It’s a good time to be a fan of the NBA. The playoffs are now in full swing, and legendary players are battling to further their legacies. LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant continue to jockey for their places among the Top 10 players in the history of the game, while the likes of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and James Harden are each still chasing their first, elusive championship. Teams like the Lakers and Celtics are pursuing yet another banner to hang from their rafters, while the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings are competing for a shot to earn their first. The Detroit Pistons are watching from home, but have a huge offseason in front of them.
Now, as for being a Pistons fan specifically…well, we do have the NBA Draft Lottery to look forward to.
There is much more than that to anticipate, including a coaching search, so what better time to take a look back at the best and the worst coaches in Detroit Pistons’ history.
Detroit Pistons: 5 best and 5 worst coaches in team history
5th Worst: John Kuester
From the very announcement of his hire, I was fit to be tied. As soon as Joe Dumars and others started talking about what a nice guy he was, I was fairly certain catastrophe loomed. His career win-loss record of 57-107 brings with it the distinction of ending a dynasty. Yeah, the writing was on the wall, but the team had still made it to the playoffs eight years in a row before Kuester got control of the chalkboard. When he was announced as the new Head Coach, I think Rip Hamilton died inside.
5th Best: Flip Saunders
Man, I didn’t want to do it. A case can be made in the other direction. One could attribute all of his success to the excellent talent he had. It was that thought that compelled me to give up a nod as one of the best, with the key words of that last sentence being, “all of.” He did, in fact, have quite a bit of success, including the best regular season winning percentage in franchise history by a country mile with a rather remarkable 71.5 percent. Another notch in the belt would be the fact that he actually came a Rasheed Wallace brain fart away from being the third coach in team history to bring home a championship, which may have shot him all the way up to #2 on this list. Flip wasn’t a ton of fun. I think he had one facial expression. But he was still one of the better coaches the Detroit Pistons have had.
Detroit Pistons: 5 best and 5 worst coaches in team history
4th Worst: Don Chaney
Don Chaney was a good player, and a pioneer in the coaching ranks. He was a Black dead coach in the NBA when the words, “Black,” and, “Head Coach,” still rarely joined together. I’m not about to smoke him here because he deserves better than that. He had incredible success on the court and in life and did so with a serious heart condition. Unfortunately for us, his time with the Detroit Pistons was a blemish on an otherwise damned good resume. His .293 winning percentage is a testament to that. One has to mention that his 48-116 record was compiled with Grant Hill on the roster. Not good enough.
4th Best: Doug Collins
Doug Collins was a very good coach in the NBA. It’s too bad he never won a championship as a head coach because he’s somewhat robbed of the recognition he deserves. He succeeded Don Chaney in Detroit and was able to win 18 more games than his predecessor did the year before. During his three years at the helm, Collins led the Pistons to a 209-121 mark in the regular season and reached the playoffs twice. The success ended there, but he could have easily managed more. Known for being emotional, his tenure was short for a guy with a .579 winning percentage. Count me among those who believe he could have led the Detroit Pistons to greater heights had he stuck around longer.
Detroit Pistons: 5 best and 5 worst coaches in team history
3rd Worst: Dwane Casey
This one hurt. Dwane Casey comes across as such a nice guy. He has a reputation for developing players, which he did an excellent job of while in Toronto coaching the Raptors. It’s crazy to think about, but when he arrived in Detroit he was the reigning NBA Coach of the Year.
There is no doubt that Casey had a Herculean-task cleaning up the mess left by Stan Van Gundy. Even so, he oversaw one of the worst periods in team history. His 121-263 win-loss record is abysmal, despite the fact that he managed to go 39-43 during his first season with the Pistons as Blake Griffin put the team on his back and took it to the playoffs (where it promptly got swept). The .315 winning percentage is among the team’s very worst, but all the worse for the fact that it is the product of five long seasons.
Yes, he was entrusted with the clipboard during an era that was about rebuilding, and looking toward the future. Winning basketball games wasn’t especially important while Casey coached the Detroit Pistons. It showed. For all of the excitement about this team during the last couple of years, Cade Cunningham feels like the only sure thing they have. It feels like the Pistons should be in a better place than they are.
3rd Best: Rick Carlisle
Rick Carlisle could have risen high enough on this list to serve as a 1b to Chuck Daly’s 1a. Forgive the lack of spoiler alert. I respect you all enough to know that you know there is no other choice. I’ll hope you stick around to read my case for him. Back to Carlisle – his .610 regular season winning percentage could have soared even higher, his 12-15 playoff record was certain to be improved upon, and his two seasons in Detroit could have been the first of ten had Joe Dumars not fallen for Larry Brown.
We all know that Brown coached the Pistons to a championship, and we’re left with wonderful memories because of it. I still contend that Carlisle would have eventually brought a ‘chip to The D. It may have taken longer, but once he had managed to lead the team to the top of the mountain they may have stayed there longer, too. Carlisle was still just 44-years-old when he left Detroit. Eight years after doing so he led the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA championship. In 12 seasons since, with both the Mavericks and the Indiana Pacers, he has failed to coach a team past the first round of the playoffs. That’s somewhat shocking to me. Even so, he has avoided starting any Van Gundy-like dumpster fires and is no worse than the fifth best coach in Pistons history. I have him at number three.
Detroit Pistons: 5 best and 5 worst coaches in team history
2nd Worst: Stan Van Gundy
To begin with, Van Gundy coached the Pistons for four seasons that felt like they lasted for about eight years. That’s strike one, although I admit it’s incredibly subjective. Strike two? The mustache and slovenly untucked shirt. Argue otherwise? Go back to the 1970s and focus on directing adult videos. Now let’s get a bit more real here for a second. The most legit reason for his inclusion on this list actually has to do with his responsibility for the roster. As President of Basketball Operations he was the architect of the team on the floor, so he actually had the latitude to assemble the players he wanted, a privilege no one else on this list had. He built the team around a traditional center in Andre Drummond, drafted Stanley Johnson, threw a hail mary for Blake Griffin, and then left the team in dire straits. He was given a 5-year, $35 million deal and barely survived four years prior to getting the axe. When he did, the Pistons had zero playoff wins to show for it.
I will say that I do respect the man for his values and willingness to speak out on important issues.
2nd Best: Larry Brown
Pound-for-Pound, baby. What a stud. The guy was so charismatic. His two seasons here were absolutely magical. His aggressive style of communication is certain to put an expiration date on any coaching stint, so it feels right that he wasn’t here long. He was a “better to burnout than fadeaway” type from the jump. Numbers? 108-56 in the regular season. 31-17 in the postseason. Two Eastern Conference championships. One NBA championship. There is no other choice for this spot. He is the second-best Head Coach the Pistons have ever had. Thank you, LB.
Detroit Pistons: 5 best and 5 worst coaches in team history
The Worst: Lawrence Frank
I feel like I have to take a deep breath before going off here. Frank earned some clout by winning the first 13 games of his NBA head coaching career, but he did that in New Jersey. His best work came as head coach of the Nets, where he spent seven seasons at the helm, reaching the playoffs four times. When he joined the Detroit Pistons in 2011, he was still just 41-years-old. A coach on the come up, it seemed. He turned out to be anything but.
Frank lasted just two years in Detroit, and they were horrendous. His 54-94 record left him with one of the worst winning percentages in team history (.365). Almost every player I’m about to list was well past his prime. Nevertheless, Frank coached Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe, Khris Middleton, Jason Maxiell, Ben Gordon, Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince, Corey Maggette and Ben Wallace. I’m just saying – he had some solid vets. Drummond, Monroe and Middleton were just beginning their careers. In fairness, I’m not sure he had any player that was in his prime. Still. It was hard to live through and I’m still scarred by it.
The Best: Chuck Daly
There’s no disputing this one, right? Chuck Daly was the absolute right man at the right time. He was the perfect man to coach the Bad Boys. His two championship rings prove it. His success stretched across the better part of a decade, and his accolades are innumerable because of it. Naturally he has the most wins of any coach in Pistons history with 467 against 271 losses, but that shakes out for a .633 winning percentage that while not tops, is stunning considering the length of his career. He also managed to go 71-42 in the playoffs, and it’s crazy that his winning percentage of .628 in the postseason measures up so well to that of his regular season stat. Last year, he was named one of the Top 15 coaches in NBA history (along with Larry Brown, interestingly). In the Motor City, “Daddy Rich” as Daly was known is The GOAT.