Sport
Maurice Cheeks becomes the new Head Coach of the Detroit Pistons
Cheeks becomes the franchise’s fourth coach in six seasons – following Frank, John Kuester and Michael Curry – and ninth since the 1999-2000 season.
The once-proud Pistons are hoping Cheeks can help them snap a four-season postseason drought.
Since Detroit won an NBA title in 2004, it has slipped in the standings and with bodies in seats.
The Pistons made their sixth straight Eastern Conference finals appearance in 2008, had a first-round exit the following year against the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers and have lost an average of 50-plus games the last four years.
After Flip Saunders was fired in 2008, Michael Curry lasted only one season as coach and John Kuester made it through two years, as did Frank.
The Pistons are counting on Cheeks to provide stability after he was fired by two franchises following three-plus seasons. Philadelphia let him go early in the 2008-09 season with a 9-14 record and Portland sent him away more than midway through the 2004-05 with a 22-33 record. He was 122-147 with the 76ers and 162-139 with the Trail Blazers over six full seasons and parts of two seasons.
The 56-year-old Cheeks spent the past four seasons as an Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach. The Chicago native was a four-time All-Star over 15 seasons in the NBA, helping the Sixers win a championship in 1983. He started his post-playing career with the Quad City Thunder, helping the team win the CBA title in 1994, and later went on to be a Sixers assistant for John Lucas, Johnny Davis and Larry Brown – one of Detroit’s many coaches in recent years.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
