OT: Pistons hire Cheeks!

[Haakzilla]

...they had their pick of Blazer coaching rejects, and they chose Cheeks?!

Former All-Star point guard Maurice Cheeks is getting his third shot as an NBA head coach.

Cheeks, an assistant in Oklahoma City for the past four seasons, on Monday formally agreed to take over as coach of the Detroit Pistons, replacing Lawrence Frank, according to sources close to the process.

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[illmatic99]

I'd missed seeing this:

 

[Natebishop3]

Horrible horrible horrible decision. Nice guy but a terrible head coach. No backbone at all. Time to fire dumars... first huge mistake was darko... second and third was ben gordon and charlie v.... now this. Time to go Joe.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

Laughable.

...maybe he will hate Drummond and want to trade to him.

 

[PapaG]

Mo's greatest moment as head coach in Portland. First-class human being, third-class NBA head coach.

[video=youtube;q4880PJnO2E]

 

[magnifier661]

Awe how cute!

 

[handiman]

Sometimes I think I should change my name to that of a former NBA player and see if I can sucker one of the many idiot GMs into hiring me as a head coach. Obviously, the name is much more important than any history of coaching success.

 

[BlazerBeav]

This is such an incredibly awful hire - what did they find in reviewing his career that led them to believe he would bring them success? I legitimately wonder if he has even an average NBA player IQ?

 

[HailBlazers]

Don't believe Nate is a Great Coach by any stretch of the Imagination but....

McMillian > Cheeks

 

[KingSpeed]

I loved Cheeks as our coach. We made playoffs under Cheeks.

 

[mook]

Damn, that's fucking hilarious. From now on whenever a poster here says, "Well, these GM's have access to info you and I don't so...." I'm going to cite the decision to hire Mo Cheeks over Nate McMillan.

I'm not eager to get Nate back, but fuck.....

 

[MickZagger]

Sometimes coaches evolve at their 2nd and 3rd stops. I'm not holding my breath thats the case with Cheeks.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

It's not like Cheeks was fired from the Blazers and hasn't been seen or heard of since. He has been an assistant coach for years and involved in the NBA. There have been plenty of chances to evaluate him outside his coaching time in Ptd. I am happy for Cheeks and hope he finds success in Detroit.

I wouldn't assume Cheeks won the job over Nate. Nate is also being consider for some other coaching positions and has the luxury to be patient and pick the right spot for him. Probably a mutaul understanding with Detroit that it was not the right situation for him.

 

[PapaG]

Damn, that's fucking hilarious. From now on whenever a poster here says, "Well, these GM's have access to info you and I don't so...." I'm going to cite the decision to hire Mo Cheeks over Nate McMillan.

I'm not eager to get Nate back, but fuck.....

I'm guessing Mo wasn't paid much for this gig...

 

[handiman]

Maybe it's a one-year tank job strategy and Cheeks will become known as Mo Ping Pong Balls, aka The Cooler.

 

[Shooter]

I don't get it. Cheeks has proven to be a mediocre coach in two different cities. Why not go for a fresh face?

 

[jlprk]

Cheeks wasn't terrible, but I'm glad we replaced him with McMillan.

McMillan wasn't terrible, but I'm glad we replaced him with Stotts.

 

[crandc]

I love him as a person, but were I a GM (dream on) I'd hire George Karl over Mo Cheeks. In a heartbeat.

 

[blue9]

The only thing that Mo has over Nate, in terms of coaching, is that he knew when he was outclassed by his players and just stepped back and let them play rather than trying to manage his intellectual superiors.

 

[BBert]

Pistons' hiring of good-guy coach Maurice Cheeks already being panned in Detroit

http://www.oregonlive.com/nba/index.ssf/2013/06/nba_high-5_373.html#incart_river

 

[BlazerBeav]

Cheeks wasn't terrible, but I'm glad we replaced him with McMillan.

McMillan wasn't terrible, but I'm glad we replaced him with Stotts.

Um, yes, Cheeks was most certainly terrible.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I loved Cheeks as our coach. We made playoffs under Cheeks.

I think you mean we made the playoffs in spite of Cheeks. Look at this roster:

Rasheed Wallace
Bonzi Wells
Derek Anderson
Scottie Pippen
Zach Randolph
Ruben Patterson
Dale Davis
Jeff McInnis
Damon Stoudamire
Antonio Daniels
Qyntel Woods

and tell me how the hell we didn't get past the first round? Fuck, that team was 3 deep at most positions. Cheeks totally fucked up the way he handled that Dallas series. Dallas started Shawn Bradley and Raef LaFrentz up front and Cheeks barely used Zach and Sabas in the first 3 games of the series.

That Dallas team was 2 players, Dirk and Nash. Dirk was just starting to enter his prime and Nash wasn't as good then as he later became in Phoenix. That Dallas team had a very thin bench and only really played 7 players in that series. The Blazers had more talent and more depth. But, we had a totally incompetent coach. It took Cheeks until game 4 to FINALLY realize Dallas didn't have ANYBODY that could guard Zach. The Blazers should have won game 2 in Dallas and stolen HCA, but Zach played 11 minutes with ZERO field goal attempts. Cheeks didn't play him enough and when he did, he didn't run any plays for him.

Some people like to give Cheeks credit for starting Zach in game 4 and turning the series around. If he would have recognized the obvious mismatch sooner, the Blazers would not have been down 3 games to 0 heading into game 4. They would have had the series in hand and won it in 6 games.

BNM

 

[PapaG]

That Dallas team was 2 players, Dirk and Nash.

BNM

I understand your post and agree that Cheeks was horribly outclassed that series, but I wanted to add that Michael Finley was a nice player for that Dallas team, too.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I understand your post and agree that Cheeks was horribly outclassed that series, but I wanted to add that Michael Finley was a nice player for that Dallas team, too.

He was definitely their 3rd best player, but they started Bradley and LaFrentz and their bench was basically Najera and Van Exel. For most of the series, they were playing 3 on 5 on the offensive end- and still outscoring the deeper, more talented Blazers.

BNM

 

[PapaG]

He was definitely their 3rd best player, but they started Bradley and LaFrentz and their bench was basically Najera and Van Exel. For most of the series, they were playing 3 on 5 on the offensive end- and still outscoring the deeper, more talented Blazers.

BNM

The was my most frustrating series as a fan after the 2000 WCF. Although, eblazer, myself, and a few other posters were able to go to Game Four for free because nobody wanted to go and the Blazers gave away tickets to the ESPN board. Then, for Game 6, we had about 20 fans from the ESPN board at Damon's in Jantzen Beach, when it existed, to watch the game on TV. Were you at that function?

 

[Boob-No-More]

The was my most frustrating series as a fan after the 2000 WCF. Although, eblazer, myself, and a few other posters were able to go to Game Four for free because nobody wanted to go and the Blazers gave away tickets to the ESPN board. Then, for Game 6, we had about 20 fans from the ESPN board at Damon's in Jantzen Beach, when it existed, to watch the game on TV. Were you at that function?

Wasn't at the function - was at the Rose Garden screaming my head off for game 6.

 

[illmatic99]

How do you neglect Mike Finley? Dude nearly averaged 20ppg that year with 6 rebs, and 3asts

 

[Natebishop3]

It was Van Exel that was the difference in that series. He destroyed us. Dirk got his, he was very good, but it was Van Exel that was hitting big shots when we were doubling Dirk.

I remember everyone screaming for the big lineup. It was ridiculous that it took Cheeks so long to make the change. We could have easily won that series if he'd done it sooner.

I had the advantage of seeing a Cheeks practice, and a McMillan practice. Cheeks did nothing whenever I was in practice. His asst coaches did everything. He would just sit on the sidelines and watch. Completely uninvolved. Nate was the polar opposite. He was on the floor, teaching and working with the players. Nate had a lot of flaws, but he was a far better coach than Cheeks ever was. Apparently Detroit forgot about how Cheeks completely flopped in Philly.

 

[Boob-No-More]

How do you neglect Mike Finley? Dude nearly averaged 20ppg that year with 6 rebs, and 3asts

I didn't forget about Finley, but he didn't have a good series against the Blazers - something like 5 ppg below his season average and shot the ball poorly.

Van Exel definitely killed us, especially in the 4th quarter of game 7. The Blazers were ahead going into the 4th quarter and ended up losing by double digits. I seem to recall Van Exel scoring 16 points in that quarter.

Nellie was smart about going with the hot hand. The Mavs 4 best players were Dirk, Nash, Finley and Van Exel. Nellie started a huge line up of Bradley 7'6", LaFrentz 7'1" and Dirk 7'0", but wasn't afraid to go small when Van Exel was hot.

And that's the difference between a coach like Nelson and one like Mo Cheeks. Nellie made the moves that gave his team an advantage and Cheeks was constantly juggling his line ups in a reactionary manner. Cheeks had so much depth, but he didn't know how to use it to his advantage. He didn't start the big line up of Sabas, Sheed and Zach until game 7. Sabas killed the Mavs in the first half. Hell, he had a PER of 32.0 for the series. Then Nellie went small, with the hot handed Van Exel in the 4th and Cheeks didn't have an answer.

BNM

 

[Elton]

How do you neglect Mike Finley? Dude nearly averaged 20ppg that year with 6 rebs, and 3asts

I also really liked that "Caribbean Queen" song of his from the '80s.