Michigan's Unemployment Rate Increases: John Kuester Fired

[benji]

Our long regional nightmare is over: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6628551

Can't wait for Joe Dumars to hire Mark Jackson!

Mama, there goes that man!

[Andrew]

Pistons would get a fresh start, Jackson would no longer be calling games on ESPN. Everybody wins.

[shadowgrin]

Everybody wins.

Except the Pistons. Again.

Hand down man down! [/obligatory Mark Jackson quote]

[[Q]]

let's hope JVG doesnt find a job. im assuming kuester will find his way to LA with Mike Brown there

[kibaxx7]

It was about time

[Andrew]

With Mark Jackson taking the Warriors job, perhaps Rick Adelman will be a candidate?

[[Q]]

i tihnk woodson, laimbeer are also candidates/ frontrunners

[shadowgrin]

im assuming kuester will find his way to LA with Mike Brown there

Absolutely.

Meanwhile, Brown is moving quickly to form his coaching staff. He will interview Chuck Person on Wednesday, The Times has learned, perhaps retaining one of the four assistants under Jackson last season.

Brown has already received permission to talk to Michael Malone, the top assistant for the New Orleans Hornets. John Kuester might also receive an interview with the Lakers if he is fired by the Detroit Pistons.

That Michael Malone guy seems to be wanted by quite a few teams.

[benji]

Mike Brown needs someone to draw up stupid offensive plays while he wanders around the huddle and he knows just the man to do it.

[hova-]

Kuester makes the Lakers dangerous. With only Brown, I wasn't afraid of them at all (although they still have top notch players), but Kuester's offense will really help.

[shadowgrin]

Mike Brown needs someone to draw up stupid offensive plays while he wanders around the huddle and he knows just the man to do it.

Dunno if it's true or not but that was apparently their deal...

http://www.freep.com/article/20110605/S ... head-coach

Despite having LeBron James, the Cavs were offensively stagnant, and Brown was seeking a way to better utilize the star's talents.

After talking to Kuester, he made a unique proposal: Kuester would be given almost complete control of the offense. He would call most of the plays and would be given the clipboard to design plays at crunch time.

[benji]

While Knicks fans fret about the possibility of Isiah Thomas returning to New York, the Detroit Pistons are considering Thomas for their vacant head coaching position, according to league sources.

Faaaaaaaantastic.

[Andrew]

...wow.

Great news for Knicks fans if that ever comes to pass.

[Rip32]

While Knicks fans fret about the possibility of Isiah Thomas returning to New York, the Detroit Pistons are considering Thomas for their vacant head coaching position, according to league sources.

Faaaaaaaantastic.

Am I angry about hearing this? Or disheartened? Or intrigued? Isiah isn't a horrible coach, I don't really think there's much out there right now that is going to be much better, but I don't feel great about it. Like that article says, he can mold young players, but he also just has a certain stink to him now that I don't really like. If he does sign on, I'm hoping Joe can keep him out of the front office as much as possible.

Lawrence Frank is there too, and I honestly don't know how good of a coach he is. His hot start to his career was more Jason Kidd than coaching skill and I'm not sure he's a long-term coach. He seems like he's all basketball all the time, which could prove to be a turnoff to some players.

I don't like Laimbeer as coach. I like him, but I don't like him as this team's coach. I don't know why, but I feel like a WNBA coach going to the NBA is set up for failure just like 99.9% of the college coaches who go to the NBA. He had a ton of success with the Shock, but how does that - if at all - translate to the NBA? The WNBA was always just a case of the team with the most talent and the best health winning. There was no parity or real coaching to it. Michael Cooper was just as successful in LA with the Sparks, and no one has ever clamored to see him coaching in the NBA.

There's also the Kelvin Sampson factor, who's in a similar boat, but he just feels like a two year fail as a head coach.

Woodson I like... I guess? Really, he's not going to do a thing to improve the offense, but he's been in Detroit and we know he can actually coach. He's going to make defense a priority, which is an element the team's lacked since Flip Saunders. He'd bring experience and a steady hand as the coach, which the team needs, and with a strong staff would see success.

My rankings would be Woodson, Isiah, Frank, Laimbeer and Sampson.

[shadowgrin]

Zeke coming home!

[benji]

Every great head coach was "not ready to coach in the NBA" until they did. Flip, Phil Jackson and George Karl had to fight out of the CBA, Jerry Sloan and Gregg Popovich came out of "families", so on and so on.

Isiah's never molded young players before I don't know why he would suddenly start now. Nobody on the Pacers improved under his watch, same thing with the Knicks. The year after he left the Pacers they lost their starting center and one of their two or three best players but otherwise the team was the same. And they win 61 games.

The WNBA was always just a case of the team with the most talent and the best health winning.

Sounds a lot like the real version of the sport.

[Rip32]

Isiah's never molded young players before I don't know why he would suddenly start now. Nobody on the Pacers improved under his watch, same thing with the Knicks. The year after he left the Pacers they lost their starting center and one of their two or three best players but otherwise the team was the same. And they win 61 games.

Touche on the health and talent thing, I guess I always just thought of the WNBA as being two or three really really good teams and a lot of horrid ones. I guess it could be coincidence that Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley had their biggest improvements under Isiah too.

[Andrew]

In Jermaine O'Neal's case, it was just timing. He went from being stuck on the bench in Portland playing just 12.3 minutes per game the year before to playing 32.6 minutes per game and starting for the Pacers in Thomas' first year with the Pacers then around 37 minutes per game in each of the next two seasons. I'd say he would've put up those numbers under just about anyone willing to give him a chance to strut his stuff. Artest's numbers weren't really that different and Tinsley's were also about the same in two years under Thomas.

[Rip32]

Yeah, I think I was just trying to talk myself into thinking Isiah would be a good coach But I read today that he's not a candidate anymore. Reasoning was that Joe D doesn't want to put their friendship at risk, which I don't know if I believe, but it's not a bad thing that he isn't a candidate.