OK, Diesel, Let's Talk About Chuck Daly

[Nurlman]

First, note the spelling. Mine is correct. Yours, in all 430 posts where you call for him to be the next Hawks coach, is not.

Chuck was born July 20, 1930, which makes him 72.

Chuck got his first coaching job with Cleveland in 81-82, where his half season interim record was 9-32. He then took his flagship job, Detroit, where for three years his teams were good but not contenders. After a number of years of playing together and improving, his Pistons won back to back titles. After that, he never won more than 50 games in a season again. His tenures with New Jersey and Orlando were notable only for their mediocrity - he averaged 43 wins for his three full seasons before he quit, midseason, in 1999.

My points:

1) Chuck was a [censored] of a coach, but he's 72. Leave him alone, he's tired.

2) It took Chuck years to develop that Detroit team to its pinnacle.

3) When Chuck had imperfect rosters, his teams were just a shade over .500.

Season Team W L Pct. Playoff W-L Pct.

81-82 Cleveland 9 32 .220 0 0 --

83-84 Detroit 49 33 .598 2 3 .400

84-85 Detroit 46 36 .561 5 4 .556

85-86 Detroit 46 36 .561 1 3 .250

86-87 Detroit 52 30 .634 10 5 .667

87-88 Detroit 54 28 .659 14 9 .609

88-89 Detroit 63 19 .768 15 2 .882

89-90 Detroit 59 23 .720 15 5 .750

90-91 Detroit 50 32 .610 7 8 .467

91-92 Detroit 48 34 .585 2 3 .400

92-93 New Jersey 43 39 .524 2 3 .400

93-94 New Jersey 45 37 .549 1 3 .250

97-98 Orlando 41 41 .500 0 0 --

98-99 Orlando 33 17 .660 1 3 .250

Totals 638 437 .593 75 51 .595

[Diesel]

Let's talk Daly.

I'm glad you mentioned all those things about Chuck it's good to see.

However, NOW, let's look a little but deeper.

First off, from your information:

-Daly only had 1 losing season in his career.

-Daly took a net team in 1992-1993;

In 1991-1992 season that Nets team was 40-42.

In 1992-1993, the Nets were often injured with it's big three but Chuck coached them to a 43-39 record. The Next yr without Drazen Petrovich (probably the best Euro player ever) the Nets went 45-37.

After Chuck retired, the Nets went 30-52 and you see the beginning of the end for NJ with the famous "Whoopty [censored] Doo" by Coleman.

You say that the Pistons needed time to develop? You didn't watch the bad boys did you? The only thing that stopped the Pistons Most of the time was the Celtics. The Celtics were just a better team and they were the reason that Detroit wasn't always in the finals. Also the League was much better (especially the East). There were the Pacers, Knicks, and Celtics always there to fight with the Pistons. I would also mention the Hawks and Bulls, but we are the bulls wasn't a problem for the Pistons.

You also forgot to mention that Daly coached the original Dream Team.

Without Shaq Daly coached Orlando and got them to a point where they won 50% of their games and 66% of their games in his final two yrs coaching. He was responsible for switching Penny from PG to OG.

Daly Knows the game. If he wanted Back in, I would take him. The game is much easier than when he coached. ONLY ONE BAD LOSING SEASON.

However, you missed my list. Here's the top 5 again:

1. Danny Ainge.

2. Brian Hill

3. Chuck Daly

4. Mike Dunleavy

5. Greg Hill

BTW, How old is Larry brown, Phil Jackson, and Hubie Brown?

[Nurlman]

Daly? Again - Daly is 72 years old. Surely you understand what that means. He's had a long, successful career. He's playing golf. He doesn't want this job, not for $5m per year.

For the record, Larry is 62, Phil is 56 and Hubie is 69. Your point, I guess, is that older guys can coach. Larry's 10 years younger, Phil's 15, and eyebrows raised all over the league when Hubie took the Memphis job.

Greg Hill? You mean Bob Hill - at least that's the out-of-work coach you've mentioned in several of your previous lists. If not, let me know who Greg Hill is.

Ainge? From his resignation press conference at Phoenix, which is closer to his home and had an exciting young team when he left:

“I love coaching, but anybody can coach,” Ainge said. “My wife has just one husband and my children have just one father. I don’t believe I’m jumping ship. I’m diving overboard to save my family.” He cited a time recently when one of his teenage sons told him he was becoming too distant. “And I couldn’t disagree with him,” he said. A younger daughter had lamented him always being away when daddy-daughter camp outs took place.

Career records:

Brian Hill 222-227 .494

Bob Hill 113-108 .511

M Dunleavy 398-390 .505

Come on, Diesel, you'll have to do better than that. Who were all the other failed, out of work coaches you were mentioning last week? Sidney Lowe? Lionel Hollins? Kevin Loughery? Doug Moe? As a point of information, Van Gundy is contractually bound in his agreement with the Knicks not to coach another team this year or next.

[Diesel]

While you are scrutinizing the guys I have on the List. I guess Ainge is next.

What about LON Kruger?

What has Lon done that makes you think he deserves to be anything in this organization?

What is it that you see our Hawks doing game after game that makes you say... Oh, Lon needs more time?

Because we are not getting better with each Loss.

We are getting worse and the players are starting to lose confidence in Lon and themselves. That means that it's time to move Lon.

However, if you want to know why these guys are qualified.

They all have playoffs and Championship experience. They have all been there and done that. They all know how to prep a team. They all know how to work with talent. As far as this age barrier idea of yours, what gives? You're telling me that a coach who has only had 1 losing season would be unwelcome. A coach who have won 4 conference championships and 2 finals is unwelcome. A coach who coached the original dreamteam is unwelcome. A Hall of fame coach is unwelcome why??? Because you'd rather keep a College coach who doesn't know what he's doing. Doesn't know how to prep a team. Doesn't know how to motivate a team. Doesn't know how to draw up plays or make adjustments....

Is that what you're saying?

That's funny.

[Nurlman]

I didn't say Daly was "unwelcome", I said he doesn't want this job - for the same reason that Red Auerbach doesn't want the job. As Thurgood Marshall said at his retirement press conference, "Why am I retiring? Are you serious? It's because I'm OLD!"

And I was talking about these coaches on their merits, not comparing them to Kruger. I'll leave that to you - you've got all the answers.

I'll tell you this, though -- you give Chuck Daly or anybody else you can think of -- Phil Jackson, anyone -- one halfway decent ballhandler out of 12 roster spots and the guy's offense is going to struggle, turn the ball over and not be consistent.

Lon ain't the greatest coach the NBA has ever seen, but he's not the steaming turd you make him out to be. This team has real personnel gaps - at guard - that all the coaching in the world won't help. Book it.

[Diesel]

Point by Point..

In reply to:

---

'll tell you this, though -- you give Chuck Daly or anybody else you can think of -- Phil Jackson, anyone -- one halfway decent ballhandler out of 12 roster spots and the guy's offense is going to struggle, turn the ball over and not be consistent.

---

Actually the same was the case when Daly went to NJ and Orlando.

In NJ, Kenny Anderson wasn't ready for the NBA game. However, Chuck took Anderson made him an 18/9 PG.

In Orlando, the load was too much for Penny. Chuck took Penny Moved him to OG and found this guy name Darryl Armstrong to run the PG.

In reply to:

---

Lon ain't the greatest coach the NBA has ever seen, but he's not the steaming turd you make him out to be. This team has real personnel gaps - at guard - that all the coaching in the world won't help. Book it.

---

How dare you try to put all the blame on JT and the PGs. It's evident that there's NO offensive scheme here. We bring the ball down, throw it to either SAR or Big dog and hope they create. The problem is that they get Doubled, have to throw it out and normally, the pass out is bad. Turnover. You can blame the Point if you like. [censored] you can blame all the Points and the SGs too. [censored] you can blame all the points and all the SGs and then say we don't have any Chemistry. However, when you have problems that widespread... It's not always the Personell.... It's the coaching.

Book That.

[Guest]

diesel's last part, about our "offensive gameplan" is exactly right...

whether it's coaching, Dog and Reef being poor passers, or not having another ball handler on the floor...or a combination, I'm not sure. But the identification of the problem is exactly right.