Another Detroit Pistons Coach Bites The Dust

The Detroit Pistons have let go of another coach as the inexperienced Michael Curry was fired by team president Joe Dumars on Tuesday.

I guess this is somewhat of a surprise, but Dumars should never have hired Curry in the first place. Curry was not seasoned enough to be put in such a position and, thus, did not have the best chance to succeed.

Then, All-Star guard Chauncey Billips was traded to Denver – case closed on Michael Curry’s tenure as a head coach. In reality, Curry might as well have resigned after the Billups trade and his inexplicable decision to bench Richard Hamilton in favor of Allen Iverson.

Curry, who some day could become a solid head coach (with a little more experience under a strong and successful head coach) completely blew it there and truly sealed his own fate (a fate that has played out today with his dismissal).

Now, Joe has a big decision and he must go with a veteran head coach (one he will have to pay for). He has some choices out there with guys like Doug Collins, Avery Johnson or Jeff Van Gundy.

There are some viable candidates out there, but will high-quality coaches want to come to the Pistons with Joe’s record of firing or forcing out a lot of good coaches (including Larry Brown and Flip Saunders).

Blaming LeBron James Is Silly

I’ve been amused listening to some of the criticism being heaped onto the broad shoulders of Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James in this playoff series against the Orlando Magic. In all honesty, these are individuals who need to have their heads examined. LeBron has been brilliant in this series. If anything, what has been exposed is the fact that his supporting cast is not quite as strong as a lot of people wanted to believe (after an impressive regular-season run). Don’t get it twisted, the supporting cast is not bad. Look, Mo Williams is a fine pro basketball player (an all-star this year) and the Cavs have a few other guys who are solid contributors. But, lets be honest, LeBron’s supporting cast (solid as it is) clearly is not in the same class as supporting casts enjoyed by the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and the Denver Nuggets’ Carmelo Anthony. So, we can kill that noise right now. LeBron has put this team, franchise and city of Cleveland on his back. At this point, in a series between evenly-matched teams, LeBron could use a little more help carrying the load.