EVANS | Patience required for Kuester hire to work
Editor's note: Staff Reporter John Evans was in attendance for John Kuester's introductory press conference as the Detroit Pistons new head coach. This is a column reflecting on the experience and his views on the hire.
Experience was the first thing Detroit Pistons President Joe Dumars pointed to while sitting next to new head coach John Kuester at his introductory press conference.
Kuester, although having no head coaching experience in the National Basketball Association, has an extensive background in the league and has that includes 19 years of coaching.
"We feel very good to have him here," Dumars said. "He has seen a lot since 1990, and he has a little more experience (than Michael Curry), and that's why I'm comfortable sitting here and introducing John Kuester as our head coach."
"Comfortable" would not be the word I use to describe Pistons fans just quite yet, but fans - especially those in Michigan - should realize Kuester's experience needs to count for something.
He was the Pistons assistant head coach in 2004-05 under Larry Brown when Detroit won its third championship. He also helped lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the best record in the NBA in 2008-2009.
Last season was a mess in Detroit, and not one person expected the Pistons to go anywhere in the playoffs. The drama of the Allen Iverson trade that sent Chauncey Billups out of town did not help the cause one bit.
Nothing here can be blamed on former first-year coach Michael Curry. He was basically thrown into the fire without the ability or support to get out. It may be time, as Dumars points out, to lower those expectations.
"The expectations have been extremely high (in Detroit) over the past seven years," Dumars said. "We simply want to be headed in the right direction; it used to be if we didn't make the Finals, it was a disappointment. That's just not the case anymore."
Yes, the expectations have been very high in Detroit after a championship and multiple appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals, but how low should the bar be set now?
They will be led by another first-year head coach and Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess have left the team via free agency. The team will look to new acquisitions, Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, to provide some spark and back to elite status.
But Detroit will not progress back to championship-caliber overnight. Whether you like it or not, this is a transition period. Things are different now, but sometimes change can be a good thing, and in this case I believe it is.
It was inevitable that one day the great Pistons core was going to break up - players get older and coaches get fired - but nobody wanted it to end the way it did.
But now we enter a new era of Detroit Pistons basketball, an era headed in the proper direction. More moves need to be made, but the team is much younger than the team that took the court at the end of last season and it possesses more offensive ability.
Kuester said he feels that he is coming back to people he knows and people he trusts, and he feels good to be back in Detroit.
He is a coach who is confident with his style and his words. He seems committed to putting a hard-working team on the floor for every game.
Isn't that what the people of Detroit pride themselves on?
Hard work and dedication is all you can really ask for. Sure, another conference finals berth would be applauded, or even another championship, but Dumars said it himself, that just isn't the standard at this time.
Kuester, a strong-willed man, feels he can take this team and shape it into something productive on both sides of the court each and every night.
"Our philosophy will be to do things the right way and we are in this from day one," he said. "If we play hard for 48 minutes, we will give ourselves a chance to win. When we step on the floor, we want to have a chance to win, and I want our players to feel that."
He has been here before, he has coached some of these guys in the past and his respect will be earned very quickly.
John Kuester was a good hire, but in the midst of a transitional period, patience from Dumars and the Pistons' front office will be vital for him to leave his mark on this team.
sports@cm-life.com
