Detroit Set to Hire John Kuester as Head Coach

[KB21]

ESPN is reporting that Detroit will hire John Kuester to be their head coach. They were talking to Avery Johnson, but he was asking for $4-5 million per season to coach, and talks broke off after that. Joe Dumars apparently stated that in their current state of rebuilding, they didn't need a coach that commanded the money Avery was commanding. He compared this situation to the one where they gave Rick Carlisle his first job as a head coach in the NBA.

John Kuester is currently an assistant with the Cavs, but he has been a long time Larry Brown assistant. John Kuester and Mike Woodson were on the same coaching staffs in Philadelphia and Detroit under Larry Brown. This is another coach from the Larry Brown coaching tree that has gotten a job as a head coach in the NBA.

On the one hand, I think this is a black mark on Joe Dumars. He had a first time head coach last season and dumped him before he could get anything built. This is after he traded a team leader in Chauncy Billups for a team wrecker in Allen Iverson. IMO, Michael Curry was not given an opportunity to prove whether he was a solid coach or not. Now, after firing him, what does Joe do? He hires another first time head coach. To me, this doesn't make much sense.

On the other hand, I'm kind of glad that Joe Dumars didn't go the recycled route, even though he looked at recycled has beens like Doug Collins. Avery Johnson would have been a different case, IMO, because Dallas fired him for no reason. I don't really consider him a recycled has been. I'm one that believes the NBA is needing an transfusion of new blood in the coaching ranks. I'm tired of seeing the same old guys get job after job when young assistants that have paid their dues are constantly being passed over.

In one sense, I think Joe Dumars has put himself on the hot seat now with his decisions, and particularly so with his free agent signing this offseason. In another sense, I applaud him for being willing to give John Kuester a chance. I have a feeling that Detroit is going to struggle initially next season, and this may put pressure on Kuester. Given the current landscape of the NBA, I doubt John Kuester will get a fair opportunity before Detroit opts to bring in the recycled has been. I personally do not feel Michael Curry should have been fired though and would like to see him get another opportunity at some point.

I also think the NBA needs some new blood in the front offices, but that's a topic for a different post.

[MaceCase]

Wow, Curry must be shaking his head at this. I doesn't make sense why they interviewed Avery in the first place. Everyone knows that he's still getting paid 4 mill a year after getting terminated by Dallas, he's not going to miss out on that just to get back into coaching. Any interview with him should have started with knowing that he's going to ask for 4 mill to replace the money he'd no longer be entitled to once he was hired elsewhere.

[DeacKillsaDevil]

Now we get so see how much of a coach Mike Brown is. This guy ran Cleveland's offense.