So, thankfully, we can put the Saunders-to-Minnesota rumors to bed.
Flip Saunders will be the coach of the Detroit Pistons next season. Probably. Barring disaster in the playoffs, anyway. But will he, really?
It's not as clear cut as it may seem. In fact, you could make a case that Saunders has the least amount of job security of any coach in Detroit right now. And in a group that includes Lions coach Rod Marinelli, that's saying something.
Why? Especially now, when the team has appeared to have righted itself after being wobbly in January, prior to Chris Webber's arrival?
The good news for Saunders is that the Eastern Conference appears to be very winnable. The bad news for Saunders is that the Eastern Conference appears to be very winnable. It would be almost cataclysmic if the Pistons didn't win the East, despite Miami's current hot streak. And not getting out of the conference, especially with home court advantage, would make two playoff disappointments in a row. President Joe Dumars has already shown that he has a quick trigger when it comes to coaches. He seems to can them on schedule, after two seasons.
George Irvine: out after less than two seasons, the first coach of the Executive Dumars Era.
Rick Carlisle: out after two seasons, despite winning 50 games each year and making it to the conference finals once.
Larry Brown: out after two seasons, even after a championship and a runners-up.
Flip Saunders: in his second season; vilified after last season's flameout against the Heat, which was preceded by an unexpected struggle against the Cavaliers. A conference there for the taking.
If the Pistons win the East and win at least one game in the Finals, I think Saunders might buck the trend and become the first coach hired by Dumars to start a third season as Pistons coach. But anything shy of that ...
It's not probable, but it's possible that Dumars will be looking for another coach if the Pistons stumble and bumble in the postseason again. Who he'd hire is up to conjecture, but it would certainly be a big name, high profile guy. No apprentices. Maybe the next Pistons coach, if it isn't Flip Saunders, is currently on an NBA bench somewhere. Maybe he's in a studio or on press row, wearing a microphone and/or headset. Maybe he's occupying the president's office.
Dumars' track record would seem to put Saunders on the hot seat if the Pistons flop in the playoffs
It's a longshot, but in these times, nothing shocks me much anymore. So if Joe Dumars were to hold a press conference and announce the dismissal of Saunders, and at the same time reveal that he, himself will be the next Pistons coach, I don't think I'd soil myself. He might be the best choice anyway.
After GM Jack McCloskey fired Scotty Robertson in 1983, he didn't have a replacement waiting in the wings, as so often happens nowadays. And his search became long and mysterious, almost as if McCloskey had no one in mind. In fact, some -- and I was one of the "some" -- theorized that McCloskey, a former coach, wanted to coach the team himself.
I was wrong.
Back in 1989, interviewing McCloskey for cable TV, I hit him with my theory.
"Well, if I wanted to do that, I would have taken the job right away," McCloskey told me.
The truth was, he shopped the Pistons coaching job around the NBA, and it wasn't all that attractive to the names he was trying to lure. He got a nibble from Dr. Jack Ramsay, but things didn't work out. He turned to another Jack -- former Lakers coach McKinney, but nothing doing there, either.
Finally, after being rejected by a few other guys, McCloskey "settled" for a little known former Sixers assistant and Cavaliers interim coach: Chuck Daly.
Things worked out pretty well, if you recall, with Daly at the helm.
Would Dumars become a wearer of two hats, a la his former backcourt mate Isiah Thomas with the Knicks?
It's all hogwash, if the Pistons go deep, very deep, into the 2007 playoffs.
But if they don't, nothing should surprise you anymore, should it?
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