Larry Brown Sports

Phil Jackson has reportedly been itching to return to the NBA in some sort of capacity that is not coaching, and it appears he has already landed his first gig. The Detroit Pistons have hired Jackson to advise president of basketball operations Joe Dumars in selecting a new head coach, according to the team’s official website.

Pistons owner Tom Gore, who is friends with the legendary coach, insists that Jackson will only be with the team in the short term but that they are excited to have him on board.

“Phil Jackson is a friend and one of the best minds in the business,” Gores said. “We are thrilled to have him as an adviser as we make some very important decisions for this franchise. Joe (Dumars) and I discussed this and he and I are in full agreement that this is a great opportunity.”

As someone who has won 11 championships as a head coach in the NBA, Jackson can obviously be a valuable asset in helping select a head coach. Multiple reports have surfaced this month that Jackson is interested in returning to the league in a role similar to the one Pat Riley has with the Miami Heat. Rather than coaching, sources say he wants to oversee basketball operations and possibly help a struggling team.

This is a good start. Detroit has played five-straight seasons of sub-.500 ball and has not made the playoffs since 2009, when they were swept in the opening round. It may be a short-term gig, but Jackson’s task with the Pistons could be a stepping stone toward a larger role with one of the teams people have been speculating about.

The Pistons may be on their way to missing the playoffs for a third straight season, but at least their marketing department is thinking outside the box. With four straight losing seasons — one of which included being swept in the first round of the playoffs — the Pistons have to really work to get season ticket holders to renew. They may be onto something with their new, microchip-infused team jackets.

According to CBS Detroit, fans who renew their season tickets for the 2012-2013 season will be receiving an authentic on-court team jacket with a microchip embedded in the sleeve. The jackets can be used to receive 20 percent off food and beverage items and 30 percent off merchandise at The Palace. Genius.

If you thought the Spurs ticket card was top-of-the-line season ticket technology, this has it beat. Not only are the discounts for season ticket holders great, but this forces fans to wear team apparel. If you want discounts on food and merchandise while at The Palace, you’ll be rocking your Pistons jacket every time there’s a home game.

H/T to The Hoop Doctors via Michele Steele on Twitter

Four Detroit Pistons players missed shootaround Friday morning in protest of Coach John Kuester, according to several reports. Two more players were late to practice, but it’s been reported that two of the “protesters” were sick while Ben Wallace had a legitimate excuse for not being in attendance. Kuester said perception was different from reality, but reality suggest a different story.

During the second quarter of Friday night’s loss in Philly, Kuester was ejected after getting called for two technical fouls. Three players could be seen laughing at the ejection, including Tracy McGrady, Ben Wallace, and Rodney Stuckey. Here’s the video:

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The Detroit Pistons are the definition of an NBA team with all the talent needed to succeed but no drive.  When you see a roster that consists of names like Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Rip Hamilton, and Tracy McGrady, it’s easy to think you’re reading something about the all-star game.  That clearly isn’t the case anymore.

I don’t want to say washed up, because plenty of these guys have a lot of basketball left in them.  For one reason or another, they just don’t seem to gel as a team.  It probably doesn’t help that they are choosing not to try, which has led to a 4-8 record through 12 games.  When Phil Jackson made a comment about the Pistons being a talented team that wasn’t giving any effort, Gordon wasn’t exactly offended.

Yeah, when you get beat by that much and if you get down by that kind of deficit,” Gordon told the Detroit Free Press on Friday. “It seemed like they got whatever they wanted. We allowed them to move the ball around the perimeter easily without much defensive effort, so that’s an accurate statement.”

We appreciate the honesty, but I’m not sure that’s the best way to sell tickets.  The sad part is Detroit has the talent to make the playoffs and the experience to make a run.  That won’t happen if they continue to simply go through the motions and not care about winning.

Man, a lot happened in just like two days. Michael Curry finally announced (about effing time!) that Allen Iverson would be coming off the bench and that Rip Hamilton would finally be back in the starting lineup (after Hamilton initiated the movement). I guess all it took was an eight-game losing streak for them to figure things out. I’m surprised it didn’t take them dropping out of the playoffs first. Whatev. Finally someone got the picture, made the change, and now everything is right in the world.

The Pistons beat the Magic in Orlando and the Celtics in Boston their last two games. Both with A.I. out with back stiffness and Rip back in the starting lineup. Coincidence much? I think not. The Pistons are clearly better without Iverson anywhere near the court, as weird as that sounds. Oddly enough, it’s not even that shocking — my boy Matt Watson who runs detroitbadboys.com said as much to me a few weeks ago before the Pistons completely went into the tank. As Watson pointed out, Iverson may have faked the injury to get away from the team for a few days so he wouldn’t have to answer questions about his demotion.

Even though we anoint stars on a regular basis, sometimes teams are better-served devoid of big names. Aside from Detroit, the Rockets went on a six-game winning streak as soon as T-Mac announced he was shutting it down for the season. The Bucks continue to fight hard and win now that Charlie Villanueva and Richard Jefferson are the focal point of their offense instead of Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut. Shaq’s picked it up with Amare Stoudemire out. Ditto with Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. Funny the way things work. Even the Celtics will tell you how much better the Pistons were without Iverson — a former MVP. They’re better off without him near the starting lineup without a doubt.

The big news on Tuesday was the Pistons firing coach Flip Saunders. Unlike the shock when they fired Rick Carlisle, I would classify this move as a mild surprise. Think about it — the Pistons had peaked at the Conference Finals once again; there’s only so long you can be pleased with that type of performance before changes are made. And that’s how Joe Dumars thinks. Hearing him speak at the press conference made me think: Gee, now there’s a guy who wants to win — that’s the type of guy I want running my franchise. Some of the things Dumars said that stood out to me (link is to video of press conference):

“There are 25, 26 teams that would love to be where we are, but good has not been good enough,” Dumars said.
…
“I’ve sat here for three straight years now and felt like we should have been in the finals. When you get to the Conference Finals, you feel like you’re good enough. You don’t feel like ‘we’re not good enough.’ I’ve been equally disappointed for three straight years now because I expected us to get there … I’m not going to listen to any excuses this year.

We’ve given this group under Flip’s leadership three straight years to get it done. If you’re not right there knocking at the door, then maybe you have to say ‘we’re not good enough.’ But when you’re right there in the Conference Finals, Game 6, Game 7, three straight years, it’s hard to sit there and say ‘maybe we’re not good enough.’ That’s when you say ‘maybe I do need to change some things.’ That’s how you come to that decision.”

Dumars also added that his mind was made up when the team blew a 10-point lead in the 4th quarter against the Celtics and said that he didn’t see the urgency. I’m not out to trash Flip Saunders because he did accomplish a lot as the leader of the team, but he didn’t get them to the point where Dumars wants to be. I really appreciate Dumars’ mentality and if you’re a fan, that’s exactly how you should want your GM to think and act. If he gets the feeling something isn’t right, regardless of how good the performance is, you have to make the change. He did it once before with Carlisle, went to LB, and reached the Finals. Looks like he thinks the same thing could happen again.

Thursday night in Detroit, Kobe Bryant had a triple-double. If you asked him though, he probably wouldn’t have been proud of it. Kobe had 39 points, 10 boards, and get this — 11 turnovers. Nice. I’m guessing he had so many turnovers because nobody else on his team touched the ball. That’s something Tayshaun Prince noticed (while Prince wasn’t busy scoring 22 points and making the game-winning three pointer). After shooting the Pistons to a win, Prince joined WDFN’s post game radio show and had this to say about the final play of the game for the Lakers that Lamar Odom airballed:

Kobe pretty much took all of the shots in the second half so when another guy has to make a play late in the game it’s kind of tough for him because he hasn’t had the ball in a while.

True, the Lakers wouldn’t have been in the game that closely if Kobe hadn’t carried him in the second half, but he has to realize his teammates need to be more involved. Wasn’t that the thing about MJ? For all the great clutch shots he made, didn’t he also have just as vital a part setting up his teammates like Steve Kerr? Either that or Kobe has to do a better job getting open in order to take those potential game-winners. Anyway, getting back to it, great words from Tayshaun — and completely true, too.