If they are going to fire him, this seems like the most likely approach, as he has at least earned the right to see out this season and possibly be moved to some type of “consultant” position in the organization instead of just being sent packing.

Whatever you think of Casey, he has never complained about the teams he’s been handed, has always tried to do the best with what he’s been given and it would be a bad look (and a bit cold-blooded) to fire him in the middle of a season when the Pistons weren’t expected to win anyway.

The team should evaluate him at season’s end, see how things have turned out, where the young players are in their development and go from there. But waiting also puts the new coach in a bad spot, as they would have little time to acclimate to the team and get to know the personnel, especially considering the rapid pace of the NBA offseason.

I am still in the undecided camp, as I think Dwane Casey brings a lot of positives to the table, but in the end this is a results driven league and the results haven’t been there, so we’ll have to wait and see when and if the Pistons decide to make a change.