After a few disappointing seasons, the Detroit Pistons have finally landed their head coach of the future, Dwane Casey.
After careful consideration, the Detroit Pistons have selected their new head coach for the future. Fresh from a perennial playoff team in the Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey brings a solid resume to the Motor City.
He is more than just Dwane Casey, former head coach of the Raptors. He is a solid coach who knows how to build a winning NBA basketball team. Still, despite five consecutive appearances in the playoffs, he was unable to lead Toronto past the conference finals.
His bane? The Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James.
In Detroit, Casey will have a new opportunity to build a team to compete, and will do so as James ponders the dilemma of his 2018 free agency.
Dwane Casey has reached an agreement on a 5-year deal to become the next coach of the Detroit Pistons, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 11, 2018
The Detroit Pistons have disappointed their fans and organization in recent years, only managing one playoff appearance in the past 10 seasons, but they have reasons for optimism. The team has 12 players under contract for the 2018-19 season. Topping the roster is the duo of center Andre Drummond and power forward Blake Griffin. The starting roster is rounded out with small forward Stanley Johnson, point guard Reggie Jackson and shooting guard Reggie Bullock. The power of the team right now is the frontcourt.
Rebuild, or restock?
The Pistons do hold the 42nd overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. In a deep draft, that pick could prove to land a solid prospect. While the team has some maneuvering to do to stay within the 2018-19 salary cap, it has enough talent to entice free agents to give this new coaching staff serious consideration. For now, that will be a key to advancing the team’s talent pool for next year.
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Right now, this team sizes up as a 40-44 game winner for the upcoming season if everyone stays healthy. With that in mind, it’s awfully difficult to consider the Pistons a rebuilding team.
At best, this is a team restocking the roster to fit the scheme of the new head coach. So what does he do? Well let’s start off by describing the man. He is the epitome of class, competitiveness, discipline, wisdom and intelligence. Packaging all that into a head coach starts the team off on the right foot from the get-go.
During his tenure with the Raptors, Casey earned the reputation as a head coach who placed players in a position to succeed. He excels at lineup creativity, plain and simple, and he makes ample use of rotations. All of these factors will play huge roles in the progress the Pistons show this season.
One of the challenges for the Pistons is building roster depth worthy of Casey’s creativity. It’s that shallow roster out of the gates that will prove to be the limiting factor for the team this year.
Bright future
The hiring of Casey to lead the Pistons is not about one season. The team enjoys both a first and second round pick in 2019, followed by a first round pick in 2020. The team also has its core of Drummond and Griffin locked in through 2021, so there is time to build around the frontcourt duo. That in itself should give Pistons fans plenty of hope when gazing into the future.
However, the Pistons have more than hope right now. Casey is a very talented coach who helped turn the Toronto Raptors into a perennial powerhouse with a very gifted backcourt. Now, already loaded on the frontcourt, he will have a stellar opportunity to create a competitive team once more.
Let’s face it. Detroit is ripe and ready for a rennaisance. One postseason appearance 10 years is not a good track record for a team once nicknamed the “Bad Boys.” In Casey, a coach who appreciates defense, earning that moniker once more is a long hoped-for outcome.
Every new hire is a roll of the dice. On one hand, a new coach can only go as far as the roster will allow. On the other hand, the roster depends on the front office identifying and securing the best players at an economical price for the team. So it’s more than just one man, it’s a synchronized effort of the entire organization to achieve that common goal of an NBA championship.
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By hiring Dwane Casey, one of the NBA’s more successful head coaches in the past 10 years, the Pistons are taking a huge step toward that goal. That’s why they should thrilled over this hire. They are moving in the right direction once more.