Saunders?

[conleyorbust]

Now that he's officially been canned by the Pistons, do we make a run at him? Can we make a run at him?

[BigAlHorfordROY]

Get Real.....Woodson will be back

[JoshB914]

I'm not a fan of Flip. He didn't do a good job in Minnesota and he didn't do a good job in Detroit.

[conleyorbust]

I'm not a fan of Flip. He didn't do a good job in Minnesota and he didn't do a good job in Detroit.

He really opened up the offense in Detroit without hurting the D too much (they went from the 3rd to the 4th on D and that could probably be attributed to Ben Wallace' decreasing effectiveness). Don't get me wrong, he is as garbage in the clutch as Doc Rivers but he'd definitely be an upgrade over Mike W.

[Skyhawk1]

I like his style. I don't think the Pistons short runs in the last couple of years had anything to do with his decisisons. That team has just lost something along the way and they can't figure out what it was. I'd welcome him here anytime.

[HoopsGuru25]

He made the playoffs nearly every year with a pretty weak Twolves roster(remember they didn't have any 1st round picks during his coaching years). They went to a perrenial 45-50 win team to a 30-35 win team after he left. You can definitely say Detroit didn't overachieve but did they underachieve either? They made the conference finals 3 years in a row....history says teams w/o elite players can't win the title. Maybe LB spoiled them into thinking that theory can work when it was probably just a one year fluke. I'd love to have Flip. He's certainly no worse than D'Antoni.

[Rip2137]

Its funny. There has been like 6 coaches to win championships since 1990. 7 since like 86 (i don't feel like looking it up, its off the top of my head.)

For some reason Flip Saunders not being one of those few guys is an indictment on him as a bad coach. He makes some curious coaching decisions, but I think he is unquestionably one of the best coaches in the NBA. He took those Minnesota teams about as far as can be expected. I mean, which one of those teams was supposed to win a championship? Making the playoffs with a offensively passive leader all those years alone was a testimont of his good coaching ability.

In Detroit, they were a very good coached team with him at the helm. I honestly think they were better with him at the coach than with Larry Brown. A: Browns championship year had a better all around team(then he traded basically the entire bench just because that is what Larry Brown does) and B: If not for a injured Shaq and Wade, they wouldn't have beaten the heat that year either.

I would love for him to be the coach here. He has experience working with explosive temperments and he is extremely underrated in terms of what he did for Chauncy Billups career (thus having him around Acie, another scoring point, would help his career in my eyes).

[Hawks]

Pistons became the Braves of the NBA. They had the talent each year to win the Championship but could only cash it in once. I would take Flip as the next Hawks HC. Only problem is he will likely want a big salary. I don't think that is in the cards for ASG.

[conleyorbust]

In Detroit, they were a very good coached team with him at the helm. I honestly think they were better with him at the coach than with Larry Brown. A: Browns championship year had a better all around team(then he traded basically the entire bench just because that is what Larry Brown does) and B: If not for a injured Shaq and Wade, they wouldn't have beaten the heat that year either.

Yup, LB is a great coach no question but he had some luck in terms of opponents - the Kobe-fueled implosion of the Lakers and DWade's injury in the last two games of the ECF the next season were very helpful.

You are very right about Billups too, he went from being a clutch shooter/great defender to a legitimately great all-around point guard as he reached his 30s.

[HoopsGuru25]

Flip's teams have finished 1st 4 years in a row in terms of fewest turnovers and he was 2nd the year before that. His last 5 teams have run an extremely slow pace but I think that had more to do with adjusting to an older roster. The Wolves(pre-Cassell/Spre)were in the top half of the league in terms of pace. In 2003 they won 51 games with a starting 5 of Hudson/Gill/Wally/KG/Rasho and Wally only played in like 50 games that year. That's a pretty crappy team outside of KG(I guess Rasho is a good defender). He also took Billups(as Rip said)from a journeyman to a legit starting pg and then to a good point guard to an MVP candidate in 2006. I think I want Flip more than Avery now.

[Rip2137]

Edit - Hoops beat me to it.

And people also forget, Chauncy stopped being trade fodder after that stop in Minnesota where Flip Sauders was the first one to use him correctly. Thats what got Billups to Detroit, Saunders showing the league how to use him.

[CWell]

yeah I caught Chauncey for the first time when he was in Minnesota.He was a killer from 3.With Avery and Flip available there is no excuse to brining Woody back even though Kermit the frog would be an upgrade.Kick Woody to the curb and get a real coach.

[Jamaaliver]

Flip saunders would be an unquestioned upgrade over the current coaching staff.

He is the best coach availabale and would be worth the money. If Ricky Sund pulls that off, he'll be up for executive of the year honors next season.

[evildallas]

I would be fine with Flip coming in. Minnesota fell apart because of front office incompetence. He inherited a good team with Detroit and keep them very competitive. In 2006-2007, he supposedly didn't play his bench enough and the team got shocked by a 1 man wrecking crew. In 2007-2008, he addressed that and got the team back to the Eastern finals. They had some untimely injuries and lost to a team with a better record.

The little stat about title winning head coaches is a bit misleading as Phil Jackson has 9 titles and Popovich has 4. The dominance of a handful of teams lends itself to few coaches with titles. He keep the team together and was able to get to the Eastern Conference championship multiple times. I'll take that experience and hope that next time he gets over the hump over the possibilities that Mike Woodson will ever lead this team anywhere. Also, his style would mess better with our talent than Avery Johnson or Mike Woodson.

Having said all this I refuse to get my hopes up. I expect another 2 years of an inexpensive shepherd of mediocrity named Woodson rather than spend for a coach who could actually inspire the fan base and the players.

[td00]

We get rid of the coach we hired as a Detroit assistant for a coach fired by Detroit?
Won't happen, forget about it, the ASG simply doesn't see anything that Woody can't accomplish. To me, we waste more time trying to convince this city that Woody and BK could lead us to a top tier slot in the East.

Talk about loyalty? It is just sad that Gearon or whoever makes that call just can't get past the last 3 home game-good feeling.

Tell Woody his effort was appreciated, but you were overruled by a majority and now you can wait go try to get hired elsewhere.

Please ASG, this city deserves better than rewarding the incumbent.

Just take a poll; you will get your answer!

[evildallas]

I still have a faint hope that all this talk of getting an extension goes to Woodson's head and he demands a big raise. The shock of the demand finally forces the ASG to rethink their plan and they realize that if they are going to spend X dollars on a coach maybe they should get someone who's best season had more than 37 wins. I can dream.

[HoopsGuru25]

I haven't even heard anything about interviews yet. The only other name (besides Woodson)even mentioned is Dwayne Casey, and that's probably just because he worked under Sund before. I believe you can't hire anyone during the NBA Finals so we probably won't have a coach until near the draft. The good news is that every team has a good idea of who their coach will be(Phoenix w/ Porter and Chicago w/ Collins Detroit w/ Curry) but us. Maybe Sund could convince Flip,Avery,or Thibodeau(not completely sold on him)to take over as coach.

[killbuckner]

lol- look at the fans of detroit and dallas- they hate flip and avery just as much as fans here hate woodson.

[JoshB914]

Every single board says the exact same thing about their coaches that we say about Woody. That's why I don't take the "fire Woody" talk that seriously, it's the exact same stuff you see on other boards.

[evildallas]

I'm serious.