The Detroit Pistons got their offseason started with a bang by hiring head coach Monty Williams and making him the highest paid coach in the NBA.
Williams didn’t waste much time starting to put together his staff, as he hired former Rockets’ head coach Stephen Silas as his top assistant. Silas is an offensive-minded coach who was brought in to help fix the Pistons’ offense, which ranked near the bottom of the league in everything last season.
But the Pistons were also terrible on the defensive side of the ball, so Williams’ next coaching addition will likely be someone who has a history of success on the defensive end.
According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, that coach could be Dan Burke, current assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers:
"“Several assistant coaches, such as Mark Bryant, are expected to follow Monty Williams to Detroit, where former Houston head coach Stephen Silas will serve as the Pistons’ associate head coach, and former 76ers assistant Dan Burke, sources said, is also expected to join the front of Williams’ bench.”"
If true, this would be a major score for the Detroit Pistons, as Dan Burke is considered one of the top defensive coaches in the game.
Detroit Pistons: Dan Burke could fix the defense
One of the top priorities for Monty Williams and his staff will be to improve the Pistons’ defense.
The Detroit Pistons were 27th in both opponents’ points per game allowed and defensive efficiency this past season and 28th in opponents’ points in the paint. They allowed teams to shoot over 48 percent against them, which was 26th in the NBA.
Enter Dan Burke.
If you are not familiar, Burke has been a long-time assistant for the Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers. He’s worked with coaches like Rick Adelman, Rick Carlisle, Frank Vogel and Doc Rivers among others.
In the last 17 years Burke spent with the Pacers, they were in the top-10 in defense 10 times, including having the best defensive efficiency in the league twice and the 3rd best four times. In his three years in Philly the team finished 2nd, 13th and 8th in defensive efficiency.
So Burke has a 30+ year track record of success when it comes to coaching defense in the NBA. Larry Bird (then President of Basketball Operations of the Pacers) called Burke his “most important free agent” in 2016 when asked about his priorities in free agency.
Adding a guy like Burke to a staff that already has an offensive mind in Stephen Silas could give the Detroit Pistons one of the best coaching staffs in the league behind Monty Williams.